And with that, sadly, most of the good news concludes. We’d have preferred steering that was a little lighter and faster, Ã la Audi Q5, but at least its sense of straight-ahead was unsurpassed. The ride was definitely firm, and big displacements could occasionally cause crash-through at the rear, but the overall ride-and-handling trade-off was to our liking, far more visceral than, say, the RX350’s. Its chassis was informative, reassuringly solid, and expert at controlling body motions. In the hills, our SRX-riding on the optional 20-inch Michelins and fitted with Sachs continuously variable dampers-proved flat, stable, and composed. And when you select reverse, objects astern are televised on the nav screen. Rear-seat comfort for two is excellent, but a third rider will have to straddle the center console, which protrudes too far rearward.Īlthough the stubby backlight and huge C-pillars do damage to the rear three-quarter view, the side mirrors are huge. If you don’t order the optional spare tire (an electric inflator is the standard roadside fix), there’s a nice-size well under the cargo floor, perfect for hiding purses and briefcases. With the rear seats flat, the cargo bay will swallow nearly the same sheet of plywood that the roomy RX350 can ingest, and the Caddy will carry three bonus cases of beer. The 60/40 rear seatbacks fold flat, although the cushions neither slide nor tumble forward. The steering adjusts for reach and rake, and the pedals are also adjustable. The front seats are quite firm and bolstered perfectly they would make a BMW engineer proud. The center stack is easy to learn, and just under the optional pop-up nav screen reside two large rotary controls, one for volume, the other for tuning. An eight-speaker Bose stereo is standard, and there’s a clever dial on the driver’s door that controls how far the liftgate rises, preventing it from banging into your garage ceiling. Nowhere will your elbows strike anything hard. The elegant compound curves in the door handles make them look like Georg Jensen jewelry. The materials are superb: “Pearl-nickel chrome” accents that look like silver satin and spears of walnut trim that blend magically into hand-cut-and-sewn leather. What you instantly notice about the SRX is that its cabin equals or exceeds anything in the class. Otherwise-Cadillac’s words, here-“It has no commonality with the Theta platform.”

Cadillac insists vehemently that this new SRX shares only its powertrain with the Chevy Equinox and the Saturn Vue. With either engine, a six-speed automatic is attached. An optional, 300-horse turbo V-6, built in Australia for Saab and Holden, will arrive this fall. The 320-hp, Northstar V-8 has been broomed a 265-hp, direct-injection V-6 is the base engine. In either front- or all-wheel-drive iterations, three trim levels are available: Luxury, Performance, and Premium. No longer are seven passengers welcome five’s the limit. Length is down by 4.6 inches, height by 2.1 inches, and wheelbase by 5.9 inches. This latest SRX is now driven through the front wheels rather than the rears. Problem is, the SRX now parachutes into the killer $40K-crossover class, where it faces, among other all-stars, Audi’s stunning Q5 3.2 Quattro (the winner of July’s “ New Arrivals for Summer” comparo), not to mention the beyond-dominant sales king in the segment, the Lexus RX350, itself recently refurbished unto the zenith of plushness. In fact, the SRX has been yanked from the $50K, V-8 luxo-ute niche, where it was nonetheless strong, finishing second to an Acura MDX in a C/D comparo in 2007. In the Detroit Three’s universe, new models usually arrive bigger and heavier. And so it was with huge anticipation that we welcomed this all-new SRX, a crossover we’ve loved since the day it was introduced in, uh, wow, 2004. And then there’s the CTS-in truth, the lone vehicle that carries the division’s reputation on its back. There are a couple of embarrassingly immense Escalades. The angular XLR, a marketing spinoff from the Corvette shop, has been euthanized. The pretty but aging STS has been nudged onto the berm by at least five luxo-sports sedans, none from America. The DTS isn’t even on your Uncle Marvin’s radar. As GM wobbled toward bankruptcy, the company’s boosters often cited Cadillac as proof that at least one division knew the secret for success.

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