DaveW68

I had my 2007 S600 at the body shop for a couple of days to remove a small door ding that was the fault of another person. The insurance company got me a premium car for those couple of days, which turned out to be a 2015 Cadillac XTS. I was thinking "not bad....at least they didn't downgrade me too much from my Benz...and it's a 2015". It took about 2 minutes to figure out that this car was a HUGE downgrade from my 8 yr old Benz. I had read about good ratings with this car. After all, it is Cadillac's largest premium sedan, and the base motor is a 305 hp V6. My thinking was that this car should be very large and haul my *** around as quick as I want, not to mention have all of the latest technology in it.


I certainly was wrong about all of it. The car felt cramped, especially compared to my S. The interior had lots of leather, but the quality was well below that of Benz levels. It just felt somewhat cheap, especially for a Cadillac. The gauges had an annoying blue hue, with bright white LED interior lighting that just sucked. Based on the way it fit in my garage, it appeared to only be about 6 inches shorter, but it felt significantly smaller on the inside. It just was not a pleasant place to be, especially after being spoiled by my Benz for the last 3 months.


Then there's the engine. 305 HP? LOL!!! It honestly felt like a 4 cylinder that was struggling to make power. Doing 50 mph, then nailing the throttle, I could hear the engine revving up, but I was waiting for that kick in the back to thrust the car forward. That never came. This engine reminded me of the old raspy Oldsmobile engines from the late 90's. Then transmission felt sloppy. I just kept thinking to myself....how does this car have that much power, and how do the mags come up with zero to 60 times around 7 seconds or quicker? My 10 year old Honda Odyssey with 160k miles felt quicker. I was just hoping that I wouldn't run into some lady in a Honda Accord who would smoke my *** when I want to merge lanes.


My point of this post? Enjoy your W221. It might be an older car now, but Cadillac's new premium car isn't in the same realm of our older Benz'. The new CTS-V is probably a great car, but I'm sure it is a cramped little thing, especially if the XTS is their large car.

MBZSW221

I wonder how their LTS S-Class competitor will do. But come on anything that wants to compete with a S-Class has no chance! As much as they try, they might come close but never ever be better.

bvlaw

I agree 100%. About the only car I'd trade mine for is a W222. Not interested in anything less than an S-class.

Nuru

Yeah driving a S-Class can spoil you.

Larry1979

I agree with most of what the OP said regarding the XTS but not as bad as it looks. I currently own an XTS and will provide my perspective and things to consider when looking at the total cost of ownership of an XTS. These are some of my observations:

1. The XTS is no Mercedes Benz but it does ride very smooth with little to no road noise. The magnetic ride control is new and improved and makes driving over road imperfections barely noticeable. Brembo brakes offer great stopping power. Remote start is standard. Seats are heated and cooled rather than heated and ventilated like Mercedes Benz. Doesn't offer massaging function for front or rear seats and doesn't offer cooling on rear seats but does offer heating in the rear.

2. I hear many complaints regarding the 305 HP engine. I have never had any problem with sluggishness or slow acceleration. In fact I feel the V6 accelerates better and feels better than the acceleration on the 382 HP NA 5.5 L V8 found in the earlier S550s. If you want more, the XTS V sport with AWD and 420 HP will give you what you're looking for.

3. I would only recommend the top 2 of 4 trims for the XTS. These are the Premium or Platinum. The other trims don't compare.The leather feels better, looks better, and the hand stitching on the dash and other areas are just as good as Mercedes Benz. The driver assistance package offers everything the S Class offers and performs those tasks well. In my S63, if there is heavy rain, those systems sometimes malfunction which is normal in those conditions according to the manual. These features in the XTS never malfunction no matter the weather conditions. I do agree that only having a white light as the ambient lighting sucks, however it isn't so bright that it's unbearable.

4. I think the CUE system is excellent. The system is more advanced than the COMAND system. The screen looks better, voice recognition is more responsive, navigation system is better, and weather and flood data is available with the system. The car has a similar system to Keyless Go but you press a button on the door handle rather than just pulling the door handle to unlock and open the door. The XTS has several USB ports that can be used for potable devices unlike the few found in most Mercedes Benz cars. Bluetooth and audio streaming is standard with the CUE system and works well. Onstar is light years ahead of Mbrace.

5. The car is slightly shorter than Mercedes Benz S Class as the OP said probably by about 5 inches as stated. Does feel a little smaller in the car than you would think given length.

