Vseries
02-14-2012, 04:12 PM
http://www.caranddriver.com/images/media/51/dissected-2013-cadillac-ats-inline-1-photo-441366-s-original.jpg
Walk into any BMW store, and you’ll encounter six different car lines encompassing 12 body styles. It’s a similar story at Audi and Mercedes-Benz retailers. At a Cadillac franchise, however, the only car available is the CTS, albeit in three body styles. And it’s a half size too large to compete directly against the Audi A4, the BMW 3-series, and the Mercedes C-class, which are the bestsellers for each of their respective brands.
Cadillac is finally coming around to the idea that bigger is not always better. It has created the new ATS specifically to battle the aforementioned sporty compact sedans. When it goes on sale this summer, we expect a base price of about $33,500, rising to roughly $50,000 with all options. Given Cadillac’s need for more cars, we anticipate that an ATS coupe, convertible, and wagon could follow the sedan.
http://www.caranddriver.com/literals/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/dissected-2013-cadillac-ats-platform-title/4905807-1-eng-US/dissected-2013-cadillac-ats-platform-title.jpg
In the old GM, the ATS would have been a cut-down CTS, or worse—a tarted-up Chevy Malibu. But the ATS team, led by Dave Leone, vehicle line executive for rear-wheel-drive and performance cars, understood that downsizing a larger sedan would result in a porky small car and that front-wheel drive could not deliver the performance demanded in this segment.
Instead, Leone and his team started with a clean sheet of paper, creating a platform designed to be light and compact, with near 50/50 weight distribution as well as rear- and all-wheel drive. “To keep weight down, we established a dollar-per-kilogram strategy to gauge the cost-effectiveness of weight-reduction measures. ‘Every gram, every engineer, every day,’ was our motto,” explains Leone.
The result is the new Alpha platform. The ATS has a wheelbase of 109.3 inches and a length of 182.8 inches—both dimensions are within 1.3 inches of those of the new BMW 328i sedan. David Masch, the chief engineer in Leone’s group, argues that the ATS is smaller than the numbers suggest: “If you account for the V-shaped nose and rear bumper, the ATS is actually closer to the E46 3-series from two generations ago.”
When you compare a CTS with an ATS, you see that every part—aluminum or steel—is carefully sculpted to be no thicker than necessary. Aluminum webs are slim, steel stampings have large lightening holes and rolled edges to add stiffness, and most fasteners have been downsized. The manual-transmission housing, the strut towers, the brake booster, and the hood are *aluminum. Leone promises that the base ATS will weigh less than 3400 pounds.
http://media.caranddriver.com/images/media/51/dissected-2013-cadillac-ats-photo-441386-s-original.jpg
http://www.caranddriver.com/literals/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/dissected-2013-cadillac-ats-chassis-title/4905779-1-eng-US/dissected-2013-cadillac-ats-chassis-title.jpg
The Alpha platform has a strut front suspension with separate lower links in place of a control arm—much like that of the BMW 3-series—to provide better steering geometry. The steering is an electrically assisted ZF rack-and-and pinion gear with a rack-mounted motor. In back, there’s a multilink setup with a mixture of aluminum and lightweight-steel links. Anti-roll bars, with direct-acting links, are used at both ends, as are rubber-isolated subframes to reduce road and suspension noise.
Brakes are four-wheel discs but vary according to whether you select the base 2.5-liter four, the 2.0-liter turbo four, or the 3.6-liter V-6 engine. The two more powerful mills get bigger rotors and fixed four-piston Brembo calipers in place of the 2.5-liter’s two-piston sliding calipers.
All-season 225/45R-17 tires on seven-inch-wide wheels are standard. On the more powerful cars, these get upgraded to either V-rated run-flats or 225/40R-18s. However, if you opt for the more aggressive FE3 suspension, you get W-rated high-performance run-flats: 225/40R-18s on eight-inchers in front and 255/35R-18s on nine-inch wheels in the rear. This package also includes a limited-slip differential, quicker steering, and recalibrated springs and anti-roll bars, as well as third-generation magnetorheological shocks.
