CultureMap Auto Awards

Car of the Year: Cadillac gets lean and mean, shattering those old people only myths

Editor's Note: In the first annual CultureMap Auto Awards, automotive writers Nic Phillips and Kevin McCauley bestow honors in 10 categories for the top 2012 cars and trucks and explain why they're deserving of a good hard look. With so many great cars on the market it's nearly impossible to choose just one, so CultureMap's pick for Car of the Year is the most significant all-around new car:

Car of the Year: 2013 Cadillac ATS

Target the benchmark, bring something unique to the mix, now hope people will give it a chance. That's what Cadillac did in 2002 when it introduced the CTS indicating the direction the storied brand would be taking to shake its old-people-only image. It's been largely successful in doing that — our fanatical support of the super hot V-series is no secret — but the CTS suffered from being just that, LARGE.

While priced like a BMW 3-series it's more 5-series in dimensions and, V-series aside, is dynamically not quite up to the BMW or Audi competition.

ATS changes all that proving that America "really can do it" — build a compact luxury sedan that bests Germany's current offering. Dimensionally ATS within an inch of the BMW 3-series, nearly an exact copy, except in the all important weight and style categories where the Cadillac takes the lead looking better and weighing less. Dynamically the ATS is a match for the 3-series with nimble handling and a suspension properly sorted to hold the vehicle to the road without crashing over the bumps.

Whether in 4-cylinder turbo or naturally aspirated V6 form, the ATS has more horsepower and a decidedly American exhaust note.

The interior doesn't disappoint blending "art and science" styling with a decidedly sporting character that has more personality than any other sport compact today. The Cadillac User Experience (CUE) tablet-like display dominates the dash and its multi-touch interface coupled with a full color screen in the instrument cluster go a long way in making passengers feel like they are in the most modern car on the road.

What's one greatest shortcoming of the ATS? Probably the perception of the Cadillac brand not being completely cleared of the aged clouds of the past for the younger, luxury sport sedan buyers. "Why would I drive a Cadillac when everyone I know drives a 3-series, A4, C-class?"

Get over it, buck the trend, support an American brand doing the right thing and get in the ATS — it's the real deal.

Did CultureMap make the right choice for Car of the Year? Let us know — and make your own case for another contender if you disagree — in the comments section below.

2013 Cadillac ATS - CultureMap 2012 Car of the Year

Photo by Kevin McCauley

2013 Cadillac ATS - CultureMap 2012 Car of the Year

unspecified

Best in class

2 Houston schools lead 2025 rankings for top entrepreneurship programs

Rice University, aerial, campus, buildings

Photo courtesy of Rice University

undefined

Rice University and the University of Houston have topped The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur’s lists of the best graduate and undergraduate schools for entrepreneurship studies for 2025.

Neither school is a stranger to the prestigious national rankings.

Rice ranks first in the graduate category for the sixth consecutive year, and UH ranks first in the undergraduate category for the sixth consecutive year.

“At Rice Business, our students learn both inside and outside the classroom, drawing on our strong industry and community connections in Houston and beyond,” says Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business, in a release. “With small class sizes and tailored programs, we aim to equip our students with the skills to create new ventures and excel in a fast-changing business landscape.”

UH President Renu Khator praises the ranking as recognition for the impact of the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship at the C.T. Bauer College of Business.

“This program is a tremendous asset not only to the University of Houston and the Bauer College of Business, but also to the city of Houston, where entrepreneurship fuels both socioeconomic mobility and economic growth,” Khator says in a release. “We are proud to see the impact of this program reverberate throughout our community.”

Rankings for The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur’s 2025 lists were based on a survey of administrators at nearly 300 schools in the U.S., Canada, and Europe that offer entrepreneurship studies. Among the more than 40 factors used for the rankings were academic programs, faculty credentials, mentorship opportunities, and alumni entrepreneurship ventures.

The only other school in Texas that made either top-10 was the University of Texas at Austin.

The top 10 schools on the list of 50 best graduate schools for entrepreneurship studies in 2025 are:

1. Rice University
2. University of California-Los Angeles
3. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
4. Washington University in St. Louis
5. Babson College
6. University of Washington
7. University of Texas at Austin
8. University of Virginia
9. Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands
10. University of South Florida

The top 10 schools on the list of 50 best undergraduate schools for entrepreneurship studies in 2025 are:

1. University of Houston
2. University of Texas at Austin
3. Babson College
4. University of Washington
5. Washington University in St. Louis
6. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
7. University of Maryland-College Park
8. Miami University of Ohio
9. Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico
10. Northeastern University

The spirit of entrepreneurship is strong in Houston. The city recently ranked No. 7 on a list of the of the 10 best U.S. cities for entrepreneurs to live.

---

The story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.

best schools entrepreneurs entrepreneurship rankings rice rice university uh university of houston