Interesting, this is potentially on my list to replace the Mazda 3 when the lease is up. How are the seats (highly adjustable?), And how's the general noise level on the highway? Curious to hear your general thoughts on the whole car!
Hi Demo24. I thought I would give you my experience on the seats and noise level of the ATS.
My impressions on the seats are good. My wife is a good deal shorter than I am. I am also comfortable with the seats of my Lotus, where one comes close to sitting on the floor with stretched out legs, where my wife likes a higher seating position. Our ATS is able to accommodate both of our different body shapes, and tastes in seating positions. There are a couple different seats available on the ATS, mine is the “performance” version with 8-way power adjust and 2-way lumbar support. The seats are on the firm-side, but not outright hard. They do not have as much side support as full on performance oriented seats, but they are supportive and comfortable.
The noise level is good while cruising on the highway. My aunt has a Lexus 350 that I helped her buy. I think my ATS is just slightly louder than her Lexus at cruising speed. The ATS is much quieter than my Lotus, and a little quieter than my Impreza. I will say though that the engines are a little “peaky” on these cars. Even the v-6 is not the high torque low revving engine that I associate with GM products in general, and Caddies in particular. If you are hard in the gas pedal the rpm’s jump quickly and the so does the engine noise (but I’m 46, and am used to GM products that have more torque than power and are lazy revving).