ccclarke
Seasoned Member
This is a review I wrote for another Cadillac website, with a couple of minor revisions.
After moving to New England from the west coast and using my XLR as a daily driver on all but the worst days, I decided it was time to quit borrowing my wife's AWD vehicle for weeks at a time, and get one of my own. Of course, it goes without saying --it had to be a Cadillac, so I began my search in earnest online. I don't buy cars as often as a lot of my friends, so I invested a ridiculous amount of time and effort when researching a potential vehicle to ensure I'm satisfied with my purchase and don't end up with a terminal case of buyer's remorse.
When the XTS debuted, I checked one out during a dealership visit. I was more than impressed by the interior -arguably, the best GM has ever executed to date. Knowing Cadillacs depreciate to around 50% of their MSRP within four years, I started looking for a 2013 XTS. Thankfully, (for buyers) the XTS reached the 50% mark in only three!
I was greatly aided in my decision-making by the many XTS forum posts available. Generally, owners post to complain or seek help with problems. With 2013 being a first-year production model, I was cautiously apprehensive, so the reading phase of the many posts available was a big part of my research. Luckily, the re-occurring problems noted were few and minor. Firmware updates fixed many of them.
I flirted with the idea of having a sportier and more compact CTS, but the newer, XTS-style interior is just now available for that model, and as we all know, Cadillac pricing has gone way up in the last five years. An older, less expensive CTS couldn't compare with the newer interiors. I owned a CTS-V for seven years, and while it was comfortable and fast, it lacked the smooth-riding refinement I was in the market for in my present situation.
For those of you spoiled by smooth, well-maintained roads, driving on near-Third-World-quality roads takes some getting used to here in the NE. You risk traumatic brain injuries and loose fillings anytime you leave the garage to venture out on the open road. Driving an XLR in New England is a lot like riding inside a stagecoach, --only a low-riding stagecoach with greater HP and fewer flies. The roads are mined with varying depths of potholes, just waiting to destroy your wheels and wreak havoc with suspension components. Other assorted bumps, seams, and uneven road joints make for a terribly noisy and uneven ride. The XLR has the innate ability to magnify all of them.
After five, long months of online research to gauge pricing trends and checking out a number of vehicles in different trims and colors, I found the XTS I was searching for at a great price. The car was well-cared for and it's service history was uneventful. A six-year, 70,000 mile CPO warranty gave me peace of mind. The biggest surprise during the test drive was my wife commenting how much she liked the car -- she cares as much about cars as I do about thread count in sheets, so this was a very, very encouraging sign.
With two months of ownership under my seat belt, I'm delighted with the car. It has enough bells and whistles to keep veteran shuttle pilots satisfied. The suspension soaks up the bumps and interior noise suppression is instantly noticeable at highway speeds. This is probably the quietest vehicle I have ever ridden in, excluding a few nuclear submarines. The fourteen-speaker Bose sound system has to be one of the best factory stereos I've enjoyed listening to; the spacious volume of the interior compliments the acoustics, along with the microfiber roof liner. A little wind noise is noticeable at 65 MPH around the top, leading edge of the windshield. My passengers have unanimously agreed it is a very quiet car.
To paraphrase Pink Floyd, steering wheel feedback is comfortably numb, but the handling is just fine,-- with a hint of under-steer if you push it. It does take some seat time getting used to it since the car is actually much more capable than it initially leads one to believe. I take corners I regularly traverse at the same speeds as the XLR with total control, but it took some convincing without the steering and suspension feedback I'm used to. The Manual (sport) mode tightens up the shocks and offers paddle shifting, but this isn't a sporty car by any stretch of the imagination (even when outfitted as a VSport model.) It's a well-mannered, aerodynamic, luxo barge stuffed with lots of technology. Torque-steer is barely noticeable, even though the majority of the power is applied to the front wheels most of the time when outfitted as an AWD.
