Rental Car Ruckus 2: Electric Boogaloo

[Sijray21]

Rented a Cadillac XT5 on our trip to Key West (from MIA). From what i can tell it was the Premium Luxury trim (Ventilated Seats, Nav, but no AWD and no Head-Up display).

My experience with Cadillac was being in and driving (once) my wife's Grandfather's DTS; floaty, comfy, and what i think of when i think of a Cadillac. The XT5 was an ok experience as a Rental, but nothing really that super nice about it and overall i'm pretty disappointed with it as a Cadillac. I had the option for a Q5 or other BWM sedans and i'm sure i would've enjoyed those. I chose to go with the Cadillac since the rear seat area was larger as we may have had to take other passengers and i haven't really experienced anything GM as of recently.

The Bad:
- cramped interior feeling
- flat, unsupportive, uncomfortable seats
- ventilated seats were pretty loud (sounded like static coming through the speakers, even at the lowest setting it drove me crazy)
- poor output for gauge cluster mini-screen
- infotainment was just unpleasant to use and not intuitive
- the volume slider and touch area right below the infotainment screen was a terrible idea. it's right where you usually anchor your hand to touch the screen while driving and very easy to accidentally change the volume while you're just trying to press the infotainment screen.
- navigation app was way too cramped for all the digital buttons when trying to view the map itself
- lane keep assist was a JOKE; imagine bowling with bumpers and that's how it felt, quite dangerous, imo
- suspension felt too tight for non-sport mode
- button for keyless entry/lock on the door handle was the same button (you press to unlock and lock, so you physically need to look at the lock on the door ledge to see if you locked the door - i don't like this system at all and it's easy to leave the door unlocked accidentally)
- sound deadening was not great and not what i would've expected for this class of vehicle

The Good:
- the brakes felt great; immediate feel, firm, and inspired confidence
- quick; the engine was quick-enough for the car and transmission shifted fast enough in sport mode for urban highway traffic (terribly slow shifting in touring mode)
- lighting; the headlights were great, lights on the door handles were a nice touch
- driving the car felt fine and responsive
- i like the front exterior styling of the new Cadillacs and this one was about the same
- the emergency brake warning had a head-up display that flashes red and also vibrates the seat
- Fuel Economy and range; i think there was a mild hybrid system with cylinder deactivation and it was fantastic. highway driving nearly netted us 40mpg
- the auto start/stop wasn't noticeable and fairly smooth (i didn't even realize it had it until i looked down at the gauges)

Overall:
I wish i would have just rented the BMW or Audi equivalent. It MSRPs at/near $54k. I'm sure not many people pay that, but i can't imagine paying anywhere near that for this car. The overall drive felt fine, but i didn't enjoy this rental at all. Better than a nissan or anything with a CVT, but far from what i would've expected from a luxury brand from any manufacturer. i honestly prefer the Ridgeline interior a LOT more than this Cadillac, which is weird to say.

shot of the gauge cluster and the economy multi-screen i was referring to