6. Cadillac has the same standard premium warranty as BMW which is 4 years 50K which includes routine vehicle services during that time frame, i.e. oil changes, tire rotations, filter changes, bulb changes, etc. Get a GMPP warranty to start after the factory warranty ends. This warranty is accepted at all GM and most non-GM dealers in the US. This warranty practically covers everything with little out of pocket cost and is cheaper than the Mercedes Benz warranty that covers the same things with shorter term limits.

7. The new CTS is a little longer than the older CTS by about 4 inches and now comes with the new 8 speed transmission. The V6 has 320 HP or you can get the V sport version with the 420 HP engine. The new CTS V is going to give pretty much anything Mercedes Benz has in its lineup problems from a pure performance perspective because it will have a slightly detuned version of the new Corvette Z06 engine. This car will still be smaller than an S Class.

At the end of day, my S63 is more fun and enjoyable to drive than my XTS, but in my opinion the XTS does what it was designed to do very well and is a solid car. It's no S Class but definitely competes with 5 Series BMWs and E Class Mercedes Benz which is the class it competes in based on price point. Wouldn't trade my Mercedes Benz for a Cadillac but wanted to offer a review of the XTS given my experience with both. Sometimes on this site we judge any brand other than Mercedes Benz very harshly and look the other way when it comes to addressing the flaws of Mercedes Benz cars especially the S Class.

BenzV12

Cadillac no longer makes decent cars for me , the last one is 1996 Fleetwood LT1 .I know XTS can blow the Fleetwood out of water in almost every way but that car doesn't sing to me .
I don't care about Cadillacs anymore , Mercedes-Benz namely W221 FL and W222 is my grail
I think W205 could make the op happier may be not at first but at the end of the day he would be happier with C Class .

PeterUbers

Ok... Lol...Let's compare an s600 v12 to a 305hp v6 and then complain about the v6

The caddy is actually a nice car for the money... It's half of what a new s600 costs

DaveW68

It was a comparison of an 8 yr old Benz to a new top of the line Cadillac. I guess I've just been spoiled as the Caddy feels like it's at least 3 steps down the ladder from my S. But that 305 hp V6 was a major disappointment. I had a 300 hp V8 in my old Lexus GS400 that would have run circles around this car. And the 270 hp Nissan & Acura V6 motors blow this Caddy out of the water. I just had a hard time buying that it was really a 305 hp motor. It honestly felt like a 160 hp motor pulling a heavy car around. No grunt at any RPM range or any speed. I'm sure the turbo motor pulls ok, but the base motor should perform much better than it does. Perhaps the fact that it was the AWD version made a big difference in performance, but it really shouldn't make that much. The 275 hp Northstar motor in my son's '97 Deville felt much quicker than this thing.

Nuru

Actually, the W222 has more Driver Assist features than the Cadillac XTS. The XTS is a nice car though. Additionally, some of the additional features that are now standard in the W222, can be turned on in the W221 (2012 - 2013) via the use of the Developer's menu on a Xentry/DAS terminal (MB technician's PC).

DaveW68

Such as?

Bill-W221

Nuru

As long as you have Distronic Plus on the 2012 and 2013's, you can turn on (without NorthAm Certification),

DISTRONIC PLUS with SteerAssist - I saw this option in my car at the dealership, we did not turn it on obviously as they won't do that at a dealership, but the option was there as per MB's chart on featurres by model number.

Speed Limit Assist/Traffic Sign Assist - I dunno about using this one in NorthAm. This functionality was added in MY2012 in the Speed Limit Assist 1.5

Nuru

Using the developer's menu, one can do quite a bit with the car. A tech turned on the option to feed NAV data to the IC on my former 2008 W204 after I retrofitted Factory NAV. Same thing at another location for my former W203 after I retrofitted factory Nav on that car too. W203 was a lot easier (did not require removal of the entire dash, but it did require CAN Bus work) than the W204 (required removal of the dash or rewiring and splicing of the existing harness, and the addition of a new display, a fan, and other mods).

Depending on what you are doing the S-class tends to be similar to the W203 in difficulty, unless you have to add sensors. If your car is equipped with the harnesses and has the sensors you need, you are more than halfway there.

DaveW68

I have an early build 2007 S600 with Distronic plus and every other factory option available in 2007 except for rear seat entertainment. I would be appreciative if you would give me a list of items that can be turned on in my 2007 model.

Nuru

Hello Dave, I would certainly post that for you if I had that level of info, but as my post (#9) indicated I was able to find some info on the 2012 - 2013 car years where one may be able to enable options that are now standard on the W222. I do not have information on the 2007 models, as I have been only into S-classes for almost a year and I am focused on my2012. As, with my former W203, W204, and W2I2s, I have been reviewing downloaded StarTekInfo EPC/WIS info, comparing the parts compliment of different VINs vs my car's VIN, seeking advice/info from local technicians, local parts managers, and forum members in this forum, other forums including UK and German forums, for each retrofit I have been considering.

