SUVs are a dime a dozen in today’s market, with a spectrum of choices so wide the segment now looks the way the sedan options used to be a couple of decades ago. The compact segment offers especially tantalizing choices that are more fuel-efficient and often ride smoother than larger, truck-based SUVs, which makes them popular as family vehicles. When you can have the option of all-wheel drive, more head and legroom, and more cargo space, it makes sense to go with a compact SUV over a sedan. Many families make the decision to go with safe brands like Toyota and Honda, but if you have a little extra cash to spend, why not go with a brand that has more pizazz? Why go with a vehicle everyone else is driving if you can have a 2022 Cadillac XT5?
For decades, Cadillac was a standard of luxury unparalleled by other brands. Cadillac has lent itself to automotive history with innovations like the first push-button ignition back in the day when car owners had to crank-start their vehicles. During the last millennium, Cadillac was the standard of luxury and status, and then overseas competition skewed the market toward smaller cars. Then SUVs got insanely popular, and suddenly Americans didn’t seem to mind driving massive vehicles anymore. The Escalade turned everything around for Cadillac at the end of the 1990s, and a resurgence of the brand brought it back enough to keep it churning out vehicles. Fast forward to the present, and we can cue the entry of the XT5 in 2016. By 2017, the XT5 was Cadillac’s best-selling vehicle, clearly filling a gaping hole in the luxury SUV market.
Reasons to Love the 2022 XT5
Let’s begin with starting price. Unlike every other car manufacturer, Cadillac chose to keep the MSRP the same as last year. That’s kind of like getting a coupon for a luxury SUV in your hand. What do you get for the starting price of a compact luxury SUV? Well, that’s a great aspect of buying luxury. Standard features for luxury vehicles are considered premium in less expensive brands. Range-topping trims in popular compact SUVs from Honda and Toyota come fairly close to the price of the entry-level Cadillac when they’re fully loaded, but you’re paying luxury prices for an SUV that’s essentially not luxury. If you want all the best features, you’re better off purchasing a luxury brand that gives you those features as standard, along with the quality build and plush interior that comes with it.
Speaking of interiors, there is no equivalent to riding in a Cadillac when you buy a less expensive SUV. Rear seat passengers always get the short end of the stick when it comes to both space and seat quality in most vehicles. In the XT5, the rear seats slide and recline for either passenger comfort or additional cargo space, and, unlike the back seat of competitors in a less expensive bracket, the seats are actually supportive and comfortable with proper cushioning. After all, why is it that people in the back seat are relegated to riding without back support and cushioning? Cadillac makes real seats for real people, which is wonderful if you’ve ever been an adult who has to ride in the back. It’s not just kids who ride in the back seats, but even kids appreciate comfort.
Going back to standard features, just about anyone enjoys convenience features like a powered liftgate and heated front seats. When you can have conveniences like these at the entry-level pricing, why pay premium pricing for an SUV that won’t be as comfortable? You get all those other extra elements of a luxury SUV beyond just features, like the insulated cabin, the crisp sound quality of the Bose sound system (which is standard), and the soothing superior ride quality, too. If there is a downside to owning a luxury vehicle, it certainly doesn’t reside in the plethora of conveniences and powered amenities.
What Makes the XT5 Great for Families
When you drive with kids in the vehicle, no matter what age they are, you probably have to bring a lot of stuff with you. Babies and toddlers with diaper bags and strollers become middle schoolers and teens who take part in activities that often require equipment. Traveling on trips always means packing everything, including whatever can take the place of a kitchen sink on the road. Thus, cargo space becomes king in your vehicle. For a compact SUV, the 2022 XT5 has double the room of a midsize sedan trunk in the rear cargo area. If your kids are young, you can slide their seats forward to make the cargo area larger so you can fit even more diapers or bags back there when you need the space.
If your kids are young enough that they often nap during drives, the 2022 XT5 comes with a rear seat reminder that will alert you to check the back seat before you exit the vehicle. Exhausted parents need every bit of extra help they can get. Of course, once your little ones grow up and become drivers, the XT5 comes equipped to handle that, too. Teen Driver allows parents to set driving parameters like capping the speed, tracking the vehicle location, and preventing the stereo volume from getting too loud. When combined with the numerous standard safety features like the following distance indicator, safety alert seat, and numerous crash prevention features, your teen will be a lot safer behind the wheel when you aren’t there to stomp the imaginary brake in the passenger seat.
Driving for hours with your kids (or even for a few minutes) usually requires some kind of entertainment. You could try singing silly songs and play the license plate game for a while, but every parent gets tired of thinking up activities while you also have to focus on navigating. Built-in WiFi, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Amazon Alexa, and Bluetooth all come as standard to make pairing or using devices as easy as possible. Give your kids a tablet in the back seat and let them stream movies using the WiFi, or they can connect with Alexa to play games with them to give you a break. Having options is always a plus, but when you get to choose the entertainment, it’s nice for parents who want to play their own music through those fantastic Bose speakers, especially when you have the SUV to yourself.
Have It All at the Top of the Range
For the parents who are prepared to plunk down top dollar for a premium SUV that has style and offers extra features, the range-topping Sport model has more liveliness with its 3.6-liter V6 engine and more sprightly handling from the damping control in the suspension. And what says luxury better than Italian products? With the added performance power of the Italian-made Brembo brakes, you get the same capability you find in high-performing sports cars. Toss in a sunroof and the capability to tow, and you have yourself a vehicle built for long drives to sequestered locations away from everything.
Those who live in or travel to remote locales will appreciate tech features like available Night Vision in the Sport. Driving in the country after dark is safer because anything with a heartbeat will set off the infrared sensor that displays the person or animal on your instrument cluster. A warning also shows up on your head-up display if you have it activated, and an alert sounds so you can brake in time to avoid a collision. Even without the Night Vision, however, the cornering headlights are standard across the trims and make night driving better on those curving country roads. In any trim level, the 2022 XT5 has everything a family needs…even a fold-down armrest to separate the kids in the back, so you don’t have to worry about it.
