Way better than it once was, inside and out  by Brian Chee Cadillac CTS Preview – 2007 Detroit Auto Show: Note to BMW dealers: That grille filling up your rearview mirror may not carry a Lexus badge after all. Shocker of shockers, if you look closely you will see a crest, a Cadillac crest, followed by the unmistakably angled snout of the 2008 Cadillac CTS. Redesigned on the inside, touched up on the outside and strategically improved in its road manners, the CTS is joining the luxury sedan party – and this time, it’s not wearing blue hair, bifocals or a clown nose.

Known as a beautifully flawed sedan, the existing Cadillac CTS offered the style but lacked the refinement to put a real scare into foreign luxury sedan automakers. Add to that a somewhat sedate road manner, and the CTS, while a remarkable success in terms of making Cadillac relevant to young luxury shoppers and introducing the new face of Cadillac to the world, remained a tick or two off the pace. True, there was the CTS-V in all its 400-horsepower glory, but for those unable to reach up to the “V,” the CTS fell short. This will likely change in 2008, as the new CTS offers strategic improvements in areas such as handling, interior refinement and overall performance.

The 2008 Cadillac CTS is powerful enough to blow that blue hair right off Auntie Millie’s head. The bad news is that you’ll have to wait until the 2008 model year to get your hands on GM’s new 3.6-liter direct injection V6 engine and six-speed automatic transmission, delivering a projected 300 hp and 270 lb.-ft of torque. That’ll be enough to compete side-by-side with the Lexus IS 350 and the BMW 3 Series, so fly the Stars and Stripes and give a salute. Also included for the first time is a choice between rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive, but the best news of all may well be the upgrade in transmission: Starting with the 2008 model, all Cadillac CTS sedans get either a six-speed auto or a six-speed manual transmission.

In case you thought it wasn’t possible to make it more angular, rest assured that you’re wrong – and that it actually looks bigger, broader and bolder than before. Most of all, however, the 2008 Cadillac CTS has a more grown up look. No matter how funny it is to write that about a Cadillac, it’s true: the CTS looks good with a little age on it, thanks to a wider track, lower hood and smoother fenders. Also new are 17-inch wheels or available nine-spoke, 18-inch wheels, with larger brake calipers and rotors.

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