2.0L Turbo Premium 2dr All-Wheel Drive Coupe
2015 Cadillac ATS

Cadillac has become a very, very different company since the dawn of the new millenium. Its turn-of-the-century lineup, consisting of staid offerings like the Seville, DeVille and Eldorado, represented the Old Cadillac. These cars were plagued with Old GM quality issues and catered to a more elderly audience. Since the company's Art and Science design language arrived, though, we've seen Cadillac flesh out its lineup in a big way, introducing notable and (so far) enduring products, like the the CTS, SRX and most recently, the ATS. With the CTS tackling the 5 Series segment and the SRX duking it out with the Lexus RX and its classmates, the ATS has been left with the tough task of battling the BMW 3 Series, Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, among others. Critically, at least, it has excelled in this role, but it's still working on finding its feet sales-wise. On paper, broadening the model range by adding a two-door personal luxury coupe could help. After a week with the ATS Coupe, though, we've found a car that, while retaining the standard model's excellent driving character, doesn't quite offer enough visual excitement to stand up to other cars in its segment. Initial reaction to the ATS Coupe was not exactly positive. Vociferous Autoblog commenters found it "bland" and "boring" upon debut, with many missing the avant-garde looks of the CTS Coupe. The new ATS two-door is considerably more conservative than the CTS, sure, but that's due to customer feedback – Cadillac says customers asked for less visual mass and aggression this time around. We'll have to wait and see how shoppers respond to the new model, but it's worth noting that the wedgy CTS Coupe never set sales charts alight. It's not as easy to immediately spot the differences between the ATS coupe and sedan, as with the CTS. We should qualify what "conservative" means here. The ATS Coupe, like the sedan, is still a dramatic piece of work in its own right. But unlike the CTS Coupe, the ATS' beltline carries a similar angle to that of the sedan, and the rake of the windshield doesn't appear dramatically different. It's not as easy to immediately spot the differences between the two ATS models as it is with the CTS, but the coupe-specific taillights and offset exhausts are solid touches. Cadillac's interior work has been one of the brand's brightest spots in recent years and the ATS Coupe is no exception. Soft, supple, semi-aniline leather line the seats and armrests, while thin strips of unpolished Sapele wood trim complement the Kona Brown hides of our test car. Black leather, piano black trim and Alcantara round out the finer interior materials, and Cadillac's use of hard plastics is kept to an absolute minimum. Overall, the ATS Coupe's cabin reminds us a lot of the new Escalade, which is high praise considering you can almost buy two ATS Coupes for its price. Functionally, the dismissal of two doors has little impact on the ATS' driving …
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