2010 Cadillac CTS

On the strength of its bold styling, interior quality and athletic handling, the Cadillac CTS sedan has been a sales success, and now its model line is expanding. For 2010, the sedan is joined by a CTS Sport Wagon, which nearly doubles the sedan's cargo space and adds $3,000 to its base price. Often cited as Exhibit A in the case for GM's ability to build a world-class car, the CTS is indeed exceptional, but a few performance and quality shortcomings dampen our praise of the new wagon.
A Looker ... As Wagons Go
To my eye, the CTS embodies Cadillac styling: unapologetically bold and better-executed than any of the brand's other models — especially the first-generation CTS, which was replaced in 2008. The wagon is as impressive as the sedan, though I don't know if it will sway typical American buyers, whose disdain for once-successful vehicle genres is as overblown as their enthusiasm for the next ones. Are minivans and SUVs taking so much abuse that wagons will seem fresh and new?

The CTS wagon brings some of the advantages of SUVs and crossovers, such as a cargo hatch and optional all-wheel drive. Its gas mileage beats the average crossover, but it doesn't have the crossover's high seating position. For that, you'd have to move to something like Cadillac's new 2010 SRX compact crossover.

Cadillac produced the Sport Wagon to compete with the likes of BMW's 3 Series wagon and Audi's A4 Avant — two models with which the CTS competes strongly in sedan form. The CTS is larger than both of those cars but not as large as the Audi A6 Avant and BMW 535i Sport Wagon, which start at a hefty $53,310 and $55,800, respectively.

Like its German competitors, the CTS wagon is very much a CTS sedan with a wagon rear end — rather than a dramatically different car — with almost identical exterior and interior dimensions, including front- and rear-seat headroom, legroom and hip room. The SRX crossover, which is a dramatically different model, isn't notably roomier.