Cadillac’s new CT6 is just about perfect — except for one thing,
It might possibly be the best big luxury sedan in the world
LOS ANGELES Loaded with advanced technology and luxury features, the 2016 Cadillac CT6 sedan is built to beat the Germans at their own game by becoming the best big luxury sedan in the world.
The CT6 makes a good case. Big and roomy, it drives like a smaller car, thanks to radical lightweight body engineering and features like 4-wheel steering. On twisty mountain roads, crowded California highways and busy city streets, the CT6 delivered the goods: luxury, performance, comfort, quiet and connectivity.
The CT6 competes with large high-end luxury sedans such as the Audi A8, BMW 7 Series, Jaguar XJ, Lexus LS and Mercedes S-Class. In terms of wheelbase, length and passenger space, it’s a bit bigger than the short-wheelbase versions of those cars and smaller than their stretched models. Trunk space is in the middle.
The CT6 is extraordinarily light, thanks to judicious use of aluminum and high-strength steel and innovative structural engineering by General Motors. The car’s structural parts are nearly all aluminum, but the passenger compartment is made mostly of high-strength steel. While the steel is heavier than aluminum, chief engineer Travis Hester explains that it’s also denser, allowing Cadillac to reduce total weight because it didn’t have to use as much sound insulation to overcome aluminum’s acoustic properties.
The all-wheel-drive 335-horsepower V-6 CT6 that I drove from Los Angeles to Detroit has a base curb weight of just 3,963 pounds. That’s an amazing 384 pounds lighter than a less-powerful, shorter, rear-wheel-drive 2015 BMW 740i.
The CT6 will offer three drive trains when it goes on sale in March. The 3.6-liter, 335-horsepower V-6 in my test car is the middle model. The power-to-weight ratio is enough to easily beat the Audi A8 3.0T, BMW 740i, Jaguar XJL AWD and Lexus LS 460.
The cheapest version of the CT6 will come with 2-liter, 265horsepower, turbocharged 4cylinder engine. That sounds like a very small engine for a big car, but the CT6’s light weight gives it more than acceptable acceleration. The top model has a 404- horsepower twin-turbo 3-liter V-6. An 8-speed automatic transmission is standard on all CT6s.
The 4-cylinder CT6 has rearwheel-drive. The V-6s all come with AWD. A plug-in hybrid is scheduled to go on sale in 2017.
Inside, the CT6’s passenger compartment is roomy and advanced. It has more passenger space than the competitors’ short-wheelbase models, but German luxury brands Audi, BMW and Mercedes have already responded to that by downplaying those SWB models in favor of stretched sedans with cavernous interiors and more room than the CT6.
That’s a valuable bragging point in a vehicle segment where size matters.
The CT6’s controls are easy to use, perhaps the simplest among big luxury cars. A faster processor and new switches and buttons resolve issues that dogged earlier Cadillacs. A touchpad on the center console doesn’t improve things, but does no harm.
The CT6’s interior is covered in high-end materials: good wood, leather and carbon fiber meet the eye and hand at every turn.
Is the CT6 the Cadillac that today’s luxury buyers can’t ignore? Not yet. What the CT6 lacks is a headline-grabbing feature that demands the attention of people who don’t normally consider buying a Cadillac. The advanced semi-autonomous “super cruise” feature that’s coming next year might qualify.
As sales begin, it feels like a word-of-mouth car: a car that’s better than the competition, but only the smart buyers know about it.