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WHAT THE HELL IS IT?
The 2017 Cadillac CT6 Platinum AWD is nothing short of the perfect luxury sedan with enough pep and styling to keep the droves of elderly from taking ownership of the brand entirely.
WHO IS IT FOR?
The CT6 is for the red-blooded American who has a well-loved, modern muscle car sitting in his pristine garage, and wants a swaggering luxury sedan for weekday office and occasional country club duty. This guy also spends the remainder of his disposable income on fancy gym memberships and marble countertops, and will never fail to insert “Platinum Edition” in front of “CT6” when mentioning his car—if he doesn’t take the extra step of throwing in the price tag like it’s part of the model name (and he might).
WHERE DID WE TEST IT?
We took the CT6 up to Litchfield County, Connecticut and Columbia County, New York to see how it handled the dark, winding country roads. Good news: it ate them up.
THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE IS:
Silence. The moment I got in the car in Brooklyn, NY I noticed all exterior noise washed away and was replaced by acoustic excellence from the 34-speaker Bose Panaray Sound System.
THING THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO NOTICE, BUT YOU DO ANYWAY:
The car’s 204.1-inch length means you’ll never forget you’re in a Cadillac. It’s the exact same length as a Chevy Tahoe, which is pretty hard to overlook when parking.
CAR IS GOOD AT:
A smooth, buttery ride without compromising handling. You can take this 4,371-lb sedan into a corner at 55 mph and feel planted, without egregious understeer. At no point did I find myself complaining about body roll or lazy brakes. The magnetic ride control behaved beautifully, and the 8-speed transmission never struggled to find the right gear. From the ride to the handling to the inputs, everything is smooth, smooth, smooth.
CAR IS BAD AT:
If a gun was put to my head, I would say it could have a little better exhaust note in sport mode.
RATE 1-5
- PERFORMANCE 3.5
- COMFORT 5
- LUXURY 5
- HAULING PEOPLE 4
- HAULING STUFF 4
- CURB APPEAL 4
- “WOW” FACTOR 5
- OVERALL 4.5
WOULD YOU BUY IT?
I would 100 percent buy the 2017 Cadillac CT6 Platinum. The reason I said the full name is because I would only buy this version, the one that costs over $90,000. If I am going to buy a Cadillac, I want the top trim with all the options … wait, I guess I’m that guy.
DEEP THOUGHTS:
Cadillac has always identified itself as a luxury brand (with mixed results over the last couple decades) but they haven’t always had a firm grasp on the performance market. But they fixed that several years ago—when I was behind the wheel of the ATS-V and CTS-V, I was in performance bliss and still comfortable the whole time. That feeling has transferred over to the CT6. Not to the same extent, nor should it be, but it’s unmistakably there.
Rather than succumbing to the heavy-and-lazy tendencies found in older luxury sedans, Cadillac fulfilled its promise and took the CT6 luxury to whole new level for the brand: 20-way power seats, 12-mode massage system, four quadrant climate control, rear entertainment cluster—even night vision. It easily competes with the European competition that’s climbed well past the $100K mark. And as soon as you give the twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 a little gas, you know this thing was meant to snap some necks on demand. Proper luxury, proper performance. Well done.
PRICE (AS TESTED): $87,495 ($91,580)
POWERTRAIN: 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V6; AWD, 8-Speed Automatic
FUEL ECONOMY: 18 city / 26 highway
PERFORMANCE: 404 hp, 400 lb.-ft., 0-60mph in 5.0 seconds.
Sound System: “Sorry, I didn’t catch that, can you repeat the question?”
