The DTS is a big car. Its overall length of 207.6 inches makes it 5 inches longer than the Escalade full-size SUV, and nearly a foot longer than the STS. It's 9 inches longer than a BMW 7 Series and 2.6 inches longer than the latest long-wheelbase Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan. It's also wide, more than 2 inches wider than an STS.

Despite its size, however, the clean forms of the DTS give it a European look, though in a distinctively American idiom. With its vertical headlamps and tail lamps, and its grinning egg-crate grille, the DTS has acquired the design heritage of the Cadillac family and adapted it to 21st Century reality. It acknowledges tradition, yet remains fresh and modern. The nose is particularly expressive, with jewel-like xenon headlamps framing an expansive chrome grille adorned with a center-mounted wreath-and-crest badge.

Other interesting styling elements include body-side chrome trim accenting body-color door moldings, and a narrow LED high-mounted stop light that runs nearly the entire width of the decklid's crisply edged rear contour. The fenders provide a purposeful stance, and the profile is slightly wedge-shaped. Chromed 17-inch wheels come standard (with optional 18s). The overall look is brought together by Cadillac's characteristic spline line, which rises from the top of the front fender, runs along with lower edge of the side windows and then flows over the rear fender.

Cadillac boasts that the DTS has some of the tightest production tolerances in the world, and it certainly looks the part of a well-honed luxury machine. The panels fit well, the paint is glossy and blemish free, and overall the DTS wears its bulk well, like a fine-tailored suit. The quality of GM cars has been improving, and Cadillac scores well in quality surveys.