2020 Cadillac XT6 Road Test and Review

2020 Cadillac XT6 Burgundy Front Three Quarter Rain RS ・ Photo by Ron Sessions

Cadillac continues to add to its roster of sport-utility vehicles with the introduction of the all-new XT6. The 2020 Cadillac XT6 is the brand’s first mid-size SUV with three rows of seating since the 2004 to 2009 SRX. The only other Cadillac SUVs with three-row seating are the considerably larger, truck-based Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV.

Offering seating for six or seven passengers, the new XT6 joins the five-passenger compact XT4 and mid-size XT5 as well as seven- and eight-passenger full-size Escalades in the Cadillac showroom. The XT6 model lineup includes the Premium Luxury, available with front- or all-wheel drive, and the all-wheel-drive Sport. A Platinum package with upgraded trim inside and out is an option with both models. Including the destination charge, the Premium Luxury is priced at $53,690 and the Sport at $58,090. All-wheel drive is a $2,625 option for the Premium Luxury model.

Design

You wouldn’t know it from a casual glance, but the new three-row Cadillac XT6 is built off the smaller two-row XT5's platform. Cadillac designers added more than 9 inches of length behind the rear wheels and raised the roof nearly 3 inches to make room for a third-row seat with modest headroom and legroom for two adults. How roomy? The new XT6’s third-row seat offers more headroom than in BMW’s X7 flagship SUV and nearly 5 inches more legroom than you'd find in the considerably bulkier full-size Cadillac Escalade.

Overall, the XT6’s shape is more squared-off than that of the smaller XT4 and XT5, but not boxy. The standard 20-inch and optional 21-inch wheels help minimize the visual mass of the XT6’s profile, and along with the slit-like horizontal LED headlamps and cab-rearward proportions, they give the new suv a clean and elegant look.

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Peppy V6

The XT6 is equipped with General Motors’ tried-and-true 3.6-liter V6. Producing a more-than-adequate 310 horsepower and 271-lb-ft of torque, the aluminum, direct-injected double-overhead-cam V6 is the same well-sorted engine powering other GM vehicles such as the Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac XT5, Chevrolet Traverse, and GMC Acadia. A seamless-shifting nine-speed automatic provides a wide range of ratios to optimize performance around town and on the highway. Despite having more than 4,400 lbs of mass to haul around, the XT6 can accelerate from rest to 60 mph in less than 7 seconds.

Fuel economy is bolstered by an Active Fuel Management system that deactivates two of the six cylinders when cruising, as well as a stop/start system that switches off the engine when you're stopped and then restarts it automatically when you lift off the brake. The front-drive XT6 gets EPA estimates of 18 mpg city/25 mpg highway/20 mpg combined, while the AWD model achieves ratings of 17 mpg city/24 mpg highway/20 mpg combined on regular fuel. Observed indicated average fuel economy ranged between 19 and 22 mpg in a day of driving in city traffic, freeways, and country two-lane roads. The XT6’s max tow rating is 4,000 lbs.

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Understated Elegance

The XT6’s cabin is tastefully done in premium materials with an air of understated elegance. Standard Bose noise-cancellation works through the audio system speakers and combines with extensive soundproofing and an acoustic windshield and front door glass to keep the interior calm and hushed. The instrument panel features a strong horizontal layout that segues artfully into the doors. Good forward and lateral visibility is afforded by pedestal-mounted side mirrors, slender windshield pillars, and small A-pillar windows.

The Premium Luxury trim includes all-day comfortable standard first- and second-row leather seat coverings, Black Olive Ash wood trim accents, a panoramic sunroof, power heated front seats with power lumbar adjustment, a heated leather-wrapped steering wheel, a power tilting and telescopic steering column, a three-zone set-and-forget automatic climate control system, rain-sensing wipers, and automatic high beams. The Sport model brings carbon-fiber trim inside, while the Platinum package adds softer semi-aniline covered seats and leather coverings for the doors, console, and instrument panel, plus automatic heated and ventilated front seats and heated outboard second-row seats.

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Staying Infotained

While the XT6’s 8-inch high-resolution infotainment screen is on the smallish side compared to some luxury competitor’s offerings, the Cadillac User Experience system gets a new Audi-like console-mounted rotary controller with added jog functionality. In addition to the rotary controller, the driver can still operate the system via steering wheel controls and voice commands as well as touchscreen tiles.

