How it Drives The DTS Luxury delivers the ride and handling of a soft, heavy, front-wheel-drive car. In contrast, the difference in ride and handling is dramatic with the DTS Performance’s magnetic ride control suspension.

Cadillac’s test route through the mountains and valleys of southern California included both Luxury and Performance package versions of the 2006 DTS. We selected the Luxury model for the first half of the day, and after hours of city and highway driving on freeways, two-lane roads, and side streets it was clear that the DTS Luxury delivers the ride and handling of a soft, heavy, front-wheel-drive car. In other words, a traditional luxo-barge.

However, it should be noted that on Cadillac’s prescribed route, the DTS Luxury produced its cushiony ride without much wallow, a testament to the updated suspension tuning that supports the base model. The brakes and the steering also displayed linear application and response, making the DTS easy to guide and stop. In fact, the recalibrated Magnasteer system is excellent, no longer tugging back to center on sweeping curves and allowing for smooth transition from on-center to off-center inputs at the wheel. Competent P235/55R17 Continental Touring Contact tires do as much as possible to keep the DTS moving in the direction it’s pointed, but ultimately, the DTS Luxury’s handling limits are quite low, as Cadillac doesn’t expect this customer to charge hard through canyons.

Not that the DTS Performance is a back-road barnstormer, either, despite the use of larger and lower profile P245/50R18 Bridgestone Turanza rubber. But the difference in ride and handling is dramatic with the DTS Performance’s magnetic ride control suspension. By using magnetically charged shock absorbers that electronically and continually react to input from four wheel-to-body displacement sensors, the DTS Performance can, at 60 mph, read suspension action for every inch of road traveled. Magnetic ride control responds not only to the road surface to keep the tires in full contact with the pavement but also to manage body roll and weight transfer to keep the car on an even plane and create smooth, well-controlled body motions at all times.

With this suspension working its magic, any passenger in tune with the DTS’s handling and ride quality can immediately tell the difference between the Luxury and Performance models – you don’t need to get behind the wheel. The DTS Performance is an exceptionally composed, comfortable, and competent handler, most impressing us while driving down California’s storm-ravaged Pacific Coast Highway. Over one section of heaving pavement, the DTS remained level, stuck to the road, unfettered by the rumpled blacktop. Except for the price of the technology behind the suspension, there’s no reason the magnetic ride control underpinnings shouldn’t be made standard on all DTS models.

Either V8 engine is pleasing, with the DTS Luxury’s lower horsepower but higher torque motor supplying a decent punch off the line and the DTS Performance’s higher-revving mill delivering impressive mid-range response for passing. Powering out of turns, however, we detected a slight driveline shudder common to front-drive, V8-powered Cadillacs. According to a company spokesman, this shudder is due to engine movement on the DTS’s cushy motor mounts and is nothing to be concerned about.

What might concern DTS buyers is the engine grumble that gets into the cabin. This is fine, and desirable, on the Performance model, but is off-putting on Luxury versions. Another aural annoyance was wind noise at highway speeds, despite the DTS’s triple-sealed doors.

Aesthetically, we preferred the tan leather and real walnut wood in our DTS Performance to the medium gray décor and fake wood of our DTS Luxury 2 test vehicle. The DTS Luxury seemed almost austere inside, while the DTS Performance made a better case for Cadillac’s assertion that designers benchmarked the Lexus LS 430 for interior materials and quality.