This.
Is.
Not.
An.
Nor is it a GMC Terrain. And it is not a Buick Envision. The 2019 Cadillac XT4 isn’t on the same platform, nor does it share any components, with any of these similar proportioned crossovers. And it doesn’t drive like them. It’s far superior. But benchmarking the Cadillac XT4 with the corporate stable isn’t giving the vehicle enough credit. From where we stand, it’s a contender against the best of them. Especially against the likes of Lexus, which, even though nobody is willing to say it, is Cadillac’s main adversary now. Note the RWD-based sedan lineup. The FWD-based crossover lineup. The pricing. These two brands lock horns nicely with each other.
To attack the sub-$40,000 luxury crossover segment most effectively, the Cadillac product team – with then-brand president Johan de Nysschen in charge – strategized a crossover SUV that would represent a new entry-level offering, aimed at the youngest demographic the brand has ever targeted. We were told time and again that the vehicle would be “fun to drive.”
Well, that’s relative. But relatively speaking, oh yes. It is. Armed with a new 2.0L turbo engine, a favorably wide track, and a sophisticated suspension setup, the 2019 Cadillac XT4 eagerly carved Seattle-area mountain roads with surprising levels of poise and precision for the segment.
Speaking of segment, the context is important. What Cadillac is offering here is a C-segment crossover for the base MSRP of what other brands, like BMW, are charging for a noticeably smaller product. Overall length of a BMW X1 is roughly 9 inches less than that of the 2019 Cadillac XT4 (which means it has less wheelbase), has significantly narrower width (less roominess), and narrower tires by 10mm. Closer in size to the Cadillac is the Lexus NX crossover, which prices itself $1,390 above the $34,795 MSRP of the XT4.
Both the Cadillac XT4 Sport and Cadillac XT4 Premium Luxury feature the same mechanical features, and mainly differentiate on appearance and feature set. So don’t worry about choosing based on looks. That said, the performance-oriented options that are desirable – the AWD package (a $2,500 up-charge) and Continuously Damping Control active sport suspension (an additional $1,200 that’s only available on the XT4 Sport) – need to be considered to get the most out of this vehicle. The new 2.0L turbo LSY engine delivers 237 hp, 258 lb-ft effortlessly through the GM 9-speed automatic transmission, which helps the XT4 feel like its power specs are underwritten.
Through the unending twists, turns and elevation changes around the Pacific Northwest, the 2019 Cadillac XT4 revealed itself to be more of a dynamic runabout than originally perceived. The GKN-sourced twin-clutch torque vectoring system was constantly working to optimize every corner exit, while the brakes never had us concerned for more stopping power, despite the numb pedal feel. Something better than the Continental ProContact tires would have been nice, but we’re sure a forthcoming XT4 V-Sport model will likely alleviate this. Another shining star was the throttle mapping calibration in sport mode, which played wonderfully with the punchy four-pot and quick-shifting 9-speed.
For most buyers, the athleticism of the 2019 Cadillac XT4 will either surprise, or suffice. And that’s more than just a little important – because for many – the XT4 will be the first Cadillac they ever consider to own.
Comments
Excellent first review. The Lexus NX deserves to be knocked off the perch. It’s a weird little recap of a Rav4 that somehow feels smaller than the car it’s based on.
Looking forward to learning more details on the XT4. This is a very encouraging review.
I would love to see an XT4 Sport in a color other than burnt orange. 🙂
I’m liking what I’m hearing so far about the XT4!! Much to the chagrin of some of us, this is the right kind of vehicle for the Cadillac brand right now! And the priority of luxury is comfort is front and center! No doubt this’ll be a hit!
They will move a lot of these no doubt. Hopefully most of the ones people encounter won’t sport those 17” wheels.
The good handling will help it score well in the auto magazine comparisons.
Hopefully the interior fit/finish and CUE UI are amazing.
The standard wheel is 18″, 20″ are optional.
For the vast majority of buyers, a comfortable ride is much more important than occasionally driving too fast on exit ramps. How to get that smoothness without becoming sloppy with the weight of 4 people and luggage is the tricky part. Of course, car mag writers don’t care about that.
One negative thing I just noticed is the short-ish maximum front leg room.
I’ve actually found that more recent, modern unit body crossovers seem to have only a negligible difference in ride quality with the larger 20″ wheels. In many cases, their suspensions are designed for that wheel size. A disclaimer would have to be that all cars ride pretty harshly on the potted, cracked up roads near me.
