Cadillac SRX test drive since 2005 SUV

Rout with a gentleman

Cadillac SRX
Cadillaca-SRX's debut took place at the Detroit car dealership in the winter of 2003.
The body is a five -door station wagon. Engines: gasoline V-shaped eight 4.6 liters, 235 kW/320 l. With. and V-shaped six 3.6 liters, 191 kW/260 l. With. The gearbox is an automatic five -speed, drive to all wheels.
They plan to sell a car in Russia since the beginning of 2004.

We met with the all -wheel drive universal Cadillac SRX at the end of last year at the Dmitrov auto policy. There he passed certification tests for compliance with Russian standards. It would seem, what doubts can the American (except for the distribution of lamping headlights) in domestic organs allowing the car to operate? Maybe with the toxicity of exhaust gases, with a passive or, God forbid, with active safety, a mess?
On the outer mirrors of Cadillac, the inscription of the Arabic script warns that the objects in them are closer than it seems. If this car is bought in the United Arab Emirates, then, probably, the manufacturer made sure that everything was at the highest level? Otherwise, you can’t see the new Cadillac demand in one of the richest countries in the world. But Russia has its own specifics - to feel it, the new Caddy ironed the eighteen -inch wheels of the road of the Moscow Region Test Center.
In fairness, I note that Cadillac SRX is not the first all -wheel drive car of the company. Before him, almost ten years ago, the Light saw the Eskeleid model. But she was more likely a dressed chevrolet Tahoe than the independent development of Cadillac. Now the hearts of consumers have to conquer SRX models, which is designed from scratch.
Frag and diamonds
If you turn the past, the sedans of this company come up in the memory: the mighty Eldorado and squat CTS. The fact that now the Cadillac before us does not cause a shadow of doubt - you just have to look at the catchy chrome radiator grille with the famous emblem. But in the SRX profile has nothing to do with its predecessors: the proportions are different, from the road the body is separated by good centimeters of twenty. Add here a characteristic stern of the station wagon.
When he opened the massive door and looked into the salon, he involuntarily compared the cleanliness of his shoes with the floor covering: yes, in such a car you can’t sit in what a car. A pair of strokes with a shoe brush, and I felt more confident.
The salon is finished with black materials, including the instrument panel. The severity and honing of the elements of the interior interior design, as it does not seem strange, inspired the image of a gentleman in a well -tailored tailcoat. But the abundance of scorks and numbers on the speedometer at first caused irritation: it seemed that it would be difficult to read the readings on the go. But then this irritation passed. It seems that the numbers and numerous divisions of the dial play the role of small diamonds decorating expensive Rolex. They are - and that says it all. Lack of manager Cadillac pay attention to where the speedometer is currently located. He just rides in an expensive car with the speed that he considers necessary.
A fairly large diameter of the steering wheel is regulated only by inclination. The absence of a second adjustment compensates for the electric drive of the longitudinal movement of the pedal node. On the left on the steering column, the joystick, moving which the driver drives the pedal in height. The remaining operations perform electric drives of the seat.
Finally got a job, you can go on the roads. Where, if not at the training ground, there is an opportunity to evaluate the work of the famous Cadillakovo pendant Magno Ryd.
Electricity against the pardon
The highlight of this unique suspension in a special liquid, which is filled with shock absorbers. When the electric current is passed through it, viscosity and, as a result, the characteristics of shock absorbers change. The computer manages to interview each of the shock absorbers 50 times per second and, if necessary, adjusts their rigidity.
The cobblestone pavement at a speed of 80 km/h transmitted only the spanning of the tires to the salon. All other fluctuations in the pendants were lost in their bowels, not annoying those in the cabin. When passing turns at high speed, when the body of any other machine with such a high center of gravity would be rolled, Cadillac SRX remained unshakable. On the roads with transverse waves at any speed (and it sometimes reached 150), the new Cadillac did not show the slightest tendency to swing the body so characteristic of many American cars. Therefore, the shock absorbers received the correct and timely current, which did not allow the powerful springs to shoot the body up and down.
Having experimented with a suspension, he headed on the dynamometric road. I wanted to hear the sound of a 320-horsepower motor at maximum speeds. By the way, the heart of the car is the eight -cylinder engine of the Northstar family with a volume of 4.6 liters proven by millions of kilometers. Here is one of the facts confirming its legendary reliability: the motor can work for some time without a liquid in the cooling system. At the same time, part of the cylinders is alternately excluded from the workflow and cooled by injected gasoline. Thus, although at the cost of power loss, the vehicle survivability is ensured: you can reach the service station without fear of jaming the engine.
While driving to Danima, I tried to switch the programs manually. A five -speed automatic controlled by electronics allows this. However, in fully automatic mode, the work of the box is so smooth and honed that it no longer returned to the use of manual.
SRX accelerates assertively and indomitably. After three barely perceptible transfers, when the tachometer arrow each time regularly bowed to the number 65 (6500 rpm), he looked at the scattering of the dash on the speedometer scale: the arrow at the mark 200. He did not accelerate further. He believed that in normal road conditions (without snow), Cadillac SRX, without straining, will reach 240 passports. After all, he scored two hundred, without even bothering to stick the fifth gear.
Not a single hatch ...
... and two Cadillac boasts two. One, almost throughout the roof, opens the sky over the two front rows of seats. The second, smaller, - over the third side. In general, if you do not notice the buttons in the feed part of the cabin, you can not guess about the existence of an additional row. Behind the fifth door to the uninitiated opens a spacious luggage compartment with an even floor. But it is worth throwing back the front of the velvet flooring and press one of the buttons on the right sidewall, as the back of the third row of seats will begin to leave the floor. Having made an intricate somersault, it will take an almost vertical position that can be adjusted with the help of the second button. Honestly - the third row will only put children. The knees of adults will support the chins. But they provided individual ventilation ducts laid in massive rear racks, and a whole set of drawers and cup holders.
This turned out to be the Cadillac: on the one hand, a gentleman in a tailcoat on a high -world rack, on the other, a powerful seven -seater station wagon capable of overcoming light off -road. The cost of the new model behind the ocean does not reach forty thousand dollars. The price in Russia has not yet been determined. Let's wait.

SUMMARY
Cadillac SRX
+ High sledge qualities: dynamics, controllability and smoothness. A spacious salon for five passengers, attractive exterior and interior, stable image of the brand.
- The handle in the roof is located too close to the head of the driver, the third row of seats can not be called convenient.
 
 
Sergey Klochkov. Photo: George Sadkov

Source: The magazine "Driving"