The CUE system surprised me, (in a positive way) since I read so much negative feedback regarding its operation. To be fair, it raises distracted driving to a whole new level, but the majority of the settings don't need to be adjusted when driving once they're configured. The most frequent adjustments I make, (volume control, track change) can be easily performed via the steering wheel-mounted controls. The voice commands cover a lot of the rest.
With the latest firmware updates, the Natural Voice Recognition software works surprisingly well, --though you do have to sit through some long-winded verifications as commands or command options are repeated to you --though there's an adjustment for that too. The haptic feedback from the display screen and front panel controls does a good job of verifying your command has been acknowledged. Some reviewers were dissatisfied with the CUE system speed, but I honestly haven't had an issue with it. It takes about three minutes to fully index all of the music on the hard driver before you're able to use voice commands to ask it to play songs by artist or name. Nothing is perfect, and since technology advances faster than the automotive industry can catch up, our performance expectations tend to remain ridiculously high where consumer electronics are concerned.
Based on what I've read and experienced first-hand, I think a lot of the nay-saying CUE reviewers didn't take the time to learn (and live with) the system (and it does take a few days -or weeks, depending on how much prior iOS time you have under your fingertips) before throwing rocks at it when the reviews were written. The majority of the online gripes I read are due to operator error. As someone once explained to me, "You have to be smarter than the equipment you're operating." The CUE display resolution is much more refined than most of the other automotive information systems I've viewed.
The vibrating Safety Alert Seat is a great idea whose time has come. It's unobtrusive, so none of your passengers have a clue that you almost side-swiped that semi in your blind spot when you were about to make a lane change. . . Sometimes ignorance is indeed bliss.
The exterior and interior lighting looks sharp. Approach the XTS at night, press the fob's Unlock button, and a programmed LED light show begins. Expect to receive a lot of positive feedback from first-time passengers. The lighted exterior LED door handles are a nice touch too. First-time passengers never know what to pull, push, or yank when trying to enter or exit an unfamiliar car; the XTS has strategically-placed lighting to eliminate any doubt. Once everyone is seated, and the doors are shut, the ambient lighting dims, --much like you would experience in a theater, to a pre-set level. The effect casts a warm glow throughout the interior and adds to the luxury atmosphere of the car. Kudos, GM lighting design gurus. My wife doesn't like being bathed in warm light, so I keep it dim (or off) when she's onboard to avoid hearing damage to my right ear.
Engine performance is more than adequate, but not mind-blowing fast. This is a V-6 after all, but it's tuned to similar HP output from prior NorthStars. The V-6 rewards by sipping regular fuel, and delivering better gas mileage. It doesn't have the low-end pull of a V-8, so you have to wait until the RPMs get higher to feel the acceleration start to come on. If you feel the need for speed, a twin-turbo VSport is available in the Premium and Platinum trim levels.
Before I experienced using one on a regular basis, I always thought a Heads-Up Display was a novelty. After enjoying the HUD in the XLR for seven years, I'm hooked, so the lack of one in a late-model Cadillac (think ELR) was a deal-breaker for me. I'm happy to report the latest version as found in the XTS is much improved, and reconfigurable too! That brings up another great feature - the re-configurable dash cluster. I love it. It's visible in all lighting conditions and being able to display just the info I want (or don't) is very useful. With four displays to choose from, there's bound to be one that fits your needs. Each section of the display has user-defined info that can be planted there. I really like having navigation cues displayed at eye-level on the HUD instead of having to shift my gaze to a center stack screen. One HUD feature that's pretty cool is the 100-foot incremental countdown from a 1000-foot start after the range to a turn drops below 1/4 mile. That equates to fewer missed side roads and subsequent U-turns for me at night.
