Cadillac, one of the oldest and most inventive automotive marques, is at yet another intriguing juncture in its 114-year history. The brand of Leland, Murphy, and Bowen has spent the last few years obsessing over its street and track performance image. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. There was Bob Lutz’s CTS-V Challenge in 2009. And the ATS commercial spots that were all about aggressive driving. Luxury customers in recent years who expect a certain degree of cosseting might not have understood the hullabaloo around Cadillac’s fascination with going fast around corners. These customers are probably looking for a Cadillac like the CT6.
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“If you look at the CT6 and what it represents, it takes us back to, in a way, that spiritual home of Cadillac,” Cadillac president Johan de Nysschen says. “It’s the market segment where this great brand was built. It’s the segment at the top of the class. It’s the large, refined, luxurious sedan. But it’s also a car that, while it draws on our heritage, it’s one that is absolutely forward-looking and forward-thinking. It is a car like no other.” All right then.
The CT6 is now the biggest Caddy sedan in the lineup, the de facto flagship (there’s still room above the CT6, we’re promised), and the first in the collection to use the new alphanumeric naming policy (Cadillac Touring plus a number). The numbering harkens back to a Cadillac before models called de Ville, Fleetwood, and Eldorado entrenched themselves as dedicated names. With the CT6, the vision of the brand’s future has never been clearer.
The CT6 adheres to the classical “long, low, wide” creed ingrained into top-of-the-line luxury cars a lot better than the less elegant XTS, boasting body measurements 2.1 inches longer and 1.1 inches wider and lower. Plus, critically, it has a wheelbase 10.7 inches longer. Although the CT6 will be naturally positioned to challenge the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7 Series, and Audi A8 club, we’re told it’s truly aiming to bridge the gap between traditional luxury midsize and full-size sedans. Research indicates there are consumers seeking a big car that effortlessly combines the interior space of a full-sizer with the on-road agility more becoming of a midsizer, CT6 chief engineer Travis Hester says. Enter the new Omega platform, a result of advanced aluminum and steel unibody manufacturing and joining processes. Paring poundage so effectively at the structural level pushes the base CT6 with the 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder to a manufacturer-claimed 3,650-pound curb weight. That’d make this four-door lighter than the last Chevrolet Impala (3,793 pounds) we tested.
Our drive begins with said LTG 2.0-liter four-cylinder supplying 265 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque. It’s Hester’s favorite mill of the three engines present at the CT6’s introduction, and it does not feel out of place in the car. The Luxury-grade sedan barely registers a shake as it turns over, it conceals cabin vibration well as the I-4 idles, and the engine doesn’t much allow its presence to be known vocally. Paired only with rear-wheel drive in the base and Luxury trims—adding all-wheel drive to the LTG would have put the hood height higher than desired—the engine and eight-speed automatic transmission do a fine job getting the luxury cruiser down the road. It easily lopes along with the transmission, preferring to hold the four-cylinder a little above 2,000 rpm on a winding country road. Peak torque is a short swing of the tachometer away at 3,000 rpm. Attempts to provoke the eight-speed into a hard shift by suddenly lifting and stabbing at the gas pedal fail. Flatfooting the accelerator produces surprising thrust, and Cadillac estimates a 0-60 time of 6.1 seconds, which feels conceivable considering we tracked a 3,463-pound ATS Coupe also packing the LTG (and a six-speed auto) to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds
The four-cylinder will serve well as the CT6’s cost-leading powertrain, but Hester says the naturally aspirated, LGX 3.6-liter V-6 will likely be the “comfortable” choice for shoppers. We’ll have to wait for another day to try the LGX; after the LTG-powered experience, we were ushered directly into an enthusiast’s special CT6. The Luxury model is the only trim with all three I-4 and V-6 launch engines available; the upmarket Premium and Platinum only offer V-6s. (Also look for a plug-in hybrid and all-new V-8 down the line.) The CT6 Luxury starts at $59,390, already a pittance in the full-size luxury sedan segment, and another $6,000 brings the new LGW 3.0-liter, twin-turbo V-6 with 404 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque into play. Both V-6s are matched with all-wheel drive; no rear-drive/V-6 shenanigans here. With a couple of key options, most notably the $3,300 Active Chassis package featuring magnetorheological shock absorbers, active rear steer, quicker steering, and 20-inch wheels, this $73,665 specimen is built to compete in magazine comparisons. The 0-60 estimate drops to 5.3 seconds. It even has the optional 245/40R20 Pirelli P Zero summer tire (expected to cost $500 a set) that will be accessible a month after production commences in Hamtramck, Michigan.
