And in many respects...

And in many respects, the Cadillac CTS answers that question. It looks the part, and if you"re the sort of motorist who likes attracting attention to yourself, you"ll turn more heads in this model than all its similarly priced German and British rivals put together.

The car is all about sensibly quick yet smooth, comfortable and effortless journeys, as opposed to flat-out, jerky, drama-packed white-knuckle drives. CTS pricing is reasonable, too, with the entry-level 2.8 V6 Elegance four-door coming in at н‚бЈ24,850. But until the car is Europeanised to a far greater extent, it will struggle hugely in both new and used showrooms in Britain. Official fuel consumption figures of 16.6mpg on the urban cycle compare with 30.4mpg for the BMW 525d. Yes, I know one"s a petrol, the other a diesel. But that"s the point. As long as Cadillac has a gasoline-only range and the competitors it"s up against in Britain offer diesels which are nearly twice as efficient, the Americans will struggle, if not fail altogether.

An equally serious problem is that the CTS test car I drove had the most annoying and incomprehensible "system" of bells, whistles, gadgets, gizmos and unwelcome optional extras. These, along with the punishing mpg, simply got in the way of an otherwise fine, effective and thoroughly pleasant behind-the-wheel experience.

The door locks pop up if you stop and put the car in P (park), which is no good if you pull up at traffic lights in a dodgy area. Some of the on-screen information it gave me was utterly useless (such as condition of the transmission fluid), yet when I needed the outside temperature on a dark, icy morning, I couldn"t find it. Sound system controls mounted on the steering wheel are great - but a crude, circular volume dial is another of the CTS"s annoying but curable flaws.

Cadillac and its parent company General Motors need to bite the bullet, strip the user-unfriendly hi-tech nonsense out of the CTS, offer it with a diesel lump (from Opel or elsewhere) for Europe and tempt buyers with a sub-н‚бЈ20k starting price rather than the current sub-н‚бЈ25K tag. This is a good American car, robbed of potential greatness by a V6 engine with a drink problem and horribly complicated on-board gadgetry.

The original CTS that should have been sent to me for testing didn"t turn up because the delivery driver pranged it en route to my place. I would bet money that he crashed it while taking his eyes off the road and trying to find - or lose - some complicated dashboard-mounted information.