If you are considering the XT4, I would recommend driving one with both. The 20″ wheels on the Volvos can make the ride a little jittery on very rough pavement, but they also offer a 19″ wheel that actually looks very good and doesn’t sacrifice ride quality very much. The XC60 has hideous base wheels just like the XT4 does.
For the larger XT5, I honestly don’t notice the difference very much between the high trim XT5 with 20″ wheels and the low trim XT5 with 18″ wheels. That may be related to that magnetic ride thing, but they all felt about the same to me.
I’m wondering if the XT4 will have the same characteristics as the XT5 or if the lighter weight makes it feel more like the XC60.
I wish Johan was still around. He got what GM management didn’t.
Yep. I agree 100%.
He was criticized for not jumping on the crossover bandwagon enough, but he also was let go while Cadillac had two crossovers (including the XT4) in the pipeline and nearly ready for production.
The Escala design language that will start flowing through Cadillac’s product line is a huge improvement. Things were kind of a mess, but it was being cleaned up pretty well. The product lineup plan was starting to make sense finally.
I guess he just ran out of patience – and that is exactly what is required for a successful restructuring of a brand like Cadillac. It’s a shame that his successor will enjoy the credit for Cadillac’s increased success and increased sales in both the US and China since much of the groundwork for that success was already in place because of him.
Look carefully where Cadillac is right now. They are reasonably competitive even without hot selling smaller crossovers. They have a pretty solid Autonomous driving feature that could potentially be rolled out across their lineup. They have two new crossovers (XT4 and XT6) in the near horizon and a brand new V8 engine.
Cadillac has a tremendous amount of headroom for growth – and at a time when Lincoln is basically on life support, Mercedes is moving even farther upmarket in the US, and the Japanese luxury brands (particularly Lexus) are slowly spinning off the earth with their latest styling trends to chase after younger buyers, incomes are climbing, and the economy in the US is booming. All this at a time when Cadillac is introducing more new products over the next few years than the brand has ever seen.
There is a lot of room for a high quality luxury car with contemporary but tasteful, handsome styling. Cadillac is in a great position to exploit that finally.
Cadillac only has to be competitive with their new crossovers to make a huge dent in the marketplace. The XT4 will be the start of that. It will become the hottest selling Cadillac by the end of next year, bringing the average age of Cadillac buyers down significantly and introducing a lot of new people to the brand in the process.
Things were hardly “a mess” before. I just found a brochure from the 2008 Cadillac lineup, and every car looked distinctly Cadillac. They all had the same or very similar design language. I actually liked, and still do like that design theme.
I’m actually surprised that Cadillac failed. They had 2 very sporty RWD sedans (CTS, STS), both with “V” variations, A sweet roadster, an amazing V8 engine, a large, comfortable large luxury sedan, and the king of the road. Not much more to ask for save for an EV or 2, and a few more CUVs. The only main shortfall was quality IMO.
It was a cohesive lineup, but as you mentioned, the quality was very weak and the parent company of Cadillac was facing bankruptcy amid a global financial crisis and a particularly disappointing luxury automobile market in the US.
The STS was probably one of the the more pleasant cars that no one bought at the time.
I remember the first time I saw the 2009MY CTS update. I was very impressed with it. I think the ATS was in the works by then as well – only a few years away.
I spotted a defeat switch for the auto start/stop on the center console AND a much improved CUE interface (really looking forward to an in depth review of that). The interior actually looks very nice and well thought out to me – and that’s been a shortcoming of Cadillacs from the recent past.
The above makes me really excited about the new CT5, which is exactly the class of car I will be looking at in 2020-2021. I have a preference for Volvo, Audi and BMW, but Cadillac appears to be trying to sell me a car finally. I don’t see either of those three updating their sedans in that segment before then.
Three concerns:
– I wish the 2.0L put out closer to 250-260hp in standard form. I’m encouraged but that is an odd sell when there is already a more powerful albeit older 2.0L in other Cadillac product offerings.
– The pricing isn’t as great of a value as I thought on higher trim levels (approaching $50K in this segment is hard to pull off without a more performance oriented model), but the entry level price will definitely generate a lot of interest and showroom traffic. Would be easier to justify if it were rear wheel drive like the X3.
– Still don’t know much about the interior space and packaging. Good packaging tends to sell crossovers in this segment, and it’s an area where Lexus and BMW could be easily beaten.
I believe the 2.0 LSY engine is set up for regular gas, a better ride than the SRX/XT5 is a must for entry level buyers, I have a 2011 base SRX 56K good space, adequate ride at best, 16-17 mostly local driving will be interesting to see if the XT4 is worth trading in for down the road.
