First Drive: Cadillac Sixteen
Ease into the throttle, and the car moves with a quickness that belies its mass and size. The automatic transmission has four gears, but we feel only two shift surges during our drive. This huge sedan glides precisely, with a catlike balance that puts us at ease. The steering feels light, and the car drives smaller than it looks. Give it more gas, and the result is a Mississippi River's worth of torque that surges the car forward. We back off to listen for crunching, grinding, or banging. Nothing--impressive for a machine whose primary purpose is to dazzle a show crowd. The Sixteen's ride is a bit jiggly, which doesn't say anything positive about the suspension, since the pavement is billiard-table smooth.
The brakes don't feel up to the engine's grunt. Despite six-piston calipers and 16-inch rotors, not much happens when the brake pedal is depressed. Perhaps that's because the master cylinder is remote-mounted in the trunk and operated via a tangle of electronics. We remember that our GM support crew warned us about "green" brake pads.
There isn't much turnaround room for us at the end of one particular Proving Ground road, but four-wheel steering comes to the rescue. Turning in opposite phase to the front wheels at low speeds, the rear wheels tighten the car's long turning circle to approximately that of a midsize sedan.
The Sixteen isn't as polished as a production car; understandable, as that's not its mission. But it's easily the most refined concept car we've driven, which further teases us about what sort of production potential it, or some of its componentry, might have. The car's design represents an updated, and somewhat more elegant, variation on Cadillac's crisp-edged design language; perhaps some of the Sixteen's themes will show up on the upcoming Seville/STS and the next-generation DeVille.
Does anyone need 16 cylinders or 1000 horsepower? No. But the idea--like the engine itself--sounds simply wondrous.