Luxury Sedan Comparison: Cadillac Deville DTS vs. Lincoln Town Car Cartier
The Town Car is offered with the optional Lincoln Vehicle Communication System, though our tester didn't have it. This telematics setup is built around a Motorola digital/analog Timeport phone and Sprint PCS services. Like Cadillac's standard OnStar, it combines safety and security features with voice-activated calling. It offers airbag-activation notification, emergency and roadside assistance, route guidance, and such personal info services as news, sports, and stock updates.
Conclusions
Different Strokes
Your mom will love the Lincoln. You might prefer the Cadillac. The difference between these two cars is profound. The Lincoln is rear drive and the Cadillac is front drive, but the differences are more basic than even that distinction. The Lincoln Town Car is the darling of the livery drivers. Call for a black four-door sedan to get you to the airport in any major city in the United States, and you'll probably get a Town Car.As taxicabs have become filthier and more uncomfortable, the market for nice, clean, black Town Cars has increased apace. Unfortunately, the market for Town Cars as luxurious family transportation is slipping badly. This could be because the car itself has been compromised in favor of livery service. Or it could be that the logical prospects for Lincolns as family cars don't want to be mistaken for chauffeurs. The Cadillac DTS was designed as a sort of "businessman's express." It works better in the front seats than it does in the rear. It really is meant to be the driver's car, and its back seat probably won't be used all that often.That rear seat feels a bit cramped when two long-legged adults are in the front seats, and it's further compromised by road noise and some communication of impacts to rear-seat passengers. The Lincoln can't match the Cadillac for driving pleasure, but the Lincoln's rear seat is superior for the run to JFK on a cold, blustery evening. Any knowledgeable prospect offered the chance to try the Lincoln Town Car and the Cadillac DTS back to back would rather quickly grasp the philosophical differences between these two. (It doesn't take a marketing wizard.) Lincoln continues to woo the more traditional American luxury-car buyer, the older guy who's never driven a Mercedes-Benz, a BMW, or a Lexus, nor does he intend to. This customer made up his mind about cars several decades ago, and the Lincoln exactly fits his idea of automotive luxury. He's reassured by the fact that he can get a Lincoln Town Car from any of the major rental companies when he travels, and he's reassured by their high visibility as chauffeured livery cars. The Cadillac DTS is faster, edgier, and far less tightly focused on those AARP members. Cadillac wants to reach younger buyers and wean successful boomers away from their knee-jerk predisposition toward imports.And therein lie the mechanical and dynamic differences between these two rather nice sedans. The Lincoln will take you from your office to the airport. The Cadillac would rather take you from Miami to Seattle.—David E. Davis, Jr. |
There are two issues here: (1) Which is best among this pair and (2) how do they stack up against the upmarket imports that have been attacking their market share for the last two decades?
The first answer is: the Cadillac. It outruns, outguns, and outstyles the Town Car in nearly every department but braking performance and the suppleness of its ride quality. Even the latter can be explained, as our tester was a DTS, the sportiest and firmest-riding player in the DeVille lineup. As tested, the Lincoln posts a worthy price advantage, but take away some of the $2000-a-pop technogoodies and the two align much more closely. The new-for-'03 Town Car is markedly better than its predecessor in just about every way. Yet considering how completely uncompetitive that predecessor had become in the marketplace, is that good enough?
The second question is more complex. Lincoln and Cadillac do bring a few bullets to the luxury-car shootout, in relative value from a price standpoint, roominess in nearly every dimension, and considerable marque appeal for those buyers who want to Buy American. Yet in every luxury-car comparison we've conducted over the last several years, neither appears to have the stuff—from design, dynamics, quality, luxury, feature content, or performance standpoints—to take on the best from Europe and Asia. Sure, many of these imports cost more. And based on sales, their customers are more than willing to buy (or lease) them for the privilege.
Our seemingly harsh but honest advice to Lincoln and, to only a somewhat lesser degree, Cadillac is to conceive, develop, and offer modern, truly world-class flagship sedans. Or accept that you're really only playing in a domestic/heartland subset of today's ultra-competitive luxury segment.