PARIS — As gas prices continue to skyrocket, U.S. Cadillac buyers may well cast an envious eye across the Atlantic, where the luxury automaker’s first European-made model is setting new companywide benchmarks in mileage and handling.
In many respects, the first European-made Caddy is a Saab with a Cadillac body. Not only is the BLS produced at General Motors‘ Saab headquarters in Trollhättan, Sweden; it also has the same platform as the Saab 9-3.
While driving along the often-curvy roads between Paris and the Brittany Coast in France, the Cadillac BLS certainly did not feel like any other Caddy I had driven in the past. Conspicuously absent are the floating-sensation and lack of handling for which Caddys, as well other American luxury cars, are famous. Instead, the BLS’ steering is crisp, clean and direct. I felt comfortable taking the BLS around curves at great speeds while remaining in firm control. I would have been much less inclined to race along France’s windy roads behind the wheel of a U.S.-made Cadillac, and would not even consider such a feat in the more top-heavy Escalade SUV.
The BLS’ engine options range from 1.9 to 2.8-liter engines with maximum horsepower varying from 150 to 255. With a best-case-scenario acceleration of zero to 62.5 mph in about 6.9 seconds, the BLS is certainly not lacking in the power department, either. Comparatively, the U.S.-made CTS with a 2.8 V-6 engine does zero to 62.5 mph in 8.2 seconds.
The Cadillac BLS I tested, with a 1.9-liter direct-injected, turbocharged diesel engine, turned out to be a study in fuel efficiency compared with its U.S. counterpart. It offered an average fuel-consumption rate of 6.1 liters of gas per 100 kilometers. Comparatively, the CTS 2.8-liter made-in-America Caddy consumes about 11.7 liters of gas per 100 kilometers, while the Cadillac Esplanade SUV guzzles 18.9 liters of gas over the same course.
Another Cadillac first is that the BLS is available with a diesel engine. This is an almost unthinkable concept in the United States where diesel-fuel cars and trucks have never caught on, especially in the luxury-car segment.
While the BLS’ improved handling was mostly welcome, it does come at a price.
The car is rigid and stiff compared to the ride the great American Caddy offers. But while the BLS may be stiff, it certainly is quiet. When I was revving the engine to over 6,000 rpm on the highway, for example, I could barely hear it.
So will the BLS model one day show up in U.S. dealerships? Not likely: When the BLS was unveiled as a concept car at the Geneva Motor Show in 2005, General Motors made it clear that it was designing a European-only Caddy to compete in the mid-sized, luxury-car segment.
However, some of its technologies, such as the turbo-tweaked engine that accounts for the BLS’ low fuel consumption, could eventually find their way into made-in-America Cadillacs. General Motors is adopting a more centralized approach to R&D as part of its massive restructuring program now in progress.
General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz, for example, specifically singled out Saab, noting there has to be more of an overlap between Saab’s development resources and those of General Motors. But for the time being, the European Caddy, with a starting price of about $37,000 in Britain, is intended to compete with the likes of the Audi A4 or the BMW 3 Series on the European carmakers’ home turf.
