Remember that bumper cap we thought would cost a few hundred dollars to replace? Well, we got it fixed and the bill came to more than $1,200. For comparison, we had the entire front bumper assembly and a fog lamp replaced on our long term Rodeo for hundreds less. Sounds like some GM suppliers are cleaning up in the replacement part business.

This was a busy month for the Seville STS. Our Caddy dueled with a BMW 540i six-speed and Lexus GS400 in a luxury sport sedan shootout, spent a day at the track at Willow Springs, and made a long trip from Los Angeles to Denver where it will spend some time dealing with frost-heaved streets and the occasional blizzard. Some members of the Los Angeles staff were sad to see the STS go, but the arrival of a Mazda Miata long-term test car in Los Angeles has dried the eyes of even the most ardent Seville boosters.

Our editor-in-chief moved the Seville from California to Colorado and had over 1,200 miles of seat time to figure out how he really feels about this car. Herewith, Wardlaw's comments from the logbook:

"The Seville is a great road car, but the Continuously Variable Road Sensing Suspension (CVRSS) reacts strongly to broken or undulating pavement, stiffening suddenly which feels unnatural. One minute you'll be enjoying a nice ride: the next it feels as though someone has stolen the tires and you're riding on the rims. I'd prefer a more conventional suspension setup than this software-fueled and easily fuddled Cadillac extravaganza. Still, the Seville provides an exceptional level of road feel via the steering wheel and the seat of the pants. Not expected from a Cadillac. Brake pedal feel could be better but the system works well. Wind and road noise is minimal."

"The adaptive seats are cool. Mostly unobtrusive when adjusting, they're quite comfortable, supportive, and chairlike. If not Volvo levels of comfort, then damn close."

"Bots dots elicit an unknown interior rattle on a consistent basis, otherwise this car feels rock solid."

"Cheap bits are irritating at this price. The rubber exterior moldings have been water stained. The hard plastic front seatbelt anchor trim is glaringly low rent. The plastic on the back of the steering wheel hub doesn't come close to matching the same on, say, a $25,000 VW Passat in terms of quality feel. The On Star handset console is a joke, coming open accidentally on a regular basis. The handset itself is hard to store properly. The right center dash vent should have been tossed into the reject bin - it's the only one that doesn't operate with the fluidity of a Lexus. The see-through gauge display is chintzy looking. The trunk storage system is laughable. The plastic rear license plate surround emits a reedy twang when the lid is slammed. The wheels lack design flair (unlike the Catera's snazzy optional five-spokers) and the "STS" logo should be replaced by a Caddy wreath-and-crest. The left exhaust port mount is broken, and the pipe waggles as the car motors on down the road. The bumper caps bend and flex very easily. One of the satellite phone buttons on the steering wheel is cracked. I'm certain more issues will crop up in little time."

"GM has the headlight philosophy all wrong. Rather than concentrating on making sure other motorists can see the Seville in broad daylight, perhaps they might devote some resources to making sure the Seville driver can see the road in the depths of darkness. This car's pathetic headlight performance during a nighttime desert run was almost dangerously inadequate. Also, the I-10 tunnel in downtown Phoenix is long enough to dim interior lights and activate the headlights during the day - the car thinks it's dark out! Then, at the other end of the tunnel, it's tough to read any gauges or displays for about a mile. Same thing happens after backing out of a garage. What nimrods. I'd like to control my lighting systems, thank you. I mean, how can some dopey engineer in Detroit know what my needs are at any given instant?"

"Why is the window lock indicator a faint orange LED that is invisible in sunlight? Maybe they ought to jam a DRL in there so I can tell if my wife will be able to roll her own window down."

"The transmission does not react to inputs quickly enough."

"The rear bumper cover is prone to scuff marks."

"Saw a new STS in a no-haggle showroom in Flagstaff, AZ. With no chrome wheels, no On Star, no adaptive seats, and no CD changer, the no-haggle price was under $45K. That makes more sense to me than the price we paid for this gadget-laden frustration booth."

"The rainsense wipers worked very well in a storm outside of Gallup, NM."

