Can you drive the same maglev chassis as the Ferrari SF90 for 289,900? That afternoon on the mountain road in western Zhejiang, this 5-meter-2 American car made me rethink the pricing logic of luxury cars.
Just after the tachometer passed 3,000 rpm, the road feel from the steering wheel suddenly changed.
It was a continuous S-turn in the mountainous area of western Zhejiang. The road surface was somewhat damaged. It is expected that such a large car would have obvious roll when cornering. But the CT6's body feels like it's being pinned to the ground by something, and the suspension doesn't have the stiff support of German cars, nor is it softly tuned like Japanese cars. The salesperson said that this MRC electromagnetic suspension uses the same technology source as the Ferrari SF90. I didn't say anything at the time, but silently increased the speed by another 20 yards.
The friend sitting in the back row was holding up his mobile phone to take a video,
Can you drive the same maglev chassis as the Ferrari SF90 for 289,900? That afternoon on the mountain road in western Zhejiang, this 5-meter-2 American car made me rethink the pricing logic of luxury cars.
Just after the tachometer passed 3,000 rpm, the road feel from the steering wheel suddenly changed.
It was a continuous S-turn in the mountainous area of western Zhejiang. The road surface was somewhat damaged. It is expected that such a large car would have obvious roll when cornering. But the CT6's body feels like it's being pinned to the ground by something, and the suspension doesn't have the stiff support of German cars, nor is it softly tuned like Japanese cars. The salesperson said that this MRC electromagnetic suspension uses the same technology source as the Ferrari SF90. I didn't say anything at the time, but silently increased the speed by another 20 yards.
The friend sitting in the back row was holding up his mobile phone to take a video, but the picture didn't shake much. I asked him whether it was a good ride, and he said it was much more comfortable than the last time I sat in my A6. This sounds a bit heartbreaking, after all, the car cost more than 400,000 that year.
I have seen the magnetic levitation chassis several times at auto shows before, and they are all mounted on million-level sports cars. To put it simply, electromagnetic fluid is used to replace the hydraulic oil in traditional shock absorbers, and the damping is adjusted by instantly changing the viscosity of the fluid through a magnetic field. The technical parameters state that it scans the road surface 1,000 times per second and builds a damping force of 4,000 Newtons in 0.01 seconds - translated into human words, the suspension is ready before the wheels are completely pressed into the pit.
After passing seven or eight speed bumps in a row, the car body was always very stable. I have also driven the German air suspension. The softness and hardness can be adjusted, but the response speed is obviously half a beat slower. The MRC system seems to predict road conditions rather than react passively.
The car was parked in the service area and I circled the car twice. With a length of 5 meters, the curb weight is only 1.76 tons. Sales say it is made of aviation-grade 7-series aluminum alloy, with aluminum alloy accounting for 64%, which is more than 200 kilograms lighter than a steel body of the same size. This weight control is really cost-effective. The turning radius is only 11.3 meters. Moving the car in the parking lot is more flexible than expected.
I opened the hood and took a look. I saw a 2.0T variable-cylinder engine with a longitudinal 10AT. It can switch to two-cylinder mode when traveling in the city, and it is not too slow to use all four cylinders when overtaking at high speed. It accelerates from 100 kilometers to 100 kilometers in 7 seconds and 47 seconds. Although it is not as good as the ejection start of those trams, the smoothness is really good. The shifting logic of this 10AT is very conservative, more like serving the rear row than pleasing the driver's seat.
Only when I got on the highway did I notice that the muting was done well. Double-layer glass plus 32 cavity foams, combined with Bose active noise reduction, there is basically no wind noise at 120 kilometers per hour. The heavy feeling when the door is closed is a bit like that of a German car. The 19-speaker AKG audio can capture every detail when listening to classical music.
The 33-inch 9K screen does have a high pixel density when viewed up close. However, the application ecosystem is a bit stretched. Commonly used ones such as Tencent Video and Douyin are not available, and you have to rely on mobile phone screen casting. This is probably also an old problem of traditional luxury brands - the hardware is willing to spend money, but the software is always a few steps slower.
What surprised me the most was the “war-damaged renewal” policy promoted by the manufacturer. If a single car damage exceeds 30% of the car price within three years, you will be directly replaced with a new car. Although it is unclear how high the actual implementation threshold is, this commitment at least shows that the manufacturer has confidence in the body structure. With an all-aluminum body and hot-formed steel, it shouldn't be too ugly in crash tests.
The price is the real trump card. The official guide price starts from 369,900, and the full price is 289,900. I checked the configuration list and found that the all-aluminum body and electromagnetic suspension are standard features at this price point. The entry-level version of the BMW 5 Series costs more than 360,000, while the Mercedes-Benz E-Class costs 430,000. Cadillac's current operation seems to be exchanging configuration density for market share.
A friend asked me if the car was worth it. I thought about it and said that if you have a budget of 300,000 and don’t care much about the appearance of the car logo but more about mechanical quality and configuration, you can consider it. But if you are particularly concerned about the value retention rate, or need to use a car logo to support your appearance, you may have to weigh it carefully. After all, Cadillac's three-year value retention rate is four or five points lower than BMW's. This is something that market perception cannot change in the short term.
Fuel consumption is well controlled. WLTC combined is 7.1 liters. Such a large body can achieve this figure, and the lightweight contribution is not small. After driving for a lap, the meter showed that the fuel consumption was just over 8 liters, and it might be even lower if the high-speed ratio is high.
On the way back to the city, I chatted with a friend about a question: Do consumers pay for brands or technology? Judging from recent data, about 30% of customers who originally planned to buy BBA were lured away by CT6. This ratio is not high, but it also shows that there is indeed a group of people in the market who are willing to pay for things that are visible and tangible.
The car parked in the basement, and he looked at the big screen again before closing the door. To be honest, the mechanical quality of this car is worthy of the price of 400,000, but Cadillac now needs to use the 300,000 price tag to crack the market. As for whether this strategy can work, it may depend on the market response in the next one or two years.
Anyway, for car buyers, it is not a bad thing if someone is willing to lower the price to play the technical card.
