Yahoo Autos The 2019 Cadillac XT4 Is an Eye-Catching Alternative in a Sea of German Competition
Cadillac is in flux. Johan de Nysschen, veteran of Audi and Infiniti, who led Cadillac out of Detroit and into Soho, left the company in April. In September, General Motors pulled the plug on Cadillac's East Coast adventure. Now Steve Carlisle, a career GM guy, is at the helm, and the crest is moving back to Michigan. But long product-development cycles mean that as Cadillac retreats to its midwestern home, some holdovers from the New York era remain. The XT4 is one of those remnants.
Unveiled around the 2018 New York auto show, mere weeks before de Nysschen's exit, the XT4 is Cadillac's first entry into the trendy subcompact-luxury-crossover segment. Sales of subcompact SUVS (including those from plebeian brands) have tripled since 2014, and GM already has some experience with how well tiny crossovers can fare; the Encore is Buick's best-selling vehicle by far, and the Chevrolet Equinox, the bow-tie's closest analogue to the XT4, sold more units than the Suburban, Tahoe, and Trax combined in 2017. That this is Cadillac's first crack at the segment means it's already behind. Audi, BMW, and Jaguar preceded Cadillac at the entry level, sometimes by two generations, with the Q3, X1/X2, and E-Pace, respectively. Volvo's charming XC40 beat the XT4 to market by months. Cadillac's slightly larger XT5, which replaced the SRX, is the brand's best-selling nameplate in the U.S. by a wide margin, and if the XT4 can gain similar traction in this segment-something on the order of 20,000 to 30,000 sales per year-it could mean big things for Cadillac.
With its sharp angles, large grille, and striking saber-toothed-light signature, Cadillac's littlest SUV will make an impression on even the most dedicated brand snobs. The model we tested came wearing $625 in glittering orange paint and $1100 20-inch wheels (18s are standard), lending it a concept-car air. It's more attractive than a crossover has any right to be, with a more modern mien than anything else in Cadillac's lineup.
Cadillac updated its much-maligned CUE touchscreen infotainment system with a console-mounted dial, but the knob can only be used to scroll. It does not toggle left, right, up, or down, as the best of its kind do (see BMW). And while some users might find the controller useful, it's possible and even preferable to operate this infotainment system without it.
In our opinion, some of the cash spent on CUE's new knob would have been better used gussying up the XT4's interior. Because while the Caddy's exterior is alluring, the rest of car doesn't always deliver on the promise of its fresh face. The Sport model we tested shares top billing with the XT4's Premium Luxury trim-both start at $40,290-but despite some plush materials (a soft-touch dashboard and lashings of carbon fiber are the high points), the cabin isn't quite as well executed as we'd hoped, nor is its interior design as thoughtfully strange as that of the Volvo XC40. Our test car had significant gaps at the joint where the roof and A-pillar meet, exposing a portion of the windshield that would otherwise have been covered and allowing a sliver of sunlight to peek through the trim right at eye level. Also, one editor scraped his hand on a rough edge inside the front-door pocket. And that new infotainment controller was already showing scratches after just a few thousand miles of service. Our test car was a preproduction model, though, so we hope Cadillac will work out the fit and finish kinks before these vehicles get into customers' hands. But it must be said that these are pretty egregious lapses, even for a preproduction unit.
It may not be as carefully resolved as the best of its competition, but the XT4's cabin is comfortable. Despite the car's small footprint, there's space for an average-size adult to sit behind an average-size driver. That's likely the influence of China, which has grown into Cadillac's largest market. It's much cheaper to be chauffeur-driven there than it is in America, so even owners of pseudo-luxury vehicles like the XT4 can swing it.
For $2450, our test car's front seats were upgraded with leather, ventilation, and a massage function (that package also adds a hands-free liftgate and lumbar adjustment for the front passenger). The front seats are wide and reasonably supportive, but while we can't bring ourselves to actually complain about a vehicle's massaging seats, Cadillac hasn't replicated a hot-stone massage convincingly enough to completely justify the asking price for that option. Masters of the form, Mercedes and Volvo prove that massaging seats can be good enough to replace monthly visits to a mediocre masseuse. A further $1550 added a huge dual-panel sunroof, lending the cabin an airy feel. The XT4's interior is free of cutesy gimmicks like the jaguar print stamped on the rubber cubby liners in the E-Pace, so it feels mature despite its dainty size.
