We found ourselves in need of a bit more luggage space for this Christmas vacation, so I booked a standard size "CUV", (Nissan Rogue or similar). Upon arriving at the lot there were only two SUV's. A 2019 or 2020 Mitsubishi Outlander and a 2020 Cadillac XT4 (at the time thought it was the XT5). Long story short for $30 we upgraded and got the Cadillac. Thinking ahead to our 8 hour journey, a Cadillac just seemed much more appropriate in terms of comfort for the long drive ahead. For $30 it was a no brainer.
Trunk space was my main concern, so I had the agent open both trunks and surprisingly I found them visually very similar, even with the 3rd row down on the Mitsubishi.
Fast forward past check in, leaving the lot the initial acceleration left me a bit disappointed. The 9 speed transmission lets the 2.0 Turbo rev out to over 3,000 rpm easily with little torque. Its not until the higher gears that it holds the revs low and you feel the turbo working. I'm used to our VW that keeps revs low allowing you to use the torque from the turbo in the lower rpm range. The only way I found to bypass that was using the paddle shifters and upshifting before the transmission would on it's own, utilizing more of the available low RPM torque.
Transmission performance also gets a "meh" rating from me. Again I didn't care for the high revs off the line with little power to show from it, and shifts were slow and even clunky at times. I know this isn't a sport CUV but with todays tech I don't see why they couldn't program it to have more direct shifts.
Ride quality is good considering this has a relatively short wheel base, both city and highway driving provided decent handling and low road noise. The cabin had no noticeable rattles and everything seemed to be put together reasonably well.
Materials used were generally high quality, and the interior design is simplistic and easy to use.
One of my main complaints would be the gas mileage, or lack thereof. Even with the low revving 2.0 at highway speeds, it only seemed eek out 28 MPG. Another area of disappointment was braking. You really had to push the brake pedal harder than you should to come to a stop. I am not a fan of overly boosted brakes as they feel too artificial, but I'm afraid Cadillac swung to far the other way with this one.
I can't say that I am well versed in the small luxury CUV segment, but overall I was pleasantly surprised by this XT4. It goes back to the agency tomorrow night. I can post pictures later if anyone is interested.
Trunk space was my main concern, so I had the agent open both trunks and surprisingly I found them visually very similar, even with the 3rd row down on the Mitsubishi.
Fast forward past check in, leaving the lot the initial acceleration left me a bit disappointed. The 9 speed transmission lets the 2.0 Turbo rev out to over 3,000 rpm easily with little torque. Its not until the higher gears that it holds the revs low and you feel the turbo working. I'm used to our VW that keeps revs low allowing you to use the torque from the turbo in the lower rpm range. The only way I found to bypass that was using the paddle shifters and upshifting before the transmission would on it's own, utilizing more of the available low RPM torque.
Transmission performance also gets a "meh" rating from me. Again I didn't care for the high revs off the line with little power to show from it, and shifts were slow and even clunky at times. I know this isn't a sport CUV but with todays tech I don't see why they couldn't program it to have more direct shifts.
Ride quality is good considering this has a relatively short wheel base, both city and highway driving provided decent handling and low road noise. The cabin had no noticeable rattles and everything seemed to be put together reasonably well.
Materials used were generally high quality, and the interior design is simplistic and easy to use.
One of my main complaints would be the gas mileage, or lack thereof. Even with the low revving 2.0 at highway speeds, it only seemed eek out 28 MPG. Another area of disappointment was braking. You really had to push the brake pedal harder than you should to come to a stop. I am not a fan of overly boosted brakes as they feel too artificial, but I'm afraid Cadillac swung to far the other way with this one.
I can't say that I am well versed in the small luxury CUV segment, but overall I was pleasantly surprised by this XT4. It goes back to the agency tomorrow night. I can post pictures later if anyone is interested.
