The Cadillac DTS is a big car. With an overall length of more than 207 inches, it's a foot longer and 2 inches wider than the nearest-sized Cadillac. The DTS is 9 inches longer than a BMW 7 Series and almost 4 inches longer than a Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan.
Despite its size, the clean forms of the DTS give it a European look, though in a distinctively American idiom. New styling elements include body-side chrome trim accenting body-color door moldings and a narrow LED high-mounted stop light that runs nearly the entire length of the decklid's crisply edged rear contour. Restyled fenders provide a more purposeful stance, which when viewed in profile is slightly wedge-shaped. Larger 17-inch wheels come standard (with optional 18s). The overall look is brought together by Cadillac's spline line, which rises from the top of the front fender, runs along with lower edge of the side windows and then flows over the rear fender.
Cadillac boasts that the DTS has some of the tightest production tolerances in the world, and it certainly looks the part of a well-honed luxury machine. The panels fit well, the paint is glossy and blemish free, and overall the DTS wears its bulk well, like a fine-tailored suit. The quality of GM's cars has been improving and Cadillac tied with Mercedes for fifth in the 2005 Initial Quality Survey conducted by the J.D. Power and Associates research firm.
The DTS is not just a surface treatment of the old DeVille. Numerous refinements to the body structure were utilized to stiffen the structure, increase safety and dampen noise. Typical of the depth of engineering to achieve the archetypal Cadillac ride, but just one of many techniques throughout the body-frame-integral structure, is a laminated steel dash panel to significantly reduce noise from the engine compartment.
