Category Archives: Meet the Current Cadillacs

Cadillac XTS dash display

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The Cadillac XTS dash display is the type of dash I want on every Cadillac I drive from now on.

You can choose from different modes for the display, and a variety of display options within each mode.  The Cadillac XTS dash is one part of the new Cadillac CUE system.

This weekend I am test driving a Cadillac XTS courtesy of Crest Cadillac.  See my other posts —   Pickup, Cadillac XTS at Cars and Coffee, Cadillac XTS Virtual Dyno.

Today Son2 and I grabbed lunch after church, and spent some time configuring and taking photos of the Cadillac XTS dash display.  All of these images are images of the dash of the Cadillac XTS as looking from the driver’s seat through the steering wheel.  Yes, these are all taken in the same car!

Cadillac XTS dash display - Performance

Cadillac XTS dash display – Performance

Performance: in this mode there is a large tachometer and speedometer, but also a large display in the center left for your choice of either vehicle information, phone, navigation, or audio information.

Cadillac XTS dash display - Simple

Cadillac XTS dash display – Simple

Simple: this mode is minimalist.  Speedometer speed is shown in the center with a choice of info like audio to the left and fuel to the right.

Cadillac XTS dash display - Balanced + Nav

Cadillac XTS dash display – Balanced + Nav

Balanced: this Cadillac XTS dash display features full tachometer and speedometer, but gives equal space to car status gauges like water temperature and fuel.  I have elected to have navigation information displayed in the gauge center.  I could have just chosen to have the gauge needle show there for simplicity.

Cadillac XTS Dash -- Too Close!

Cadillac XTS Dash — Too Close!

Warning: This display is warning me that by pulling into a parking space in front of the restaurant I have gotten too close to the nearby wall!

Cadillac XTS dash display - Enhanced

Cadillac XTS dash display – Enhanced

Enhanced: this mode is like the Simple mode, but Enhanced with a few more features.

Cadillac XTS Dash Display — Summary

The Cadillac XTS dash is extremely versatile.  This is clearly the direction that all dashes need to take on every Cadillac in the future.  It also promises even more customization freedom — such as if you could design and upload your own dash templates, or download new templates from Cadillac.com!

 

Cadillac XTS Platinum for 2013

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Cadillac XTS Platinum is the maxed out, fully-loaded version of the new Cadillac XTS.  The Cadillac XTS Platinum starts at $59,080.   With a premium paint selection my Cadillac XTS Platinum came out to just over $60K.

2013 Cadillac XTS Platinum with 20″ wheels

A standard Cadillac XTS comes well equipped.  Up from Standard, Cadillac offers trim upgrades to Luxury, or Premium as with other models.  Platinum is Cadillac’s top of the line equipment level and comes with special features that can’t be ‘optioned up’ into other trim levels.

Cadillac XTS Platinum features:

Platinum Features

The XTS Platinum Collection takes luxury and refinement to an entirely new level with Opus full-leather seats, a leather-wrapped interior with color-contrast20 stitching and an elegant microfiber sueded headliner. Exterior details include a chrome-accented grille and exclusive 20” polished wheels with chrome inserts.

The Platinum trim includes or replaces features included on the Premium trim

  • 20″ polished aluminum wheels with chrome inserts
  • UltraView® power sunroof
  • Rear-window power sunshade
  • Rear side-door manual sunshades

“You want dubs on your Cadillac XTS Platinum?  Comes with.”

Note to the reader:  ‘dubs’ is a street term for wheels which are 20 inches or larger in diameter.  It apparently evolved from emphasis on the letter W in twenty.

Cadillac XTS Platinum or V-Series?

Cadillac tends to describe V-Series or Platinum versions of models as either-or.  They either plan to create a V-Series for models with more sports car orientation, such as the CTS and CTS-V, or Platinum versions for models that are more luxury oriented, such as Cadillac XTS Platinum or Cadillac Escalade Platinum.  The Cadillac XTS Platinum comes with many earlier V-Series exclusive features, such as Magnetic Ride Control and Brembo brakes.

Summary — Cadillac XTS Platinum

Out of the box the Cadillac XTS is a very capable choice.  The Cadillac XTS Platinum takes the Cadillac XTS to the next level.

Donald Trump, Cadillac fan

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Donald Trump, Cadillac fan via Twitter:

I always enjoy seeing the secret co-star of Donald Trump’s The Celebrity Apprentice — the chauffeur driven Cadillac STS.  It  pulls up each week of the show to take the week’s loser(s) away in style.

I wonder if next season we will see the Cadillac XTS in this role?

Donald Trump, Cadillac Fan - Cadillac XTS

Will we see this great rear seating each week on next Celebrity Apprentice?

More to the point, it would be great to have a new Cadillac model as a marketing project for The Celebrity Apprentice teams.  Cadillac has a terrific legacy and history but plenty of marketing challenges in reaching buyers.  Getting this sort of outside input can often drive internal innovation and thinking.

A full line analysis and marketing plan would be very ambitious, but could be fruitful as well.  I have the occasional impression that with the range of Cadillac models it is difficult to market everything at once.  We see TV or press for the Cadillac CTS, but not the Escalade line lately.  We never saw much XLR press while that model was being made, which may help explain why it is not made any more.  Finding a way to keep the entire Cadillac line in focus — from CTS, now XTS, SRX, and all three Escalade variants — would help Cadillac tremendously.

Then Donald Trump, Cadillac Fan, will have even more good news to comment on.