Shopping with the Wife Part Two: The Car Contender (CTS)

"getFuckedHerb" (goongetfuckedherb) 03/27/2014 at 17:18 • Filed to: None

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In !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of our car buying adventures we drove a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Diesel. We liked it, possibly even loved it. Between that review and this review we visited a Volvo Dealership that had a brown / brown wagon and a hotted up T5 wagon but the interiors felt strait out of the 1990's.

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The most interesting car in the Volvo dealership was certainly the brand new 2012 Fiskar Karma. Not willing to swallow the $108k price tag, we left.

From there we took a peak at the Mercedes Benz dealership and drove a GLK350. We were most interested in the GLK250 Blu-Tec Diesel but they didn't want to let us drive one. We liked it but agreed it was too small (the ML is not in our price range). So we stopped at the Cadillac dealership to see an ATS and found something much better.

The 2014 CTS 2.0t

When we arrived at the Cadillac dealership we sat in a few used ATS's and a few new ones, and then the new ELR, then the XTS, then a CTS Wagon (Sorry, no ventilated seats).

Finally the salesperson said "You know, for under $50k you can get a CTS with the 2.0 Turbo, six speed auto, vented seats and all the tech!"

Show me this car.
(is what I said)

He pulled around a crystal white (my wife loves it) sedan with the 2.0 Turbo and all the goodies on it.

First impressions, having been in and driven a 2009 CTS-V on the street, Auto-X and on track:

This car feel significantly bigger inside.

What it wasn't was any less harsh of a ride. The CTS rode much harder than I remember the V being, but then again I just got out of the Benz. The steering, in my opinion was light, and somewhat disconnected. The 2.0 Turbo did not have a problem getting the bigger CTS up to speed, and I was more than satisfied with the all wheel drive.

The 2.0 Turbo seemed to be fun (seems to be rather tunable, I think the Pfadt kit would have woken it up nicely) but I wondered how much gas it would gulp if you enjoyed it day in day out. Also, the whole "We wanted more room than the Rav4" point was hard to take from the back seat, which was not exactly huge.

The Technology would have sold me

The CTS was the only car that felt like the tech was part of the car, not "How big of a screen can we fit on that"- it felt seamless and like it was supposed to be there. The haptic feedback is crazy good in my opinion. It reminds you that the button that doesn't really exist was in fact pushed. No problems with pairing phones and all that goodness.
But the wife just couldn't get with the idea of not having an SUV. She admitted she enjoyed driving the CTS, even stating the driving position was great. Ultimately though, she has to drive it daily, and we could use the power to pull the boat/jet ski and what not.

Ultimately, we choose the Jeep.

We ended up ordering a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. Opting for the 3.0l diesel was an easy choice (we both disliked the v6 and for the $2k over the V8 the 30mpg diesel makes sense) and we added a few packages:

Luxury II

This brings the ventilated seats into play, also includes the huge sunroof (meh) and the LED daytime running lights.

Off Road Adventure II

This includes the Trailer Tow Group IV which means all the good stuff to pull things, plus has a variety of skid plates and tow hooks. Most importantly it has Quadra-Drive 2 with electronic locking Diff's and Quadra-Air full air suspension. The air suspension was important to me for the ability to ride as smoothly as possible, as well as the lowered entry height and possible higher off-road height.

8.4 AN Stereo

We opted for the top of the line stereo, we liked the 3D maps and Uconnect apps (start the truck from my phone from anywhere? yes, please!)

And now we're 4-8 weeks from sharing photos and first impressions from picking up our new truck.

Frosted > getFuckedHerb 03/27/2014 at 17:20

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I'm having a sad that the Volvo interiors didn't excite you. They've come a long way and are quite nice places to sit. I've never felt such comfortable seats before.

ddavidn > getFuckedHerb 03/27/2014 at 17:21

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Bigger on the inside?..

getFuckedHerb > ddavidn 03/27/2014 at 17:21

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Sure felt bigger on the inside than the previous generation. I felt like I fit better.

TillTheWheelsFallOff: Brocoma > getFuckedHerb 03/27/2014 at 17:23

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Congratulations on the new Jeep! Sounds like a great car, can't wait to see pics.

In regard to the CTS:

This car feels significantly bigger inside.

That's why my father went for the ATS. He owned the first iteration of the CTS and loved it and was disappointed with the sheer increase in size. No sell.

getFuckedHerb > Frosted 03/27/2014 at 17:36

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Seats were great. Give me a decent infotainment system, remote start, ventilated seats, better gas mileage for the same money and we'd have talked.

Textured Soy Protein > getFuckedHerb 03/27/2014 at 17:59

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I've got an old '99 Limited V8 as my winter car.

I love Grand Cherokees, because they're rugged like a full-on truck, but being a unibody platform gives you way more room inside and better on-road handling than an equivalent body-on-frame vehicle.

That 21 city/28 highway mpg on the diesel 4x4 is a huuuuge improvement over my 13/17 mpg though.