Consumer Guide® Automotive places each vehicle into one of 17 classes based on size, price, and market position. Premium Large Cars are top-of-the-line sedans in size and luxury. Many are manufacturer flagships and/or showcases for the newest automotive technology. Some have 6-figure price tags.

Our Best Buys include the Audi A8 and Lexus LS 430. Our Recommended picks include the Buick Park Avenue, Cadillac DeVille, and Volkswagen Phaeton.

DeVille is heavily revised for 2006 and retagged DTS. It starts sale this fall with various powertrain and suspension improvements to DeVille's basic front-wheel-drive platform, plus edgier styling in the mold of Cadillac's new rear-drive STS sedan. Full details aren't available yet, but Cadillac says DTS will offer the same 4.6 V8s as DeVille. Keep checking back with us for further news.

Meantime, Cadillac already is said to be working on a rear-drive DTS replacement, possibly for 2009. This would almost surely use a stretched version of the Sigma platform that serves STS and the smaller CTS.

That's because GM has shelved an alternative rear-drive platform called Zeta that had been planned for at least seven new models in North America, including a possible DTS replacement. This cost-cutting move comes in the face of a sales slump that aggravates an already severe profit squeeze for GM. Even so, Cadillac is reportedly going ahead with an "Ultra Luxury Sedan" to take on top-tier European models from the likes of Mercedes, BMW and even Britain's Bentley. Timing is unclear right now, but some sources say the "ULS" will bow no later than 2010 with V12 power, styling patterned on the well-received 2004 Sixteen concept--and a $100,000 price tag.