Overview & Reviews

Owned by General Motors, Cadillac is America's most prestigious domestic luxury automaker. For most of its existence, the company was known exclusively for its cushy, senior-friendly sedans, but in more recent years the automaker has revised and expanded its lineup in a successful effort to attract a new, younger generation. Cadillac's roster now includes SUVs (its Escalade is a favorite of both rappers and suburban moms), a crossover and even a high-performance wagon.

Born in 1902, Cadillac was founded by Henry Martyn Leland, a manufacturer of automotive components. He named the company after a noted French explorer who discovered Detroit in the early 1700s. Leland helped create one of the company's earliest offerings -- the Cadillac Osceola, noted for being the industry's first concept car and the first closed-body car made in America. Only one Osceola was made, but it helped spark a trend; closed bodies caught on and spread like wildfire through the industry.

Cadillac quickly gained a reputation for specializing in precise craftsmanship and for using standardized parts. The success of early Cadillacs like the Model A and the "30" made the brand a sales success, so much so that the automaker was purchased by General Motors in 1909. The marque became GM's luxury division, and its list of innovations grew. Cadillac was the first U.S. auto manufacturer to produce a V8, the first to use thermostatic control of a cooling system and the first to offer dash-controlled headlights. During the 1930s, the brand earned a strong reputation for producing powerful and smooth V12 and V16 engines.

Soon after World War II, Cadillac history hit a high point as its tailfinned and chrome-laden cars became the epitome of American postwar automotive style. Cadillac's tailfin took its cue from Lockheed's P38 Lightning Aircraft, and was the brainchild of designer Frank Hershey. Vehicles like the Coupe de Ville and Fleetwood El Dorado made Cadillac a staple in upscale neighborhoods and among the Hollywood set.

By the 1960s, Cadillac's flashy tailfins had given way to a new styling cue: vertical taillights. This attribute was in evidence on one of Cadillac's most successful new cars of that decade, the Fleetwood Sixty Special. The Fleetwood offered luxury features that were cutting-edge for its day, such as fold-down writing tables, footrests and a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel.

The gas crunch of the 1970s, however, started a downward trend for the company. Cadillac's Titanic-sized behemoths that ruled the highways in previous decades were increasingly out of touch and out of favor. Cadillac responded to the changing times by downscaling the dimensions of many vehicles in its lineup. Despite this smart maneuvering, the automaker's fortunes suffered in the late '70s when it unveiled a diesel engine that quickly earned a reputation for spotty performance.

The 1980s saw the redesign of the Seville, a vehicle whose unique bustle-back styling sparked a trend and inspired its share of imitators. That decade also witnessed the rollout of the Cimarron, a small car that was essentially a rebadged Chevy Cavalier, the latter an economy car not exactly known for excellence. Understandably, the Cimarron never caught on with the public. Things got worse when Cadillac launched a series of underpowered, unreliable V8s during the first half of that decade that, along with the notoriously unreliable diesel, cost the automaker thousands of customers, millions of dollars and immeasurable damage to its reputation.

By the early '90s, Cadillac started a major turnaround as it brought out redesigned, stylish models with vastly improved engines. Shortly after the new millennium bowed, the company adopted its "Art & Science" design philosophy. With styling cues that included sharp, almost severe lines and stacked headlamps, Art & Science was first seen on Cadillac's 1999 Evoq concept roadster. By the mid-2000s, this bold new look had reinvigorated the company's sales, and was seen on hits such as the Escalade SUV and the CTS sport sedan.

This fresh styling, coupled with improvements in performance and overall product quality, has done a great deal to help Cadillac recover much of its previous status. Today's Cadillacs, which include coupes, sedans, crossovers and SUVs, are known for offering powerful engines, chiseled lines, sharp handling and a full accoutrement of luxury features.

