Car Review: 2021 Cadillac CT4 AWD

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Consumers are increasingly looking at SUVs, and automakers are increasingly looking at electrification. That makes the Cadillac CT4  an endangered species, at least in its current configuration.

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It’s one of only three sedans still offered by GM overall, alongside the Cadillac CT5 and Chevrolet Malibu; and beyond that, Cadillac says the CT4 and CT5 will be its last new gasoline-powered sedans, because from here, any it makes will be plug-ins. Having owned an internal-combustion Cadillac “Sedanette” for the last four decades , I’m calling for a moment of silence.

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Car Review: 2021 Cadillac CT4 AWD Back to video

The CT4 is a compact sport sedan, introduced for 2020 as a successor to the ATS. It comes in rear-wheel drive, starting at $36,198, and can be equipped with all-wheel drive. I had the Premium Luxury, the middle of three trim levels, which starts at $38,998. Mine was further optioned up to $49,018 before freight and taxes.

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Those options included $2,200 for AWD, and an engine upgrade. The base engine is a turbocharged 2.0L four-cylinder, making 237 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque. My car was topped up with a 2.7L turbo four-cylinder, cranking out 310 horses and 350 lb-ft of torque, for an additional $2,875.

If that isn’t enough, you can then move up to the CT4-V, which tunes the 2.7L to 325 horsepower, or to the limited-edition CT4-V Blackwing, track-ready and with a twin-turbo V6 that makes 472 horsepower.

That 2.7L powerplant is a lively little thing, but unfortunately, it’s hamstrung by its 10-speed automatic transmission. It may have more gears than needed, or its electronic shifting needs to be better mapped, or both. It hangs up too long when switching among its upper gears, and sometimes seems confused as to which one it should use; or it can lurch at lower speeds if you tap the throttle and it hasn’t made up its mind which gear to select; and the engine and transmission get cheaper-car noisy when you ask it for passing power, and that’s not how a Cadillac should sound. The 2.0L engine uses an eight-speed automatic, and that might well be a better selection for this powerplant as well.

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It’s a shame about the shifting, because this car handles really well. The all-wheel is biased toward the rear, the steering is sharp, and the car is beautifully balanced and corners almost flat. On its handling performance, I’d confidently pit it against competition from the German automakers.

As is the norm with sport sedans, the CT4 has good legroom in front, far less for those in the rear, and a decent if not spectacular amount of trunk space.

The entry Luxury trim includes such items as an 8-inch touchscreen, LED lighting, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, 17-inch wheels, and “leatherette” upholstery. My next-step-up Premium Luxury further includes 18-inch wheels, real cowhide chairs with driver’s-side memory, auto-dimming mirrors, garage door opener, and rain-sensing wipers. My car’s option list then included unique diamond-cut wheels, premium stereo, navigation, tri-coat paint, and a sunroof — and since I don’t care for sunroofs, and I’m probably not the only one who doesn’t want another window up top, I like that it’s a choice, and not automatically included as so many of them are.

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Also available is Super Cruise — not added to my tester — a hands-free assist that can handle the driving duties on divided highways in Canada and the U.S. that have been mapped out for the GM system (with more being continually added). It’s a pretty impressive system, but like any of these systems from any manufacturer, including a certain electric-car one that named it as if it’s an automatic-pilot version, it’s only an assist. So far, absolutely no one makes a true self-driving car.

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Back to the CT4 — another thing I really liked was the simplicity of the controls. Like most premium automakers, Cadillac can have a tendency to stuff many of its functions in the centre screen, or into icons on a piece of glass on the dash. Instead, the CT4 is wonderfully simple, and that means a lot less distraction when you’re supposed to be looking through the windshield.

So my climate functions are handled by toggles, and my seats heat or cool themselves with buttons, and there are dials for the stereo’s volume and tuning. The centre screen isn’t oversized and I like that, because I don’t want a big-screen television in my dash. The touchscreen icons are large, the menus are intuitive, and should you prefer, you can bring up some the menus and handle some of the functions with a console-mounted controller. On the down side, I don’t like the gearshift lever, because I don’t like any of these push-pull-hit-a-button-for-Park gizmos, and there’s not a lot of small-item storage up front, since there’s only one open storage cubby in the console and it’s occupied by a wireless charger. But these are minor quibbles in a car that’s easy to use.

Overall, Cadillac has done a great job on the CT4. It’s well-sized and intelligently priced, it has a handsome interior, and for the most part it’s a great car to drive — and it seems that its weakest point, that wonky transmission, should be a relatively easy fix for the automaker. If this is Cadillac’s gasoline-sedan swan song, at least it’s going out on a high note.