At 18 cubic feet, the trunk is spacious enough to accommodate three golf bags or medium-sized adults (Mafia capos, take note.) Visibility is surprisingly good for a vehicle of this size -the window as viewed through the rear-view mirror has that wide angle, bunker slit look reminiscent of my 2002 Eldorado that I always liked. The augmented reality lines that appear on the rear camera display bend in response to the steering wheel for accurate vehicle placement. The side-view mirrors work well and light up when someone sits in your bind spot - I'm glad I don't have to worry about lane-splitting motorcycles in CA anymore though, but these might have helped in stop-and-go traffic. A motorized rear sun shade retracts when the transmission is placed in Reverse. Both passenger windows have manually-operated privacy/sun shades. This gives them the feeling of being pampered and special -which of course, they are. -- Unless they're drunk and queasy when I'm the designated driver.
The full opus (--as opposed to half-opus?!) leather seats are the softest of any of the Cadillacs I've owned; the rest felt like cardboard in comparison. The texture is exactly like what I have on my den furniture. The contrasting purple stitching elicits favorable comments from passengers consistently. Weird, I know, but they do notice it right away. The seats are all-day comfortable, though not as supportive as say, my old CTS-V, which enveloped the driver. Seat comfort is a subjective thing with so many body types to contend with, so your mileage may vary. I don't have any major complaints, though I wish the ventilated seat (Swamp Ass Reduction Mode) feature had a Turbo Mode. Sometimes I can readily feel cool air, and others, not so much. My wife's Traverse's cooled seats can ascend one's testicles in less than five minutes flat. (She doesn't know this obviously, but I'm living proof the capability exists within GM to make a very, very chilled seat.)
Speaking of leather, a small herd of cows gave the ultimate sacrifice for the Platinum trim level of this car. It flows all over the interior. I was torn between the Premium and Platinum trim levels when making my buying decision since there was up to a $5,000 difference in a few of the cars. The Platinum won me over with its extra features like the super-soft seats, and two-toned interior trim combo. Since I'm going to be keeping this car for the next seven years, (until I leave here) I wanted a vehicle I would really enjoy for the duration. The XTS (as a certified, prior-owned vehicle) offers a lot of luxury bang for the buck. This vehicle checks nearly all of my personal wish-list boxes nicely.
CC
After moving to New England from the west coast and using my XLR as a daily driver on all but the worst days, I decided it was time to quit borrowing my wife's AWD vehicle for weeks at a time, and get one of my own. Of course, it goes without saying --it had to be a Cadillac, so I began my search in earnest online. I don't buy cars as often as a lot of my friends, so I invested a ridiculous amount of time and effort when researching a potential vehicle to ensure I'm satisfied with my purchase and don't end up with a terminal case of buyer's remorse.
When the XTS debuted, I checked one out during a dealership visit. I was more than impressed by the interior -arguably, the best GM has ever executed to date. Knowing Cadillacs depreciate to around 50% of their MSRP within four years, I started looking for a 2013 XTS. Thankfully, (for buyers) the XTS reached the 50% mark in only three!
I was greatly aided in my decision-making by the many XTS forum posts available. Generally, owners post to complain or seek help with problems. With 2013 being a first-year production model, I was cautiously apprehensive, so the reading phase of the many posts available was a big part of my research. Luckily, the re-occurring problems noted were few and minor. Firmware updates fixed many of them.
I flirted with the idea of having a sportier and more compact CTS, but the newer, XTS-style interior is just now available for that model, and as we all know, Cadillac pricing has gone way up in the last five years. An older, less expensive CTS couldn't compare with the newer interiors. I owned a CTS-V for seven years, and while it was comfortable and fast, it lacked the smooth-riding refinement I was in the market for in my present situation.
For those of you spoiled by smooth, well-maintained roads, driving on near-Third-World-quality roads takes some getting used to here in the NE. You risk traumatic brain injuries and loose fillings anytime you leave the garage to venture out on the open road. Driving an XLR in New England is a lot like riding inside a stagecoach, --only a low-riding stagecoach with greater HP and fewer flies. The roads are mined with varying depths of potholes, just waiting to destroy your wheels and wreak havoc with suspension components. Other assorted bumps, seams, and uneven road joints make for a terribly noisy and uneven ride. The XLR has the innate ability to magnify all of them.