User Reviews:

• 

  2007 Cadillac Escalade EXT - 2007 Cadillac Escalade EXT
  By Dave - January 24 - 1:50 am

  The 2007 Escalade EXT is my 3rd Cadillac truck. I miss the sun visors from prior models. My 2003 had two visors with a pull out for the 3rd visor. Now there is only one and you are forced to set in a different position to keep the Florida sun out of your eyes. The tailgate is a total design flop. The painted surface sticks up higher than the black deck. If you use it as a TRUCK you will soon see all the paint gone on the edge of the tail gate. Probably like all vehicles the price went up and the quality went down hill.

• 

  I will never buy another Cadillac - 2006 Cadillac CTS
  By Dorothy A. Watson - November 15 - 5:01 am

  I bought this car thinking it would be my forever car, problems the first year I had it. I was rear ended I havent been right since the accident and neither has the Cadillac. I have fixed many of problems since I had the Cadillac, but the last problem which I am experiencing with now is the Electronic Stability system. I paid a lot of money for this extended warranty but to no avalibity it ended before I could use it. I whole purpose I am question this is this ESS should be on recall why should I have to spend close to nine hundred to have this problem fixed when I have researched this and a lot of people are having the same issues. I have a couple of friends that wanted to purchase a cadillac and I told them dont do it, it is not worth the money.

• 

  Poor fuel economy. Very uncomfortable front seats. - 2018 Cadillac XT5
  By jjuwsnyc - October 19 - 8:00 pm

  So I discovered that the headrest does not adjust. This is now standard on Mercedes. glc, audi q5. The pain that i had in my neck extending down to my lower back was not bearable. I tried to sell the car privately and to lease swap it. But no good. The vehicle dropped 14K in value with less then 1500 miles. I finally got a dealer to up the price by 4K from the low ball offered even at Cadillac dealer that did not have any inventory. So I am thankfully finished with this car. It is beautiful, but for me the seat was so bad that I was willing to sacrifice over 11K to get rid of this car. As for GM financial. I have called 7 times to get a letter showing that the vehicle was paid off and purchased. i have been told so many different stories. All incorrect. The letter is not generated. It would be generated, It has been generated. Nothing. ON hold for hours. I will not ever walk into a GM dealership ever again.

• 

  Unreliable and Dangerous - 2004 Cadillac CTS
  By FredG - October 18 - 2:00 am

  On August 9, 2003, I purchased a new 2004 CTS. In September, on a short road trip, the master cylinder failed and I had no brakes. It was replaced after 11 days under warranty. On October 26, on a longer trip, the engine died while doing 70 mph on the interstate. The car was towed to a Cadillac dealer and he could find no errors in the cars computer, but tweaked some things and said the car was fine. On November 1, the car again died on the interstate and was towed to the nearest dealer where we left the car for good! After three dangerous failures in this car, we are now driving a Lexus, after receiving our money back from Cadillac.

• 

  Nanas House of Reviews - 2003 Cadillac CTS
  By TaTa - July 4 - 2:00 am

  Very nice car dealership was good - was fun and open with lots of car that is good. My car was best. It is fast and quiet and nice canoe car. I really luv it! Smokey cant see me with my radar detector either. Very nice! Big three star rating.

• 

  Safety Hazard - 2003 Cadillac CTS
  By Alan51462 - September 10 - 10:00 am

  The design of the CTS windshield and dashboard creates serious reflections that can blind a driver, as happened to me, when the conditions are right. The dashboard is highly reflective and only a moderate amount of sunlight seriously reduces visability. I test drove the car on a cloudy day. Today was sunny, I got blinded and asked the dealer to rescind the transaction. Another problem, the ride. When I went over a public street that was suffering from a washboard effect, I bounced so high that I would have hit the ceiling if I hadnt been properly strapped in. AVOID THIS CAR AT ALL COSTS.

