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In the automotive world, a Concours de Elegance constitutes an exhibition in which the most pristine automobiles of the classic era are put on display.

Applying this theme on a modern note, Cadillac Motor Car Division has brought out a car that it believes will become a classic and has named it the 1994 Cadillac DeVille Concours.

It must be tough to keep coming up with something better in a Caddy each year, but the General Motors Corp. division can lay claim to accomplishing the feat with the Concours. The car is a blend of high tech, high styling, high luxury and high price.

That’s no more than is expected in a Cadillac, but the Concours goes that extra mile in the powertrain department with Cadillac’s exclusive Northstar V-8. The Northstar establishes the DeVille Concours as the most powerful front-wheel-drive, six- passenger sedan in the world.

Drivers of luxury automobiles have some rather well-established ideas as to what they want in the way of a motor car. And the Cadillac name has been synonymous with the image of luxury.

The Concours carries that flag forward via interiors with perforated Nuance leather, Zebrano woods, a complete range of electronic genies that take charge of operation, and a long list of convenience features that are designed for those who have never embraced the mundane.

It all sounds like quite a vehicle to drive, and the Concours that GM’s P.J. “Pete” Peterson provided for a test car was.

One thing about GM automobiles is that there is a certain overall basic layout to the controls. You don’t have to go through a learning process to find everything.

All switches, buttons and levers fell right to hand on first fire-up. Just drop it in gear and let the 270-horsepower Northstar flex its muscle.

This 32-valve V-8, with its four overhead cams, four valves per cylinder and a computer- controlled engine management system, is an outstanding piece of machinery.

Cadillac claims the interval between tune-ups is 100,000 miles. And the sedan has a “limp home” feature that keeps the engine operating on four cylinders without vital engine coolant.

By virtue of its overhead cams, the V-8 revved quite quickly and launched the sedan with sports-car verve. On full power takeoff, the power would chirp the front wheels, creating a momentary condition of torque steer.

Cadillac has electronically limited the top speed of the car to 125 miles an hour. Without the limiter, I’d venture top speed would be on the plus side of 150 mph.

The car was exceedingly easy to drive, either fast or slow. The Northstar is mated to GM’s new 4T80-E four-speed electronically controlled automatic transmission, and the automatic virtually eliminates any feeling of gear ratio change.

I did have one complaint about the shift-lever end of the transmission system. The shift quadrant’s P-N-D-3-2-1 markings are little squares on the instrument panel, and it’s difficult to see which position the lever is in.

When going fast, you have the feeling that you’ve got hold of the car, not that it’s got hold of you. This was courtesy of a standard speed- sensitive steering and road-sensing suspension that provided excellent ride control.

The Concours gives a driver a sense of confidence when going through very fast, tight corners. The power-steering effort varies from minimum at low speed to almost manual-like at high speed to maximize control.

The same concept applies to the road-sensing suspension in that computer-controlled shock absorber settings vary from a soft mode at low speed to stiffer control at high speed. The overall ride, however, even at low speed, tends just a bit toward the firm side.

The traditional DeVille buyers who are accustomed to that floating, boulevard style of ride won’t find that in this new DeVille Concours.

What they will find is an automobile that sticks to the road like it was on rails, and you can’t say that always was the case with Cadillac DeVilles of yore.

I think the s tyling of t he Concours is a mixed bag. Today’s designers are to a certain extent slaves to the wind tunnel, and this new car doesn’t have quite the individualism of image of past DeVilles.

However, it’s a better automobile by a bunch. And you can do things with it that never could be done in the past.

1994 Cadillac DeVille Concours Price: base $36,590; as tested $40,l05.Type: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, six- passenger, luxury sedan.Engine: dual-overhead cam V-8, 4.9 liters, 32 valves, fuel injected, 270 horsepower, 300 foot-pounds of torque.Transmission: four-speed automatic.Acceleration: 0-60 mph in 8.2 seconds.Mileage: 16 mpg city/25 mpg highway.Dimensions: wheelbase 113.8 inches; length 209.7 inches; width 76.6 inches; height 56 inches; curb weight 3,984 pounds.Options: AM/FM stereo with dual- playback cassette and compact disc player, heated windshield system, heated front seats, chrome wheels, white diamond paint, theft-deterrent system, accent striping.