'98 Cadillac Seville - First Drive - American Car

What names come to mind when you think of the elite luxury marques of the world? Mercedes-Benz? BMW? Lexus? Jaguar? Cadillac would dearly love to have its name roll off the tongue with the same ease as these others. The division made a major step in that direction with the current-generation Seville. But while it sported world-class acceleration and high-tech components, such as the much-lauded Northstar V-8, the car never really measured up to the best in terms of dynamic control, suspension refinement, and overall prestige.

On the eve of the introduction of its all-new '98 flagship, though, Cadillac believes it's ready for prime time on the world luxury stage. In taking full advantage of its clean-sheet redesign, the company has gone over every aspect of the Seville with a competitive passion that makes Microsoft look as laid-back as Ben & Jerry's.

Its objectives were to create a no-compromise sport/luxury sedan that can meet or beat the performance of the best European sport sedans as well as the quiet and refinement of the best Japanese luxury cars. That's pretty heady stuff. In addition, the '98 Seville is the first Cadillac designed to be an international car right from the drawing board.

There are cues as to how serious Cadillac is about this. The official introduction of the new Seville, for instance, will be this month-not in Detroit but in Germany, at the Frankfurt Auto Show. The first models to go on sale will be right-hand-drive versions in Japan that will hit the market in December. Instrument displays feature five language modes. Powertrains will be available for use with either unleaded or leaded fuel. Plus, dedicated export versions will be about 5 inches shorter than domestic models to bring them in under 5 meters, a key specification for the tight urban areas of Europe and Asia. In fact, the division expects Seville exports to jump from about 5 percent of production to a substantial 20 percent.

One of the few places you won't find major changes in this new generation is the styling. Cadillac has intentionally taken an evolutionary approach, largely because of a loud cry from current Seville owners not to mess with a good thing. For '98, the Seville's previous hard-edged look has been traded for a softer, more refined image and a coefficient of drag that's been shaved from 0.34 to a more slippery 0.30.

The functional core of the new Seville is the third generation of GM's rock-solid G platform. Among the world's standards for structural rigidity, this body architecture boosts beaming stiffness by a whopping 58 percent and torsional rigidity by 53 percent. Plus, hydroformed tubes-similar to those used in the new Corvette-create a protective safety cage around the passenger compartment. In fact, the car has been engineered to meet all present and known future collision standards worldwide.

Complementing this is a broader stance, thanks to a 2-inch-wider track and 1-inch-longer wheelbase. Underneath is a refined MacPherson-strut suspension in front, and a new multilink design in the rear, both using aluminum control arms and supported by rubber-mounted subframes. Plus, Cadillac's Continuously Variable Road Sensing Suspension, which comes standard, continuously adjusts the individual damping rate of all four shocks-from cruiser soft to sport-sedan firm-for optimum ride and handling in all driving conditions.

Driving stints in two parts of the U.S. on widely varying road surfaces convinced us that the suspension engineers have done their homework well. The car feels billet-strong, with responsive, predictable handling even in hard cornering and sharp transient maneuvers, areas where the old Seville suffered. Ride quality is controlled and compliant, as well, absorbing bumps-large and small-without allowing them to negatively impact chassis dynamics. An example of the Seville's new grip on suspension control is that rear squat under hard acceleration has been slashed from 82 mm in '97 to just 12.