Cadillac gets three stars for new 2004 DeVille DTS
By Mark Phelan, Knight Ridder Newspapers
12/13/2003
The Cadillac DeVille is the apotheosis of everything Cadillac was three years ago, and if I’d reviewed it then, I would have savaged the full-size luxury sedan as too slow and too soft.
Today, the DeVille is just part of the broad range of Cadillac cars. As such, it gets three stars.
The difference is not so much in the DeVille as in its context. While it fell short as Cadillac’s primary luxury car, it works very well as a part of a car line that stretches from the CTS sport sedan to the SRX crossover wagon and XLR roadster.
Life is situational.
The $57,140 2004 DeVille DTS I drove offered everything Cadillac’s traditional customer wants: a massive interior, power, a smooth and comfortable ride and advanced but unobtrusive technology.
That’s enough to make the DeVille range — which includes the DeVille, DHS and top-of-the-line DTS — Cadillac’s best-selling model. It accounted for more than half the division’s car sales and nearly 40 percent of its total sales through the first three quarters of 2003. The DeVille did even better in 2002, before Cadillac’s new models hit the market, accounting for 42 percent of the brand’s total sales and 56 percent of Cadillac passenger car sales.
While newer Cadillacs like the CTS-V supersedan excite drivers who grew up admiring sporty European luxury cars, the DeVille delivers the goods, carrying five or six adults and their luggage — more likely, their golf gear — in comfort and style.
The 300-horsepower V8-powered DTS’ handling suffers from its front-wheel-drive layout, but buyers hungry for quick drives down twisting roads can pick from Cadillac’s other models.
While the DeVille’s nose-heavy weight distribution and front-wheel drive work against handling at the limit, the car boasts an impressive array of electronic suspension and stability control systems. The ride remains stable and comfortable over a wide range of surfaces.
Despite the sophisticated adaptive suspension, the DeVille feels heavy in hard cornering, although the variable assist rack-and-pinion steering remains accurate up to the car’s limit.
The advanced stability control system senses any wheel slip or loss of traction, and adjusts the steering assistance to help the driver control incipient spins. It also reduces engine power and selectively applies any of the car’s brakes to keep the DTS on the straight and narrow. While the system can intervene at any time, the software controlling it is subtle enough that the driver might never even know when the advanced sensors and controls step in to prevent an accident.
The DeVille was bred for comfortable jaunts to the opera or country club, however, and it looks good when it gets there.
The restrained, smoothly curved exterior styling exudes power and substance, from the DTS’ 17-inch Michelin blackwall tires and cast-aluminum wheels to its 17-foot, 3-inch overall length — longer than a Ford Expedition SUV.
The interior swathes you in leather and wood, and continues the DTS’ theme of intuitive, user-friendly technology, from the heated and cooled seats to the touch-screen controls for the sound system and climate control.
The power adjustable seats, side mirrors and steering wheel make long trips comfortable, and all three functions are tied into the car’s memory, along with audio and climate settings preferred by each driver.
The DeVille is a big, comfortable car, packed with convenient high-tech features, and a fine member of Cadillac’s growing family of vehicles.
