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Cadillac’s last couple of decades have seen a litany of failed reinvention gambits. The brand’s latest strategy, though, seems a little more likely to bear fruit: namely, to sell gas-powered SUVs en masse before GM’s massive Cadillac-centric EV push takes over.
To do that, Cadillac had to offer buyers more vehicles beyond the XT5 (née SRX) and Escalade. Enter the XT4, which slots below the XT5 and straddles the increasingly popular boundary between subcompact and compact crossover. People dig it; Cadillac sold about 32,000 of them last year, nearly double the total for the brand’s entire sedan lineup.
The XT4 is not “the Cadillac of compact crossovers” in the metaphorical sense, where the brand is used to refer to the best of something. In a vacuum, there’s not that much wrong with it. It looks fancy; it’s comfortable inside; it gets the driver from A to B without fuss. The trouble comes when you start cross-shopping…and realize competitors like Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Volvo offer superior products at the same price point.
The XT4 looks great on the outside
The Escalade, even when not in insane custom Tom Brady spec, is Cadillac’s standout vehicle. Smaller Cadillac SUVs, as such, should strive to be mini-Escalades. The XT4’s exterior, at least, does a reasonable job emulating the flagship; it has dignified sharp lines that make it distinctively a Cadillac. It reads as bigger than what it is…which is essentially a lifted hatchback. My relatives presumed it was $20,000 more expensive than it was — which is the best you can hope for when you buy a luxury subcompact.
