The 2021 XT4 FWD Premium Luxury is not your grandfather’s old Cadillac. But since he’s retiring his full-sized luxury sedans and adopting CUVs, it could be his new Cadillac.
Cadillac has made strides in its build quality, and it shows the 2021 XT4: This SUV feels solid. Its doors close with a Mercedes-like thunk. The cabin touchpoints are tightly screwed together. (So long as you don’t probe the out-of-the-way pieces.) The conservatively-attractive dash satisfies the fingers. CUE 2.0 is responsive and easy to navigate, and has great smartphone connectivity. All of the frequently used commands have hard buttons for quick access, and I especially like the metal HVAC switches for their tactility and precision. There’s even a clever slot for your smartphone; not that Gramps has one yet. But he’ll find the XT4’s interior a pleasant place to spend time.
I’ve tested XT4s before. To enthusiast drivers, they are uninspiring machines. The suspension is too soft for canyon work and lets the chassis wallow over undulations and mid-corner bumps. The quick and light steering is appreciated in a parking lot, but it’s too nervous for such a rolly-polly SUV and demands undue levels of attention in side-to-side transitions. (Slow hands are needed to gently settle the weight and avoid head toss; best of luck in an emergency lane change!) When laboring, the engine has the aural charm of a coffee grinder.
A driver’s car, this is not. But as a transportation appliance, this $39,795 compact SUV ($47,175 as tested) has many merits.
As in Gramp’s prior land yachts, the XT4’s floaty suspension delivers a cloud-like ride. Cadillac’s old V8s are dying out, and instead, the XT4 wafts along on the low-RPM torque from a turbo-4. Though it’s a modest 2.0L unit, it has the guts to pull the XT4 along at 90 mph without breaking a sweat. Plus, in highway cruising, the engine speaks so softly that it can’t be heard over the wind and tires. As a soft riding, numb steering, and highway blitzer, the XT5 reminds me of an Audi Q5. That is a sincere compliment.
Cadillac’s 9-speed transmission is well programmed. In automatic mode, the shifts are smooth, and the transmission avoids hunting for gears. Shifts can be manually requested via paddles; I found manual mode useful for keeping the XT4’s speed checked on a long mountain descent.
The XT4 is a high-riding SUV, and from the driver’s seat, I look over the cars around me. Cadillac’s chopped greenhouse does create a problem for tall drivers: the short windscreen places the rear-view mirror right at my eye level, blocking out the road ahead. The rear window has a similar problem; the central brake light dips into the window and hides traffic. I find myself using the wing mirrors to see what is going on behind me.
I like the way Cadillac does safety. When backing up, the XT4 watches for cross-traffic and shakes the seat if I’m entering another vehicle’s path. To catch my eye if when I’m monitoring the sharp backup camera, the XT4 flashes an arrow in the direction of the approaching traffic. For the forward collision warning, red lights are projected onto the windscreen, drawing my eyes up and onto the road. These two features are standard with my tester’s Premium Luxury trim. My tester also has the $470 Driver Awareness Package, which reports the following distance to the car ahead in seconds, and adds lane-keeping assistance and auto high-beams.
I took the XT4 on a 300-mile highway journey across California for some family sledding in the Sierras. My family has recently grown to four, and the XT4 seated us all comfortably. The infants’s rear-facing seat—a compact Cybex Aton 2—forced us to scooch the front seat a few inches forward, but my wife still had plenty of room up front. My 5-year old’s child seat fit behind the driver (me), and while she could have kicked the smithereens out of my seatback, she was well behaved today. (The XT4’s rear bench is not wide enough to seat an adult between the two outboard child seats, and backseat adults over 6′-1″ tall will hit their heads on the low ceiling.)
The only difficulty in getting us to the snow was loading the 4-foot long sled into the car. The sled could not be swallowed widthwise or lengthwise in the trunk, and I had to poke it over the rear seat headrests to make it fit. Regular-shaped luggage won’t be a problem; I could pack four large rolling suitcases without blocking any rear visibility.
After some joyous sledding fun, I appreciated the heated steering wheel and the seat massage. The seat massage is a low-budget affair. The seat’s lower, middle and upper lumbar supports inflate in sequence, simulating rolling pressure along my lower back. While the XT4 is much less accomplished at massage than, say, a BMW 7-series, the option’s cost is much cheaper too. The Comfort and Convenience package is just $950.
So would Gramps like Caddy’s smallest SUV? Absolutely! He likes solid, comfortable, American-made cars. He appreciates easy ingress and maneuverability, and shies away from tech-heavy cars like Teslas. The XT4’s soft ride and quiet cruising will shine in Gramps and Gran’s trips across the Midwest. And if they want to treat their friends to dinner upon arrival, the Cadillac’s backseat will comfortably accommodate the second couple too.
(Millennials, however, should spend their $47k on a Tesla Model Y. The Y’s snappy electric drivetrain, buttoned-down handling, and futuristic tech will be more appealing than the conservative Cadillac.)
Mike's Steering Column 