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Driver's Seat

WHEN FASTER IS BETTER

On their way to figuring out how to make cars better, safer and more fuel efficient, domestic manufacturers stumbled on how to make them faster, too. As the 2008 Cadillac CTS and Dodge Caliber SRT4 bear out, some sophisticated engineering can be a more fuel friendly and less expensive way to go. And they boast a 0-60 mph time in the six-second range.

By Russ Heaps

Dodge Caliber SRT4

Before it faded into history, Dodge’s Neon handed off the SRT4 baton to the Caliber, SRT being the speed works at Dodge whose job it is to turn wallflowers into vamps. Beefing up suspensions, adding torque and horsepower, and creating a few unique styling cues inside and out is the order of the day. Imagine all that and a price tag on the low side of $25,000.

Plush Inside:
Sculpted leather buckets with red stitching, white faced gauges and aluminum pedals deck out the cabin that rocks with a nine-speaker audio system.

Chiseled Body:
With bulges and rips enough to make a bodybuilder weep, the Caliber’s exterior is an anthology of creases, angles and hard lines with an ironing board size spoiler casting a shadow over the rear hatch.

Juiced Up:
SRT slipped some lightweight parts into the standard 2.4-liter engine then juiced it with a turbocharger pushing horsepower to 285, torque to 265 lb.ft. and the top speed to 155 mph.

Cooling Technology:
A Valeo intercooler lurks behind the crosshair grille.

More Grasp:
ZF Sacks twin-tube shocks firm up all four corners behind 19-inch five-spoke cast aluminum wheels.

Cadillac CTS
Request an entry-luxury sport sedan and the new Cadillac CTS is exactly what you would get. The second generation of this gutsy experiment can run with the best of Europe and Japan—no ifs, ands or buts. The base price just crests the $35,000 mark and another $10,000 in option packages dresses it to the nines.

Game of Six:
Cadillac uses direct fuel injection to draw 304 horsepower and 270 lb.-ft. of torque from a 3.6-liter V6 bolted to either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission.

Panoramic Views:
The UltraView sunroof opens as much as 70 percent of the roof.

Looking Sharp:
Some of the edge has been smoothed off the original’s “art and science” styling, but the lines remain sharp and bold

Couture Driving:
The stance is wider by two inches and the suspension can be tailored to the driver through three settings.

Sound Ready:
An available 5.1 Surround Sound System with 40-gigabyte Hard Drive Device stores files and thousands of songs.