Sometimes it’s fun to enter the twilight zone. To use something as if it’s yours, to pretend to be a fixture of luxurious leather seats. We had that opportunity presented to us when some relatives came into town and were flying to Australia for their holiday this year. They had asked us earlier if we’d mind taking them to the airport in their car and taking care of their car for a couple weeks. They wanted to fly out of the San Francisco airport and didn’t want to leave their new car in extended parking, can’t say that I blame them one bit. Oh, hurt me again! Luckily we had a day with them before they departed to ask plenty of questions about their 2001 Seville STS Cadillac. The dashboard look like it belonged on the Space Shuttle instead of on a car.

The features I like best about this car were the all out feeling of safety. With airbags in the dash and on the sides of us it felt so secure. What even felt more secure was the On Star system. We took the car up to Lake Tahoe on icy, curvy, dangerous highway 50. All my life I have had visions of sliding off that road and into a ravine with no one knowing about it. If the airbags deploy On Star is notified and On Star knows exactly where you are located. On top of that the On Star Med-Net has your personal medical information stored and provides it to the hospital. Another really neat feature if you lock your keys in the car, which I have been known to do a few times in my lifetime, On Star sends a signal that unlocks the doors! If your car gets stolen On Star can track it down. If you have mechanical problems and the car’s warning lights come on, On Star can tell you what's wrong. I look forward to the day when this system isn’t so cost prohibitive and is available on all cars. On Star also offers premium services. The Cadillac Seville comes with this premium service for the first year. All of this is done with hands-free communication. You just have to push a button to communicate. Just talk and keep your hands on the wheel where they belong.

There is plenty of room in both the backseats and the front seats of the Cadillac Seville. On the way over to San Francisco I set in the back seat with my cousin. There was plenty of headroom and legroom. Both the rear seats and front seats are heated. This would have been plenty nice in Northern Minnesota to keep our fanny’s warm but certainly wasn’t a big issue in California. After we dropped off the owners of the car I got to experience the comfort of the front seat. I loved the lumbar supports on both the driver’s side and the passenger side. The front seats are adaptive; the nifty little computer recalls the settings for up to two different drivers. The power front seats has a 10-way adjusters and recliners. Since we changed the seats, after we returned the car it returned to the same settings for the owners. The front seat also had dual climate controls. Just keep your cool air on your side of the car George!

For those of you that are as picky about legroom and headroom as I am. The back seats have 38 in. of headroom; the headroom in the front seat is 38.2 in. The legroom is 38.2 in. compared to 42.5 in. in the front seat. The car will comfortably seat 5 people.

The sound system is incredible. It had a Bose 4.0 premium audio system (425 watts of power) AM/FM stereo and cassette, a CD player, 6-disc CD changer (this was an add on), weather band reception, digital signal processing, radio data system. This whole system is tied in with the navigation system. To the right of the steering wheel is this really useful map. The car had a wood trim package that really set off the dashboard nicely!

The car is so quiet when driving. I mean you can’t hear anything outside. With the vibrant sounding stereo system and no outside noises it was a pleasure to ride in this car long distances. When driving you’d hardly know that there are any bumps in the road. The 4-wheel independent suspension and computer-controlled shock absorbers felt like your riding on a cloud. The suspension has an all-speed traction control that integrates the brakes and the engine. The STS has a continuously variable road-sensing suspension with computer-controlled StabiliTrak 2.0 enhancement systems. At one time I had a Cadillac it had something called an air-ride suspension. This Seville had an electronic rear-level control system that produces about the same results. The brakes are 4-wheel disc brakes with the antilock braking system.

The 2001 Seville STS Cadillac had no problem with power with the 4.6-liter Northstar engine with 300-horse power (32-valve V8) it could pass anything it wanted in the mountains. Even on the summit it didn’t hesitate in the least. The transmission was a 4-speed automatic with overdrive and electronic shift control. The shifter is on the floor in a console that has quite a bit of storage area.

One thing I enjoyed but is certainly not a necessary item was the electronic compass on the electrochromic rearview mirror. That was a kick to watch. I amuse easily. I admit it! The rearview mirrors automatically go between day and night. In the valley it was raining then further up it started snowing so we had plenty of opportunity to try out the wipers. I never have seen wipers that worked this well. They are Rainsense II wipers.


Other standard equipment is the automatic door lock remote keyless entry, alarm systems, perimeter lighting system and the Pass-Key II theft-deterrent systems.


A few of the options on this car that were added and I’m sure the options cost plenty was the hands-free cellular phone, the tire pressure monitoring systems and the ultrasonic rear parking assist. There was also something called the Virtual Advisor this darn thing even receives e-mail. It also delivers the news, weather and lots of other information.

The color of the car we had the joy of using was a Sequoia green. Other colors available is Sterling, Graphite, Sable Black, Cashmere, Bronzemist, Crimson Pearl and White Diamond. If I was to buy the car I think I would pick the Sterling or the Bronzemist.


The 2001 Seville STS Cadillac is a beautiful car. The ride is smooth and silent. I loved the individual climate controls since we are always different, I’m hot, and George is cold and visa versa. This Cadillac did everything except drive it self. The only thing this Cadillac has that I would really want is the On Star system. This system was incredible! The price of the car was more than we had paid for our house in Oklahoma. The car cost $47,000 that included all the options. Living as Alice in Wonderland for a little over two weeks was a blast. But the dream is over, their flight came in as scheduled and we handed the Cadillac back over to them. Would it be a reality for us? No, for one were just not the Cadillac Seville types. Can you imagine traveling with raccoons in the car in a Cadillac Seville? I’m sure they would find the leather interior wonderful too, taste wise that is! We returned home and wiped the tears from our Saturn’s eyes and assured it that it was just a brief fling with no love involved.