Whatever your opinion on the American contribution to the car industry – and I own a Ford Mustang, so I have drawn my line in the sand – few could deny that Stateside engineers know how to do one thing better than anybody else: comfort. Apart from the fact that they're dealing with a country perennially towards the top of the world obesity charts, which suggests that one of the favourite national habits might very well be sitting down, the United States is a vast land mass with a long, romantic tradition of driving across it. So it makes sense that its automotive output contains some of the most cosseting, comfortable cars known to humankind.
And my goodness if Cadillac isn’t pushing that flair for mobile furniture into the year 2017 with its hulking luxury saloon the CT6. It’s a tremendously comfortable place to park yourself, in any of its five seats, and just about everything seems conceived to cocoon you away from the world. Not only do both of the front seats have massage functions and seemingly infinite settings for positional adjustments, but also rear passengers are afforded the same opulent relaxation aids – in the back, there’s also a pair of pop-up 10-inch video screens to assist your complete removal from the outside world.
Not that you scarcely need a rub-down after however many kilometres you have travelled in the CT6, because its ride is so marble-smooth that you almost need to check this thing is running on wheels and not four fluffy clouds as it cruises effortlessly at highway speed limits at about 2,000rpm.
If you do feel the need to pick up the pace, the CT6’s new 3.0L twin-turbo V6 boasts 400hp and 543Nm of torque (a 3.6L naturally aspirated V6 is also available). Sport mode doesn’t seem to make things noticeably more rabid or rapid, but in all honesty, acceleration in “Tour” is really already sufficient, picking up with enough urgency that you momentarily forget that you’re piloting a car that’s more than five metres in length – partly thanks to its aluminium-centric structure.
That sizeable exterior has been smoothed into a better-looking update on the previous model year – and the CT6 in general is massively ahead of some of Caddy’s ugly-as-sin and/or plain forgettable recent efforts.
Tellingly, in terms of the intended audience, the rear seat configuration is best with spacious centre rest employed for two executive types. And along with those aforementioned screens and massage functions, plus electrically retracting sunshades, separate rear climate control, charging and USB capacity and even a split dual sunroof, this is a car that intends its rear passengers to be as important as those upfront.
Trim is all wood and leather, which aids what Cadillac trumpets as the CT6’s “bank vault” levels of quietness. That might be mixing metaphors slightly, but what they’re getting at isn’t far off the mark. Once you have finished replying to important emails or compiling a vital report while in the back seats, then a fairly blissful snooze is certainly achievable. Here’s hoping that effect doesn’t extend to the driver.
The Platinum designation of my test car ensures that it’s full of all the bells and whistles for the man or woman (or chauffeur) in charge of steering as well, with driver aids aplenty, including pedestrian alerts that will leave you in a panic that you’re about to unwittingly mow somebody down (you’re most likely not) the first time it engages its warning icon. It’s enhanced after dark with night-vision technology.
The steering wheel itself is festooned with all the buttons you need to manipulate the car’s most-important tech without your hands leaving the wheel – including settings for several of the driver aids, plus music, cruise control and speech/phone connectivity.
There are more camera angles than your average sports channel highlights show, including a 360-degree view and an option for the rear-view mirror to switch to a video stream of what’s behind you with the flip of a catch. The latter is slightly unnerving and I worry that any micro-second delay could lead to traffic misjudgements, but it’s a striking innovation nonetheless that means that oversized luggage or a passenger shifting around in the back can never obscure your rear view.
The ionising air conditioning makes for intakes of breath so pure you can almost taste it; the Bose sound system has 34 – that’s not a typo – speakers; and the central console cleverly hinges two ways to allow easy access from either the driver or front-passenger seat, although it isn’t actually that spacious.
When at highway-speed tilts, the big Caddy doesn’t feel agile like a European competitor such as, say, the S90; it really does feel its size, although arguably with a Tardis ability to be even larger on the inside than out. But slap on the cruise control and the CT6 is perfect for going in straight lines for infinite amounts of time.
aworkman@thenational.ae
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