I went to the dealership to test out the Cadillac ATS. I wound up driving the 2.5L I-4 and the V6. I'm used to my Malibu's 169 hp 4 cylinder engine, so the Caddy's 202 hp engine was fine to me power-wise, but the V6 seemed more fitting of the car in terms of smoothness and power delivery. They didn't have a 2L Turbo available, which is unfortunate. The biggest thing I learned was that GM has finally made a really good 6 speed automatic. Paddle shifters would have been nice, but I think you need to go to higher trim levels. Both cars had the typical thing where you move the shifter over and push up or down. But I probably wouldn't mess with that much anyway. The transmission seemed to do fine on its own, and shifted much smoother than the 6 speed auto in my Malibu.
The 2.5L had the black interior and with carbon fiber inserts and red leather seats. I actually kind of liked the red, but I'm not sure about the carbon fiber. The V6 had a two-tone black/platinum with wood inserts, that was more to my liking. I'm glad Cadillac is back to using real wood in their cars. I've been liking the way Cadillac styles interiors recently, starting with the current CTS.
CUE, Cadillac's touchscreen "infotainment system," seemed pretty cool, but was a little sluggish in some cases. Not as bad as initial videos seemed to suggest, but it could probably use some work here and there. Fortunately, it can probably be updated, as it's just software.
Overall, it seems like Cadillac's finally managed to pull off a good small sedan. The only real problems I would say are the small trunk and perhaps the back seat. The back seat wasn't inordinately small, though, and certainly wouldn't be a deal breaker. It is a compact car, after all. The trunk, however, is tiny, at 10.2 cubic feet. The seats at least can fold down, but still. It almost certainly won't happen, but a wagon version would be great.
I'd say I thought it handled well, but I don't really have a good basis for comparison. As part of my excuse for why I wouldn't buy the car tonight, I told them I also wanted to drive the 328i and A4. While I certainly wouldn't buy the car without testing those first, I'm not sure I'm actually going to. The main thing is I really don't want to buy a car this year, and I also really don't feel like dealing with salespeople two more times.
