Just start touching stuff. Get inside the XTS V-Sport Platinum and touch the padded dash trim near the front passenger, feel the headliner, or run your fingers along the lower ends of the door panels. The Cadillac’s interior, while not perfect, is a good match for luxury sedans from top-tier premium brands. Not many XTS competitors have as much interior space, but there’s more to luxury than just interior space and high-quality materials. We spent some time with a 2018 Cadillac XTS V-Sport—a model only offered in top-of-the-line Platinum trim—to see how much of the car’s $73,840 MSRP is earned inside.
Looking for test numbers on the 410-hp, all-wheel-drive XTS V-Sport? Read our First Test review here.
The Platinum Experience
When you splurge for an XTS Platinum with either V-6 engine, Cadillac upgrades the interior with a microfiber suede headliner, leather on the dash, and semi-aniline leather seats. [...]
When Ford announced it was significantly cutting back its lineup of traditional cars in favor of SUVs and trucks, we all wondered whether other automakers would follow suit. So far, they haven’t. And it doesn’t look like Subaru is heading in this direction, either. Subaru’s traditional cars are still important to the lineup, according to Dominick Infante, Subaru’s national manager of product communications.
Sales of the Crosstrek are up 66.6 percent during the first four months of the year, providing an indication of where the market is heading right now. But Infante says don’t count out sedans and traditional cars, especially as gas prices increase. “Gas prices are starting to come up now. So a good hedge for better economy is having a sedan.”
“So we still make the Impreza and the Impreza hatchback,” Infante pointed out as examples. “They do get better gas mileage than say a [...]
Somebody put it into our heads that it’s important to be well rounded. Surely the trait has its benefits; it’s one of the reasons we like the Audi A4 so much. But although we appreciate its fuel economy, composed handling, solid acceleration, and tech-happy interior, we lament the A4’s lack of distinct personality. Derived from the A4 but packing extra power and trunk space, the S5 Sportback gingerly shuts the door to balance and reaps the rewards.
Although you sacrifice fuel economy, the S5 Sportback is quicker and more powerful than the A4. Using a 3.0-liter V-6 engine, the rakish sedan makes 354 hp and 369 lb-ft of torque, and it comes standard with all-wheel drive. We clocked it hitting 60 mph in 4.3 seconds, ahead of the Audi A4, which we’ve recorded between 5.0 and 5.4 seconds when paired with all-wheel drive and a 252-hp turbo-four.
The [...]
Porsche 718 Boxster
Price Starting at $58,450
The Boxster continues to embody automotive excellence, which earns it a spot yet again on our 10Best Cars list for 2018. With a pair of torque-rich turbo fours (the base is a 300-hp 2.0-liter; the S gets a 350-hp 2.5-liter) the Boxster never dallies, and this mid-engine roadster’s dynamics are nearly perfect. A GTS model is new for 2018 and tunes the S’s 2.5-liter flat-four to 365 hp. Many desirable features cost extra, but the standard folding top is the only bauble that really matters.
Mercedes-AMG GT
Price Starting at $113,395
The gullwings are gone, but the GT is still set to swoop in and snag buyers away from its archnemesis, the Porsche 911. The GT—along with its roadster counterpart—has a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 connected to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. This combination delivers 469 horsepower and gives the GT a top speed of 189 mph (188 for the roadster). The GT S brings 515 hp. All models have active aerodynamic louvers that adjust drag and engine cooling on the fly.
