Automobiles Of The Years: A Look Back At Our Prior Winners

1992: Cadillac STS

“Who’d have thought – a few years ago when Cadillac was trying to flog Cimarrons and V-8-6-4 engines and defective diesels to a disappointed public—that a national magazine devoted to enthusiast-oriented cars would be calling a new Cadillac Seville the Automobile of the Year? The times they are a-changing, and Cadillac has become a very different business organism than it was ten years ago.

The new Seville was developed at a time when German companies were still calling the tune in luxury-car circles, and its driving profile turns out to be sort of American-German, while the STS is decidedly German American. The STS is robust and direct. All of its control responses are quick and aggressive, and its ride is very much in the German tradition, with only just enough tire slap and impact to remind you that it is a machine, not a mobile chaise. The base Seville is for the traditional American luxury car buyer. It has a stand-up hood ornament, and its entire personality is tuned and massaged to make it softer and less aggressive than the STS. As you might imagine, the STS was our favorite.”
-DED, Jr.