All Aboard the American Express

The Seville STS retains the traditional character of a Cadillac, large and quite powerful. As their sporting model, though, it's solid without being stolid.

Cadillac has done commendably in giving you some feel of the road. The Seville carries its weight low, and with the Northstar V-8, rapidly. Although it's designed to increase GM's sales in Europe, they didn't want to imitate European character, but to have an American-style car with appeal to Europeans. So it has subtle styling, but trades some handling for comfort and power.

Enroute to battle with the Europeans, though, the STS proves more than a match for the Lexuses and high-end Acuras; it has similar luxury and performance, with more spirit. The Caddy is dedicated to relentlessly -- and comfortably -- converting time into distance.

That makes the Seville STS an unmistakably American car. So what's not to cheer?



Is It a Car - or a Jet?

Cadillac's Seville STS boasts an array of technology that would befit a Learjet. Sure, there's the Bose radio with automatic volume control. But that's just the beginning.

Instruments appear to float in midair, thanks to a really neat electroluminescent panel. It lets you shut off illumination to nonessential gauges when driving at night.

HomeLink? Yes. OnStar? Of course. Automatic headlights and wipers? Sure. (And, if you have the automatic light feature switched off, it'll suggest when they should be on.)

When you're backing up, bumper sonar can tell you when to stop backing up.

All the seats are heated, and the driver can have an adaptive seat that continuously adjusts itself to the contours of your body and your seating position.

More technology helps keep you on the road. What Cadillac calls StabiliTrak combines yaw sensing with steering angle input, and applies front brakes as needed to avoid skids.

Really, all you need to do is steer.