"OK, I really hate the Seville's lighting system. With DRL, Twilight Sentinel, electroluminescent gauges and a manual headlamp switch, it can be very difficult to tell what lights are on at any given time. I pulled up to a Burger King in Albuquerque after dark and the damn headlights weren't on, just the side markers and the fog lights. Who's the doofus at GM that came up with this system? I thought it was supposed to be foolproof. Give me normal analog gauges, please, and control over the lights! This aggravation alone is reason enough to select a BMW or Lexus instead."

"Tried On-Star a couple of times, once I figured out how to use the phone. The first time was to find a florist as I traveled up I-25 in Colorado. I asked for Denver, but when you specify a city, they take it very literally. So I tried Parker, instead. They directed me to head east at exit 193 (which they called Parker Road - it's actually Lincoln Ave.), and routed me right to ... a house-lined street in a subdivision that dead-ended at the community pool. So I tried again, and they routed me to the intersection of Parker Road and Dransfeldt. I didn't find the florist they told me about, but there was a Veldkamp's right on the corner that served my purposes fine. A few days later I used On Star after becoming confused about the location of a Cadillac dealership where I'd scheduled an oil change. The system worked flawlessly then. So I'm somewhat impressed. But not completely. Plus, it's kinda creepy that somebody in Detroit can find your location day or night. Too much Big Brother for me. Though if the car was stolen it would be cool to freak out the thief by having an OnStar staffer lock all the doors and then phone them in the car to let 'em know the cops were on the way and that there was no escape."

"Spent an hour in the driveway trying to reprogram keyfob #1. With considerable effort, all functions are now reset except radio station presets. This is not the definition of luxury, to me. This is the definition of insanity. A luxury car should not require an hour of reading and menu punching to reset basic functions. You'd think that once the Feature Programming was completed in the Information Center, the seat was adjusted properly, and all radio preferences were set, the driver would simply need to press the "Set Memory" button until it beeped, and then press "Button #1" until it beeped, thus saving all current settings. That is apparently not the case. If I press Button #1, I still get L.A. station presets and "Ambience" DSP. Ugggggh!!! I'm not even going to bother with the HomeLink system. My clip-on garage door opener attached to the visor in seconds and works just fine, thank you. I wonder how inexpensively Cadillac could sell this car without all the electro-wizardry?"

The Seville's oil life monitor informed us that the time had come. So, Wardlaw took the car in for its first oil change after arriving in Denver. Here's his report:

"First I tried calling Don Massey Olds-Cadillac (you might remember that name from the Olds Intrigue debacle), but nobody at that dealership's service department picked up the phone. So I called Rickenbaugh on Broadway, thinking they were in Littleton and still reasonably close to my home. I spoke with a very cordial service advisor and made an 11:30 a.m. appointment for the next day. I arrived right on time after a helpful On Star representative redirected me from Littleton to Rickenbaugh's actual location near Capitol Hill in downtown Denver. The service bay was packed full, but they got the car done quickly. Better yet, they didn't try to sell me anything I didn't need, and a fluid check, tire pressure check and belt check was part of the deal. From the time I arrived to the time I departed only an hour had elapsed. And the showroom sales staff was very accommodating as I collected brochures on Caddys and Volvos. No pressure, but that might have been because I was wearing ratty jean shorts and hadn't shaved - you know, not exactly fitting the description of a Cadillac or Volvo buyer. I'd recommend this dealership to Denverites looking for prompt, courteous Cadillac or Volvo service."

Finally, here's a snapshot of what the world is coming to. The device pictured here was advertised on a gas pump at a Flying J Travel Plaza in Ehrenburg, Arizona. Wardlaw snapped a shot as he refueled the Caddy, and we couldn't resist publishing it.

Best Fuel Economy: 24.3 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 11.8 mpg (During road test on mountain roads)
Maintenance Costs: $28.04 (Oil Change at Rickenbaugh Cadillac-Volvo)
Repair Costs: $1,293 (Bumper Repair at Bewley-Allen Cadillac)
Problems: Broken tailpipe mount and cracked steering-wheel button.