Getting your player ready...
The freshly snow-packed roads of Big Thompson Canyon, west of Loveland, and on up the Devil’s Gulch Road from Drake were a winter-weather test Sunday morning for the 2011 Cadillac SRX Turbo.
The SRX, a luxury compact all-wheel-drive crossover, performed with good grip and excellent braking on the snowy climb, a good share of the distance at 45 to 50 miles per hour. Level of driver control was reassuring; with electronic limited-slip differential, the vehicle’s AWD system transfers torque from front to rear wheels and also along the rear axle.
The drive wasn’t all about snow, it was also opportunity to appreciate the 2.8-liter turbocharged V-6 engine, which Cadillac is phasing out over the next several months. Slow sales with the turbo power block forced the decision by Cadillac to stick solely with its 3.0-liter standard V-6. The 3-liter generates 265 horsepower, compared with 300 for the turbo.
The quick-delivery 2.8 turbo V-6 was borrowed from Saab, when the Swedish firm was part of the General Motors automotive empire. Manufactured at GM’s Holden Port Melbourne, Australia, facility, it features a twin-scroll intercooled turbocharger, which provides more energy to the turbine and better air charge to the cylinders.
The V-6 is mated to an Aisin-built 6-speed automatic transmission, which on the descent I placed in manual mode for more security on the canyon’s bends and its slick roads. Manually holding the transmission in a lower gear eliminates lots of braking, which can be risky on snow and ice. It was particularly helpful in maintaining safe, steady speed when trailing a slow-moving pickup for several miles.
The turbo power package carries an EPA rating of 15/22 miles per gallon, while the SRX’s standard 3.0-liter V-6 with GM’s Hydra-Matic 6-speed automatic is rated at 17/23. Obviously affected some by the snowy roads, I averaged 18.5 mpg with the SRX turbo, considerably below the 21.3 posted by a 3-liter SRX a year or so ago.
Riding on 20-inch wheels, the SRX is a tight handler with very responsive steering; it suffers little body roll from its sport-tuned suspension. Since 2010, the SRX has been based on a front-wheel chassis.
Cadillac has found good support for its redesigned SRX, which shows crisp lines from a pointed, wedge-shaped front to a sharply sloped, shapely rear, which has reduced some vision along the back quarters. Sales have risen sharply the past two years.
Of 10 vehicles that might be classified as luxury compact SUV/crossovers, only the Lexus RX outsells the Cadillac SRX. The Lexus in January sold 5,881, followed by the Cadillac with 4,236, Mercedes GLK 1,625, Audi Q5 1,584, Lincoln MKX 1,546, Infiniti EX/FX 1,422, BMW X3 1,075, Acura RDX 993, Volvo XC60 966 and Land Rover LR2 160.
The interior of the Caddy features sapele-wood trim and a panorama sunroof.
As Dale and Sandy Wells were leaving Candlelight Dinner Playhouse (“Bye, Bye, Birdie”) one cold night last week, he pushed the remote-start button on his key fob to start his Jeep Wrangler in the parking lot. It was a reminder; I pushed the button on the Cadillac key – sure enough, the SRX’s engine was running, too, when Jan and I reached it, unlocked the doors and crawled in. The remote start is standard on the Premium edition of the SRX.
An oddity in tally priced the Cadillac in nickels: $55,555.
Additional amenities included a navigation/audio screen that, with touch of a button, emerges from the dash for easy viewing, and rear-seat entertainment system with dual display screens on the backs of the front-seat headrests. Also, rearview camera, leather seats heated front and rear rows and ventilated (front only), driver information center, power adjustable pedals, trizone climate control, automatic headlamps, rainsense wipers, headlamp washers and a power liftgate which the driver, with a button on the inside door panel, can fully open or partially open.
Notes from e-mail
Q: Bud, it always catches my eye when one of those Mazda RX-8 sports cars passes me, but I wasn’t aware they ran on a rotary engine until I read your column last week. That surprised me. Has Mazda always used rotary engines? – L.R.
A: Mazda has used both rotary-powered and conventional internal-combustion engines, Lyle. Mazda introduced rotary-engine vehicles into the U.S. in 1970; then, due to poor fuel economy in the mid-1970s, the rotaries were abandoned in the main line of vehicles, and continued through the years in, first, the RX-7 and since 2004 in the RX-8. Most of its line of models uses conventional 4-cylinder and V-6 engines.
2011 Cadillac SRX Turbo
$55,555
(price as tested)
MPG City 15 Highway 22
Vehicle type: Luxury compact SUV crossover
Wheelbase: 110.5 inches
Length/Width/Height: 190.3/75.2/65.7 inches
Weight: 4,310 pounds
Engine: 2.8-liter turbocharged V-6
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Fuel mileage: 18.5 mpg
Fuel tank: 21 gallons
Warranty: 4 years/50,000 miles basic; powertrain 5/100,000
Competitors: Lincoln MKX, Mercedes GLK350, Audi Q5, BMW X3, Volvo XC60
Built at: Ramos Arizpe, Mexico
Parts content: U.S./Canadian 21 percent; Mexico 67 percent
THE STICKER
$52,360 base
$1,395 Rear-seat entertainment, dual-screen DVD
$445 Trailer hitch, harness
$255 Roof cross rails
$875 Destination
PLUSES
Luxurious interior
Superb handling
AWD snow capability
MINUSES
Fuel mileage
Rear-seat headroom pared by sunroof and slope
