2014 Cadillac CTS Wins Motor Trend Car of the Year!

Editor-in-Chief Ed Loh explains why the new 2014 Cadillac CTS has been named Motor Trend Car of the Year for 2014.

Motor Trend's Car of the Year program is open to any all-new or substantially upgraded 2014 automobile. Rather than being compared against one another, contending vehicles are first put through Motor Trend's full battery of performance tests to measure acceleration, braking, and limit handling.

All contenders are then evaluated on three separate courses at a professional automotive test center before finalists are selected. Out of 22 contending 2014 models, Motor Trend's judges picked seven Car of the Year finalists, in addition to the Cadillac CTS:

BMW 4 Series
Chevrolet Corvette
Jaguar F-Type
Kia Forte
Mazda3
Mazda6
Mercedes-Benz S-Class

Each finalist is then driven on a real-world road loop that provides a range of surfaces and traffic conditions to evaluate ride and handling, engine and transmission smoothness and responsiveness, wind and road noise, and ergonomics. In the final phase of Car of the Year, Motor Trend judges debate and evaluate each vehicle against the awards six key criteria:

Design Advancement - well-executed exterior and interior styling; innovative vehicle packaging; good selection and use of materials.

Engineering Excellence - total vehicle concept and execution; clever solutions to packaging, manufacturing and dynamics issues; cost-effective tech that benefits the consumer.

Efficiency - low fuel consumption and carbon footprint, relative to the vehicle's competitive set.

Safety - a vehicle's ability to help the driver avoid a crash, as well as the secondary safety measures that protect its occupants from harm during a crash.

Value - competitive price and equipment levels, measured against those of vehicles in the same market segment.

Performance of Intended Function - how well the vehicle does the job its planners, designers, and engineers intended it to do.

After 10 full days of testing, driving and deliberating, Motor Trend selected the CTS as its Car of the Year for the second time in six years.

The 2014 Cadillac CTS is offered with three powertrains. A 272-hp 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder is standard and EPA-rated for 20/30 mpg city/highway. A 321-hp naturally aspirated V-6 is available. Rear-wheel drive is standard; all-wheel drive is optional. Exclusive to the rear-wheel-drive CTS Vsport is the all-new 420-hp 3.6-liter Cadillac Twin-Turbo V-6 engine.

The 2014 CTS is also the first Cadillac vehicle to receive the brand's eight-speed automatic. Pricing starts at $46,025, including a $925 destination charge.

Since the first Motor Trend Car of the Year was awarded to the Cadillac brand in 1949, Cadillac has won the title three additional times -- for the full brand again in 1952, with the 1992 Seville Touring Sedan, and with the second-generation CTS sedan in 2008.


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[ckold]

420 hp 430 ft lbs torque, 0-60 in 4.4 seconds 1/4 mi 12.8 seconds, 60-0 in 98 ft, pulls .97g on a skid pad. Just looking at spec sheet without brand bias, this is a world class performer. As a lover of fine German cars I never thought I'd say this but I would own this Cadillac. Wow!

[eugew]

Have any of the haters ever considered, "What if the CTS is actually good?" Anyone here actually have a 2014 CTS?

[az]

Many people are judging the cts and probably haven't even been in one

[scottyrob]

I love how people who have never driven the CTS or any of the other cars are complaining about the win. One guy says the M5 gets 30 mpg. Lol! My friend has both an E60 and F10 M5 and he said the F10 is better. And guess what? I've driven both and I very much agree. The F10 is too isolated and soulless. BMW is killing what they stood for and Cadillac is taking their place. He said when the next CTS-V comes out he's selling his not even close to 30 mpg car for it. Cadillac won fair and square and it was rated by a group of professionals that have been doing this for years and have access to just about every car so those that sit behind their keyboards with no experience I hope this win burns. Congrats Cadillac.

[dmthinker]

I see haters are still going to hate.

Go GM

[mikefranck]

It's not BS the CTS is the lightest car in its segment has every safety feature you can think of (blind zone, radar braking, parking assist) to name a few I believe cadillac is still on the rise no one wants to give it credit even though they gave never driven the car for themselves but if this was done German car they would praise it 90 percent of them being Americans SMH

[LoveMorHate]

I'm from Europe and those comments make me laugh. So much VW, Mercedes, BMW, Audi fanboys here that they can't choke that new CTS and ATS are just better value for money in US. CTS is nice looking car at last it's not so numb and boring like new BMW, Mercedes and Audi. For many peoples like me driving a car is just not abou buying a diesel and talking all your friends how big mileage you get. Just put a manual transmission to this 3.6L biturbo and it will be perfect!

