Road Test: '10 Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon offers luxurious fun

Station wagons aren't very popular in America these days - although the crossover SUVs everyone is buying are little more than taller wagons with all-wheel drive. Anyway, Cadillac, which offers a crossover SUV, thought it needed a true wagon to compete against entries from Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Volvo. And so, for 2010 we have the CTS Sport Wagon.

Although Consumer Reports' "worse than average" reliability assessment for the CTS is worrisome, I think you will like Cadillac's first wagon for North America - as much as sedan buyers will like the CTS sedan from which it is derived. Except for a bit more unpleasant engine noise and harshness than is appropriate in a luxury car, this was a tester I hated to give back.

The CTS wagon is pricey, though: $39,090 with freight for the least expensive version, with the less-powerful of two available engines and rear drive. That's about $3,000 more than the sedan.

All-wheel drive adds about two grand, if you'll settle for the 3.0-liter, 270-hp. engine. A rear- drive version with the more powerful, 3.6-liter, 304-hp. engine I sampled lists for $44,190, and the top-of-the-line CTS wagon, with the 304-hp. engine and all-wheel drive, lists for $46,090.

On sale since August, this wagon is as much fun to drive as the CTS sedan and as comfortable to ride in. Its lower-than-an-SUV center of gravity means carlike handling. An optional FE3 package, not in the tester, includes a firmer suspension, quicker steering and wider and Z-rated summer performance tires on larger, 19-inch wheels and bigger disc brakes.

Both engines run on regular unleaded and are government estimated at about the same, 18 miles per gallon in local driving, 26 or 27 on highways. I averaged less than 17 mpg, however, in four days of mostly local driving.

GM says the CTS wagon will tow a 1,000-pound trailer.

Standard safety features include rear-seat thorax-protecting air bags plus the head-protecting bags almost every car now has. The federal government gives the CTS sedan and wagon four out of a five stars for frontal protection and five out of five for side-impact protection. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety calls the CTS "good" in front-, side- and rear-impact protection.

Cadillac has been a very high scorer for years in the surveys by J.D. Power and Associates of vehicle quality and dealer ability to keep customers happy. And that goes for the CTS, too; Power predicts its reliability as "better than most." Since both Consumer Reports and Power ratings are based on owner surveys, it's difficult to explain why the wide variation in this case. Anyway, the magazine's testers liked the CTS overall.

2010 Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon

Vehicle tested:

Engine:

3.6-liter V-6, 304 hp.

Fuel:

regular

Transmission:

six-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive

Safety:

8 air bags; 4-wheel disc brakes with anti-lock, stability control and brake assist; tire pressure monitors, swivel headlamps, fog lamps, daytime running lamps, OnStar crash response.

Place of assembly:

Lansing, Mich.

Cargo Room:

rear seat back up, 25 cubic feet; seat back down, 53.4.

EPA fuel economy estimates:

18 mpg, city; 26, highway

Price as driven:

$45,200

Bottom line:

Excellent wagon follows excellent sedan.