This five-seater competes with the Audi Q5, Lexus RX 350 and Lincoln MKX. Powertrain: 3.The SRX is Cadillac’s midsize crossover SUV. Vehicle type: Four-door, five-passenger SUV Lows: Sluggish engine, balky transmission Highs: Plush, personable and very easy to drive Times’ take: Cadillac replaces its top-selling car Look for smaller XT3s and larger XT7s to follow. If Cadillac can do that, it’ll have wisely started a new series of SUVs right in the middle, with the XT5. The open question is whether the “Made in America” appeal of a homegrown luxury SUV can steal buyers away from the European and Japanese makers who currently dominate the segment. The automaker sold a lot of those cars last year - more than 100,000 globally, Cadillac says, about two-thirds of those in the U.S. I know this can help increase overall fuel economy by several percentage points, but I was irritated to discover that, on the XT5, the stop/start cannot be switched off.įans of the SRX will like the new vehicle, which is good news for Cadillac. I also found the stop/start function, which disables the engine when it’s at a red light and re-engages it when the driver touches the gas, a little abrupt. A push button selects “Park,” but a different button is required to move into “Drive” or “Reverse” gears, and back out of them. Cadillac has replaced the traditional column-mounted shifter with a knob in the center console. Navigating that transmission also took some adjusting. I wasn’t crazy about the eight-speed transmission, which often seemed to be struggling to find the right gear, and which sometimes shifted between gears with unwelcome violence - especially downshifting on downhill stretches. 1 complaint owners have about their new cars, I hope this was just a problem with my iPhone, and not with the system in general. Since miscommunication between phones and car devices is often listed as the No. But I couldn’t even get it to recognize my telephone. This one is better, and hosts a wide variety of applications. Previous iterations of the Cadillac Cue in-dash infotainment system have come in for some criticism - it was clumsy, people said, and difficult to navigate. A buzz in the backside does get your attention.Īnd then there were the things that didn’t seem to work so well. (Cadillac debuted this device on its CT6.) I also liked the haptic input delivered, as a jolt to the seat of the pants, whenever a front, rear or side obstruction was too close to the vehicle. One techno trick I particularly liked turns the rearview mirror into a rearview camera, eliminating the back seats and body parts from the screen, and giving the driver an unobstructed rear vista. Standard on the Platinum-level XT5 are rear cross-traffic alert, lane-change alert, blind-spot alert, pedestrian detection and parking-assist programs. I felt very little of the top-heavy SUV sway that is common to this class of car.Ĭadillac has also included some cool technology. The XT5 is surprisingly nimble, and becomes more so when the standard “Tour” mode is switched to “Sport” or “All Wheel Drive.” This sharpens the suspension and increases the XT5’s cornering capability. I ran some Beethoven through the Bose surround-sound system and it was grand.īut it doesn’t drive heavy. Scooting around town, climbing up a canyon or flying down the freeway, it’s like driving a library. Wood paneling adorns the dash and other key points. The head liner and door panels are cloaked in Alcantara. The seats and dash are done in fine leather. Cadillac has gone to great lengths to give this car upscale appointments. The engine deactivates two cylinders and becomes a V-4 when full power is not required, and doesn’t exactly peel out even when pressed hard and firing on all six. And the big V-6 seems tuned more for efficiency than performance.
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