This review of the 2010 Cadillac SRX crossover utility vehicle is a first-drive opinion reflecting about 400 miles of driving on a mix of mostly hilly rural roads and some open interstate highway driving. This Cadillac SRX review includes likes, dislikes, opinion, and occasional irreverant jokes meant to amuse me. This review is an honest driver's opinion, mercifully free of technical specs and engineering jargon. Newly redesigned, the 2010 Cadillac SRX is designed to compete head-on in the highly competitive market niche of luxury crossover utility vehicles. Let's start by talking about how the car looks...


Curb Appeal: The "Wow! Factor" of SRX's Redesign...
The 2010 Cadillac SRX has a short, stubby looking profile that reminds me quite a bit of the lines on the Lexus RX 350. It's definitely quite a bit shorter (both in height and length) than last year's SRX, and it seems to have quite a bit more flashy chrome trim on it as well. Some of it looks pretty cool (like the chrome tipped tail pipes), while some of it looks contrived to me (the chrome pieces on the front quarter panels look as functional to me as the port holes on the side of a Buick).

The swooped back body lines are probably quite aerodynamic, but they make the car's rear end look like it offers inadequate headroom inside, plus the tiny back windows are basically useless, giving you lots of pillar space to create blind spots and not much glass for you to overcome it. This is a car that quickly teaches you to use your side mirrors before changing lanes. I can't decide whether or not I like the rear spoiler, hanging over the rear window like the bill of a baseball cap.

The car looks like it's got a roof rack on it, but the rails aren't there for cargo, as far as I can tell --- not unless you want to be stacking things on top of the large glass expanse that constitutes the SRX's very cool "UltraView" sunroof. This reminds me of the sunroof on the Audi A3s that I like so much....it not only covers the front seat roof area, but the rear seat as well (only the front half of the glass actually opens up though, which irritated my kids who had dreams of being able to stand on the rear seat and hang their heads out the window, hollering like flaming retards. I thought about doing it too.)

The 18-inch wheels look pretty good, and Cadillac offers 20-inch wheels as an option. My thoughts on big wheels with equally oversized tires are "Man! My wallet would be hating life when it comes time to replace those over-priced suckers at 30K miles!" Surely I can't be the only car driver with fond memories of being able to buy brand new 13" tires all around for $100 --- it wasn't THAT long ago when y'all were blowing past me in my wonderfully dinky little Honda Civic!


An Interior Built to Impress...
Kudos to the guys at Cadillac for the SRX interior. I like! It reminds me a lot of the CTS interior, which I just love, and it's very competitive with high-end interiors from Lexus or BMW. I think it's a great looking appearance that conveys a feeling of elegant luxury. I think it's an interior that's eminently comfortable, even for long road trips with the whole family. I think the materials and workmanship are excellent. I also think it's got the right features needed to be viewed as a serious contender. There's a few quirks and oddities about the SRX that I don't really like, mostly in the human factors area.

Appearance
I love the leather. Love the brushed aluminum. Love the sleek, streamlined arcs in the overall look of the dash and the way it melds around the corners into the door frames. What's right about the SRX are the same things that Cadillac designers got right with their newer CTS interiors.

Comfort
The SRX is a very comfortable vehicle that can seat 5 adults comfortably and with ample legroom in the back seat (even behind a fairly tall driver like myself). The front seats are outstanding, with firm support all the way around and electronic controls for both driver and passenger. The leather seat surfaces feel smooth and inviting.

Materials and Workmanship
It's probably not "fine Corinthian leather", but it sure does FEEL fine to me! So too does the rough-grained leather dashboard, and the supple leather clad steering wheel. Yep, I'm into leather! I'm also into the plush feel of the carpets, and the elegant look of the etched aluminum trim pieces (even the cool little trim piece along the bottom of the doors is emblazoned with the classic script "Cadillac"). Everything fits well too. I can't find a shake or a gap anywhere on this car.

Features
The SRX is loaded down pretty well with power everything options and heated and cooled everything else. 3 memory positions on the electronic seats are 1 more than any married couple needs and 2 more than a single guy needs. Ah well, one for the parking valet, I suppose. The Bose-powered stereo sounds great, especially when I crank up the tejano music, and there's not just an MP3 input, but also a USB input --- excellent! (Though I do wish GM would bag the silly XM radios and start giving us HD radios instead....but maybe I'm the only person in America who thinks XM in its post-Sirius guise has seriously yuckolicious programming.)

