Controls can be straight-ahead or rich exercises in counterintuition, complications arising in our preproduction test cars thanks to cranky Bluetooth telephone hookups and faulty en-hanced voice-recognition software. "Phone. Dial number. 212-554- . . . ," I intoned. "Phone. Dial number. 999-999- . . . ," said the disembodied voice commander as it prepared to dial a wrong number for me. Now, that's handy.
Like all the other players in this segment, which GM calls the Global Luxury Performance Market, the STS comes in six- and eight-cylinder form. Rear-wheel drive is standard, and cars with the bigger engine are eligible for optional all-wheel drive, a first for a Cadillac passenger car. All-wheel-drive sixes will show up, we're told, come 2006.
The five-speed manu-matic gearbox used by both engines (with some modifications) and all drivetrains is the very same Hydra-Matic unit found in BMWs, we are pointedly informed, though, unlike the Ultimate Driving Machine people, Cadillac will not offer a manual transmission on the STS. In a hard to fathom but likable throwback to the good old days, it does plan on offering a variety of rear axle ratios.
As with the German competition, upgrades are the name of the game with the STS, which starts at $40,995 for six-cylinder models, rises to $47,495 for the V-8, then sprints easily into the mid-$50,000s and even crests $60,000, yet always stays a respectful step behind the equivalent BMW or Mercedes. Serious tariffs are swiftly achieved with the availability of uplevel leather and wood choices, an optional 300-watt Bose 5.1 surround-sound audio system, two tiers of chassis tune, a choice of seventeen-inch or eighteen-inch wheels, a smorgasbord of different Michelin tires, and two different braking specs. (Would you like your ventilated discs bigger or smaller? European brake pads or no?)
All versions of the STS benefit from a fully independent suspension into which Cadillac put a generous amount of design smarts and weight-saving aluminum. The uplevel suspension adds a more sophisticated, speed-sensitive, ZF Servotronic II steering box (in place of the Visteon original) and GM's excellent Magnetic Ride Control damping. Staking cars so equipped to an improbably fine ride, Magnetic Ride Control guarantees near-absolute control over unwanted body motion, dramatically limiting heave, pitch, and roll. Gullies and dips in the road are approached at high speed, and the moment of nausea you instinctively anticipate as you prepare for your mount to bottom out and then perform an interpretive dance as it sets out to recover equilibrium never materializes. The lack of drama is surprising, at first, but enduringly wonderful. Here, then, is a car as capable of safe sustained high speed as any.
We've spoken of the German thing, but we also should mention the Japanese thing, specifically Lexus, Toyota's luxury juggernaut. Those pretenders to the luxury throne stopped pretending the minute they got started, building bulletproof interpretations of the world's best luxury sedans in one fell swoop. In terms of quality, it wasn't long before they pipped the Germans and stole customers. In terms of cushiness, they haven't helped Cadillac sales any, either. So it's only fitting, in homage to the Japanese masters, that the STS is a quieter, higher-quality car than its predecessor, with tighter shut lines, more elegantly damped interior fittings, and, best of all, smoother engines
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