2016 Cadillac ATS-V Test Drive

Cadillac(with Car DVD Player) wants you to stop thinking of it as an SUV company, despite how much you love your Escalade. That goes for you SRX owners, too, including the 56,000 who have joined the ranks this year.

Together, the two models account for well over half the automaker’s sales, and its boss admits it needs even more crossovers in the lineup to keep pace with the import luxury brands that have co-opted this very American type of vehicle to great $uccess.

But instead of owning and driving that bandwagon, Cadillac has been busy loading up its showrooms with good old-fashioned cars, a segment that is in decline both industrywide and at the automaker, where they’re down a combined 23 percent through October. Nevertheless, despite the recent truck takeover, the idea of the “luxury car” persists.

Of course, luxury alone isn’t good enough for the power brokers of today. You have to deliver ridiculous amounts of performance with it. That’s why there is now a large Cadillac sedan, the CTS-V, that can go over 200 mph. I’m not even sure my dad does the speed limit when he’s cruising around in his vinyl-roof, white-on-white 2006 DTS that he’s still very happy with.

But all the cool kids are in on the game, and the cheer captain of that clique has long been the compact BMW M3, now known as the M4, unless you get the sedan, which is still the M3. Regardless, Cadillac has them all covered.

Cadillac says the ATS-V is good for a top speed of 189 mph, and though the track I attacked in an ATS-V coupe didn’t have a stretch long enough to confirm that, I found no reason to doubt it. But fast in a straight line is easy stuff. The turns are where a sports car needs to work its magic. What about install Android Car Gps?

The standard ATS already feels solid as a cold stone, but the ATS-V’s engineers added bracing above and below the engine to help the chassis even better resist getting twisted. Adjustable, active shock absorbers trim out the ride and make it more than bearable in Tour mode, but it’s always a little on the stiff side – and that’s the first thing your passengers will mention to you.

Actually, they’ll probably remark on the looks of the ATS-V. Order it with the carbon fiber track package (that’s not a suggestion, it’s a must) and the very edgy body extensions combine with the slight wedge profile of the car to give it a kind of 1980s over-the-top supercar style. This was confirmed by the stroller-bound toddler whose head twisted like an owl when he was unable to remove his eyes from the ATS-V as his mom pushed him past the car and down the block. If installing an Android Car Stereo in your car, that would be great!