2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe 2010 Infiniti G37
On the style front, the Caddy's angular design and large grille certainly garner plenty of attention, but its oversize rear end is a controversy-filled love-it-or-hate-it affair. The Infiniti, which has been around for a few years now, is a familiar face, but this Anniversary Edition example sports a body kit that tries to make it look sporty, but only succeeds in making it look frumpy.
Inside, both offer up now-familiar styling. The Cadillac's chrome-heavy cabin isn't the sportiest-looking ever, but it remains stylish despite a design that's some three years old. The Infiniti's cabin is about the same age and it too has aged well. However, the Monaco Red upholstery and red maple interior trim, also part of the Anniversary Edition package, are an unusual combination. The wood trim, in particular, takes away from the Infiniti's otherwise youthful styling.
It is the Infiniti's inefficient use of interior space that hurts it the most. Even the smaller 3 Series coupe offers more cargo and passenger space. A lack of rear passenger legroom, limited front and rear shoulder room, and miniature trunk limit the G37's overall usefulness as a luxury car, outweighing its superior straight-line performance and attention to sporting details. So it's the CTS with its superior handling feel that scores the win in this coupe duel, but by the slimmest of margins.
The G37, meanwhile, focuses more on the sports aspect. It has sportier seats that feature adjustable bolsters in the back as well as the pad, along with a pad extender. It has column-mounted paddle shifters that feel like they were designed to be there from the start, as opposed to the Cadillac's steering wheel-mounted "buttons" that come off as an afterthought. It has more power, too. Its 3.7-liter V-6 is good for 330 horsepower, while the Cadillac's 3.6-liter mill puts out "just" 304 horsepower. (The Cadillac does enjoy a 3 pound-foot advantage in the torque department.) The Infiniti achieves slightly better fuel economy than the Cadillac, but it requires premium while the CTS gulps regular unleaded.
The Infiniti's extra power and lighter weight immediately come into play at the drag strip, where it beats the CTS by 0.7 seconds both to 60 mph and through the quarter mile with times of 5.4 and 13.9 seconds, respectively. Next to these, the two-ton Caddy's times of 6.1 and 14.6 seconds look almost pedestrian. Neither car's transmission is particularly eager to shift, however, even when using the paddles, so there's definitely more performance in both, as evidenced by our test in 2008 of a manual-transmission-equipped G37 sedan. That car was a tidy 0.4 seconds faster than our automatic coupe. So far we haven't been able to test a manual-equipped version of the CTS, but we're guessing there may be an extra tenth or two there as well.
2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe Engine 2010 Infiniti G37 Engine
In our figure eight test, the CTS scored a clear victory. It needed 25.8 seconds to finish the course, 0.3 seconds fewer than the Infiniti, despite the lighter Infiniti being equipped with a four-wheel steering system. In fact, we've yet to test a G37 capable of posting a sub-26 second figure-eight time.
Somewhat surprisingly, the Cadillac's extra weight proved a non-factor in our remaining tests. The Infiniti, despite being 400 pounds lighter, with bigger discs and optional R Spec high-performance brake pads, needed a foot more to stop than the Caddy, though both stop with urgency -- 109 ft for the G, 108 for the CTS. In fact, our test team had high praise for the feel and responsiveness of the Caddy's brakes. The gap is just as tight on the skidpad, with just one-hundredth of an average g separating the two.
The trend of mixed results continued off the test track. The Cadillac's variable-assist steering starts off lighter than the Infiniti's, but tightens up nicely once speeds increase, whereas the Infiniti's begins to feel overboosted. The CTS feels like the better-handling car of the two, with more precise turn-in slightly tarnished by a tendency to understeer when exiting a corner. The G37, on the other hand, likes to oversteer, with the rear end feeling like its going to step out on you at any moment. Not the greatest feeling in the world when there's a guardrail or cliff a foot or two away.
Unfortunately, the Caddy's seats are not prepared to cope with the car's handling capability. Though not as hard as those in our 2008 Car of the Year long-termer, they're lacking in lateral support, and hard cornering will require a kung-fu grip on the steering wheel to keep you in place. Memo to Cadillac: Please make the sedan's optional Recaros available in the coupe as well. Meanwhile, the G37's enveloping buckets will keep you firmly in place at all times, especially during those oversteer-heavy pucker moments. There's a tradeoff here too, however. The Cadillac's seats will heat up or cool down your backside if so desired, while the Infiniti's can only warm it up. The CTS also comes with a heated steering wheel; the G37 does not.
Both are competent and comfortable cruisers on the freeway and around town, with plenty of passing power available. The Infiniti's engine is slightly harsher-sounding, but both are smooth and quiet except under heavy acceleration. Both cars are fitted with Bose stereos, but the Cadillac's ten-speaker 5.1 surround system provides better sound than the Infiniti's. Both come with moonroofs, but the Cadillac's larger glass does not slide open.
source: www.motortrend.com