Cadillac DTS Luxury Sedan
Released in 2000, the DTS uses GM’s G-platform, unibody structure, and the 2006 DTS has a sharp-edged Art & Science look

We shouldn’t like this car. As enthusiasts, we can look up from our cornflakes and see about twenty other big, hi-lux sedans that outperform the DTS in every conceivable measure, from luxury appointments to handling, from styling to fit-and-finish. In sophistication, the Cadillac DTS is outgunned ten-to-one by anything else in its class.
 

But the fact is, we do like this car.
Maybe it’s the sheer intransigence of the thing. Nobody else is making barge-class, front-engined, front-wheel-drive luxury sedans (except Lincoln, and theirs is an ancient and ridiculous body-on-frame Town Car, so fuhgedaboudit). Introduced in 2000, the DTS uses GM’s still-sound G-platform. It’s a tight unibody structure, noted for its rigidity and isolation. GM did a lot of work on this platform, and it shows in the DTS’s silent and composed ride.

Handsome Design
Cadillac has revised the body style for the 2006 DTS to reflect the rest of their sharp-edged “Art & Science” design ethic. The car is dramatically better for the effort. Seen from head-on, you’re facing a big wreath logo set in an egg-crate grill between twin stacked projector beam headlights. Move around to the side, and the DTS has a very pleasing balance, derived from nicely canted A and C pillars that start a gentle run down the front and rear flanks. The rump is unmistakable Cadillac, with tall lamp lenses that evoke the finned frenzy of the Fifties, and a broad blade of center lamp LEDs on the top edge of the enormous trunk. In all, it’s a square-shouldered, confident design – nothing flashy, nothing that’ll win design awards, but quiet, strong and not overdone. Good job, Caddy.
 

A Pampered Perch
Inside, Cadillac has taken some ergonomic lessons to heart, principally from Acura and Volkswagen. This is a nice place to be. Again, there’s nothing here that will challenge Lexus or Audi for their place at the top of automotive interior design. But then, this is a car meant to put older folks at ease while still making them feel special. For that purpose, the interior works very well. The navigation system looks like a dead-ringer for Acura’s outstanding system, and finish and materials are vastly superior to past Cadillac practice. The seats will warm you, cool you and even massage your lumbar region if you select the (albeit expensive) upgrade packages. Among the niceties available are a heated steering wheel, a big sunroof, power rear sun shade, the aforementioned nav system, fancier leather, adaptive cruise control and the ever-vigilant OnStar system. Buyers will feel well cared for in here.

Willing Engine, Weak Drivetrain
What they won’t feel is much in the way of acceleration or passing verve. The engine at work here (though you can barely hear it work) is GM’s very capable 4.6 liter Northstar V8. This engine was designed about a decade ago, but GM engine guys did a complete job with it. In the DTS it’s spinning out 275 torquey horsepower: smoothly, efficiently, but not thrillingly. The speedo swings past 60 in about 7 seconds under full throttle. Shoving two and a quarter tons of car around is no easy duty, but the Northstar is further hobbled by an absolutely antiquated 4-speed automatic. Every other competitor uses at least 5 cogs in their automatics. Most use six. Mercedes uses seven, while Lexus has doubled the Caddy’s number with eight forward speeds in their flagship LS sedans. Even the mostly senior citizens who will drive the DTS, and aren’t typically interested in whiz-bang engineering, deserve better than this. Come on, Cadillac: for the price of this car (base is about $42,000 and quickly exceeds $55,000 with a loaded example), a 4-speed slush box is an insult. Catch up, guys.
 
Composed Bearing
On the road, the DTS is a commendably quiet and competent cruiser – as long as you don’t move from a waltz to a flamenco. The nicely tuned suspension has done away with the wallowing, sea sickness-inducing float that Cadillac’s were known for in previous generations, and ride motions are luxuriously snubbed. Still, the car is no dancer, but then it doesn’t pretend to be. With about sixty percent of its considerable mass squashing the front wheels (which are also doing the driving, remember), the DTS likes to be coaxed around a curve, not hustled. Resolute understeer is the prevailing attitude, and making your tires squeal while cornering at 20 miles per hour is just downright embarrassing.
 
So don’t do that. You want smoky launches, back road athletics and engineering gee-whiz? Get a Lexus, an Acura or any of the big German sedans. In the Cadillac DTS, you sit back, you let the unobtrusive acceleration move you leisurely forward, and you forget about driving excitement. The DTS is a loafer, and it doesn’t care about any exhibitionist shenanigans. But it’s an awfully good loafer, and we still like it.
 

GET IT:
…when big American volume and creamy luxury become important to your bones.
 
DON’T GET IT:
…when you’re still young enough to get off on brake torqueing and power slides.