2010 Cadillac DTS- Not Even Quaint

I saw one of these for the first time at a new-car show at the Dallas Convention Center when we lived in North Texas back in 2005. I'm almost embarrassed to say at the time I thought it a fine looking automobile. Bold, sleek, modern, progressive. Seriously. I thought it a delightful update of the game-changing "G-body" 2000 deVille that came with a new model nameplate, "DTS" replacing the vaunted but very long in the tooth "deVille" moniker that had been festooned on a Cadillac going back to 1949. Actually, a semi-new nameplate. "DTS" was a trim designation denoting "deVille Touring Sedan" on the 2000-2005 deVille. I saw this DTS the other day in a dimly lit, grimy parking garage near our home here in Cleveland, Ohio and I was like, "the hell was I thinking?" 

It's funny how my taste in automobiles has gotten younger as I've gotten older. Or let's just say, "less old". My wife refers to the big old cars I love as  "old-man" cars and I get what she means. Especially as I get older - now more than ever you are what you drive. When you're younger there's some "cool" in driving a car originally targeted at older buyers but in your mid-fifties, you drive a car like this and you're perpetuating the "grand-father" stereotype. For the record, I'm particularly fond of what I refer to as "Rat Pack" GM models from 1949-1972 and my adulation for them is for them being rolling works of art rather than as luxuriously appointed, fine riding and hand ling transportation conveyances. I look at this amorphous blob of a luxury-car wannabee, and see it for exactly what it is - an amorphous blob of a luxury-car wannabee. Nothing more and probably a whole lot less. 

I've driven several of these and they're just ok. They're comfortable and quiet although not particularly engaging or really memorable. The suspension is set so soft and gooey I thought there a problem with it as these things tend to bob up and down at speed like a boat on choppy water. Well, everything is relative. Compared to the spiritual predecessors of these cars they're out and out sporty. They're also very heavy. So heavy that I thought their mighty Northstar V-8 engines not up to the task of moving them sufficiently. Although, a quick check of contemporary road tests reveals that these cars could scoot from zero to sixty in around seven seconds. These will blow the doors of a 1970 Coupe deVille. But look no where near as good. 

As far as the design of these cars, subjectively, it's interesting how poorly the outward appearance of these cars has aged. Blame that on the rapid and seismic evolution of the sedan market over the last fifteen years. What's left of it making older cars like this look as dated as the "Rat Pack" cars made anything made prior look so dated that they're not even quaint.  

With my rapidly rusting out 2002 Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS once again giving me fits, the major issues keep piling up and while it's never been a bastion of rock-solid reliability, they're coming now at a break-neck pace, I'm semi-ensconced in trying to find a replacement for it. Sadly, while these cars with low mileage can be found at affordable prices, while years ago they may have been on my shopping list, these days they most certainly aren't.  

Here's a fun fact, "deVille" was the last "name" for a Cadillac coupe or sedan what with their change to (stupid and confusing) alpha-numeric naming that started in 2003 with the "CTS".