Best feature: UltraView sunroof!

My son, Karl's favorite feature: the backseat armrest opens up so he can put crayons and chocolates in there to melt the first time Dad parks in the hot Texas sunshine.

Mom's favorite feature: The front seat reclines almost flat for easy highway snoozing.

Least favorite feature: rear-seat DVD systems are only available if you buy the overpriced navigation system of dubious real merit. Go after-market --- the DVD systems are cheaper and better anyway.


Human Factors Perspectives
I just can't ever be satisfied! Good as the Cadillac's interior looks, it has quite a few annoying quirks that would get under my skin endlessly if I had to drive the SRX on a daily basis. The center instrument cluster is far too cluttered and busy for me, with a distracting huge light-up disc in the center showing me the odometer reading and annoying "info" like miles to empty (presuming I can't read a gas gauge, I suppose). Cadillac engineers evidently don't want people looking at their speedometer. Not only do they distract you when you're looking straight at it, the labels aren't easy to read at a glance and parts of it are blocked from view no matter in what position you seem to set the steering wheel.

The most annoying quirk to me is putting the door lock button on the center stack next to the climate controls. That has got to be THE stupidest place for a door lock control since Mercedes Benz came up with the bad idea of sticking it on the center console armrest! (At least SRX has window controls on the door, where they belong.)
I'm also not sure why it takes 4 buttons to operate a sunroof, nor what the indecipherable labels on them mean.

There's a fair number of useless gizmos on the dash too. These include useless steering wheel buttons, a button inside the console drink holder that apparently does nothing at all, and a jumpy little analog gauge showing whether the car is sipping gas like me pretending to enjoy champagne at a wedding or whether the car is chugging gas down like me at the 2x1 brewski happy hour. I can only imagine that somebody at Cadillac really LOVES using the car's built-in cell phone feature...how else do you explain the car having not just one button to place or answer a call, but THREE of the suckers! (And I'm not talking 3 in places that might make sense, like one in the back seat and one for the passenger, I'm talking THREE within instant reach of the driver.)

And by the way...what is UP with that teensy tiny little rear view mirror...was Volkswagen having a parts garage sale, or WHAT?!?!


Performance and Handling of the 2010 SRX...
Up until last year, Cadillac used rear-wheel drive on the SRX, but for 2010, they've gone to a front-wheel drive approach with a transverse engine (an all-wheel drive option is available). There's pros and cons to each, and while front-wheel drive tends to handle better in a slip situation, personally, I like rear-wheel drive much better. I prefer rear-wheel drive for performance reasons, and I like the more precise handling and generally tighter turning radiuses that I get with rear-wheel drive. The Cadillac SRX is pure textbook in its pros and cons of front-wheel drive: it feels competent on loose gravel surfaces that I drove on in a local park, but it had a wide, broad turning radius when trying to make a U-turn and it pulled noticeably to the right when I'd do a hard acceleration.

Acceleration happens to be one of the weak points of the 2010 SRX. The vehicle has ample power for highway cruising, but it doesn't feel happy getting there. When I step on the gas from a complete stop, the car is sluggish to get up above the first couple gears. Once it's moving at 30 or 40 miles per hour, it doesn't seem to mind putting in the extra effort to shoot on up to 70 as you drive onto a highway on ramp, but man oh man are those first 4 or 5 seconds painful. I've also noticed that the car hesitates when you step on the gas...as if the SRX has to mull it over and decide if you are worthy of speed.

Compared to other CUVs, the Cadillac SRX does okay by horsepower numbers, but it's obviously slower than its direct competitors, and I certainly don't regard it as particularly "good". My current "daily get to work" car is a Cadillac CTS, which is not much smaller than this SRX and is priced about the same --- but the performance dynamics on the CTS are noticeably superior to the SRX. The CTS is quicker to acclerate, shorter on the braking distance, and it's an agile performer with good handling on the curves. In some ways, this is an "apples and oranges" comparison, but it is not entirely academic. After all, last year's SRX was based on the CTS and last year's SRX also handled and performed better than the redesign.

Handling isn't too bad on this vehicle though. The turning radius is unimpressive, but the car actually feels pretty tight and behaves well on curvy roads and in normal mixed driving conditions. It brakes firmly and quickly and aside from larger blind spots than I'd like ("Hey lady! Sorry about your puppy!"), I had no trouble squirreling it into tight parking spots.