The 2020 Cadillac XT6 is equipped with standard 4G LTE in-vehicle Wi-Fi for operating up to 10 mobile devices and has a standard 15-watt wireless charging pad. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are on board for using your favorite cellphone apps, and Android phones can be automatically paired with the standard Near Field Communications feature. There are six USB ports: two traditional Type A ports plus four of the latest Type C design. Standard equipment includes an eight-speaker AM/FM/SiriusXM-ready sound system featuring Bose speakers. The top audio option is a more enveloping Bose 14-speaker system.

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Second and Third Rows

For second-row seating, buyers can select a pair of captain’s chairs or a single split-folding bench. The gap between the captain’s chairs makes it easier to get into the third row.

Otherwise, third-row passengers can use the tip/pitch and slide feature of the second-row seats to gain access. Both the second- and third-row seats can be folded down remotely using a power switch just inside the rear liftgate.

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Cargo Considerations

Keeping in mind that the new XT6 is considerably smaller than the full-size Escalade, there’s ample cargo space for mid-size SUV buyers. With the second- and third-row seats up, space is modest for a pair of suitcases at 12.6 cubic feet, but there’s more room under the cargo floor to stash computer bags, cameras, purses, and other valuables out of larcenous eyes. Cargo space opens up to a generous 43.1 cubic feet with the third-row seat folded and commodious 78.7 cubic feet with the second-row chairs flat.

Access to the cargo bay is via a standard power-operated liftgate. An optional hands-free liftgate operates via a foot wave between the rear bumper and the image of the Cadillac crest projected onto the ground.

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Luxurious With Good Control

The XT6 offers a luxury-worthy balance of good ride quality with engaging handling. Impact harshness never intrudes despite 20- and 21-inch alloy wheels. This three-row mid-size SUV delivers stable and predictable dynamics with good body composure over a wide spectrum of roads. Its electric-boosted steering is calm on center and nicely weighted, and it offers some rivulets of road feel.

The driver can choose among several driving modes. For front-wheel drive models, this includes Tour, Snow/Ice, and Sport. All-wheel-drive versions add AWD (instead of Snow/Ice) and Off-Road modes. Sport trims are equipped with quicker steering ratio and standard active damping, which adjusts the shocks in real-time for varying road surfaces. All-wheel drive is also standard on Sport models, using a dual-clutch rear differential that individually parses drive torque to each rear wheel. Pushing the Sport mode button will enable active yaw control to use drive torque to reduce understeer, thus improving steering response in a turn.

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Safety and Driver Assistance

Cadillac’s advanced SuperCruise hands-free limited access highway semi-autonomous driving system is not yet available on the XT6, although Cadillac representatives indicate it is coming soon, perhaps in the 2021 model year.

A long list of safety and driver-assistive content already comes standard on the 2020 model, including items that many of its European competitors charge extra for. This includes front pedestrian and automatic emergency braking, a forward-collision alert, lane-keep assist with a lane-departure warning, blind-spot and rear cross-traffic alerts, a following distance indicator, front and rear parking assist, and a haptic safety alert seat. The XT6’s standard backup camera even has a lens washer. Surprisingly, though, adaptive cruise control costs extra. Other options include a rear camera mirror, a high-definition surround vision backup camera, a color head-up display, smart towing with hitch guidance, a rear pedestrian alert system, reverse automatic braking, and automatic parking assist with braking. The latter isn’t as advanced as Ford and Lincoln systems that also do the steering and gear shifting for you. But what is advanced is a new night vision system, which uses an infrared camera that can spot pedestrians or animals in dimly lit areas and display them in the gauge cluster.

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Conclusion

The XT6 gives Cadillac a sorely needed three-row SUV in the popular mid-size luxury segment. Growing families now have extra room for kids in a vehicle that will fit in most garages. Buyers who don’t want something as big and truck-like as an Escalade or don’t need its added towing ability now have a place to land at Cadillac showrooms.

The roomy and elegant XT6 is bolstered by an extensive menu of standard safety and driver-assistive features that often are packed into pricey option packages in competing models from European brands. The 2020 Cadillac XT6 is currently on sale.

Photo by Ron Sessions