The 2006 Cadillac DTS marks the end of the five-decade-old DeVille nameplate and the completion of Cadillac's quest to boil all its cars into an alphabet soup of CTS (entry-level luxury sport sedan), STS (luxury sport sedan), SRX (sport crossover wagon), XLR (two-seat convertible), and now DTS (full-size luxury sedan). But don't let the new nomenclature fool you; the DTS is fundamentally unchanged from the DeVille. While the front and rear styling is revamped to match Cadillac's current "art and science" angular look, the DTS's midsection belies its DeVille roots; the doors lack the prominent character line that ties together other Cadillac cars. Obligatory larger wheels and engine mount updates round out functional changes, but front-wheel drive and the same 4.6-liter Northstar V-8 remain.
The redone interior finally joins the twenty-first century with panel fits more befitting a car in this price range, and new features include GM's new dual-depth air bags (see the Buick Lucerne for more information) and an MP3 player so grandma can listen to her downloaded music with ease. These updates will make this a nicer premium rental car, but they're not enough to make us forget about the luxury and performance of the rear-wheel-drive, V-8 Chrysler 300C, which costs thousands of dollars less.