Worlds Fastest Cadillac ATS!
The Pfadt Cadillac ATS program had only one goal in mind upon its inception: Create an All-American-built machine to reflect the power, energetic spirit, and excitement of a new generation of drivers. For far too long German and Japanese small sedans have had the spot light in this regard..... but according to Pfadt that just might be a thing of the past.
I had a chance to sit down with owner Aaron Pfadt and get a sneak peak at what they've been up to. At Pfadt, their initial reaction when the new Cadillac ATS was unveiled was positive- “The
ATS was a fantastic platform straight from the factory, and it was poised to
capture the spirit of a younger more vibrant generation” said Aaron Pfadt,
owner of Pfadt Engineering. However to Aaron, fantastic is apparently never enough. “Cadillac's
new vision couldn't be its final destination. It just couldn't. With the ever
changing M-series and AMG revisions and the excitement they offered to
consumers, the ATS had to be considered just the starting point.” I think I could
see where he was going with this. I've been drooling of the E63 AMG for quite some
time now myself. So, what could Cadillac or Pfadt offer to a guy like me to pique my interest? I mean, the Cadillac's platform is refined, the 2.0L respectable, but hell I like to be at the front of the pack. So I asked, "what the hell is so special about this ATS anyways?" Aaron just smiled, didn't blink, and shot right back with this; “The ATS platform
was a marvelous building block for our engineers. I mean it couldn't have been
more perfect. My guys are some of the smartest in the industry, and they
never have a problem taking a vehicle platform to a whole new level. But this time was
different, I mean really different, and not in a bad way either. It seemed like
everywhere they turned they found a new way showcase their talent. These guys
come from a reliability background where they are highly educated and trained
engineers with a passion for power, but they are always trained to predict and avoid
failure first. So when they started their work on this platform, and I all I heard was a steady stream of excitement from back there …I knew something good was in the works.” So what did they come up with? The end result was
this: A Cadillac flying down the Texas mile at 162.5 MPH. That is sitting right against that E63 AMG I'd been dreaming about. Before I could ask some more questions about what they changed, Aaron gets excited and blurts this out: “Our design even exceeds OEM,
and I’m not talking from a performance standpoint, I don’t need mention that the
numbers at the mile will tell that story for me. I’m talking about quality. I’m talking
about reliability. I’m talking about for the first time in a long time, an
American designed, built, and tuned automobile leading the way in every metric.
A car that will scare the hell out of you and give you true sense of security and
reliability behind the wheel” Well hell, I don't know what else I want to hear at this point. So I asked
him to take me for a ride…….holy sh*t.
Click Here to Watch a Video of the PFADT ATS!
