DRIVEN: 2017 Cadillac CT6 Luxury 2.0E Plug in hybrid RWD (Used vehicle review)

[regfootball]

DRIVEN: 2017 Cadillac CT6 Luxury 2.0E Plug in hybrid RWD (Used vehicle review)

HIGHS:

Always love driving the CT6, it's a nice size for me, nice ride height, car rides and handles lighter than it is.  My other CT6 that I have reviewed you will see I really think its a great package.

Quiet interior, once again.  So quiet, that I couldn't discern electric operation vs gas, most of the time.  Both modes very quiet.

Comfortable seats as I have noted before.  Some minor bolstering but wider and well padded cushion.  Not many cars have this anymore!

I have always liked how well layout the gauge cluster is on the CT6, it seems like it crowds the driver, but it is right in your face in a good way.

----repeat comments from before apply-----

How does such a big car with such a long wheelbase feel like a mid size car?  It doesn't feel heavy and ponderous in any way (it's a light car, actually).  And it's fairly nimble, turns tightly.  Outward visibility, you see a short hood, and looking out the rear view mirror, the car seems shorter than it is as well.

Ride was just the sweet spot balance of cushy and firm for most driving. The steering had nice heft, but not too much.  Steering quickness about right for most of the time also.  I'd have no problem with a quicker rack in a sport model, but otherwise this was great.

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Electric powertrain had some delay and lagging at times but honestly for the duration of the drive it was little and didn't bother me.  Maybe on a longer trip it would, although for highway driving in theory its not transitioning between gas and electric like it does in town.  I think once you own the car, and learn its driving style, you will know how to work the throttle and drive it so the transitioning is less of an impact.  There are a lot of ICE only drivetrains that have transmissions that react similarly slowly but more often.  Apart from that, great torque and power.  It really is a nice powertrain!  Most of the drive was in electric mode but it was a nice; felt like it had turbo thrust without the turbo lag at times.  Speed in electric mode built quickly when the drivetrain was not laggy.

Would be a great road car, just like the other CT6's.

LOWS:

Since the battery takes up half the trunk, it makes the trunk fairly useless, and pretty much a deal breaker if this is your main car.

The other deal breaker is RWD only; but if you consider California (this car's origin) was the primary market for this, I can a little bit understand not having it set up for AWD.  But for me in the north, I would need AWD.

GM interiors can look nice in places and cheap in others.  Even though most of the CT6 interiors are good overall, at times the dash trim looks not like a luxury brand.

Can we project the reliability and the battery life?  And for 2017 the plug in range may have been good......... but for today its not great.

The plug in hybrids were made in China.  I don't think anything seemed different vs a US made car, but some may not like the location of build.

SUMMARY:

Someday I believe I will own a CT6....question is what year, trim,....and powertrain?

After driving this, I could say the powertrain apart from some laggy behavior at times, is wholly good and fine for this car.  It was smooth like the 3.6 but with more gusto.  Quieter and more Cadillac like character than the 3.0t....that motor is a great motor but is more racy.  I would wait over time to find a good 2019+ CT6 with the 10 speed transmission (and of course with AWD).  But as for this hybrid, it is not out of place being in the CT6 engine family.  

And, it has the unicorn factor.  Rare....unique.

So I totally could enjoy and live with this version of CT6, it's great like the others.  Just the trunk and RWD only are deal breakers for me if its as my primary vehicle.

Now on to find a couple CT6 RWD only with the 2.0 motors, hard to believe there were more CT6 with 2.0 turbos than v8 engines.  I sure hope someday to find an 8 cylinder CT6 to drive...

 

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by regfootball

[Drew Dowdell]

Largely my assessment as well. I would own one along side my Avalanche and commute in it on all but snowy days.