That being said, I would imagine that for you 2007 car, there would be a requirement to update the car's software, firmware, cameras, and the addition of new sensors and other components to try to get you close to expanding/updating your current options to 2012/2013/2014 feature performance due to the declared MB enhancements. Hmm, I just dunno. It would be an interesting challenge though. It would take research in EPC/WIS to find the parts needed, the schematics, the installation WISs, just to see what newer options/enhancements could be adapted to your car, as your car is quite loaded.

Be advised though, turning on the available options that were not enabled on your car from MB factory, can yield unexpected/undesirable affects, as there is a set of time consuming, special equipment augmented, tests and configuration tasks accompanying these options, that need to be conducted/completed to make sure they are working correctly and do not regress any of your currently enabled option features.

The Thomas J

Bumping this thread just to share my experience. I considered an XTS very briefly. It had the features I wanted but just didn't sing to me. I disliked the overall styling of the car inside and out.

Having been in Cadillacs for most of my life as a child growing up and than driving them from for almost 15 years I can honestly say the brand has passed me by. My last Caddy was a 2005 STS that I liked very much. Since than nothing has appealed to me. The STS suffered from the same issues that all my Caddy's and GM cars had in the past.

For me going back to GM than was giving GM a second chance.In reality it was more klike the 10th chance. I left the brand in 2001 after my Leased Oldsmobile Auroa's engines seized at 65000 miles, fixed it and than the ECM failed during a heavy merge on a bridge at 75 MPH. I parked the car for the duration of the lease and leased my first of two VW Passatts. That was my entry in to German Engineering. After I was done with the Caddy I leased another VW, than bought my BMW and went for the Mercedes E class just over three years ago.

Now that I am in the S class i agree 100% the XTS doesn't compare to the XTS. It matches up better with the E class or 5 series. That is a huge problem for GM. The XTS was supposed to be the flagship. Now GM seemingly has two cars in the CTS and XTS going up against other upper mid level cars and they still fall short in each instance.

GM is still playing catch up and now may be losing ground to brands like Hyundai. That's right Hyundai. The only reason people flock to GM to buy a Cadillac is because they are older who still value the Cadillac brand but the shine and prestige of the brand has worn off and the Caddy offers a better value dollar for dollar against our beloved Mercedes and BMW.

So if you like all the options an S class offers with AWD a decent ride lack luster styling and under powered engine at a price that is significantly less than a Mercedes than a Cadillac lease is for you. ON the CPO and used market I wouldn't touch them with a stick.

DaveW68

The XTS is Cadillac's flagship large car and it's still front wheel drive based. Talk about living in the 80's.

Larry1979

Cadillac has moved to the CT6 as the flagship sedan after less than stellar reviews for the XTS. CT6 looks promising, however, you would have to get the Platinum trim level with 3.0 turbo motor to even think about getting in the ballpark with an S Class. The problem there is that the Platinum trim gets up around $90K and most would just get an S Class at that price point.

As I stated previously, the XTS is not a bad car, it's just not an S Class. I would recommend the V Sport trim level with AWD and Turbo V6 as the best XTS in the line up.

DaveW68

But the engine is still turned the wrong direction in the engine bay.

Larry1979

Dave I can't argue with that

Mike5215

It's not the cars themselves that are the problem. It's pricing. Maybe they intend to cut their throat on discounts and the window stickers are just props to distinguish Caddys from Chevys and Buicks, but come on.

These cars have the content and build quality of Hyundai's Genesis or Equus, which isn't terrible, but they're priced like Mercedes.

The Thomas J

I was behind a CT6 the other day. I was like....

PeterUbers

Cool story bro

Larry1979

Mike I definitely agree with you on pricing. The price point is killing them. At the price of a Platinum CT6, most people will go with MB or BMW because many potential buyers do not feel a Cadillac is worth an $80- $90K price tag. GM is definitely trying to compete with the Mercedes Benz S Class and BMW 7 Series with the CT6. I drove the base model as a loaner a couple of weeks ago because the dealer was trying to convince me to purchase one. The car is not bad although I had the most underpowered version in the lineup which made the car very sluggish and I would need to drive a car equipped with the new 3.0 Turbo V6 and fully optioned to give the car a fair assessment. A car that large needs more than 285 hp and 295 lb. ft. of tourque. I do not think the 2.0 Turbo 4 cylinder should even be offered, however, just like MB and other brands, GM is offering some trims at a lower price point to afford everyone an opportunity to own one of these cars.

The Thomas J

It really wasn't, but thanks.