You could definitely do worse than the new Cadillac XT4 AWD when it comes to available options. The stellar black tester (coincidentally painted in Stellar Black, a $900-extra hue) that I drove this summer from Toronto to Montreal and back came fitted with a litany of features that really upped the luxury feel of the sport-utility, as well as its price tag, taking it from the base MSRP of $43,300 to a total $59,600.
Included standard were, to name just a few items, automatic headlights with intelligent high-beams; a hands-free liftgate; wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto; and heat in the seats and steering wheel. This XT4 was optioned up with ventilated power 12-way massage seats with memory presets; a head-up display; automatic parking assist; 20-inch gloss black wheels; and a rear camera mirror with washer. All in all, it made for a very premium-feeling compact SUV.
But I understand if that above list doesn’t impress you much; my co-pilot on the trip was nonplussed, too. Their own 2021 Mazda CX-5 GT, they aptly pointed out, had many — if not quite all — of the same features, and for a sum closer to the bottom end of the XT4’s price range.
2022 Cadillac XT4 AWD Photo by Nicholas Maronese
2022 Cadillac XT4 AWD Photo by Nicholas Maronese
2022 Cadillac XT4 AWD Photo by Nicholas Maronese
2022 Cadillac XT4 AWD Photo by Nicholas Maronese
2021 Cadillac XT4 Photo by Cadillac
2023 Cadillac XT4 Photo by Cadillac
2023 Cadillac XT4 Photo by Cadillac
OK, that makes sense. The XT4 is Cadillac’s entry-level model, while the GT trim on the CX-5 is a little ways up the Mazda ladder, and the Japanese brand has been aiming to move more upmarket these past few years. I don’t mean to short-change the XT4 either, with the Caddy clearly boasting some superior specs (horsepower, for example, is 235 versus the Mazda’s 187, though both are four-cylinders, a turbo 2.0-litre on our Cadillac tester and a 2.5 in the CX-5).
The point I am making, nevertheless, is that a higher-tier Mazda — or perhaps, say, a Volkswagen Tiguan — can be compared to a Cadillac, that the Caddy’s rivals are not just Audis and BMWs, and that modern SUVs have often become so feature-rich that the edge between mainstream and premium marques has been made blurrier than ever before.
But here’s something that sets the XT4 apart, that can’t be quantified via technical specs or cross-compared on an options sheet: its Cadillac badge.
2022 Cadillac XT4 AWD Photo by Nicholas Maronese
That was something I realized after we picked up a friend one afternoon en route to Centre-Ville. “Ooh, this is fancy,” they cooed climbing into the back seat and running their fingers over the crest in the middle of the perforated Sedona tan leather. Another friend rode shotgun on our way through Westmount. “Is this a Cadillac!?” she gasped. While I wondered at first whether this was uttered with some irony, I quickly gathered she was being earnest. Later on, alone at the iconic Orange Julep at sunset, I couldn’t help notice the XT4 turned a few heads, though that may have been because it stuck out among some of the customized Integras and VWs that had gathered in the parking lot.
The fact this fogey old American marque actually still bore some kind of brand cache with non-enthusiasts who, say, couldn’t tell Alcantara from actual mouse fur caught me off guard, but perhaps it shouldn’t have. The 120-year-old automaker was, for roughly the first half of its life so far — but especially the first half of that half — widely held up in popular culture as an automotive standard of the world. I mean, that was literally Cadillac’s slogan, “the Standard of the World,” for a number of years, a reputation that I suppose remains embedded in some parts of the North American subconscious.
It wasn’t much of an exaggeration, either, as Cadillac actually did build some of the industry’s benchmark best luxury cars for a time, each imbued, too, with unmatched levels of innovation—we’re talking the brand that famously bore “the penalty of leadership” in its heyday.
But I guess it surprised me since that heyday is some decades behind us now. After beginning a decline in quality in the early 1970s, reaching its nadir in the Malaise-Era ’80s, Cadillac is, among the cognoscenti, only recently marking a return to form, though even its newest offerings are not without their cringe-inducing shortcomings.
2022 Cadillac XT4 AWD Photo by Nicholas Maronese
2022 Cadillac XT4 AWD Photo by Nicholas Maronese
2022 Cadillac XT4 AWD Photo by Nicholas Maronese
2022 Cadillac XT4 AWD Photo by Nicholas Maronese
2022 Cadillac XT4 AWD Photo by Nicholas Maronese
2022 Cadillac XT4 AWD Photo by Nicholas Maronese
2022 Cadillac XT4 AWD Photo by Nicholas Maronese
I will say to the XT4’s credit that there were not so many flaws worth pointing out in the 1,000-plus kilometres logged driving Toronto to Montreal and back. Fit and finish were better than you’d find in more mainstream offerings, and ergonomically the Cadillac proved plenty comfortable for this road trip, with a level of luxury on par for its role as the marque’s entry-level model. That aforementioned turbo-four, backed by a nine-speed automatic, performed without issue and provided adequate pep. The CUE-powered infotainment system was perhaps not the most intuitive, but functioned well enough — and paired, via Bluetooth, with a variety of phones easily enough — that complaints feel unfair. As a first step into the premium utility segment, the Cadillac XT4 should definitely go on your test-drive list.
It’s just the fact something like a Mazda CX-5 GT is within spitting distance of almost all those parameters, feature count aside, that makes me wonder whether the value is there. New-car average transactions being what they are, that as-tested price tag shy of $60,000 isn’t all that high, relatively speaking; but when you can get much of the same out of a much-less expensive alternative, are you really paying for the badge at the end of the day?
“Standard of the World” it’s not, but there is at least some quality baked into the XT4 that justifies that MSRP. It’s premium at, well, a premium, and it’s up to you to decide whether turning heads, thanks to the Cadillac wreath on your grille, is worth it.
Keyword: Road Trip Review: 2022 Cadillac XT4 AWD