New Cadillac "Sport Wagon" Is Ugly

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

Granted, these are the new CTS' Sport Wagon's most offensive angles (courtesy GM PR). And beauty is in the eye of the lease holder (zero percenter?). But to my jaded eyes, the new Caddy is one aesthetically- challenged automobile. Needless to say, that means GM is launching it at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, and hyping its looks. "It’s a taut design that not only suggests sleekness, but delivers it,” Caddy Global (?) Design Director Clay Dean announced, in that usual artsy, syntax-bending sort of way.

“Indeed, the drama of the sedan is amplified in the CTS Sport Wagon, as the centerline cue that is part of the exterior and interior is more prominent and plays a stronger role in defining the design at the rear of the vehicle… The liftgate area, for example, is a confluence of angles and planes that typifies the vehicle’s design tension.” In short, the new CTS five-door is "a dramatic design that elevates and updates the classic wagon body style." I thought Lincoln was reaching higher? Well, at least the CTS-based Sport Wagon is reaching wider, with standard 19" wheels. Anyway, some of you have a major you-know-what for wagons and the CTS made our Top Ten list. So let's hope this design grows on you, but not like a fungus.

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Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Lynn Ellsworth Lynn Ellsworth on Aug 16, 2008

    Several years ago I read that all the cooling air a car needs comes from the intake opening below the bumber. That means the grills we push around are just decorations. I like wagons and most of this wagon looks OK to me except I wouldn't be able to stop thinking I looked silly pushing that huge grill around.

  • Andy D Andy D on Aug 16, 2008

    Caddys have always been garish. The car is aimed at people with more money than taste. There hasnt been a decent looking Caddy since they did away with the fins.

  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
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