What It Is: The XTS is a big, plush Cadillac sedan inward the old-school tradition, which makes it decidedly out of sync alongside the American luxury brand’s electrical flow force to compete alongside the best German linguistic communication sports sedans. (Even so, it’s outselling the ATS, CTS, as well as CT6 as well as was Caddy’s best-selling rider motorcar inward 2016 as well as 2017.) Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 twelvemonth afterward the XTS’s launch for 2013, Cadillac made some essay to spice upward the large, front-wheel-drive-based cruiser yesteryear adding a V-Sport variant that brought measure all-wheel stimulate as well as a twin-turbocharged 3.6-liter V-6 producing a strong 410 horsepower as well as 369 lb-ft of torque. But the large ability exactly served to distract from the XTS’s considerable two-ton-plus curb weight as well as humble edifice blocks shared alongside the Buick LaCrosse as well as the Chevrolet Impala.
Why We Tested It as well as How It Performed: The XTS received a mid-cycle refresh for 2018, as well as then nosotros strapped our exam equipment to a V-Sport model for the outset fourth dimension inward nearly 5 years to come across if anything had changed alongside the Caddy’s rails performance. Given that the updates were mostly visual, nosotros weren’t also surprised to expose that the numbers were mostly the same this fourth dimension around. Zero to lx mph took 5.2 seconds, matching the 2014 exam car, acre the quarter-mile fourth dimension as well as trap speed were unchanged, too, at 13.6 seconds at 105 mph. Despite Cadillac’s claim that all 2018 XTS models ride on novel tires, our exam motorcar wore the exact same all-season Bridgestone Potenza condom every bit the 2014 V-Sport, which made for a similar, if slightly improved, skidpad upshot of 0.82 g.
We’d hold out remiss if nosotros didn’t job upward those numbers against Cadillac’s truthful state-of-the-art sports sedan, the CTS V-Sport, which shares its engine alongside the XTS V-Sport but uses General Motors’ fabulous rear-wheel-drive Alpha platform for genuinely hallowed driving dynamics. Weighing 461 pounds less than the pudgy XTS, the CTS turned inward a 0.7-second-quicker zero-to-60-mph time, a 0.11-g-better skidpad performance, as well as a 16-foot-shorter halt from lxx mph—all of which makes it the obvious choice for truthful driving enthusiasts looking inside a Cadillac showroom.
What We Like: The XTS’s strengths prevarication inward its pleasing ride character as well as serene isolation that ready the cabin a hushed, comfortable house to acre away the miles. Sure, a softie similar this does non alive upward to the athletic expectations that the V-Sport badge brings, but the blown V-6 does render effortless ability for highway passing, as well as the six-speed automatic is mostly inoffensive inward its shifting.
We also were by as well as large impressed alongside the materials establish inside the XTS; the dashboard’s assembly character struck us every bit an improvement over other recent Cadillac exam cars, as well as the tan leather looked as well as felt good. And although the CTS may outpace the XTS on a curvy road, it cannot come upward some the XTS’s palatial raise seat, which offers generous legroom as well as headroom.
What We Don’t Like: For every bit much grunt every bit the twin-turbo V-6 offers, the XTS’s chassis is unnervingly flaccid, lacking the trunk command as well as agility that nosotros expression from whatever sports sedan, permit lone i wearing badging from a sporty sub-brand as well as alongside upward of 400 horsepower. The steering is low-cal as well as overly boosted, sapping confidence every bit the heavy front end terminate pushes broad inward aggressively driven corners as well as the all-wheel-drive organisation struggles to shift ability rearward chop-chop plenty to scrap the hints of torque steer tugging at the front end wheels.
The fussy CUE infotainment organisation as well as dismal 15-mpg observed average farther dim the XTS’s appeal, but the absurd $73,490 base of operations cost is genuinely the boom inward the coffin. While the XTS V-Sport comes fully loaded, the vastly to a greater extent than satisfying CTS V-Sport—not to lift numerous other bully luxury sedans—can hold out had for to a greater extent than than $10,000 less. There powerfulness hold out an declaration to hold out made for the to a greater extent than reasonably priced, non–V-Sport XTS trims (which get at $53,390 alongside all-wheel drive), but this hi-po version of Caddy’s staff of life as well as butter defies logic.
Verdict: A foreign blend of quondam as well as novel Cadillac that fails to shape a cohesive whole.
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Source : caranddriver