It’s when we attack our first set of corners that we grasp the full conundrum the CT6 and the brand itself face. The latent loyalty that pervades the world of luxury automobiles applies immense downward pressure on Cadillac. We understand a core set of buyers have been waiting for a new big Caddy. And as it goes nowadays, the CT6 must offer all of the size, luxury, and performance expected of a flagship. But the battle continues to focus on evolving the brand and reclaiming the all-world prestige that Cadillac had earned early in its life through engineering and luxury excellence.
Let’s cut straight to the chase. Cadillac can create a technologically advanced, technically excellent, and tremendously competitive full-size sedan and sell them at bargain prices. But luxury goods (and cars in general) are rarely traded on merit alone. Mercedes fans will say the S-Class is better at feeling more substantial and heavier (read: luxurious) on the road than the CT6. Audi fans will say the A8 is better at using a proportionally greater amount of aluminum in its construction. BMW fans will say the 7 Series is better at wearing a Roundel badge.
Both versions of the CT6 we sampled steer with more clarity than a 2016 BMW 750i xDrive with the M Sport package. The Cadillac feels nimbler and unquestionably lighter on its feet than its competitors from behind the steering wheel. The CT6 Luxury with the LTG, wearing 19-inch wheels and Goodyear Eagle all-season tires, achieves a nice equilibrium of suppleness, roll control, and grip for a big, long, low, and wide car. The one with the “big” LGW engine, 20-inch wheels, summer tires, MR shocks, and rear steer (the rear wheels turn in-phase up to 2.75 degrees at higher speeds for faster lateral response) seems ready to haul POTUS away from baddies on a mountain road at breakneck pace. The ride is firmer, the body control is sharper, and the rear end lets you know it can be of assistance. The enthusiast special has more speed that’s easy to use and higher limits that don’t feel as unwieldy as in heavier cars. Both cars have PAS/PAL (Performance Algorithm Shifting/Performance Algorithm Liftfoot) as found in other Caddies. The gear-holding function will activate automatically if the car detects it’s being driven spiritedly enough based on inputs such as yaw rate and accelerator and brake pedal application. PAS/PAL can be manually triggered in Sport mode by flattening the gas pedal and then immediately lifting. This is how the CT6 must live. It must be the definitive luxury car, but Cadillac can’t totally throw the performance card away.
The CT6 corners a lot better than it needs to and provides a spacious and quiet (particularly on all-season tires) interior, where criticisms inevitably come down to nitpicking (such as the console trackpad takes some getting used to). It has available features including a video camera-fed rearview mirror display and Bose Panaray sound system that incorporates 34 speakers mounted in 19 different locations. Super Cruise, the semi-automated driver’s aid, is due in 2017. What the CT6 doesn’t have in the equipment list is time. It’s old-fashioned time working in conjunction with solid product that will help elevate the brand.
President de Nysschen would agree.
“Of course, if we think about the CT6, we know we’re also operating in a market where there’s been a dramatic shift in buying preference to crossovers,” de Nysschen says. “No doubt also influenced by the current status of energy prices. Many people have asked me, ‘Why are you guys doing yet another large sedan? You surely are behind the curve.’
“Well, if we think about a resurgent Cadillac brand, then we also have to anticipate the fact that the sedan market is where you build reputation. And you build reputation in the market sector that represents the pinnacle of engineering, of technology, of the state of the art, so to speak.”
Cadillac has endured many ups and downs but has etched its place in history for its ingenuity. With the CT6, we suspect we’re in an upswell.
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