The 2020 Cadillac XT6: Better than an Escalade in every way

The Cadillac Escalade has much to answer for. Would the luxury SUV have become quite such a thing absent that body-on-frame behemoth? Few vehicles have been such cash cows for their makers, either; consider how long ago the R&D for that platform must have been amortized.

But great name recognition and high profit margins will only get you so far. The market for luxury three-row SUVs is a hot one, and Cadillac wants more of it, with a plan to tempt people away from vehicles like the Acura MDX and Infiniti QX60. That plan is the XT6.

The XT6 was first seen at this year’s Detroit auto show in January. I find it handsome; a well-proportioned two-box shape that looks current without being too imposing. That should probably be read as a compliment to the design team, for the XT6 is just over 16.5 feet (5050mm) long. (The vehicle’s full dimensions are 77.3in./1964mm wide, 68.9in./1750mm tall, and a 112.7in./2863mm wheelbase.) The narrow LED headlights contribute to the effect, as do the 21-inch wheels worn by all the media test cars. I’m old enough to remember when 18-inch wheels were the preserve of race cars, considered too big for anything street legal; after talking with the designers, I’m not sure those days are ever coming back.

The XT6 uses the same C1XX platform as Buick’s Enclave (and its smaller five-seat XT5 sibling), which means a monocoque (unibody) chassis and a transverse-mounted engine. In this case, that engine is a 310hp (231kW), 271lb-ft (367Nm) 3.6L naturally aspirated V6 coupled to a nine-speed automatic transmission.

There are two flavors of XT6: the Premium Luxury version starts at $52,695 for front-wheel drive, and adding AWD is a $2,000 option. Or there’s the Sport, which comes with AWD as standard, plus a stiffer steering rack, quicker steering ratio, and more aggressive suspension tuning. That one starts at $57,095. The suspension uses MacPherson struts at the front wheels and a five-link setup at the rear. Adaptive dampers are standard with the Sport trim and an option for the Premium Luxury cars.

The XT6 Sport gets a rather clever AWD system

The XT6 Sport’s AWD is powered by its GKN’s rather neat twin-clutch system, which is also found in cars like the Ford Focus RS and the Audi TT-RS. (This explains most of the extra cost of the Sport compared to an AWD Premium Luxury version.) It allows for active yaw control—GM’s lawyers won’t allow Cadillac to call it “torque vectoring” because technically the computer doesn’t over-torque the outside rear wheel in a turn. But it can send all of the available torque to either axle. And at the rear it is possible to send 100% of that torque to just a single wheel, although I’m not entirely sure what you’d have to be doing to end up in a situation where that happens.

Not that this is really a car for hooning, given how big it is and the fact that it weighs 4,690lbs (2,127kg) even in Sport trim. But it drives well for a three-row SUV, and the adaptive dampers filter out road imperfections. It doesn’t roll very much when cornering. And thanks to acoustic glass in the windshield and front windows, and a possibly obsessive focus on NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) detail work, it’s a quiet place in which to cruise along.

Switching the XT6 from Tour to Sport mode causes the transmission to hold each gear for longer, the stability and traction control intervention thresholds relax, the dampers work harder to control body motion, and the steering provides better road feel. The drivetrain also becomes more rear-biased in the case of AWD Premium Luxury versions; in Sport mode the XT6 Sport turns on that active yaw control function.

Speaking of cruising, Cadillac’s excellent hands-free Super Cruise system will be available on the XT6, although not for model year 2020. I can’t say I’ve ever had a satisfactory answer from GM as to why it’s dragging its feet rolling the system out across its entire portfolio—if I do, I’ll report back. Cadillac has given the XT6 a good complement of advanced driver assistance systems as standard, though, including forward collision warning, low-speed automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, parking assists, blind spot monitors with rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure warning, and lane keeping. There’s also a haptic feedback driver’s seat and the Teen Driver feature that Eric tested a while back.

For $2,350 you can add the Enhanced Visibility and Technology Package, which includes a heads-up display, an 8-inch multifunction display on the main instrument panel, 360˚ parking cameras, and rear pedestrian detection. Adaptive cruise control is available with the $1,300 Driver Assist package, which also comes with a better automatic emergency braking system (no doubt enabled by the cruise control radar). Night vision is also an option. This is also like the system I tested previously in the CT6 sedan.

The XT6 is the first Cadillac fitted with a rotary jog wheel to control the infotainment system. It’s becoming increasingly clear that taking your eyes off the road to use a touchscreen is a really bad idea while driving, and Cadillac should be applauded here. The jog wheel lets you easily control the Cue infotainment UI in an intuitive fashion, although if you really want to you can still use the 8-inch infotainment screen as a touchscreen. It’s a newer version of Cue than the one I’ve experienced in the CT6, with a very clear screen and a more elegant UI than I was expecting. However, I did notice some input lag. Android Auto (and NFC Android device pairing) and CarPlay are standard, as are all of GM’s connected car features.

The XT6 takes good care of its passengers. As standard you get a three-person bench seat for the middle row, although $800 swaps that for a pair of captain’s chairs. The third row is for two, and it’s actually really quite spacious. I’m 5-foot 7-inches (1.7m) and was able to sit in the back with another passenger without rubbing shoulders with them or my knees on the seat back in front of me. Cadillac has been pretty generous with USB ports around the vehicle, too—both types -A and -C are available. With both rows of seats in use, there’s 12.6 cubic feet (356L) of cargo space. Drop the third row with the push of a button, and that becomes 43.1 cubic feet/1,220L. Push another pair of buttons to lower the second row and that swells to 78.7 cubic feet (2,228L).

The XT6 is rated at 20mpg overall by the EPA, although the FWD version gets 18mpg in the city and 25 highway, with the AWD scoring 1mpg lower on each of those test cycles. That’s on par with the Lincoln Aviator, but it’s not as good as the equivalent Acura or Infiniti three-row SUVs. And for all the noises that Cadillac makes about being the tip of GM’s electrification spear, there is no hybrid version available.

That’s a crying shame. GM has engineered a damn fine plug-in hybrid powertrain in the Chevrolet Volt, and a great battery electric one in the Bolt EV. Electrifying the XT6 wouldn’t just do good things for reducing its carbon emissions—it would actually make it a better vehicle. Heavy autos like this benefit from the immediate torque of an electric motor, particularly in city driving. And the near-silence of electric propulsion is a perfect match for a luxury transport. A couple of years ago GM promised us a wave of new BEVs, so why couldn’t the XT6 be one of them?

Listing image by Jonathan Gitlin

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