Now in its second generation, the Cadillac CTS sedan has proven to be the pivot around which GM’s luxury brand has turned both status and market share. And like any smart car maker, they’ve built on that success by adding a high performance V-series variant, a sport wagon, and now a slick two-door coupe. While the luxury-sport coupe market is small, it makes up for volume with big buyer impact. So now’s our chance to see if the new CTS coupe hits its mark.

For starters, the 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe is a stunner. Its dynamic Art & Science front fascia transfers over nearly unchanged from its four- and five-door stablemates. But, from there back, everything else has been honed to give this luxury sport coupe an even more aggressive stance. A faster windshield drops the Coupe’s roofline two inches from the sedan’s, a clipped rear overhang cuts three inches stem to stern, while the rear track steps out two inches.

So, despite being built on the Sigma chassis 113.4-inch wheelbase used by the sedan and wagon, the CTS Coupe looks like its own animal. One with claws shod with stylish 18- and 19-inch alloys that completely fill the wheel wells with wider tires at the rear. And they all hide massive disc brakes that reside at all four corners.

In profile, the wedge-shaped Coupe bears simpler lines than its siblings with a knife-edged, fast back roof NASCAR could love. Touch-pad handles tucked on the trailing edges of the Coupe’s long doors keep the big coupe’s lines shaved to design-sketch simplicity. Roll down the windows for a B-pillar-less true hardtop look.

At the rear, the Coupe’s unique character is further defined.  A chevron-shaped stop-light spoiler mounts atop the tall decklid, set between trademark vertical taillights, and above angular twin center-exit exhaust ports.

The CTS sedan and sport wagon’s optional 3.6-liter, direct-injected, twin-cam V6 is a Coupe standard, delivering the same 304 horsepower and 273 lb-ft of torque. Like all world-class luxury sport coupes, manual transmissions are in play. Rear drive Coupes sport a revised Aisin six-speed manual as standard.The all-wheel drive Coupe comes with a six-speed manual-shift automatic, which is also optional with rear-wheel drive.

Government Fuel Economy Ratings are 16 City/25 Highway for the manual, and 18 City/27 Highway for the automatic, all on regular gas.

To fit a more aggressive behavior, the coupe’s suspension gets a number of key upgrades, including smaller-diameter front, and larger-diameter rear sway bars, along with stiffer dampers all around. A limited-slip differential and stability and traction control naturally are standard.

Together they give the CTS Coupe an even more planted feel than the sedan. We noted on our Napa Valley, California preview drive that there is some tradeoff in ride comfort, but it’s acceptable given the CTS coupe’s sharper response and decreased body roll when compared to the sedan. Front and rear balance seems near perfect as this car slingshots around corners and down the road. Zero to 60 is dispatched in six seconds with the manual.

As you would expect, the supercharged V-Series treatment kicks this coupe’s fine performance equation up another couple of notches. We’ll cover that car in detail in a few weeks.

Inside, the CTS’ dynamically flared interior treatment is back. With thick-rimmed wheel, motorcycle-like analog gauges under a no glare hood, and a water-fall center stack, everything looks both serious and inviting, including optional Bose 5.1 surround sound, 40-gig hard drive, and pop-up navigation.

The standard front bucket seats are comfortable, but a bit flat. We prefer the optional Recaro Sport seats. They are thickly-bolstered and do a proper job of keeping you in place during enthusiastic driving.

Even though this is a 2+2, rear seat legroom shrinks by less than an inch compared to the sedan. But, the coupe’s sexy roofline cuts rear headroom down by over 2 1/2 inches. Still, the CTS Coupe has more rear legroom than either the BMW 3-Series or Infiniti G-Series Coupes. The flip-side of the fine interior equation is a small trunk- at 10.5 cubic feet. Still, for more stow and go, the Coupe’s rear seat does fold flat.

Prices for the 2011 CTS Coupe are competitive to rivals, starting at $38,990. All-wheel drive adds $1,900 more, while options can easily push it over 50 grand.

With a sedan, a wagon, and now a luxury sport coupe, the CTS stable looks complete. All of our favorite facets of the sedan have been left intact-or improved upon-for the new Coupe. The 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe not only hits its mark, it blasts right through it.

 

Understeer was minor and well-controllable, allowing us to keep up a good pace through the cones.