Cars.com's Kelsey Mays takes a look at the 2010 Cadillac SRX. It competes with the BMW X3 and Infiniti EX35.
Transcript
<v Announcer>Cars.com Auto Review. Hi, I'm Kelsey Mays for Cars.com. With me, the 2010 Cadillac SRX. This has been redesigned. It's a bit smaller than its predecessor, and it doesn't have a V8 or a third row seat.
Those are two things the old SRX offered. We're gonna take you through some of its features, show you some tricks it has, and explain why given the number of small luxury SUVs there are in the market, Cadillac might have a tough time breaking through. Cabin's got some upscale features, upholstery stitching across the dash and door panels and this sort of rising screen here for what's actually a pretty user-friendly navigation system. I've got enough room to spread out, good headroom, even with the seat all the way up. Thigh support, also very good. There's this sort of cushion here that extends outward to provide even more of it. Unfortunately, in doing so you get this sort of gap right here. It can catch crumbs and loose change, kind of wish the last journalist had maybe left a couple of quarters for us at least. About 30 cubic feet of cargo volume behind the second row seats, a little over 60 with the seats down. Those are both competitive numbers for this segment. The seats actually lock into place and they're very nearly flat, nice set up there. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a reach to get in and push them down. A lot of crossovers have spring loaded seats with release handles back here. They just kind of flip down easily. These kind of have an old school setup, might be a bit of a reach for shorter people. Our test car has the base V6 and all wheel drive. There's also a turbocharged V6 available. Be sure to check that out too, and don't let the horsepower numbers fool you. This is a pretty modest engine, which is a little strange in this segment, especially considering competitors like the BMW X3, the EX35 from Infiniti. Those feel pretty powerful. The six speed automatic could also be a little bit more responsive. It takes a little while to kick into the right gear, even when you're in sport mode. And sometimes it hunts for gears sort of indecisively. Brake pedal feels awfully brick-like, and I'm not crazy about ride quality either. Although rough surfaces, the suspension responds with a lot of disruption to the cabin some may just find it too firm. Now, if that's a big concern to you, you'll probably want to look at the 18 inch wheels. Our test car has 20s that obviously would make a difference in ride quality. There are nearly a dozen small luxury crossovers on the market right now. You might like the SRX for its creative interior and aggressive styling, but the firm ride and the sluggish automatic don't make it all that comfortable or really engaging to drive. Cadillac has a fine effort in the current CTS. The SRX is aware of the effort, but it's not really exceptionally in any particular area that might hurt its chances to really stand out in this segment. (electronic music) <v Announcer>For more car related news, go to Cars.com, or our blog Kickingtires.net.