[Rouge]

this is exciting... my dad LOVES Cadillac. It was his "american dream" car, and when he became wealthy, he got his Caddy's. Still has them. After years of hating what Cadillac was doing, we finally got the new ATS V6, completely loaded. It is an AMAZING car. I can't wait to get a drive in the CTS to see what has carried over.

I really don't get the hate for Cadillac. They are back to compete in earnest, and that's only good for ALL consumers in the segment.

[Noneneon]

Will there be a video of the tests themselves like for the best drivers car?

[SunDownPoint]

So many preconceived ideas of the Cadillac when people have no idea what it's even all about. When will this age of idea from the 80's American cars die? This is what happens when the population is uneducated on the idea and is blindly following decades old media.

The CTS deserves it's place as car of the year as I have test driven one myself and it is simply astonishing. And I think MotorTrend has enough experience and integrity to see that much more than the keyboard warriors with their weak ideas that are not even their own, who know nothing of what they talk about and of most do not even own a car. It's a form of brand racism. Anyone smart enough and open minded enough to take this car for a try without the biased mentality will fall in love with it.

[willso]

after all... this Cadillac looks way better than the previous one.

[BevHillsandHollywood]

Well deserved! The Cadillac CTS line up is AMAZING. I have driven the Cadillac and it is leaps and bounds better than the German, Japanese and Italian competition. Folks, let's remember that most of the cars that you all are claiming are better are using Cadillac (General Motors) parts. Ferrari is using the magnetic ride control that was pioneered by Cadillac. These things that you praise the German and Italian manufactures for are GM created. I mean, come on Ferrari is paying to use American technology in their cars because it is better. 

I realize that you think of "grandma" and "grandpa" when you hear the name Cadillac, but you have to see that the company has completely redesigned itself. The entire line up under the Cadillac umbrella (ATS, CTS, XTS, SRX and Escalade) has been redesigned. The ATS has been proven by plenty of Car Magazine / Vehicle Experts to be better than the BMW 3 series. It has a better suspension and corners FAR better! In the end, you all need to deal with the fact that the US is back in business with producing amazing cars. If you didn't know that Cadillac was American you all would be praising it too. I bet before you all knew that the Tesla Model S was an American car you all had nothing bad to say about it. There is another American company that is doing AMAZING things and pioneering great products.

Congrats to Cadillac!! Well deserved! Well deserved!! 

[boardthrulife]

TopGear also came to a similar conclusion. Americans CAN build great cars, and it looks like Cadillac and Corvette have finally started doing it again.

'Murica. *Salutes*

[gmannym]

Let me preface by saying that I have no agenda in this, but there are quite a lot of angry comments on here. I think MotorTrend did somewhat of a disservice to its viewers on here by not releasing a fuller/more detailed video explaining the CTS's merits as to why it deserved this this award in contrast with the other cars. I am sure a lot of people on here are even minded and would have appreciated that. Here is to hoping that MT releases such a video for us all to see and evaluate :-)

[KingStivan]

didnt they do the car of the year like a month ago?

[XxHarroopxX]

People are only hating because it's an American car

[timobac]

It's not that I don't like Cadillac but saying that this Cadillac is better on the 6 points mentioned than the new Mercedes S-Class is hilariously wrong. 

[alexraaen]

People are mad at motortrend, but they are not the only publication that loves the cts.  No one was bribed by GM.  I'm sure the german automakers will take note and that this can only mean good things for the cars of the future.  There is no need for the fanboys to get upset.

[hejmuesli]

Has the manual transmission improved from the one in the ATS? Or does the CTS only come as an automatic?

[morganbagert]

The CTS has not put the world on notice. 30 MPG from its most efficient engine? that is shockingly bad, a 1999 audi a6 diesel has much better fuel economy. and the CUE system is also really bad. But I will concede that looks a lot better, and they seem to have good handling characteristics. For me car of the year is the mercedes s class.