In back, the Concours soundly trounces Lincoln Continental and comes within an inch or so of the Town Car in hip and shoulder width.
Oddly enough, the performance often begins with a less-than-luxurious moment of static until the automatic antenna can catch up with the radio.
On the techno side are the sheer number of tasks the Concours does for you.
Other seat controls for height, tilt and distance are clustered on the door, along with the buttons for the dual memory settings and the ones for the windows.
Our Concours test car had the $790 topmost audio system, which includes a cassette deck, 11 speakers and a 12-disc remote CD.
Personalization is the latest game in the luxury car market, and the Concours is keeping pace with its competition in this derby.
Seat adjustments are where the past and future sometimes collide.
The digital instrument panel is yet another area where tradition and the computer age clash.
The revised sound-system controls are more user-friendly.
A more modern, multi-function control like the one on Lexuses and Lincolns would be easier to use.
After that, though, the sound quality is as good as the best.
As you would expect, the seat is roomy, and there is not much in the way of lateral support.
But those who buy by the inch may long for Cadillac's nearly departed Fleetwood, which is some 3 inches wider in both dimensions.
Cadillac does not expect that customers in this segment will be hurling their cars around mountain switchbacks for the sheer joy of driving, a view we endorse.
Deep-toned Zebrano wood wraps around the dash and continues straight back to the rear seat.
Each fob is recognized by the seat-control computer, which automatically adjusts the 8-way driver seat to one of two pre programmed settings when you slide your gold plated key into the ignition.
It also includes digitally processed sound, another new addition that times sound signals to mimic a room setting or auditorium, and concentrates them around the driver.
It's also flanked by dated-looking chrome buttons for the trip computer and temperature-set climate controls.
New jumbo-sized tabs allow you to tune, seek and scan stations without looking.
The Concours also comes with the leather seating that's optional on regular DeVilles.
The Concours has one of the only height-adjustable lumbar supports.
The ecclectic blend of yesterday and tomorrow continues inside.
The stark black screen makes a jarring contrast with the warm wood and graceful sweep of the dash.
Though it hails from Michigan rather than Corinth, it is soft yet supportive, if a bit slippery.
While pushing them prompts such informative displays as average fuel mileage and speed--and such critical ones as coolant temperature and voltage analog dials like those on Eldorado and Seville tell you far more at a glance.
While the DeVille comes with one remote keyless entry fob, Concours owners get two that allow two drivers to program the automatic door locks four different ways.
Yet the tab that controls it is mounted low on the side, where it's hard to differentiate from the tabs that recline the seatback and heat its bottom (a $225 option).
You can also adjust tuning, volume and even the climate with auxiliary tabs on the steering wheel.
Driving Impression
Along with added power, the Concours has lower gearing than DeVille's.
Another system that worked almost too well was the RainSense wipers, which vary speed depending on how fast you're driving.
Both models come with speed-sensitive steering and a suspension that automatically adjusts ride quality and ride height based on load and road conditions.
In the course of our evaluation, we gave the antilock brakes and traction control a thorough workout.
The Concours succeeds admirably on the softer side of that scale.
The Northstar system, including its excellent computer-controlled 4-speed automatic transmission, has been an industry pacesetter since it first appeared in the Cadillac Allante, and it just keeps getting better.
You will also feel some steering-wheel pull during hard accleration, especially from a standing start, despite efforts to eliminate it.
Both function as they were supposed to, and braking performance was impressive for a car of this size.
But it is as alien to rear-drive converts as corporate downsizing would have been back in 1949.
But then, it's not a sport sedan.
Follow the V8's siren song on fast, twisty roads, however, and the steering feels too light and too vague.
Known as torque steer, it won't surprise anyone accustomed to front drive.
On the coexistence side is the Northstar V8, a quad-camshaft marvel that vaults this two-ton car instantly off the line, cruises silently and revs very, very quickly to well over 6000 rpm when you nudge the accelerator.
Result: sizzling 0-to-60 jaunts in under 7 seconds.
The bad news: The switch is nestled inconveniently in the glovebox.
The Concours also wallows a bit over bumps and still feels floaty over dips.
The Concours refines both systems with a blend of hydraulics and electromagnetics designed to allow even easier steering and gentler damping at lower speeds, and firmer doses of both at faster, curvier clips.
The good news: You can override the system.
The smooth 4-speed automatic transmission shifts imperceptibly when you're loafing along, and briskly when you're in a hurry.
Though the torque limiting traction control made progress up slippery hills slower than we liked, pushing a button shuts it off.
Tradition and technology coexist comfortably on the road most of the time.
We found them too fast for light-mist conditions.
Walk Around
Both editions of the DeVille also share a rich palette of toney hues that include Cotillion White, Polo Green and the Dark Cherry that adorned our Concours test car.
Concours has more head, hip and legroom and a larger trunk than its Lincoln Continental rival.
While both cars get the 32-valve Northstar V8 for 1996, the Concours gets an extra 25 hp.
Although sheer acceleration isn't a key buying point for cars in this class, power is part of the prestige formula, and it always comes in handy when you're passing on a 2-lane highway.
Both share the hidden rear wheels and tail fins that have been Cadillac trademarks since 1949, although the tailfins are a mere suggestion of those bygone days.
Except for the Cadillac script on its trunk and the crest in its grille, a $41,135 DeVille Concours looks just like a $36,635 DeVille.
H-rated tires also give it a heady 130-mph top speed versus 112 mph for the DeVille.
It also wins the horsepower competition hands-down, with 40 more than the Continental and a 90-hp advantage over the Town Car.
It even beats the larger Town Car in some key dimensions, including rear head and hip room and overall space.
Summary
Those are whom these traditional luxury cars are aimed at.
And prefer the open road over side roads.
It is almost as cushy, nearly as powerful, and costs $4500 less.
Like the DeVille, the Concours is a contemporary update on the traditional full-size American luxury car tradition, for buyers who like their space.
While the Concours competes strongly in that arena, the DeVille may be the ultimate bargain.
Who choose refinement and move-around roominess over sportiness.