• 

  Oh You Cad. - 2017 Cadillac XT5
  By Fredrick Dobbs - July 26 - 2:04 pm

  This is a second shot at a review after 2000 miles and a fairly long trip of all day driving. First of all. The acceleration is wonderful. The handing is not Lazy boy Cadillac, its sporty handling corners like a sporty SUV which I guess it is from the performance. Love the handling. Love the silence on the road. I have residual hearing problems from big guns in the military and even with my dodgy hearing I can easily hear my music and audio books on trips, not to mention the helpful musings of my spouse. Braking is excellent if not a tad touchy. You do not have to stomp on these brakes. I love the safety features like lane change warnings, rear crossing warnings and the back up camera although I have never got the need for the digital track in the rear camera to bend its my turning. I know Im turning. I am very gratified that an American company is making a car of this apparent quality. It gives nothing to the off shore imports. This car is a stand out in a city where you cant swing a dead possum without hitting a BMW and Mercedes. It seems to be some kind of cultural imperative but Ive had my share of complements even though I doubt many people look carefully enough to distinguish it from a SRX. The overall appearance of the exterior and mechanicals is stunning and the color I selected, Silver Coast is a stealth car wash avoidance feature. It hides the dirt wonderfully when I am negligent on washing the car. one last small gripe. I dont like the design of the 18 inch wheels. Kind of seventies looking. Cadillac could do better. Look on the web to get some ideas. My single annoyance with this part of the car and it is a BIG one, is the inability to turn off the stop/start mechanism. You can off foot it and you get lurches. It is not as clever as the propeller hat engineers who designed it think it is. I hate it and would not buy the car again. I can find just about any other car that allows you to disable this dubious feature including other Cadillac models. It works off the brake and you can fool it. If you are at a signal and the engine turns off, just lift your foot off the brake and it will start again. Depressing the brake again while you are waiting will not shut it off a second time. I am not thrilled with the XT two step. I want to get this all praise out because I think this is a Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hide car. Mr Hide designed the interior. The dash lights adjust automatically and are too dim in day light for me. I can not manually adjust them higher. They brighten in a parking structure and at night and you can dim them down with the dimmer switch but that switch does nothing to brighten the dash lights in the day. This forces me to use the window with a large numeral for speed determination. This is a problem because of the propensity for the dash to reflect overhead sun at certain times of the day. In fact, same said genius engineer also probably designed the center information center with insufficient shading and helpfully tilted the screen toward to windshield at the top just to make sure that you dont miss getting the screen compromised by the sun reflection. You can play CSI and count your finger prints on it for lack of seeing other information. The seat is my biggest interior problem. My wifes RX350 has wonderful seats. She is looking for a new car and ruled out the XT5 because of the hard seats and the uncomfortable lumbar support. I have the same complaint. Hard seating not good for long drives. bothers my leg. I had to get a piece of memory foam which my spouse sewed up in a cover to put on the seat. This is a sport seat and not suitable for a SUV in my opinion. All the SUVs I have ridden in and owned have had more comfortable seats. Again. Live with this car before you buy. Rent one and see if the seat suits your back side. I hate them which makes it awkward for a car I now own. As I said, I am tall and large. When I sit with the seat back, it is obvious they thought to put in a long seat track for tall people but then failed to accommodate any other interior feature to this seating position. The center console is difficult if not nearly impossible to get into. The dash information center is way too far away. The door panels bow out near the front of the car then conveniently bow back in to crowd your arm. Another thing that escapes me is the logic of the seat memory. In any other car you press the memory button and number one for example to set your seat and in the future you just tap the button to make the seat move. In the XT, you have to lean on the button for the entire trip and if you stop pressing, the seat stops moving. To have the seat work automatically you have to turn on a feature in settings. After you do that the car resists any further changes. You have to turn it off to reset memory. In my case that is far too frequently because the seat does not seem to hold the back rest angle and must be readjusted periodically. Brilliant outside, not inside.

• 

  Too Much Garage Time - 2003 Cadillac CTS
  By Joe Caddy - January 16 - 10:00 am

  The old adage of "never buy a first model year" holds true with this car. I feel that I have spent more time driving the car to the dealership for repairs than enjoying it on the road. From noising transmission (which was replaced) to a faulty engine cooling system (which took 3+ weeks to repair) and other problems have kept me from enjoying this car. Although Cadillac hit a home run with the CTSs style and looks, they still need to work on engineering and reliability to truly compete with their foreign competition.