? It sure seemed like GM was just doing things for funzies, an impression only enhanced by theAnd yet, the CTS wasn't the only Cadillac of that era offered as a wagon. It wasn't even the first. Before GM said"to hell with it, let's have some fun" on this side of the pond, over in Europe, it had already taken a page from its old badge-engineering playbook to create the 2006 Cadillac BLS Wagon.
, and in the case of the BLS Wagon, the Saab 9-3 Sport Combi wagon. The roofline is the dead giveaway, as no other wagon has ever looked liketo BLS. No kidding. With the Cadillac front end, doesn't the Saab-funky-boxiness make it look like a miniature hearse? The answer is yes. GM's design team, led by Ed Welburn, was quite pleased with his work. Perhaps it even egged him on to create a"The whole team was very excited to apply Cadillac's design language to a wagon for the first time,"."The V-shaped chrome-plated grille, a Cadillac hallmark, is picked up again by the shape of the rear window, and the body side character lines make it unmistakably a Cadillac.
The interior is surprisingly different from the 9-3, including the ignition switch migrating from the center console up to the steering column. It also wasn't exactly in keeping with the Cadillac norm of the time. That norm was in transition, though, as the new and greatly improved CTS of aforementioned wagon fame had yet to be introduced. The BLS cabin is more elegant than the aging contemporary CTS, which had a dash that resembled a desktop computer tower.
EVO also noted in its first drive that Cadillac did make mechanical adjustments from the 9-3. True, that car was based on the