Cadillac BLS
On sale 8th April

When I was a teenager, I remember that one Christmas, my sister and I shared a present. It was a record player that my dad had been given because it didn’t work. He fixed it and gave it to us for Christmas and we were over the moon. It wasn’t a glitzy, pounding, flashy piece of chrome, costing the earth, but it did what we needed it to do – it played our favourite music.

If we all bought cars that we needed, then we would all be driving around in a little supermini that would get us from A to B quite adequately. But we don’t all drive small cars, because most of us will buy what we want and those desires are what Cadillac is hoping will boost the sales of its new BLS.

This five seater, four door saloon is the most compact car that Cadillac has ever built and it goes on sale on April 8th. It will be favoured by people who want a distinctive design, a quality finish and lots of luxurious equipment. Cadillac has a good start, because it is already a brand associated with the rich and famous, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and James Dean.

The BLS has a weighty presence on the road, with a distinctive wedge shaped rear end displaying the distinctive Cadillac branding. Enter the cabin though and you could be in any premium car. It is very luxurious, spacious and with high quality materials, but there is little difference to any other executive car, unless you go for the top specification. Then you get a beautiful red walnut wood veneer trim with leather seats which are made for larger bodies. I found little side support, although with multi adjustable front seats and reach and rake adjusting steering wheel, it is possible to find a comfortable driving position.

The instrument dials are well located and have white numerals and red needles on a black background, which make them easy to read. All the buttons and knobs are well labelled and there is a good range of storage spaces, including a boot which will hold 425 litres. To enhance the luxurious atmosphere there is a Bose sound system available which includes a 6 disc CD changer and an auxiliary input for an MP3 player. There is also electronic climate control, infrared rain sensor, self darkening electro chromatic rear view mirror and an available ultrasonic rear park assist. In fact just about everything you will need as well as want.

To protect occupants both passive and active safety systems are available, which include airbags and sophisticated braking technology.

I drove the new 1.9 litre diesel engine, which is Cadillac’s first turbo diesel, and I also road tested a 2 litre petrol engine. There are another two turbocharged petrol engines. I found both the diesel and petrol to be extremely quiet. In fact hardly a sound can be heard inside the cabin, which is very relaxing for long distance driving. As Cadillac expects that 70% of these cars will be bought by business users, then comfort and refinement will be an important consideration.

The Cadillac BLS range is offered with a five or six speed manual transmission and a 5 or 6 speed automatic transmission.

Prices for the all new luxury midsize saloon start from £19,950 and it is an attractive well specified alternative to the competition, a Saab 9-3 or the BMW 3 series. Cadillac promises that there will be alternative BLS models for business users, which will definitely be wanted, if not needed.

By Sue Cooke