Got back from NAIAS yesterday. Great show, and many great cars - ZR1, GTR and LF-A were all stunners. I got a chance to take a closer look at the CTS, and with much ballyhoo about the "vast" improvement in the interior of this vehicle, I thought I'd compare them to the competition

I took a look at the CTS's interior in detail before checking out the IS350, the TL, the G35, C350, 335i, and the A4.

The vinyl stitching on the dash is a nice touch and a welcome alternative to soft-touch plastics. The door panels used soft touch materials and leather on the upper parts, but I felt that the grab handles, and especially the lower part of the door panel could have used improvement. Overall, I loved the DESIGN of the interior and thought it flowed VERY well, but the execution and quality of materials wasn't the best that I'd seen in that class. That said, the new CTS has an interior that is miles and miles better than the one in the previous CTS

As for the other cars...if I had to rank the interiors, I'd say that the G35's was the poorest, with OK materials and some awfully hard plastics used on the lower console. The design was boring.

Next up would be the TL and the IS350 tied - the TL used good materials and the design has endured well, but the door grab handles could use improvement. The IS350 interior uses good leather and nice splashings of wood, but the plastic silver finish around the nav and audio controls is tacky, and the overall design of the interior is boring.

The best interiors were those of the 335i, yet-to-be released 2009 Audi, and the 08 C class. The C350 in particular is dogged for having a subpar interior in the magazines, but in reality this one took me by surprise - BRILLIANT execution with good but not excellent materials. You could see the attention to detail in the way the power window switches engaged, and the chrome surround around these switches. The lower parts of the door panel are covered in a woven material, and the overall feel of the interior was great. The BMW and the Audi as usual, delivered excellent materials and very good execution - the 335i in particular has some VERY nice quality leather and wood, and precise build quality. The Audi has excellent execution, but I would rank the materials used as being just behind the BMW.

I'd say the Cadillac's interior would rank somewhere behind the German's and tied with the TL and IS350. Definitely better than the G35 though.

These are just my opinions and I haven't driven the CTS yet - I'd like to hear those from folks who have sat in any or all of the above vehicles.

 

pics

 

Thanks for the write-up.

 

Interior quality is a lot better on the newer CTS than the old generation.
Did you look at the CTS-V?
That had black accent trims with alcantra steering wheels.
Loved it!

Dan

 

I thought I was the only one who thought the interior of teh new c class was subpar. The overall design is nice, but the materials are really lacking, so merc just paints everything dark matte black.
The new Cad's interior is nice, but I could never get behind the overall design, but thass me, doesn't suit me.

 

We have a CTS in our fleet as well as the BMW 3er and I have to disagree in the rankings. I think the CTS is above the BMW and Audi in both ergonomics and design. The design of the dash is just more pleasing and the placement of controls are near perfect. There is no idrive to distract the driver from the primary focus, DRIVING. The separate temp displays for the driver and passenger is especially a nice touch. I'm just not a big fan of having to wade through menus and submenus just to change my radio or climate control settings. The comfort of the front seating I'll give to BMW/Audi since there is more lateral support. But looking at the whole interior, I like the extra room the CTS provides, especially in the back seating area. There is just alot more headroom, hiproom, and legroom in comparison to the BMW, Audi, Lexus, or Acura.

I do agree that the G35 did have the worst looking interior of them all.

Another thoughtful feature I found in the CTS but missing in most of the competitors vehicles were a usb port with an aux port. That feature is not the most important but it's nice to have. Coupled with an ipod interface built in, the interface was extremely user-friendly with the pop-up lcd display.

Now if Cadillac proves itself in the performance and durability/reliability arena, it will be a real competitor.

 

I think that the G35 is definitely a notch below its German counterparts, perhaps not even on a par with the current Passat. I like the new CTS, but don't think that I would see myself buying it--a bit too heavy.

 

huh. In my limited experience sitting in a 335i and an A4 I would say I was much more impressed by the Audi. I did love the feel of the 335 seats but the rest of the interior seemed bland. I guess for cars in that price range I want to feel like I'm getting into something special, before I even start it up. I got that feel in the M Coupe, not so much in the 335.

 

I hope your not confusing bland with bad quality.

 

hahaha, I chose that word very carefully my bavarian-american friend.

The only things I thought felt a little cheap in the 335 were the flip-out cupholders and maybe a few buttons, and of course my favorite BMW gripe, the gauges - but my first impression was that the build quality was solid overall. (the std Z4 on the other hand, made me want to run from the dealer back to my s2k!)

Not cheapo or poorly executed, just really not exciting.