2008 Cadillac CTS

[PAUL T]

I can not decide if it is a fastback or hatchback. Either way the trunk lid was shortened, almost to non-existant. I like the fender flares though. Kinda reminds me of my old Pinto with 4 doors.

[justgreat]

I can not decide if it is a fastback or hatchback. Either way the trunk lid was shortened, almost to non-existant. I like the fender flares though. Kinda reminds me of my old Pinto with 4 doors.

i went to their site and found a caddy crossover vehicle for the feb 06 spyshots...if that's the vehicle in question it's a four door hatchback, a smaller version of the srx from the looks of it. the question is what's the platform that it's based on...i wonder if it's the fwd bls (?) that caddy is offering in europe.

jackg 90seville 100k

[PAUL T]

I went to the website to pull the picture over that was in the March magazine and it was not there yet. If you want to see it you will have to look at the magazine until they post it on their website.

[PAUL T]

I showed my wife the picture this morning, with no coaxing and covering up the name, and ask her what this car looked like? She said PINTO!!! No kidding. I doubt if the picture will be out on the website until next month, but if you are at the magazine stand get the Popular Mechanics and turn to page 50 bottom right. If I find the picture I will post it.

[Marika]

I kinda like it.

They following my advice too, they lowered it and made it wider.

[KHE]

I think it is hideous... no trunk to speak of.

[BodybyFisher]

I hate it, I hope this is a mistake, I am thinking gremlin, vega and pinto.

[PAUL T]

I hate it, I hope this is a mistake, I am thinking gremlin, vega and pinto.

You thought the same lines as I did. At least we did not say Pacer. I probably broke a few copyright laws by scanning the picture but that is whats in the magazine.

[STSJohn]

I really hope that isnt what the back of the cars going to look like.

http://www.autoblog.com/2005/10/25/artist-...8-cadillac-cts/

[BodybyFisher]

The front looks incredible!

[BodybyFisher]

That is a photoshop photo, not a real car...

[PAUL T]

I just wonder if they are basing the body style on the Malibu Maxx. I found a picture of it, what do you think?

[JasonA]

I like that spy shot of the CTS. I have always liked hatchbacks, and really like the Mazda 6 5-door. I also like the Malibu Maxx. If that 2008 CTS makes it to the showroom in that style, and the whole rear window/trunk lid area opens up as one piece, like a liftgate, I think that'd be great. Incorporating a liftgate on an otherwise normal sedan is a great way to add versatility with few compromises, in my opinion.

Although that is a photoshop car, that doesn't mean it's not a very close rendering to what the actual grille will look like. We'll see.

[justgreat]

boy; i'm confused (nothing new there). the last picture posted on this thread looks to be a logical, attractvie progression of the current cts. it's a sedan. now, the first picture posted looked to be a hatchback and i can't see the logic of caddy offering a hatchback when they already have the srx (in my book, the srx is very akin to the cts), except it's a hatchback,er....sport wagon. jackg 90seville 100k

[Matt]

Looking at the picture from the link that STSjohn posted the car looks pretty nice, the front that is. Now what do we do about the back?

[PAUL T]

boy; i'm confused (nothing new there). the last picture posted on this thread looks to be a logical, attractvie progression of the current cts. it's a sedan. now, the first picture posted looked to be a hatchback and i can't see the logic of caddy offering a hatchback when they already have the srx (in my book, the srx is very akin to the cts), except it's a hatchback,er....sport wagon. jackg 90seville 100k

To clarify, the first picture is an actual spy photo of a test car claiming to be a 2008 CTS taken by Popular Mechanics. The second picture is an artists rendering of what he thinks the CTS will look like in 2008. The third picture is a Malibu Maxx that is in production now that appears to be where Cadillac is going with the CTS in the first picture. That should totally confuse you now, I know I am.

[STSJohn]

Hey guys, sorry about that I didnt read the article about it being a rendering/photoshop before posting, but anywhere I was browsing the internet a short while agho and I came across this on the Popular mechanics website.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive...html?page=2&c=y

[JasonA]

i can't see the logic of caddy offering a hatchback when they already have the srx (in my book, the srx is very akin to the cts), except it's a hatchback,er....sport wagon.

I disagree -- that a "5-door" CTS would be redundant to the SRX.