In some ways, I feel silly talking about performance when it comes to any SUV or CUV vehicle. The undeniable fact is that NO vehicle in the SUV or CUV niches ever handle as well nor are they as as fun to drive as the manufacturer's sedans or coupes. Doesn't matter which company you're talking about or which specific vehicle, the rule is pretty much an immutable law: BMW's 3-series runs rings around an X3, the Lexus IS blows the doors off a lame RX, the Porsche Boxster is 10 times more fun to drive than a Cayenne. Etcetera. Etcetera. No matter how many ads any company might put out touting the "performance" of their SUV or CUV, the performance still blows dog chunks compared to that same company's cars.


Competitive Landscape for the 2010 Cadillac SRX
There are a lot of premium CUVs on the market that compete head-to-head with the Cadillac SRX. Here are my thoughts on the relative strong points of some of the SRX competitors. These aren't the only choices though: I'm not including anything that I haven't ridden in or looked at in a long time because I just don't have any reference point to base knowledgable comments on: cars I know compete against the SRX but that don't know much about include the Lincoln MKX, the Infiniti EX35, the Audi Q7, the Land Rover LR2, the Mercedes-Benz GLK, and probably quite a few others. That said, here's a few thoughts on the head-to-head...

Cadillac SRX: Low price point is one of its major strengths with a $33,330 base MSRP, beating Lexus by $4,000 and other premium CUV models by as much as $7,000.

Lexus RX 350: The Lexus RX is the most popular premium CUV on the market, and it's the most obvious comparison target. Compared to the Lexus, the Cadillac SRX is similar in appearance, with a similarly upscale interior, though the Lexus is quieter and more refined feeling.
Acura MDX: The Acura has more precise driving mechanics than either the SRX or the Lexus and is a better choice for somebody who values handling over appearance and interior elegance, though it's also one of the highest priced CUVs on the market.

BMW X3: Though I'm unlikely to buy any CUV, the X3 is my favorite of the bunch. It has the most precise handling and best overall driving feel of any of the CUVs, and I appreciate its cleanly spartan interior and classicly clean lines. Compared to the BMW X3, the Cadillac offers a greater variety of options and a lower sticker price, but lags the BMW in performance.

Volvo XC60: Best price point among premium CUVs with $32,395 base MSRP, beating Cadillac SRX by $1K. With its traditional emphasis on safety features and engineering, Volvo is a good bet for the family car CUV, though it lacks the Cadillac's higher end feeling of elegance.
Given my own preferences, I'd buy at least 20 other cars before any CUV, but if all I had to choose from were CUVs, I'd pick them in this order: BMW X3, Volvo XC60, Acura MDX, Cadillac SRX, Lexus RX 350.


Ownership Considerations...
The 2010 SRX has not yet been crash tested by either IIHS or NHTSA. Other Cadillac models get consistent 5-star ratings, but a cautious parent may want to hold off on a purchase until the tests come back. Feature-wise, the SRX has anti-lock brakes, front and rear airbags, electronic stability control and more that I could tell you about if Cadillac was paying me to be their shill. Instead, I'll refer you to their web site so they can be their own shill: www.cadillac.com

Fuel economy is unimpressive. Cadillac's web site (www.cadillac.com) says that it will be in the mid-20s on the highway and teens in the city. That may be about right. I didn't try to track mileage, but considering I drove the SRX a bit under 400 miles and it cost me well over $40 to fill the tank before turning it in, my wallet says "Youch! --- next time rent the @&*# Aveo". Okay, so I'm obviously exaggerating. After all, it's not like my CTS gets much better mileage than an SRX. I wish it did though...


Bottom Line...
The Cadillac SRX is a comfortable, impressive, suitably elegant ride. It isn't a car that car enthusiasts will enjoy though --- not with the unresponsive base 6-cylinder engine anyway. It's a comfortable car that looks pretty good and has an impressive array of features...it's just soulless. The new 2010 Cadillac SRX aims most directly at buyers of the Lexus RX 350, and it remains to be seen whether Cadillac can woo them away from the more costly Lexus. I'm not sure the SRX is the car I'd count on to do that...
Amount Paid (US$): 33,330
Condition: New