After five, long months of online research to gauge pricing trends and checking out a number of vehicles in different trims and colors, I found the XTS I was searching for at a great price. The car was well-cared for and it's service history was uneventful. A six-year, 70,000 mile CPO warranty gave me peace of mind. The biggest surprise during the test drive was my wife commenting how much she liked the car -- she cares as much about cars as I do about thread count in sheets, so this was a very, very encouraging sign.
With two months of ownership under my seat belt, I'm delighted with the car. It has enough bells and whistles to keep veteran shuttle pilots satisfied. The suspension soaks up the bumps and interior noise suppression is instantly noticeable at highway speeds. This is probably the quietest vehicle I have ever ridden in, excluding a few nuclear submarines. The fourteen-speaker Bose sound system has to be one of the best factory stereos I've enjoyed listening to; the spacious volume of the interior compliments the acoustics, along with the microfiber roof liner. A little wind noise is noticeable at 65 MPH around the top, leading edge of the windshield. My passengers have unanimously agreed it is a very quiet car.
To paraphrase Pink Floyd, steering wheel feedback is comfortably numb, but the handling is just fine,-- with a hint of under-steer if you push it. It does take some seat time getting used to it since the car is actually much more capable than it initially leads one to believe. I take corners I regularly traverse at the same speeds as the XLR with total control, but it took some convincing without the steering and suspension feedback I'm used to. The Manual (sport) mode tightens up the shocks and offers paddle shifting, but this isn't a sporty car by any stretch of the imagination (even when outfitted as a VSport model.) It's a well-mannered, aerodynamic, luxo barge stuffed with lots of technology. Torque-steer is barely noticeable, even though the majority of the power is applied to the front wheels most of the time when outfitted as an AWD.
The CUE system surprised me, (in a positive way) since I read so much negative feedback regarding its operation. To be fair, it raises distracted driving to a whole new level, but the majority of the settings don't need to be adjusted when driving once they're configured. The most frequent adjustments I make, (volume control, track change) can be easily performed via the steering wheel-mounted controls. The voice commands cover a lot of the rest.
With the latest firmware updates, the Natural Voice Recognition software works surprisingly well, --though you do have to sit through some long-winded verifications as commands or command options are repeated to you --though there's an adjustment for that too. The haptic feedback from the display screen and front panel controls does a good job of verifying your command has been acknowledged. Some reviewers were dissatisfied with the CUE system speed, but I honestly haven't had an issue with it. It takes about three minutes to fully index all of the music on the hard driver before you're able to use voice commands to ask it to play songs by artist or name. Nothing is perfect, and since technology advances faster than the automotive industry can catch up, our performance expectations tend to remain ridiculously high where consumer electronics are concerned.
Based on what I've read and experienced first-hand, I think a lot of the nay-saying CUE reviewers didn't take the time to learn (and live with) the system (and it does take a few days -or weeks, depending on how much prior iOS time you have under your fingertips) before throwing rocks at it when the reviews were written. The majority of the online gripes I read are due to operator error. As someone once explained to me, "You have to be smarter than the equipment you're operating." The CUE display resolution is much more refined than most of the other automotive information systems I've viewed.
The vibrating Safety Alert Seat is a great idea whose time has come. It's unobtrusive, so none of your passengers have a clue that you almost side-swiped that semi in your blind spot when you were about to make a lane change. . . Sometimes ignorance is indeed bliss.
The exterior and interior lighting looks sharp. Approach the XTS at night, press the fob's Unlock button, and a programmed LED light show begins. Expect to receive a lot of positive feedback from first-time passengers. The lighted exterior LED door handles are a nice touch too. First-time passengers never know what to pull, push, or yank when trying to enter or exit an unfamiliar car; the XTS has strategically-placed lighting to eliminate any doubt. Once everyone is seated, and the doors are shut, the ambient lighting dims, --much like you would experience in a theater, to a pre-set level. The effect casts a warm glow throughout the interior and adds to the luxury atmosphere of the car. Kudos, GM lighting design gurus. My wife doesn't like being bathed in warm light, so I keep it dim (or off) when she's onboard to avoid hearing damage to my right ear.
