My second quibble relates to Cadillac’s CUE system and touch sensitive controls. These have both received plenty of unfavourable press, and I’d like to state up front that they aren’t really as bad as all that, but they certainly could use some improvement. The touch sensitive controls suffer from speed and repeatability issues: touch the volume control button and some fraction of a second later the control will gently vibrate and the volume will change, but whether it’s by a little or a lot depends on whether the system thinks you tapped or swiped the controller. The fan control is the same. It can be like trying to adjust normal controls while wearing work gloves and driving along an uneven cobblestone road. As an aside, the really puzzling thing to me is that after putting touch-sensitive controls on the centre stack, Cadillac then opted for actual pushbuttons on the door knobs to actuate the door locks. This is the one place where touch-sensitive controls are proven and welcome, allowing you to unlock and open the door in a single motion instead of first pushing a button and then pulling the handle. Weird.

The CUE system is a marvel of connectivity and customizability and I was able to get my phone synced up lickety-split. But once you move beyond basic functions the menu system becomes less than intuitive, and the system’s response time could be most charitably described as “deliberate.” This wouldn’t really be an issue if all CUE controlled was the infotainment features, but Cadillac has woven many of the car’s basic functions into CUE in an (admittedly successful) attempt to de-clutter the centre stack. One of my biggest resulting pet peeves is that you don’t seem to be able to display even basic climate settings while using the navigation map or using the audio screen.

I spent much time watching Cadillac’s online CUE tutorials videos, but I wasn’t able to find a way to show split-screen information, and indeed all I really took away from the tutorials is that the guy in the video spent an inordinate amount of time peering at the screen, and frighteningly little time actually looking at the road. On the plus side, the navigation graphics are second to none – bright, crisp and packed full of information – and the upgraded 12-speaker Bose audio system in my test car was powerful and rich sounding.

On the road, the ATS Coupe delights with its effortless performance and crisp handling. It’s available with either a 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder engine that makes 272 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque, or with my test car’s 3.6L V6, which cranks out 321 hp and 275 lb-ft of torque. Regardless of which engine you choose it’s hooked up to a six-speed automatic transmission with shift paddles, and you can select either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. A six-speed manual transmission is offered as an option, but only on rear-wheel drive 2.0T cars.

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