2011 Cadillac SRX

2011 Cadillac SRX Features

In 1980, suburban housewives drove Ford Country Squires & Chevrolet Caprices. Wood grain down the side, bench seats across. It was all about utility & comfort back then, so these behemoths had Novocain power steering, and two-way tailgates to access either the 900 sq-ft of cargo space, or the rear-facing “brat seat”. Crumple Zones & child seats were unheard of back then, so if you were a kid, you held on for dear life, lest you slide across the vinyl seats and impale yourself on the chrome window cranks.

Fast forward a generation, and the kids who were sitting in those rear-facing seats, making faces at the driver behind, are now choosing vehicles to haul their own brood in. And guess what? They're not buying station wagons. They're buying “crossover utility vehicles” like the Cadillac SRX. These CUVs do the same thing as their mom's Colony Park, but without the stigma...or the wood grain.

If you're relatively affluent, one of the most popular kid chariots is the 2011 Cadillac SRX. This front-drive (AWD is available) grocery-getter is festooned with huge HID headlights, loads of chrome, and a Cadillac Crest the size of Vermont. The styling certainly isn't subtle, and it screams Mom-on-a Mission. Which is probably why the Cadillac SRX become one of the best selling luxury crossovers on the market today.

Content is extremely important in this segment. If you don't have a huge touch screen, and Rain Forest wood trim, your LuxUV won't stand a chance against such industry veterans as the Lexus RX350 & the BMW X3. This is why Cadillac has filled this little suv with such an impressive array of features. Some of this equipment includes automatic headlights with something called Adaptive Forward Lighting (available on the Performance, Premium & Turbo models). It has three modes which activate automatically, using steering angle & wheel speed sensors. The Country Mode allows the HID headlights to follow the steering wheel, directing more light toward the shoulder of the road, City Mode points the light directly in front of you, and the Highway Mode activates at 60mph, shinning the light far down the road, like a set of driving lights.

Beneath the trunk floor is a handy insulated storage bin/cooler to keep your frozen crab cakes & milk chilled while you pop into the Starbucks for an espresso. And, you get movable tie-down anchors which move along a circular track in the floor (those are part of the Cargo management option). The Cadillac SRX can swallow an impressive 30 cubic feet of stuff with the seats up, and 61 ft with the seats folded. Plus, the standard power lift gate has two height settings, so you don't hit it on a low garage roof.

Other neat features include a standard panoramic sunroof, a touch screen Navigation system that rises from the top of the metal-trimmed center stack, and a seat belt removal alarm so mom knows if Buffy or Brett has taken off their belt.

The 2011 Cadillac SRX is motivated by a 265-hp 3.0 liter V6, but a 300-hp 2.8 liter V6 is available. The only transmission offered is a 6-speed automatic, and AWD is optional on all models. The Cadillac SRX isn't what you'd call fun-to-drive. But it's a family wagon, so that's not really important. What is important is the amount of toys and style available on the 2011 Cadillac SRX. Don't think of it as a Luxury Crossover, think of it as a “Lifestyle Accessory” for busy families.