Our Seville STS spent a bit more time in Florida than we expected, but in July we were finally able to rotate it to another part of the country. Scott Schapiro, our vehicle data manager, was assigned to drive the vehicle from Florida to North Carolina. The 11-hour trip allowed Scott to enjoy what seems to be the Seville's strongest attribute: effortless cruising on the interstate.

As you would expect, the Seville had no problems swallowing Scott's luggage. The seats received positive remarks for being comfortable, and he continued to believe that the adaptive driver's seat (which adjusts lumbar support to match the driver's body every four minutes) was a worthy feature. The comfort, combined with the power coming from the Northstar V8 engine, seems to be the key to the Cadillac's prowess on American freeways. Scott reports that the Seville was very stable at 85 mph (Kids, don't try this at home. Always remember to obey your local traffic laws.) and it felt as if it could cruise there effortlessly all day. At that pace, the Seville managed to average 21.5 mpg. Though they still look tacky because of the flaking paint, the radio controls mounted on the steering wheel allowed Scott to keep his eyes on the road (To watch out for those state troopers, right Scott?). The overall quality of sound from the stereo system was solid, though the Radio Data System continued to be of little use.

Once Scott was in North Carolina, he dropped off the Seville to John DiPietro, our used car data manager. John was one of the first staffers to comment on the Seville's looks. He says he likes the exterior design, which he feels is a good evolution of the '92-'97 body style. Other than the tacky "32V Northstar" badge on the decklid, John says it continues Cadillac's tradition of a "classy, yet powerful" look.

John also liked the overall look of the interior, thanks to its leather seating and generous amount of wood trim. Too bad for Cadillac, though--the sun in North Carolina washes out the stereo and climate displays, just like it does in the rest of the country.

He had similar feelings about the seats and radio. He liked the comfort of the driver's seat, but he questioned the value of the Adaptive Seat feature, and henceforth didn't use it. He also felt that it would be much more convenient at tollbooths to have a driver's side window that could be lowered and raised with just one touch of the button. As it stands now, the one-touch function only allows the window to be lowered.

Continuing what other drivers have said of the car, John felt the V8 and transmission worked well together. But he placed the Continuously Variable Road Sensing Suspension (CVRSS) under fire, saying it sometimes seemed to get confused while traveling over freeway expansion joints, causing the suspension to become unduly harsh. Other times, the suspension seemed too soft. Cadillac engineers might want to go back to the drawing board on this particular gizmo.

Speaking of which, after an additional 3,557 miles, all of the electronic systems and doodads continue to work normally. The air conditioning is the only subjective problem of note, as it still doesn't seem to be delivering cold air fast enough.

Total Odometer Reading: 21,461
Best Fuel Economy: 22.0 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 14.6 mpg
Body Damage Repair Costs: $0
Maintenance Costs: $0
Problems: No new problems.