2004 BMW 545i vs. 2005 Cadillac STS

Cadillac STS
If there's one appellation that sums up the new Cadillac STS, it's smooth. Compared with the Cracker Jack box square look of the CTS, the STS is clean and modern-looking without being overt. The wider stance helps the STS appear planted. "It's the best of the chiseled Caddies, an American big-car look that's tastefully done," said one editor. The well-jeweled dual-projector-beam headlamps, vertical-strip LED taillamps, and dual exhausts add interest. Noted another staffer, "the Caddy's clean flanks, generally good proportions, and surface detail remind us of the original Seville STS of 1992-1995."

A return to what works is obvious inside, too. For the STS, Cadillac has switched back to more traditional animal-type graining in the vinyl and leather coverings. It's using real wood inlays in the right places and in just the right quantity in keeping with the brand's luxury standing. GM has lagged behind just about everyone else in fit, finish, and material quality, but the STS makes up some ground here and does so in a distinctly American way. "It's a balanced, eye-pleasing combination of layout, style, function, and materials; not up to Audi standards, but generally well done and certainly better than the overwrought CTS and SRX." We'd opt to upgrade the STS's short, cheesy-feeling carpeting and molded headliner (which looks like it came out of a $20,000 car) and change the reverse-logic (you push forward for upshifts) manumatic shifter, but niggles are few.

The new STS has addressed the button proliferation question by moving most infotainment functions to a large, color touchscreen. Pushing one of eight buttons below the screen presents a menu; all the driver has to do is touch his intended selection, and he's off to the races. Though the STS comes standard with a Bose audio system, a $3300 option package upgrades the audio to 15-speaker surround sound, with DVD audio, DVD video, XM Satellite Radio, navigation, and Bluetooth wireless-phone capability. The DVD audio is one of a few concert-hall quality systems on the market, but on this Bose system you can watch DVD videos on the eight-inch VGA dash display screen provided the transmission is in Park. Need to return that DVD to the nearest Blockbuster? No problem. Just punch in that store's phone number, and the nav system will pull up the address and compute driving directions. A laminated windshield and front side glass, triple door seals, sandwich-type quiet steel in the bulkhead, and hydraulic engine mounts and suspension bushings help shut out a noisy world while you infotain yourself.

So there's a bit of Lexus thinking in the STS; and some Nuerburgring, too. Like all Sigma-platform cars, the STS got lots of development time on the famed German race-car circuit. Inasmuch as the last rear-drive Seville was the Chevy Nova-based car of 1976-1979, Cadillac had to regain some credibility to challenge BMW and others in the segment. Like the CTS, the STS gets a stiff body structure (25 Hz), with the best rear-drive components in GM's parts bins, including a control-arm front suspension and multilink rear--mostly crafted from aluminum.

Rear-seat room is adequate, but isn't as good as the STS's overall size indicates.

Weight balance isn't as ideal as the BMW's, but the Caddy's ace in the hole is its optional Magnetic Ride Control. Like the Corvette and Cadillac XLR, the STS's magnetorheological shock absorbers adjust damping rates by varying the electric signal sent to magnetic particles in the shock fluid, changing its viscosity in real time according to road-surface conditions and vehicle dynamics. Each shock does this individually up to 1000 times per second. The STS is the first car to offer two selectable settings for the system--performance and touring--via the touch-screen infotainment display head. During instrumented testing, we left the shocks in the touring mode to simulate real-world driving conditions. Commented a staffer, "the ride often feels quite cushy, but it's always firm when you want it to be."