The SRX is an "SUV" or tall station wagon. It's purpose-built for that and is styled accordingly. It has a large rear cargo area for big things, etc.

The CTS is purpose-built as a sedan. Four doors, rather low to the ground, sporty handling, standard trunk opening, etc.

But why not add some functionality to the rear seat area by making the rear window and truck lid ONE PIECE, as they did with the Mazda 6 5-door? It's very hard to tell the difference in styling between the 5-door and 4-door models of the 6. The only real difference is if you own a 4-door, you can't carry something big even if you wanted to. You lose nothing with a 5-door design (as long as they keep the styling in check, as they did on the Mazda) and only GAIN functionality. I suppose in theory, you could potentially lose body stiffness due to the larger rear opening, but I think that with today's technology, we're passed that age where large openings in the body really degrade the handling (like with convertibles).

[justgreat]

i can't see the logic of caddy offering a hatchback when they already have the srx (in my book, the srx is very akin to the cts), except it's a hatchback,er....sport wagon.

I disagree -- that a "5-door" CTS would be redundant to the SRX.

The SRX is an "SUV" or tall station wagon. It's purpose-built for that and is styled accordingly. It has a large rear cargo area for big things, etc.

The CTS is purpose-built as a sedan. Four doors, rather low to the ground, sporty handling, standard trunk opening, etc.

But why not add some functionality to the rear seat area by making the rear window and truck lid ONE PIECE, as they did with the Mazda 6 5-door? It's very hard to tell the difference in styling between the 5-door and 4-door models of the 6. The only real difference is if you own a 4-door, you can't carry something big even if you wanted to. You lose nothing with a 5-door design (as long as they keep the styling in check, as they did on the Mazda) and only GAIN functionality. I suppose in theory, you could potentially lose body stiffness due to the larger rear opening, but I think that with today's technology, we're passed that age where large openings in the body really degrade the handling (like with convertibles).

you have raised some very interesting points. i don't disagree with your assessment of the srx. i do think that the srx is based off of the cts platform and to me, it's a station wagon with 4wd available. not a bad thing, it's just what you stated: it's what the public wants, god knows they're popular in my neck of the woods.

i'm not familiar with the mazda6 5 door, but i'm geussing that you're talking about a sedan with a notch-back roofline that has the rear window open with the trunk. i remember chrysler and saab doing this back in the late 80's or early 90's. and you are right, it would be the best of both worlds, it doesn't look like a hatchback or a station wagon but it has the functionality of both. one possible reason that a five door sedan/hatchback is no longer offered is a significant loss of rigidity with no lateral support across the rear axle plane. back then, the critics complained about the high liftover of trunk access; so the manfrs' dropped the trunk lid down to the bumper height....but that only lasted a few years when they realized that in order to meet higher nvh requirments they had to go back to the support across the rear of the car. now, you see trunk lids go down to the bumper on most cars due to the better build and design methods. jackg 90seville 99k

[JasonA]

i'm not familiar with the mazda6 5 door, but i'm geussing that you're talking about a sedan with a notch-back roofline that has the rear window open with the trunk. i remember chrysler and saab doing this back in the late 80's or early 90's. and you are right, it would be the best of both worlds, it doesn't look like a hatchback or a station wagon but it has the functionality of both. one possible reason that a five door sedan/hatchback is no longer offered is a significant loss of rigidity with no lateral support across the rear axle plane. back then, the critics complained about the high liftover of trunk access; so the manfrs' dropped the trunk lid down to the bumper height....but that only lasted a few years when they realized that in order to meet higher nvh requirments they had to go back to the support across the rear of the car. now, you see trunk lids go down to the bumper on most cars due to the better build and design methods.

Agreed on all accounts. Yes, the Mazda 6 5-door is almost exactly identical, cosmetically, to its 4-door sister. Another very nice-looking car in this flavor is the 2007 Dodge Caliber. It's supposedly the Neon's replacement. It looks very nice, and very functional. From pictures, it resembles sort of a 110% sized Pontiac Vibe, but longer and more proportional. It only comes as a 5-door as I understand.

I do think we're getting better at body structure design, but concede that there probably is a slight loss of structural rigidity, as I alluded to before, with such a large hole in the back of the structure.