There isn't much doubt that
Cadillac is, slowly but surely, disentangling itself from its overstuffed, undersprung past.
Yes, there are still traditional dreadnoughts in the lineup, cars such as the Fleetwood and the ponderous Fleetwood Brougham, the biggest car sold in America. But their days are numbered, and Cadillac's newer cars - the Seville in particular - are much more in step with the times. They're leaner, meaner, technologically advanced and much more responsive.
It can certainly be argued that the Seville does not pack the kind of prestige associated with Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Lexus. But it packs a potent punch - and in the luxury market, that's certainly a key ingredient.
Both versions of this car - the Seville Luxury Sedan (SLS) and Seville Touring Sedan (STS) - have power to spare. The STS, our test car, is the sportier of the two, as well as the more potent, as a price of $46,750 might just indicate.
Thanks to a new intake manifold, the STS Northstar V8 engine is now capable of 300 hp. Sure, drag racing isn't exactly part of the prestige picture, but it's still satisfying to know your luxomobile will blow the doors off most of the others.
Even in its milder SLS version, with 275 hp, the Seville's got more muscle than most. And in the STS, it'll produce outstanding passing performance and 0-to-60 mph times in the very low 7-second range. That is nearly as fast as popular muscle cars such as the Chevrolet Camaro Z28 or Ford Mustang GT.
As we noted, power has always been a key element in great luxury performance stories, and the STS has more of it than most - more muscle, in fact, than just about anything in its class. The STS and its luxury coupe cousin, the Eldorado, are the only cars to channel this much grunt through a front-wheel-drive system.
Automotive muscle is a function of a vehicle's power-to-weight ratio, or how many pounds each horsepower has to propel. The STS comes in 12.9 lb. per hp - a very low number for a large luxury sedan. For comparison, the all new Lexus LS 400 has 14 lb. for each of its 260 hp.
The computer management system orchestrating the interaction of the Northstar V8 and General Motors' excellent 4T80-E 4-speed overdrive automatic transmission does an exceptional job of getting all that power onto the pavement, even in hard cornering. Cadillac's Northstar System was a superb piece of engineering when it was introduced on the ill-starred Allante. And with the various tweaks that have come along since, including 1995 refinements, it's better yet.
The Seville's improvements for 1995 are all pretty much invisible. But these engineering refinements are tangible nonetheless. Tops is a retuned exhaust system. The STS and Eldorado Touring Coupe both came to market with an impudent, raspy exhaust snarl, conceived to let owners know they had one of the hottest V8s in luxoland. Although some owners approved, too many didn't, and for 1995 the Northstar's music has been considerably muted.
A final note: We think the car's aggressive lines, enhanced by the monochrome exterior treatment used on the STS, are still appealing and distinctive.
