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2018 Cadillac CT6 Drivers' Notes | Super Cruiser

The 2018 Cadillac CT6 showcases General Motors' impressive Super Cruise feature. It's the next milestone on the way to an autonomous future, though GM is being conservative about promoting Super Cruise's considerable prowess. It helps the driver, GM says. Does it work? Our editors have been testing one this week as the calendar turns and the temperatures drop in Michigan. Also, the CT6 is a really nice car. Here's what we think. Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder: Super Cruise, man. On Wednesday night, I rode home in a 2018 Cadillac CT6 with Super Cruise. I say "rode," but I was sitting in the driver's seat. I spent more time with my hands off the steering wheel than on it. It was super relaxing. Once I got on the highway, I set the cruise control, waited for the steering wheel icon to show up on the instrument cluster, and hit the button on the steering wheel that looked like a steering wheel (pretty meta, to be honest). The top section of the wheel illuminated in a green arc, and I felt the weight of the steering lift as the car began driving itself. I put my feet flat on the floor, rested my hands on my knees, and just watched the road while listening to a podcast ("The Dollop," if you were wondering). To be honest, I had trouble concentrating on the audio, as my thoughts were captivated by the way the car managed the road and traffic around me. Sure, I had to change lanes on my own and take over steering on interchanges and surface streets, but when the AI took the reins, it had my complete confidence. Perhaps just as surprising, the CT6 was also a blast to drive manually. It felt super smooth, with plenty of power and poise. I enjoyed bending it through 50-mph curves almost as much as I enjoyed being driven. Almost. Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore: Super Cruise just works. I was blown away how easy it was to use and how well it just did what it was supposed to do. Merging into the teeth of rush hour traffic in metro Detroit, I braced for the worst. I figured I'd be stuck in bumper-to-bumper gridlock and Super Cruise would never get deployed. Frankly, I was cynical Super Cruise would work. But then I was able to hit the 70-mph speed limit and figured, well, let's just see about this thing. Like John, I did the two-steps to set up SC, and boom, it worked. It trailed the cars in front of me at a proper distance. It braked naturally to a stop and then resumed speed. It slowed down when a Jeep Grand Cherokee cut me off.

Junkyard Gem: 1998 Cadillac Catera

Every so often, during the last few decades of the 20th century, the suits running each of the big Detroit automakers would eye their European subsidiaries and decide that some car from the other side of the Atlantic could be making dollars over here in addition to pounds or francs or Deutschmarks over there. Chrysler didn't do so well with Simca 1204s or Plymouth-badged Hillman Avengers in the American marketplace (though the Simca-based Omnirizon did very well). Ford USA moved quite a few Capris and Fiestas during the 1970s, then bombed with the Merkur Scorpio and XR4Ti. General Motors tried, over and over, to get Americans to buy Opels (some sold by Buick dealers, others actually badged as Buicks), and I still see the occasional Kadett, GT, or Manta in junkyards to this day. For the 1997 model year, still stinging from the not-so-great sales of the Turin-Hamtramck-built Cadillac Allante, GM took the Omel Omega B and applied Cadillac badges. The result was the Catera, and I found this silver '98 in a Denver self-service yard recently. The Catera had a lot going for it, with a rear-wheel-drive layout and a modern V6 engine that made more power than the BMW 528i's straight-six that year. It should have been able to compete with European luxury sedans in North America because it was a European luxury sedan. Unfortunately, you couldn't get a manual transmission in the Catera, "traditional" Cadillac shoppers thought the Catera lacked a sufficiently massive presence, and younger Cadillac buyers flocked straight to the Escalade starting in 1999. After 2001, the Catera was no more. I still find Cateras in junkyards, nearly 20 years after the last ones were sold, so they appear to have held together pretty well. This one was in nice shape until the end, with all the original manuals still in the glovebox. Even the Catera ballpoint pen remained with the car for its whole life. As we can see in the owner's manual, Cadillac marketed the Catera as "The Caddy That Zigs." The idea was that younger car shoppers would become as Cadillac-obsessed as their grandparents had been. Inspired by the ducks in the Cadillac logo, the Catera marketing team created Ziggy the Duck to pitch this car. Things didn't go so well. The Catera listed at $29,995 in 1998, about $47,600 in 2020 dollars. That made it an affordable alternative to the BMW 5-Series or Acura 3.2 TL, but total Catera sales came to fewer than 95,000 cars over five model years.

2022 Chevy Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Yukon, Cadillac Escalade up another $1,600

The 2022 Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, the 2022 GMC Yukon and the 2022 Cadillac Escalade have all gone up by $1,600. The GM profit and loss department added $1,500 to the MSRP for each of the full-sized SUVs and $100 to their destination charges, that destination fee now $1,795 for each vehicle. It's not an inconsequential bump; however, considering where the trucks were priced at launch, and everything that's happened since, the latest retail prices don't seem that bad. Take the Suburban — in February 2020, Chevrolet practically carried over pricing for the truck with a revamped interior and independent rear suspension, starting it at $50,295 after destination. After this latest increase, the 2022 Tahoe LS in two-wheel drive costs $55,590, after destination.  The delta between the 2021 Suburban at launch in March 2020 and the current model is a little grander compared to the Tahoe, like the SUV itself. Back then, it started at $52,295, the same price as the outgoing model. After this third price increase in the past year, the 2022 Suburban LS in 2WD starts at $61,290 after destination. GM Authority says the 2023 Tahoe and Suburban are reportedly headed down production lines in the middle of July. The biggest addition to both models will be the availability of Super Cruise, which is already available on the sister SUV, the Cadillac Escalade. The hands-free driving assistance feature can only be optioned on the Premier and High Country trims. It costs $2,500 to put Super Cruise on the Escalade. GM hasn't divulged the feature's price yet for the Chevy twins; that's likely to come when the automaker announces 2023 Tahoe and Suburban MSRPs, so beware of more potential price increases. After that, there's a heavy refresh planned for the 2024 model year, including a new instrument panel design that looks like it replaces the current gauge cluster with a large, freestanding screen.  The Yukon's entry-level price goes up to $57,590 for the SLE trim turning the rear axle.   The Cadillac Escalade's second MSRP bump takes it to $81,235 for the Luxury 600 trim in 2WD, and $84,235 for the extended ESV model in the same trim. The price creep hasn't stopped Escalades from pulling off dealer lots almost as soon as they're delivered, sales for the first quarter of the year totaling 10,505 units, trouncing domestic and foreign competition. Related video: