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**Ghrankenstein** · 09-13-2005, 10:30 AM

Interior:

Despite the provocative exterior, the interior is where the DTS makes the most headway. Gone are the huge gaps and the clunky mish-mash of too many dash panels. In their place is a warm, welcome, and thoughtfully simple looking environment with very few nits for the picking. And don’t think for a second that I won’t pick them.

Materials:

The dash is subtly two-tone, in a low-glare olefin surface. It’s the same material used in the STS, but the DTS substitutes curves where the STS uses seams and edges. It’s much more successful here, and the grain and color are so well matched to the standard Nuance leather seats that one would not notice the difference if the dash’s grain were not slightly deeper. The hard plastic covering of the steering wheel column even matches the grain of the dash.

I’ve sat in Luxury I DTS’s at the nearby Enterprise lot and the fake walnut trim looks okay with one exception: it’s way too busy. The real walnut in my Luxury III is lovely, dark, and deep, and it shows up in most of the right places. Most, you say? Yes. Risking overreaction by the forum, it’s noticeably missing from the arm sill control surrounds. Why does that bug me? Because the surrounds are hard plastic that, while perfectly matching the interior color, are still hard plastic. They also match the barely-seen information center control surround to the left of the dash.

I have many guesses as to why. I think the main one is that they had so much wood and so many wood parts so that the DTS could fit at its lowered price point. Second would be that the fake wood didn’t match in comparison to the real wood. Third, those controls are generally out of eyesight, and they don’t look bad. The Malibu and G6 get fake wood in the arm rests, so I think it’s a combination of the first two. Just to see how hard I was being, I checked out a couple of vehicles which garner nothing but praise for their interiors, a Toureg and a GX470, and both had the same hard plastic in the same places. Keep that in mind.

Stereo and Controls

The gauge cluster in the DTS is simplified in comparison to the Deville. It’s more similar to the fine, attractive, and legible dials in the STS. Gone is the base Deville’s horrid green digital readout, though one can still dial up a digital readout in the DTS if one chooses.

My Luxury III had two sizeable clusters of controls on either side of the steering wheel, and I’ll admit that in my limited time today, I was unable to figure out some of them. I get the Chrysler-style backside radio volume controls, as well as the heated steering wheel, adaptive cruise, and up-down channel seek. But there are more, with ambiguous pictograms, which will take more time. What a strange and terrible future we live in!

The 252-watt 8-speaker Bose Surround Sound stereo system is very good. It’s not a rival of the brutal 15-speaker unit in the STS, but most will find it to be classy and powerful. The “simplified” interface is in a completely different “language” than any other previous GM unit, and it will take some practice to get used to. It uses a couple of hard buttons, and a lot of menus to get started. Once it’s set to an owner’s preferences it will be a cake walk, but for now, we attentive salespeople will need to take the time to learn it fully.

The biggest difference is in the pre-sets. Owners get six menus of presets, but get this: none is limited by band. Thus, I suggest one or two dedicated to multiband favorites, such as your favorite FM and XM stations, and one pre-set for Jim Rome. Outside of that, if you really need all six menus, perhaps set them for your out-of-town settings for various places you travel. One now has the ability to eliminate/block XM categories. In the past, one could have the “XL” (explicit lyrics) stations blocked by phoning XM. One can also reduce the number of preset menus if they aren’t needed.

The i-Pod jack and XM Radio add to the entertainment capabilities of the system, but one frustration will be the unavailability of a CD-changer with the navigation system. The Luxury III and Performance packages have the optional navigation system. I don’t know if they’re worth it for me, but for those that want it, it will be a relatively simple touch-screen, with thankfully fewer features than the crazy nav in the STS. Operation should be similar to the powerful, yet easy system in the Escalade. I’ll post an addendum once I get to immerse myself in this system.

Continuing the onslaught of features, the Luxury III (and Performance) have Intellibeam headlights, which automatically switch the high-beams on and off based on traffic encountered. Both of these packages also offer Radar Adaptive Cruise Control, which uses a set following distance when slower traffic is encountered while in cruise mode. The multi-page list of disclaimers in the owner’s manual reads almost like a Saturday Night Live advertisement for “Happy Fun Ball,” which makes me wonder even if it’s worth it. When I think of myself on the way to Kansas City, though, I welcome the idea.

One feature that debuts in the DTS is HotShot, a heated windshield liquid that clears ice and bugs with its 176-degree fluid spurts. Members, keep your comments family-friendly. The familiar adaptive remote-start that bowed on the 2004 Chevy Malibu is standard on the DTS.

Rounding out the high-tech features on the Luxury III are Rainsense windshield wipers, which respond to windshield water instead of time.

All in all, the ergonomics of the DTS seem well thought-out, but they’re different from other Caddy’s, meaning that salespeople reading this should spend a lot of time learning the new controls and interface.

Seats

Back to the strong points. The seats in the DTS are sublime. Cadillac touts the surface design as “twin-pillow,” with a cushy top layer, and a firm supportive second layer. It works, and better than I had expected. Overall, the front seats in the DTS are the most comfortable luxury seats I have ever experienced, even better than the Toyota Avalon’s. The cushions are long, with more-than-ample tilt and thigh-support, and with the power telescoping steering wheel, the perfect driving position is available to even freaks like me.

Cadillac desperately wants to lose the geriatric stigma of the front bench, so I'll avoid the term "outboard" here, in saying that the front seats are both heated and air conditioned with great force. You can make toast on them, or haul ice sculptures if you really wanted.

