“The first-ever Cadillac XT6 delivers a compelling blend of spaciousness, safety and convenience features for customers who thrive on doing it all,” says company president Steve Carlisle.
Cadillac is “XT-ing” its entire SUV line-up, save for the flagship Escalade, and the newest member to don the badge is the mid-size XT6. Boasting the brand’s latest design language, three rows of seating and upscale interior appointments, everything looks great on paper. Lets see if it stacks up in real life.
“The first-ever Cadillac XT6 delivers a compelling blend of spaciousness, safety and convenience features for customers who thrive on doing it all,” says company president Steve Carlisle. “It joins the all-new XT4, which has soared to the top spot in its segment in the US, our global best-selling XT5 and the iconic Escalade to accelerate the brand’s global growth, with a spirit that is uniquely Cadillac.”
The vehicle looks fantastic wearing standard slim bi-LED headlamps, vertical LED signature daytime running lights, streamlined grille and big 20-inch wheels. Two specs are sold: Premium Luxury is for the buyer who prefers a classier experience, and Sport offers a more performance-oriented appearance.
The former is highlighted by a Bright Galvano finish on the 3-D grille, side window trim and roof rails, and red taillight housings, while the latter — which Darpan tested — has a blacked out mesh grille and lower air intake, clear tails and optional 21-inch wheels.
As mentioned earlier, the cabin is comfortable and plush featuring heated leather seating (ventilated as well for the front) and steering wheel, aluminum paddle shifters, leather dash and console coverings and on our Sport model, a generous amount of genuine bronze carbon fibre accenting.
Third row ingress and egress is made easy via an electric sliding second row. The liftgate is powered too, although is curiously missing a customary combination close and lock button. I wasn’t able to locate a remote release switch anywhere inside the crossover, either.
Audiophiles will appreciate the bangin’ Bose Performance Series 14-speaker stereo delivering clean sound and punchy mids and bass. Occupants are also treated to an odour-free olfactory experience when the available Comfort and Air Quality package is installed adding an in-vehicle ionizer.
Connectivity is no problem here. There’s a total of six USB ports, NFC one-touch smartphone pairing, 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspot (requires subscription), Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility and high-speed wireless charging.
All XT6’s are powered by a 3.6-litre V6 engine mated to an efficient nine-speed automatic transmission. Producing 310 horsepower and 271 lb-ft of torque there’s plenty of power on tap — I even managed to create some unintentional tire squeal after pushing the accelerator when the traffic light turned green. Built-in active fuel management allows two cylinders to deactivate under light loads for better fuel economy.
All-wheel drive is equipped on both variants, however the Sport utilizes a Sport Control active twin-clutch system with active yaw control yielding sharper handling. In addition, Sports have adaptive damping capability constantly adjusting to current road conditions and a faster steering ratio contributing to more driver feedback and greater overall responsiveness. After sufficiently tossing the SUV around for a week I can attest to the above claim.
Highlights
Motor: 5.6-litre V8 Horsepower: 400 @ 5,800 rpm Torque (lb-ft): 413 @ 4,000 rpm Gearbox: nine-speed automatic Layout: front engine, four-wheel drive Fuel economy: 20.0 L/100 km mixed city/highway (observed)