Video: 2008 Cadillac STS

It's been around for a few years and Cadillac gave it a pretty thorough refreshing this year. If you look closely, you'll see a new grill on the STS. It's got Cadillac's two-tone treatment that's also on the Escalade and the new CTS. Overall, the STS keeps its muscular stance with pretty crisp front and rear overhangs, a low ride height and pretty recognizable Cadillac styling. Big news under the hood is Cadillac's new direct injection V6. It makes 302 horsepower, which is a pretty healthy gain from last year. The trunk is at the low end for the segment in terms of space but what we really don't like is how small the opening is. As you can see the lid itself, doesn't extend that far back and so it doesn't leave a lot of room for you to put in a big suitcase. Once you get stuff in the floor is nice and flat. And like most mid-size luxury cars, the rear seats don't fold down for more room. There is a small passage if you need to put through skis or something through the middle seat. Cadillac's latest keyless start system incorporates a new remote. It's much more elegant than before. It's got a nice weight to it. A silver Cadillac logo on the back, and it just feels much more substantial than before. Previous Cadillac keys were pretty much very similar to everything else found at GM. The front seats are pretty comfortable, there's lots of good support and plenty of cushioning for you to really sink your back into. The interior has lots of high quality metal and wood surfaces, but there are some panel gaps that really don't belong in a car in this class. The center controls show the Cadillac of two or three years ago. Not necessarily the stuff they're putting out today. There's a lot of small buttons and dials for stuff that you really use a lot like your radio volume and your temperature. There's also a lot of symbols that are kind of hard to decipher even after you've looked at them several times. For example, the globe here, well that shows the navigation screen. Pretty simple, but if you go to configuration or route, suddenly you're faced with a whole battery of things like the Statue of Liberty, which is supposed to be points of interest and a circle with a dot in the middle, which is supposed to be previous destinations. Overall, the STS is a fun to drive and fast car. And if Cadillac could work out some of the quirks with navigation system and some of the center controls it could be a real winner in this segment. As is it's only a couple steps off. <v Announcer>For additional information on this car or any other go to Cars.com and our blog, Kicking Tires.