CTS makes Forbes list of low-cost luxury cars

As much as I loathe posting about any Forbes list (they seem to put out multiple lists every day, just for the publicity)...this one has at least a slight Cadillac angle... They are running a story about the wide range of 'affordable' luxury models available. One interesting angle is how the CTS is one of a select few on the list that don't share a platform with a lesser model from another brand. This makes the CTS one of the few 'true luxury' models on the list. As you know, the CTS is based on a unique platform (Sigma) that Cadillac and Cadillac alone uses for models as diverse as the CTS, STS, and SRX. The only other models on the list that share this distinction (not sharing their innards with more mass-market cars) are: BMW 3-series Infiniti G37 Lexus IS Mercedes C-class A nice group to be part of, I think. The ones that do share their roots with 'lesser' cars on the Forbes list are: Audi A3 2.0T (based on the Volkswagen Golf/Jetta) Jaguar X-Type 3.0 (based on the previous generation Ford Mondeo) Land Rover LR2 (a hodge-podge of parts/platform sharing with cars from the Mazda3 through the Volvo S80) Lincoln MKZ (a stretched version of the Mazda6) Porsche Cayenne (also sold as the Volkswagen Toureg) Saab 9-3 (based on GM's global Epsilon platform that is used by cars as varied as the Chevy Malibu, Pontiac G6, Saturn Aura/Opel Vectra, and the Cadillac BLS) Volvo C30 (based on the Mazda3/Volvo S40) Not that this makes any of these worse cars, necessarily, just ones that could potentially have more compromises in their basic design since their guts have to support models at lower price points. As I've always thought, better to buy the lowest trim of an expensive car than a highly optioned, lower base-priced car for the same money...since the base price typically is a strong indicator of the overall engineering and design compromises. A corollary would be to consider the compromises that come from sharing a platform with a separate, lower base-priced 'sibling'. Check out the Forbes list at: Forbes.com: Most Affordable Luxury Cars