Overview

It took courage to abandon the 57-year-old DeVille nameplate, but that's exactly what Cadillac did last year while overhauling its biggest and most conservative sedan for 21st Century duty. The DTS designation used to indicate the DeVille Touring Sedan, a sporty version of the old model. DTS now stands for the whole revised and revamped model line. It's fitting, given today's DTS is sportier than yesterday's DeVille. The DTS takes turns with poise and dignity, making it an enjoyable steed when the road goes curvy.

Sporting fresh body lines, a redesigned interior, upgraded running gear, and suspension refinements, the current version was launched as a 2006 model. For 2007, it's offered as a single model, with a single interior, but with a number of packages and two levels of engine power for a wide range of personalization.

The DTS is a full-size luxury car and it is, indeed, a big car, riding on a 115.6-inch wheelbase that would have qualified it as full-size car even in the mid-1950s. Its styling is restrained, but it's stuffed with modern technology and electronic goodies. And unlike many luxury cars these days, there's no need to study the owner's manual to make the DTS do its job. This is a rational luxury car, easy to operate in addition to being large and luxurious.

The DTS offers impeccable road manners and a warm, spacious interior. Yet the DTS also offers crisp handling and good grip for improved composure and driving enjoyment on winding roads.

The 2007 Cadillac DTS is a full-size luxury sedan, powered through its front wheels by Cadillac's 4.6-liter Northstar V8. A four-speed automatic transmission is standard. The engine develops 275 horsepower, but a higher-revving, 292-hp version is also available.

Model Lineup

The 2007 Cadillac DTS comes in one trim level with the option of two luxury packages and one performance package.

Safety features that come standard on all models include six air bags, including a dual-depth front-passenger air bag.

DTS ($41,170) comes with eight-way power front bucket seats with adjustable lumbar support; OnStar with one-year Directions & Connections Service; Adaptive Remote Starting; Magnasteer magnetic variable-assist rack-and-pinion steering; 17-inch chromed wheels, xenon HID headlamps; laminated side glass; and an MP3-capable stereo. XM Satellite Radio is also standard, including three months free service.

DTS with the Luxury I package ($44,170) adds StabilTrak; Brake Assist; memory for seats and outside mirrors; ultrasonic parking assist; heated outboard seats front and rear; seat cooling for driver and front-seat passenger; heated leather-wrapped steering wheel; heated windshield washer fluid; heated outside mirrors with integrated turn signal indicators; and a universal home remote.

The Luxury II package ($46,490) includes Luxury I plus a six-disc in-dash CD changer; eight-speaker Bose audio system; tri-zone climate control; four-way adjustable lumbar with massage for the front bucket seats; power tilt and telescoping steering column; wood accents on steering wheel; adjustable rear-seat headrests; rear-seat sun visors with vanity mirrors; power folding outside mirrors; IntelliBeam automatic headlamps; Rainsense wipers; and a cargo net for the trunk. Road wheels are still 17-inch chrome but feature a design unique to this package, and real dark burl walnut replaces the standard interior woodgrain trim.

The Performance package ($48,540) includes all but a few of the Luxury items plus the higher-tuned (L37) Northstar 4.6-liter V8 with 292 horsepower, performance algorithm shifting, Magnetic Ride Control, 18-inch wheels and H-rated tires.

Options include adaptive cruise control ($1695), a DVD-based navigation system ($1945), a front bench seat (no charge), DTS-exclusive Tehama leather upholstery ($1995), body color grille ($100), and a power tilt/slide sunroof ($1200).

Walkaround

The Cadillac DTS is not just a new skin on the old DeVille. Numerous refinements have stiffened the body structure, increasing safety and dampening noise. A laminated steel dash panel significantly reduces noise from the engine compartment. That kind of detail engineering is evident throughout, demonstrating the effort expended to achieve the archetypal Cadillac ride.

The DTS is a big car. Its overall length of 207.6 inches makes it 5 inches longer than the Escalade full-size SUV, and nearly a foot longer than the STS. It's 9 inches longer than a BMW 7 Series and 2.6 inches longer than the latest long-wheelbase Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan. It's also wide, more than 2 inches wider than an STS.

Despite its size, however, the clean forms of the DTS give it a European look, though in a distinctively American idiom. With its vertical headlamps and tail lamps, and its grinning egg-crate grille, the DTS has acquired the design heritage of the Cadillac family and adapted it to 21st Century reality. It acknowledges tradition, yet remains fresh and modern. The nose is particularly expressive, with jewel-like xenon headlamps framing an expansive chrome grille adorned with a center-mounted wreath-and-crest badge.