Welcome Wyatt, who rented an XT4 and is here to tell us all about it! — jb
The final quarter of 2025 was a tumultuous time in my laboratory. A business group based in another building south of mine had 4 brand new test benches sitting in storage. Each of them takes up about 150-200sqft before allowances for walking around them. The management of this group decided the best course of action was to clear out floor space in MY lab, and activate those benches here ASAP because they had super important testing to run. Before you ask dear reader; no, I won’t be running these new machines, and as of today (March 30, 2026) they still aren’t fully commissioned and operating.
Anyhow, the first action items were to move out and scrap some old equipment we truthfully weren’t using anymore. Then we moved some other test stands that I was still running over to an area once occupied by a scrapped machine. After moving some cabinets around, the four fancy new machines had their floorspace. (It’s true this story has nothing to do with the smallest Cadillac available right now, but if none of it happened I wouldn’t be able to bring you a review on this 4 year old company pool car so please bear with me.) It was at that point we started to hear rumblings of moving those still operational and fairly popular machines out of our lab and into the assembly plant where most of the parts I tested in them were made. After the electricians finished connecting them to 220v in their new area, we were told a semi truck will be arriving the next morning to take them away.
Where was away, you ask? The small agri-industrial town of Greensburg, Indiana. My Lab Management suggested having their lab techs come up to Michigan so together we could run a super-hot test that Product Management was huffing about. That way, once the benches got moved down to Indiana, they’d know how to use them and could continue running tests as needed. “We don’t have enough time for that,” was the response from Product Management. The next morning, a semi truck backed up to the loading dock, my bosses and I wheeled the machines into the trailer and strapped them in, I emptied my spare parts cabinets into a giant plastic tote, and we waved them goodbye. I asked my boss, “I’m gonna have to go down there, aren’t I?”
More than an entire week later, on a Friday morning around 10am, the benches were finally set up and powered on in Greensburg. That’s when they realized what these Product Managers, who can’t even use a screwdriver, had stuck them with, and begged for assistance. HR booked me a hotel. I was to keep my food receipts so my manager could pay me back and then fill out an expense report as his own, and I would get a credit card for gas. Plus… the keys to a pool car. Monday morning, after HR finally found the correct gas card and matching PIN, I walked outside and brushed the snow off a black 2022 (I think, could be a 21) Cadillac XT4.
Driving through Ohio for the first time in over two years, I had the cruise control set to 70-something mph. The steering wheel had buttons on it for adaptive cruise control, and the dash showed me graphical indications of the selected following distance as I pressed the buttons, but it didn’t actually seem to do any adapting on any setting. With the distance set to the longest setting, speed set to higher than the car ahead, this particular Caddy simply kept creeping closer and closer without adapting. To confirm this issue, I once let it get very close to the car ahead of me before canceling cruise and moving over to pass; the adaptive cruise simply didn’t work, but I saw nothing more than a washer fluid level warning in all the 4 days I drove the car. No matter, I prefer standard cruise control anyway. By accident, I figured out that the little rocker knob on the right wheel spoke has 2 positions at each end. Tapping shortly changed my speed by 1mph as standard, but pressing the rocker fully and holding for a fraction of a second jumped the cruise setting by 5mph for passing, and the same settings applied in the other direction slowed the car down the same respective amounts. At first it was a nuisance because it surprised me at an inopportune moment, but once I figured out the function I really enjoyed and used it constantly.
The powertrain had no issue bumping me up that 5 or even 10mph on short notice, either. During my drive I honestly thought it had the 2.7L truck engine. However, Wikipedia says the XT4 has a 2.0L LSY turbo I-4 *with* AFM coupled to a 9T50 transmission. Stated power output is only 237hp and 258lbft, but it makes that torque from 1500 all the way to 4000 rpm. That little 2.0 and 9 speed combo really works well together, pulling the 3900lb unit around with authority you’d not expect from the numbers alone. It really is surprisingly quick. Interstate passing is trivial up to… uh… speeds, and woe to any teenager in a pickup truck who tries to beat an attentively driven AWD XT4 across an intersection.
On the other hand, It doesn’t sound amazing and fuel economy was not great. I think I only averaged 23 or 24mpg on my way south. I do tend to drive 3-7mph faster than average traffic around me, but since I’m an hourly employee I wasn’t really trying to make time either. All that awaited me was a lonely hotel room away from my wife in a town with nothing happening the first week of December.
One saving grace of this otherwise mind numbing drive was the XT4’s solidly nice stereo and pretty reliable Android Auto. An electro-magnetic charging pad in the center console kept my S25 topped up, but it’s out of sight so I left my phone in the car at least 6 times in 4 days, including every stop for gas. One other saving grace was the very comfortable heated seat. My lower back did start to get sore as I approached Cincinnati, but I can’t name a vehicle off the top of my head where that doesn’t happen after 4.5hrs.