09-13-2005, 10:30 AM	#3 (permalink)
Ghrankenstein GMI Staff Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Springfield, MO Drives: 2008 Mazdaspeed3 Touring 5-door Posts: 3,502	Re: 2006 Cadillac DTS Interior: Despite the provocative exterior, the interior is where the DTS makes the most headway. Gone are the huge gaps and the clunky mish-mash of too many dash panels. In their place is a warm, welcome, and thoughtfully simple looking environment with very few nits for the picking. And don’t think for a second that I won’t pick them. Materials: The dash is subtly two-tone, in a low-glare olefin surface. It’s the same material used in the STS, but the DTS substitutes curves where the STS uses seams and edges. It’s much more successful here, and the grain and color are so well matched to the standard Nuance leather seats that one would not notice the difference if the dash’s grain were not slightly deeper. The hard plastic covering of the steering wheel column even matches the grain of the dash. I’ve sat in Luxury I DTS’s at the nearby Enterprise lot and the fake walnut trim looks okay with one exception: it’s way too busy. The real walnut in my Luxury III is lovely, dark, and deep, and it shows up in most of the right places. Most, you say? Yes. Risking overreaction by the forum, it’s noticeably missing from the arm sill control surrounds. Why does that bug me? Because the surrounds are hard plastic that, while perfectly matching the interior color, are still hard plastic. They also match the barely-seen information center control surround to the left of the dash. I have many guesses as to why. I think the main one is that they had so much wood and so many wood parts so that the DTS could fit at its lowered price point. Second would be that the fake wood didn’t match in comparison to the real wood. Third, those controls are generally out of eyesight, and they don’t look bad. The Malibu and G6 get fake wood in the arm rests, so I think it’s a combination of the first two. Just to see how hard I was being, I checked out a couple of vehicles which garner nothing but praise for their interiors, a Toureg and a GX470, and both had the same hard plastic in the same places. Keep that in mind. Stereo and Controls The gauge cluster in the DTS is simplified in comparison to the Deville. It’s more similar to the fine, attractive, and legible dials in the STS. Gone is the base Deville’s horrid green digital readout, though one can still dial up a digital readout in the DTS if one chooses. My Luxury III had two sizeable clusters of controls on either side of the steering wheel, and I’ll admit that in my limited time today, I was unable to figure out some of them. I get the Chrysler-style backside radio volume controls, as well as the heated steering wheel, adaptive cruise, and up-down channel seek. But there are more, with ambiguous pictograms, which will take more time. What a strange and terrible future we live in! The 252-watt 8-speaker Bose Surround Sound stereo system is very good. It’s not a rival of the brutal 15-speaker unit in the STS, but most will find it to be classy and powerful. The “simplified” interface is in a completely different “language” than any other previous GM unit, and it will take some practice to get used to. It uses a couple of hard buttons, and a lot of menus to get started. Once it’s set to an owner’s preferences it will be a cake walk, but for now, we attentive salespeople will need to take the time to learn it fully. The biggest difference is in the pre-sets. Owners get six menus of presets, but get this: none is limited by band. Thus, I suggest one or two dedicated to multiband favorites, such as your favorite FM and XM stations, and one pre-set for Jim Rome. Outside of that, if you really need all six menus, perhaps set them for your out-of-town settings for various places you travel. One now has the ability to eliminate/block XM categories. In the past, one could have the “XL” (explicit lyrics) stations blocked by phoning XM. One can also reduce the number of preset menus if they aren’t needed. The i-Pod jack and XM Radio add to the entertainment capabilities of the system, but one frustration will be the unavailability of a CD-changer with the navigation system. The Luxury III and Performance packages have the optional navigation system. I don’t know if they’re worth it for me, but for those that want it, it will be a relatively simple touch-screen, with thankfully fewer features than the crazy nav in the STS. Operation should be similar to the powerful, yet easy system in the Escalade. I’ll post an addendum once I get to immerse myself in this system. Continuing the onslaught of features, the Luxury III (and Performance) have Intellibeam headlights, which automatically switch the high-beams on and off based on traffic encountered. Both of these packages also offer Radar Adaptive Cruise Control, which uses a set following distance when slower traffic is encountered while in cruise mode. The multi-page list of disclaimers in the owner’s manual reads almost like a Saturday Night Live advertisement for “Happy Fun Ball,” which makes me wonder even if it’s worth it. When I think of myself on the way to Kansas City, though, I welcome the idea. One feature that debuts in the DTS is HotShot, a heated windshield liquid that clears ice and bugs with its 176-degree fluid spurts. Members, keep your comments family-friendly. The familiar adaptive remote-start that bowed on the 2004 Chevy Malibu is standard on the DTS. Rounding out the high-tech features on the Luxury III are Rainsense windshield wipers, which respond to windshield water instead of time. All in all, the ergonomics of the DTS seem well thought-out, but they’re different from other Caddy’s, meaning that salespeople reading this should spend a lot of time learning the new controls and interface. Seats Back to the strong points. The seats in the DTS are sublime. Cadillac touts the surface design as “twin-pillow,” with a cushy top layer, and a firm supportive second layer. It works, and better than I had expected. Overall, the front seats in the DTS are the most comfortable luxury seats I have ever experienced, even better than the Toyota Avalon’s. The cushions are long, with more-than-ample tilt and thigh-support, and with the power telescoping steering wheel, the perfect driving position is available to even freaks like me. Cadillac desperately wants to lose the geriatric stigma of the front bench, so I'll avoid the term "outboard" here, in saying that the front seats are both heated and air conditioned with great force. You can make toast on them, or haul ice sculptures if you really wanted. __________________ NEW RIDE: 2008 Carp Poseidon (for fish-head delivery) Last edited by nsap : 09-14-2005 at 08:04 AM.