Walk into any BMW store, and you’ll encounter six different car lines encompassing 12 body styles. It’s a similar story at Audi and Mercedes-Benz retailers. At a Cadillac franchise, however, the only car available is the CTS, albeit in three body styles. And it’s a half size too large to compete directly against the Audi A4, the BMW 3-series, and the Mercedes C-class, which are the bestsellers for each of their respective brands.
Cadillac is finally coming around to the idea that bigger is not always better. It has created the new ATS specifically to battle the aforementioned sporty compact sedans. When it goes on sale this summer, we expect a base price of about $33,500, rising to roughly $50,000 with all options. Given Cadillac’s need for more cars, we anticipate that an ATS coupe, convertible, and wagon could follow the sedan.
http://www.caranddriver.com/literals/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/dissected-2013-cadillac-ats-platform-title/4905807-1-eng-US/dissected-2013-cadillac-ats-platform-title.jpg
In the old GM, the ATS would have been a cut-down CTS, or worse—a tarted-up Chevy Malibu. But the ATS team, led by Dave Leone, vehicle line executive for rear-wheel-drive and performance cars, understood that downsizing a larger sedan would result in a porky small car and that front-wheel drive could not deliver the performance demanded in this segment.
Instead, Leone and his team started with a clean sheet of paper, creating a platform designed to be light and compact, with near 50/50 weight distribution as well as rear- and all-wheel drive. “To keep weight down, we established a dollar-per-kilogram strategy to gauge the cost-effectiveness of weight-reduction measures. ‘Every gram, every engineer, every day,’ was our motto,” explains Leone.
The result is the new Alpha platform. The ATS has a wheelbase of 109.3 inches and a length of 182.8 inches—both dimensions are within 1.3 inches of those of the new BMW 328i sedan. David Masch, the chief engineer in Leone’s group, argues that the ATS is smaller than the numbers suggest: “If you account for the V-shaped nose and rear bumper, the ATS is actually closer to the E46 3-series from two generations ago.”
When you compare a CTS with an ATS, you see that every part—aluminum or steel—is carefully sculpted to be no thicker than necessary. Aluminum webs are slim, steel stampings have large lightening holes and rolled edges to add stiffness, and most fasteners have been downsized. The manual-transmission housing, the strut towers, the brake booster, and the hood are *aluminum. Leone promises that the base ATS will weigh less than 3400 pounds.
http://media.caranddriver.com/images/media/51/dissected-2013-cadillac-ats-photo-441386-s-original.jpg
http://www.caranddriver.com/literals/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/dissected-2013-cadillac-ats-chassis-title/4905779-1-eng-US/dissected-2013-cadillac-ats-chassis-title.jpg
The Alpha platform has a strut front suspension with separate lower links in place of a control arm—much like that of the BMW 3-series—to provide better steering geometry. The steering is an electrically assisted ZF rack-and-and pinion gear with a rack-mounted motor. In back, there’s a multilink setup with a mixture of aluminum and lightweight-steel links. Anti-roll bars, with direct-acting links, are used at both ends, as are rubber-isolated subframes to reduce road and suspension noise.
Brakes are four-wheel discs but vary according to whether you select the base 2.5-liter four, the 2.0-liter turbo four, or the 3.6-liter V-6 engine. The two more powerful mills get bigger rotors and fixed four-piston Brembo calipers in place of the 2.5-liter’s two-piston sliding calipers.
All-season 225/45R-17 tires on seven-inch-wide wheels are standard. On the more powerful cars, these get upgraded to either V-rated run-flats or 225/40R-18s. However, if you opt for the more aggressive FE3 suspension, you get W-rated high-performance run-flats: 225/40R-18s on eight-inchers in front and 255/35R-18s on nine-inch wheels in the rear. This package also includes a limited-slip differential, quicker steering, and recalibrated springs and anti-roll bars, as well as third-generation magnetorheological shocks.
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