An all-new entry in GM's powertrain portfolio, the XT4's 237-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four makes use of variable valve-lift modes and adopts GM's cylinder-deactivation technology; both functions represent an effort to balance performance and fuel efficiency. A nine-speed automatic is the XT4's only transmission. The base XT4 is front-wheel drive, but an all-wheel-drive system is available and allows drivers to choose when to send torque to all four wheels via a button mounted on the center console. During our testing, the all-wheel-drive XT4 accelerated to 60 mph in 7.8 seconds. A Jaguar E-Pace was more than half a second quicker to 60 mph on our track, and the BMW X2 and the Volvo XC40 both broke 7.0 seconds.
Cadillac has boasted that the 2.0-liter's twin-scroll turbocharger is designed to provide plenty of low-end torque, but we found motivation lacking below about 3000 rpm. The good news is that the nine-speed is adept at staying in the powerband during passing maneuvers. Sluggish responses from the steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters mean that the transmission is best left to its own devices.
It's the rare crossover that is truly fun to drive, even in this segment where vehicle proportions suggest buggies and wagons rather than trucks. The XT4 has passable road manners, with accurate responses to steering inputs and a forgivable amount of body roll. The ride in our test car was harsh at times, and impacts seemed to reverberate through the vehicle's structure. The optional 20-inch wheels and Active Sport suspension are not the ideal combination for our battered Michigan roads, nor can the XT4 match the BMW X2's handling poise.
By size, the XT4 falls between two cohorts of competitors. Its 109.4-inch wheelbase places it squarely between Audi's Q3 and Q5, BMW's X1/X2 twins and the larger X3, and Jaguar's E-Pace and F-Pace. This tweener strategy is a popular one among those seeking to make an impact on the luxury market (see Lexus NX). It allows for the social climber to sell its vehicle partially on the basis of value-look at all that space! And it only costs how much? The XT4 uses up much of its extra length in the rear seat, and the roof slopes sharply behind the second row, so the cargo area is long but not very tall. Still, its 23 cubic feet is about average, plenty of space for the stuff of an upper-middle-class life.
In an increasingly crowded segment, it's hard to stand out. So GM struck a deal with online retailer Amazon so that Prime members can have packages delivered directly to their XT4s. When XT4 owners are expecting a package, they can use the Amazon Key smartphone app to set a delivery location. The delivery driver can unlock the car using his or her own Amazon Key app and deposit the package. This feature is likely of limited interest to owners who live between the mountain ranges, as many in that region who can afford a Cadillac may also own a house. But in large cities, where even people with disposable income often live in apartment buildings with nonsecure entryways, in-car delivery makes a certain kind of sense.
What doesn't always make sense is the XT4's price tag. All-wheel-drive Sport models like the one we tested start at $42,790-not out of line for a vehicle of this sort. The XT4's base price puts it in line with its smaller competitors, so the value proposition is real. Or it can be, depending on how the car is optioned. When all was said and done, our test model rang in at $56,835, on the high end even for similarly outfitted competitors; its sticker placed it closer to an X3 than an X1.
That price includes some options-like forward-collision alert and pedestrian avoidance ($770)-that come standard in competitors such as the BMW X3 and the Volvo XC40, and there are tells in the interior finishings that betray the XT4's family relationship with the Chevrolet Equinox. But we had similar complaints about the XT5's readiness for showtime, and that vehicle has gone on to achieve the kind of sales success that has eluded many of the brand's better-executed products, even outselling competitors from BMW and Mercedes-Benz in 2017. And for all of Cadillac's hipster chasing, it's more important how this car plays in Shanghai than in New York. Not only is China Cadillac's largest market, it's also where the brand most closely competes with European luxury marques. In a segment where a joyful driving experience is hard to come by and real luxury is still something to aspire to, the XT4 keeps up with its competitors even if it can't outshine them. Given that it's an eye-catching alternative in a sea of Germans, it may not have to.
Competitors
From the December 2018 issue
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