I need to find out for myself on how and why this GM drivetrain of a 2.0T /FWD /AWD / 9 speed is not like a GM Equinox 2.0T /FWD / AWD / 9 speed. I can clearly see that the look is not an Equinox, but performance wise GM will no longer convince me by mere words. Mere words is why I have an ATS 2.0T /AWD. I will drive it and learn for myself, and now after owning something like this ATS 2.0T and driving AUDI 2.0T I will know exactly what to look for. A Cadillac of this size needs a + or – 300 HP option. I understand cubic centimeters, length of stroke, size of piston, turbo boost, energy of compression, air flow through valve train openings. I would love a GM engineer to tell me how you get more energy/ horsepower/ watts, out of the same inputs. I also understand gears, sure large torque for a period of time can be geared to feel powerful. BUT Cadillac is now offering a 3900 pound vehicle adding five 200 pound people and capable of towing 3500 lbs with a 2.0T, What that’s 8400 lbs yeah that will be great up a hill, on vacation, in 100 degree heat. Just the 4900 lbs of vehicle and people with some wind and heat and up hill. Like I said Ill see.
My concerns over the engine are fading after reading a lot of the initial reviews. The new 2.0T makes more torque at a substantially lower RPM than the 2.0T used in the ATS, which makes it more responsive in real world driving. I wish the HP rating was higher for a competitive standpoint (to compare more favorably to the Volvo and Lexus) , but everyone seems to be very pleasantly surprised by the responsiveness of the engine.
Forbes reports a 0-60 in 7.0 seconds, and the lower RPM required to reach those power peaks will help with noise and MPG over the older 2.0L Turbo. It will feel faster and quieter in “real world” circumstances and on test drives.
It’s a near certainty that there will be a higher output V-sport version. Cadillac hasn’t confirmed, but EVERYONE is predicting it.
I’m glad it to hear it drives & handles well.
I’m curious to hear about the new interior quality, the transmission refinement & the “new” infotainment system.
All in all, it seems like the XT4 is a winner for Cadillac & hopefully a sign of better things to come.
Remember back when it was first announced and everyone was flipping out due to the FWD layut and low HP #?
Pepperidge farms remembers.
AWESOME REVIEW! This new Cadillac is almost complete. A few small but significant items would make this a complete 10:
* Push the envelope and UPGRADE one level to PLATINUM. Fully Chromed Grille, upgraded Leather Seating & Leather Dash, and more leather color options (Bordeaux) like Lexus and (Mocha Brown) like GM’s China XT4 version. Rear Entertainment Tablets would also be nice. Not the CT6 black plastic type but even better with Stainless Steel edges.
* Push the envelope again and UPGRADE to a V-Sport or full V-Version! Add one more turbocharger to make it a 2.0L Twin-Turbo 335HP engine, add stronger Brembo Brakes, add fully functional Intake Ports where the fixed ports are in the front bumber. Also add a newly styled Bumper altogether with a lower front presence. A full V-Version would need at least 445HP engine with bigger 22″ Sport Rims to match, w/Pirelli or Michelin Sports Tires. Recaro Seats. This would kill the competion!
There’s a lot to like with this car. Unlike most, I don’t think the engine output is a problem. This is not a race car, and the torque, which is what is important, seems pretty good foe what it is , a compact CUV. There are, however, a few things I would have done differently. (1) The gauge cluster, whilst a big improvement over the ATS, seems a little outdated for 2019, especially with the Germans and their large, digital cluster. (2) The 8″ touch screen could be a little larger, especially on higher trims. I like the leather on the upper dash, much more classy than the black plastic on Audi’s Q5, but the leather on that entire lower dash area, around the touch screen seems a little bit much, aluminum/carbon fibre and or wood trim would have been fantastic. Anyway, no car is perfect, but this seems to be pretty good. I’m not a SUV guy, but this is the sort of car that would interest my wife
It’s been getting mostly positive reviews, but I’m surprised by the omission of reclining rear seats. Besides that, not much else to nit pick on.
The XT4 mechanicals seem more than adequate, but I am very concerned with the cosmetics, especially front end.
The lighting group looks like swollen eyelids, with smeared mascara, and needs to be simpler, smoother. The grilles look like the downward facing mouth of a shark, not a smile. Neither of these appearances will appeal to stylish women buyers!
Look at the Audi Q3 for comparison. Though I am a very formal stuffy old doctor, more accustomed to German sedans, I had a silver VW Tiguan R, which made everyone smile. Cadillac needs to make this offering look cheerful, friendly, enthusiastic.