Engine performance is more than adequate, but not mind-blowing fast. This is a V-6 after all, but it's tuned to similar HP output from prior NorthStars. The V-6 rewards by sipping regular fuel, and delivering better gas mileage. It doesn't have the low-end pull of a V-8, so you have to wait until the RPMs get higher to feel the acceleration start to come on. If you feel the need for speed, a twin-turbo VSport is available in the Premium and Platinum trim levels.
Before I experienced using one on a regular basis, I always thought a Heads-Up Display was a novelty. After enjoying the HUD in the XLR for seven years, I'm hooked, so the lack of one in a late-model Cadillac (think ELR) was a deal-breaker for me. I'm happy to report the latest version as found in the XTS is much improved, and reconfigurable too! That brings up another great feature - the re-configurable dash cluster. I love it. It's visible in all lighting conditions and being able to display just the info I want (or don't) is very useful. With four displays to choose from, there's bound to be one that fits your needs. Each section of the display has user-defined info that can be planted there. I really like having navigation cues displayed at eye-level on the HUD instead of having to shift my gaze to a center stack screen. One HUD feature that's pretty cool is the 100-foot incremental countdown from a 1000-foot start after the range to a turn drops below 1/4 mile. That equates to fewer missed side roads and subsequent U-turns for me at night.
At 18 cubic feet, the trunk is spacious enough to accommodate three golf bags or medium-sized adults (Mafia capos, take note.) Visibility is surprisingly good for a vehicle of this size -the window as viewed through the rear-view mirror has that wide angle, bunker slit look reminiscent of my 2002 Eldorado that I always liked. The augmented reality lines that appear on the rear camera display bend in response to the steering wheel for accurate vehicle placement. The side-view mirrors work well and light up when someone sits in your bind spot - I'm glad I don't have to worry about lane-splitting motorcycles in CA anymore though, but these might have helped in stop-and-go traffic. A motorized rear sun shade retracts when the transmission is placed in Reverse. Both passenger windows have manually-operated privacy/sun shades. This gives them the feeling of being pampered and special -which of course, they are. -- Unless they're drunk and queasy when I'm the designated driver.
The full opus (--as opposed to half-opus?!) leather seats are the softest of any of the Cadillacs I've owned; the rest felt like cardboard in comparison. The texture is exactly like what I have on my den furniture. The contrasting purple stitching elicits favorable comments from passengers consistently. Weird, I know, but they do notice it right away. The seats are all-day comfortable, though not as supportive as say, my old CTS-V, which enveloped the driver. Seat comfort is a subjective thing with so many body types to contend with, so your mileage may vary. I don't have any major complaints, though I wish the ventilated seat (Swamp Ass Reduction Mode) feature had a Turbo Mode. Sometimes I can readily feel cool air, and others, not so much. My wife's Traverse's cooled seats can ascend one's testicles in less than five minutes flat. (She doesn't know this obviously, but I'm living proof the capability exists within GM to make a very, very chilled seat.)
Speaking of leather, a small herd of cows gave the ultimate sacrifice for the Platinum trim level of this car. It flows all over the interior. I was torn between the Premium and Platinum trim levels when making my buying decision since there was up to a $5,000 difference in a few of the cars. The Platinum won me over with its extra features like the super-soft seats, and two-toned interior trim combo. Since I'm going to be keeping this car for the next seven years, (until I leave here) I wanted a vehicle I would really enjoy for the duration. The XTS (as a certified, prior-owned vehicle) offers a lot of luxury bang for the buck. This vehicle checks nearly all of my personal wish-list boxes nicely.
CC
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