Brace yourself. What follows is too much information about Cadillac seats and clots. And too many shots of my chicken legs. A few weeks ago I wrote this piece about buying a 2018 Cadillac CT6 and setting off the next day on a business trip to North Carolina. I was falling hard for the car and Super Cruise, the industry best Level 2 autonomous driving. Hands free for miles and miles of interstate driving on I-95 south. Made only one stop in Ashland, Virginia on the 300+ mile drive. I fidgeted with the seat trying to get better leg support but didn’t think much about it, until late the next day after a four mile run near Fort Bragg. The back of my knee hurt in an oh so familiar way. I’ve had blood clots twice, the first in 2014 and again in 2019, after which I’ve been on blood thinners. Thinking another clot unlikely I ran another pair of four milers that week unsure if it was clots or a muscle strain. By the time I drove back to Virginia I was pretty sure and headed to the emergency room, where I was diagnosed with another “acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT)” – a blood clot. Got a shot in the belly and changed blood thinners and made my 3pm music gig at a local brewery.
In between my 2014 and 2019 clots, with no blood thinners but getting up often, I’ve flown to India and back non-stop (each way, not the entire loop!), to Africa, and to South America. On thinners I’ve driven cross country twice in the Mercedes S600 and even knocked out a thousand mile day solo. I thought I knew how to manage. But on the 2018 Cadillac CT6 Platinum seat above, the intersection of the seat bottom bolster, the seat bottom, and the metal bar crossmember that should extend (but don’t) intrudes on the bottom of the leg just above the knee, and (for me) makes it impossible to get comfortable. And I’m 90 percent sure that pressure gave me a clot. Press the button and there’s a faint sound of a motor doing something, but movement is imperceptible.
The Dulles CarMax service folks were superb in taking a quick look at the car and sending it out to Cadillac for inspection. Sadly, per below, Moore Cadillac advised the seat is not supposed to extend despite the manual, the controls, and the infotainment graphics below suggested it should. They reported back that it works just like all the other Cadillac CT6’s. Disappointing. I even joined the Cadillac CT6 online forum to ask for help, and other owners confirmed that the seat bottom just don’t move. That despite the shot below of the infotainment display indicating extension and the owners’ manual confirming it should. Moore Cadillac just pissed me off. Pretty much offended me with their answer.
For comparison, I checked out a BMW X5 and Mercedes E300 seat, and both extended significantly compared to the immobile Cadillac seats. Below you can see what a normal Mercedes seat does. A cheap E300.
Unfortunately, the 2018 Cadillac CT6 Platinum with Super Cruise that I bagged after it dropped $4,000 one night had to be returned. And for what it’s worth, the Dulles CarMax business office processed the return in less than 30 minutes. Pain free (unlike my leg). A refund check for the car and a refund check for MaxCare are on their way. They had me drive it into the service bay to check the mileage and it was a wistful 100 yard cruise. It’s a really nice car with near Mercedes luxury at a decent price. The seats just (literally) came up short. I suspect for a less than six foot driver they’d never know. The car should be available again soon. Meanwhile, I’ll be driving the S600.
Here’s the link if you want to track the car – it’s not yet back on the market. Suspect there’s work to be done to clear the title.
Stock # 21964952 VIN # 1G6KP5R64JU157486
