Well my local Cadillac dealership got it's first XTS in: a Graphite Metallic Luxury model with the navigation system, UltraView surnoof, and Driver Awareness Package. Sticker price was right at $52k dollars. Here are my impressions:
Exterior: Honestly in pictures I didn't think it was a great looking car. Not that it's horrible, but I felt that the rear end was just too elongated and the front was too tall and garish. In person though, that fades. The car has a decent presence, though nothing like a Mercedes or even a CTS. The front looks great with the LED headlights and LED door handles, and the rear shows off a nice looking tail-fin like treatment that hints at Cadillac's of past. The side profile in the A-pillar area unfortunately hints too much at the LaCrosse and i think makes the car look more downmarket. The razor sharp treatment from the Art and Science of the past 10 years is clearly lacking in this car. To car guys like myself, it's obvious that Cadillac shared from the LaCrosse and that isn't going to do it any favors when you're paying $20k more. Overall, it's a solid design though it could be better.
Interior: This is where the car really shines. Not only is it fully loaded with the latest technology, everything is extremely well build and well designed. The center stack draws your attention with it's elegant lighting and piano black finish, and the large display is beautiful and easy to read though it's quite the fingerprint magnet. The instrument cluster is very well laid out with plenty of information, and even on the lesser model cars without the configurable display still looks great. The interior as a whole is beautiful; the materials look like they came from a car costing twice as much and the seats are to die for with plenty of adjustments and glove soft leather. There is plenty of stretch out room and the backseat was plenty large, though roof line cuts down a little bit more than it should resulting in some tightness (I'm 5'10") but the legroom is fine. The interior is great, and it's obvious this is where GM spent lots of money.
Power: This model comes with the familiar 3.6L V6 that is used in some form in every brand of GM car. In this particular car it was no speed demon, but it had a great sound. My biggest issues with the 3.6 is the roughness that comes at higher RPM's on some of the STS's and CTS's I drove but I can safely say this isn't present on the XTS. The powerband is smooth and there seems to be power ready at the press of the pedal. Power comes on slowly and builds... I'd guess around a 0-60 time of 7.0 seconds which isn't great, but it could be worse.
Handling/Ride: I didn't really get a chance to test the handling but from what I could tell on my 20 minute test drive I could instantly tell it handles better than the DTS ever could. There is understeer, but less than the DTS and honestly it felt more like a Seville STS from the drivers seat. The steering was ok, but felt kind of artificial and lacked any feel though that could be because I've owned a BMW for 2 months which would make anything feel artificial. The ride was extremely smooth, though it does ride harder than the DTS. It felt like a good mixture of DTS and Seville STS, which is a great combo. The one thing I did notice was how QUIET the interior was. I've driven hundreds of different cars in my life and this one is in the Top 5 of quietness, right up there with the LaCrosse and Enclave.
Issues/Complaints: There are a few, starting with the torque steer. Now I didn't test this but I was in the passenger seat and when the driver floored it he was having to wrestle with the steering wheel a bit. From what I've read the Hi-Per Strut suspension is supposed to solve this, but it didn't seem like it was doing its job very well. My STS never suffered from torque steer and it had a large V8 under the hood, so I'm surprised and disappointed Cadillac still hasn't remedied this yet. Another thing I noticed was the cheapness of the UltraView sunroof shade. The cloth had ragged edges and didn't look like it would stand up to more than 3 years of sun and sunroof opening and closing before it. It's an obvious oversight and is the only thing on the interior that looked out of place.
Overall, the XTS will be a good car for Cadillac to sell until a proper RWD sedan can come along. I think it will destroy the MKS's already weak sales and maybe steal some Lexus ES customers away, but I don't think anybody is going to be cross shopping a BMW or Mercedes with this car. At least I can sleep better at night knowing Cadillac can now build a true interior.
Exterior: Honestly in pictures I didn't think it was a great looking car. Not that it's horrible, but I felt that the rear end was just too elongated and the front was too tall and garish. In person though, that fades. The car has a decent presence, though nothing like a Mercedes or even a CTS. The front looks great with the LED headlights and LED door handles, and the rear shows off a nice looking tail-fin like treatment that hints at Cadillac's of past. The side profile in the A-pillar area unfortunately hints too much at the LaCrosse and i think makes the car look more downmarket. The razor sharp treatment from the Art and Science of the past 10 years is clearly lacking in this car. To car guys like myself, it's obvious that Cadillac shared from the LaCrosse and that isn't going to do it any favors when you're paying $20k more. Overall, it's a solid design though it could be better.
Interior: This is where the car really shines. Not only is it fully loaded with the latest technology, everything is extremely well build and well designed. The center stack draws your attention with it's elegant lighting and piano black finish, and the large display is beautiful and easy to read though it's quite the fingerprint magnet. The instrument cluster is very well laid out with plenty of information, and even on the lesser model cars without the configurable display still looks great. The interior as a whole is beautiful; the materials look like they came from a car costing twice as much and the seats are to die for with plenty of adjustments and glove soft leather. There is plenty of stretch out room and the backseat was plenty large, though roof line cuts down a little bit more than it should resulting in some tightness (I'm 5'10") but the legroom is fine. The interior is great, and it's obvious this is where GM spent lots of money.
Power: This model comes with the familiar 3.6L V6 that is used in some form in every brand of GM car. In this particular car it was no speed demon, but it had a great sound. My biggest issues with the 3.6 is the roughness that comes at higher RPM's on some of the STS's and CTS's I drove but I can safely say this isn't present on the XTS. The powerband is smooth and there seems to be power ready at the press of the pedal. Power comes on slowly and builds... I'd guess around a 0-60 time of 7.0 seconds which isn't great, but it could be worse.
Handling/Ride: I didn't really get a chance to test the handling but from what I could tell on my 20 minute test drive I could instantly tell it handles better than the DTS ever could. There is understeer, but less than the DTS and honestly it felt more like a Seville STS from the drivers seat. The steering was ok, but felt kind of artificial and lacked any feel though that could be because I've owned a BMW for 2 months which would make anything feel artificial. The ride was extremely smooth, though it does ride harder than the DTS. It felt like a good mixture of DTS and Seville STS, which is a great combo. The one thing I did notice was how QUIET the interior was. I've driven hundreds of different cars in my life and this one is in the Top 5 of quietness, right up there with the LaCrosse and Enclave.
Issues/Complaints: There are a few, starting with the torque steer. Now I didn't test this but I was in the passenger seat and when the driver floored it he was having to wrestle with the steering wheel a bit. From what I've read the Hi-Per Strut suspension is supposed to solve this, but it didn't seem like it was doing its job very well. My STS never suffered from torque steer and it had a large V8 under the hood, so I'm surprised and disappointed Cadillac still hasn't remedied this yet. Another thing I noticed was the cheapness of the UltraView sunroof shade. The cloth had ragged edges and didn't look like it would stand up to more than 3 years of sun and sunroof opening and closing before it. It's an obvious oversight and is the only thing on the interior that looked out of place.
Overall, the XTS will be a good car for Cadillac to sell until a proper RWD sedan can come along. I think it will destroy the MKS's already weak sales and maybe steal some Lexus ES customers away, but I don't think anybody is going to be cross shopping a BMW or Mercedes with this car. At least I can sleep better at night knowing Cadillac can now build a true interior.