My Wife is about ready for a new car, so I am trying to encourage her to consider the Cadillac ATS.

The ATS sedan comes in 3 main lines of increasing features —  standard, luxury, and premium — with the latter choices available either for the 2L Turbo or the 3.6L V6, all-wheel drive, or rear-wheel drive.  We are targeting a Premium Model (2L Turbo or V6).

She is agnostic on engines, but I see advantages to each — a bit better mpg on the 2L Turbo (21/31 city/highway vs 19/28) , a bit more power on the 3.6L (321 hp vs 272 hp).

My Wife is certain the ATS needs to be Red with a sunroof.  I would like to ensure we get the Morello Red with jet black accent interior as shown here.  I missed getting the Tango Red interior for my STS-V, and I think the color contrast is striking, especially with the red exterior.

I am also excited about the Driver Assist package.  The Premium includes the Driver Awareness package (note the confusingly similar names Assist and Awareness), but the Driver Assist package is optional.

The Driver Awareness package is include in the Premium, and adds:

Driver Awareness Package This package includes a number of high-tech features designed to alert the driver to potentially hazardous traffic situations that could result in a crash.

• Safety Alert Seat
• Forward Collision Alert
• Lane Departure Warning
• Rainsense™ automatic wipers
• IntelliBeam^® headlamps
• Rear side air bags¹ for outboard passengers
• Direct view notification display²

The Driver Assist package is an option beyond the Premiums package and adds

• Adaptive Cruise Control¹ with full speed range capability
• Automatic Collision Preparation with Intelligent Brake Assist
• Front and Rear Automatic Braking
• Electronic parking brake
• Rear Cross-Traffic Alert
• Side Blind Zone Alert²
• Midnight chrome accented grille

The sunroof is not a standard feature of the Cadillac ATS Premium package, which will make shopping for a used ATS with Premium and Driver Assist and a Sunroof  a bit more interesting.

We are shopping for a lightly used 2013 model for the economy of buying used.  A new 2014 Cadillac ATS with 2L Turbo, Red Obsession paint, Driver Assist package, and Sunroof is ~$51K, reduced with current incentives and supplier discount to ~$45K.  The market for a lightly used 2013 Cadillac ATS appears to be ~$35K, (with a premium in the used market for Red).   That is a nice savings on a relatively new ATS.

I sent over to our friends (and a Site Sponsor) at Crest Cadillac in Plano to see if they can help us find the right ATS.  They do have a 2014 model that is almost my target — missing the Morello Red interior.

Update:

Darin Partin called from Crest Cadillac.  We discussed our target, and he suggested the Driver Awareness actually has the features I am after and the Driver Assist may not be required.  Crest is sending over a car for my Wife to test drive over the weekend so we can make sure she understands the ATS features and are on the right track for her next car.

Updates: 2014 Cadillac ATS Test Drive