My Spotify playlist continued shuffling from everything between Wu Tang and Three 6 Mafia, to Metallica and Alice in Chains, to D-Train, to Anri, and even some Eddie Rabbitt. All the songs came through loud and clear, with strong but clean bass, clean mids, and clear vocals, but like many other stereos cymbal crashes would often be too sharp at higher volumes. Despite the comfy seat and good hi-fi, though, the overall interior vibe wasn’t very inspiring. It feels very much like you’re sunken inside of a tank as opposed to piloting a small premium crossover (more on this later). The full black leather and plastics only add to that feeling, and almost spill into claustrophobic despite actually being quite roomy. This car would feel much more pleasant with some tan/brown tones to counter the void inside.
The IN3 bypass around Greensburg on the west side is a huge road obviously less than 5 years old, and the road out to the industrial area where I found my assembly plant was freshly repaved as well. Of course not every road has seen investment recently, but that was no problem for the Cadillac. This car does indeed ride as the badge suggests (or once suggested depending on whom you ask). Interior noise is well managed, too. Handsfree phone calls were the best they’ve ever been at highway speeds, and although the stereo can get loud it doesn’t need to be. When spiritedly taking entry/exit ramps or gunning to make a yellow-arrow left before being stuck at another 4 minute light, though… I think an Escalade would feel more corner-confident.
The XT4 doesn’t lack grip, but the spring softness that makes it ride so well isn’t very well controlled when you add lateral loading. It heaves over around turns and dives under braking, which only enforces the notion this is a car for comfort and not speed despite its peppy motor. And that’s fine, but why does it feel like a ‘75 Eldo if small crossover shaped? I wonder if the Eldorado would actually turn better… My wife’s 2018 Compass is a Miata compared to this thing; slower but has a way more spirited chassis and 900lbs less weight. I didn’t think twice before hustling the Compass around Waterford Hills when I got a lucky spot for parade laps (seriously, Jack has a video1). The XT4? It would just stay parked in the grass paddock.
Greensburg got snow that week. More snow earlier in the winter than anyone could remember since forever ago. Schools closed but we still went to work, and my Cadillac didn’t seem to mind. It’s only equipped with all season tires, so lateral grip and stopping was done with caution but it wasn’t an issue to accelerate thanks to the AWD system. Eventually my modus operandi was to turn off traction control and lock in the AWD which allowed maximum safe fun but also the easiest driveability due to the computers chilling out a bit. I even had snow covered and hard-packed roads for my way home on a sunny Thursday morning.
Google Maps decided the best way home was via I74 toward Indy, but then getting off and noodling along various county and state routes to the north until I returned to a highway somewhere east of Indy. The route zig-zagged through the bucolic scenes of snow covered fields, old barns, old tractors and old trucks. Driving down them in a small black Cadillac made me feel slightly conspicuous, like I would easily be mistaken for some conglomerate head’s wife or some pansy2 corporate drone interfering with the rural way of life. In a way, the latter was half true. My 2-tone blue/grey ‘00 Chevy 2500 would’ve blended in much better, but I was thankful to have the stability of the Cad’s AWD on miles long stretches of unplowed and untreated roads at 45-50mph. I only saw 3 or 4 other vehicles along that leg, anyway.
Storage space is on par for the class, I think. I came back with more stuff than I left with but the only thing that was slightly awkward was a set of Nissan S13 side skirts I picked up for a friend, but with the rear seats folded they did indeed fit diagonally.
Other than its formfactor, drivetrain layout, and cylinder count, the XT4 does feel like a junior Cadillac, and a huge leap over its Cheby badged progenitor. It absolutely devours long highway miles, has the power, comfortable seats, smooth ride, quiet cabin, and good stereo you expect from the shield and crest (just shield now I guess?), but it does lack the sense of occasion, or swagger if you will, the marque once held. Nor does it inspire any thrill around corners. This pool car hasn’t had any issues but it’s still relatively new so I can’t truly speak to long term reliability.
A quick AutoTempest search says examples with similar miles (I think the car I drove is over 50k now) are between $15-25k. For me, that’s a ton of money I would rather spend on 25 year old pickups and sedans. When compared to what these things cost new, though? If one is shopping for a small but nice crossover, I’d say it’s worth a test drive and inspection. It’s a nice car.
Good: acceleration, seat, stereo, cabin noise, ride, poor weather confidence
Meh: steering and handling, mpg, styling inside and out, generally boring
it’s a great video! — jb
using this word at an insurance company a premium lifestyle automotive brand will get you in trouble, but here at ACF we say “pansy” all the time, and not just on Floral Days!
"who can’t even use a screwdriver"
Sigh, reminds me of a PhD structures engineer I used to work with long ago. He bought a new BBQ grill at Home Depot, got it home and realized it wasn't assembled, and immediately returned it. That explained a LOT of things about him. I suspect he didn't own a single tool.
“For me, that’s a ton of money I would rather spend on 25 year old pickups and sedans.”
YEP.