Cadillac STS Washington DC

When I was a young enthusiast — really young, back in the '50s — I read an interview of Cunningham race-car driver Phil Walters. He was asked, "What's your everyday car?"

A Ferrari? I thought. A Maserati?

"What else?" he said, "a Cadillac."

Yes, it was a time when high performance and Cadillac fit with ease into parallel thinking — as they are increasingly doing today. Consider: The CTS took top honors in our "Seven to the Power of Six" comparison, June 2004. Its CTS-V sibling (see our Road Test, February 2004) proved an exciting Corvette-Z06-powered sports sedan. The XLR, a svelte luxury convertible for two, was my choice in "Wind, Sun and Stars," September 2003. And, though they're not exactly my cuppa Red-Bull-and-vodka, the Escalade and Escalade EXT certainly have a following as well.

Cadillac is most definitely in. Again.

Its latest offering is the completely revamped STS, seen as Cadillac's entry in what the company calls the "global luxury performance sedan" segment. Quite a mouthful representing the likes of Audi A6, BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Jaguar S-Type and Lexus GS/LS.

The STS is the fourth Cadillac developed off GM's Sigma platform, the CTS, CTS-V and SRX SUV sharing its rear-/all-wheel-drive underpinnings. And, I confess, learning of this heritage didn't initially endear the STS to me.

Who wants a global luxury performance sedan the engineering essence of which is shared with lesser cars?

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