Cadillac DeVille reviews

1996 Cadillac DeVille Interior Features

The ecclectic blend of yesterday and tomorrow continues inside. Deep-toned Zebrano wood wraps around the dash and continues straight back to the rear seat. The Concours also comes with the leather seating that's optional on regular DeVilles. Though it hails from Michigan rather than Corinth, it is soft yet supportive, if a bit slippery. As you would expect, the seat is roomy, and there is not much in the way of lateral support. Cadillac does not expect that customers in this segment will be hurling their cars around mountain switchbacks for the sheer joy of driving, a view we endorse.

On the techno side are the sheer number of tasks the Concours does for you. While the DeVille comes with one remote keyless entry fob, Concours owners get two that allow two drivers to program the automatic door locks four different ways. Each fob is recognized by the seat-control computer, which automatically adjusts the 8-way driver seat to one of two pre programmed settings when you slide your gold plated key into the ignition.

Personalization is the latest game in the luxury car market, and the Concours is keeping pace with its competition in this derby.

Seat adjustments are where the past and future sometimes collide. The Concours has one of the only height-adjustable lumbar supports. Yet the tab that controls it is mounted low on the side, where it's hard to differentiate from the tabs that recline the seatback and heat its bottom (a $225 option).

Other seat controls for height, tilt and distance are clustered on the door, along with the buttons for the dual memory settings and the ones for the windows. A more modern, multi-function control like the one on Lexuses and Lincolns would be easier to use.

The digital instrument panel is yet another area where tradition and the computer age clash. The stark black screen makes a jarring contrast with the warm wood and graceful sweep of the dash. It's also flanked by dated-looking chrome buttons for the trip computer and temperature-set climate controls. While pushing them prompts such informative displays as average fuel mileage and speed--and such critical ones as coolant temperature and voltage analog dials like those on Eldorado and Seville tell you far more at a glance.

The revised sound-system controls are more user-friendly. New jumbo-sized tabs allow you to tune, seek and scan stations without looking. You can also adjust tuning, volume and even the climate with auxiliary tabs on the steering wheel.

Our Concours test car had the $790 topmost audio system, which includes a cassette deck, 11 speakers and a 12-disc remote CD. It also includes digitally processed sound, another new addition that times sound signals to mimic a room setting or auditorium, and concentrates them around the driver.

Oddly enough, the performance often begins with a less-than-luxurious moment of static until the automatic antenna can catch up with the radio. After that, though, the sound quality is as good as the best.

In back, the Concours soundly trounces Lincoln Continental and comes within an inch or so of the Town Car in hip and shoulder width. But those who buy by the inch may long for Cadillac's nearly departed Fleetwood, which is some 3 inches wider in both dimensions.