2013 Cadillac SRX Review: Class and Comfort in a Family Crossover
Shopping while wearing expensive clothing gets you better service at high-end New York City boutiques. You need to look good in order to shop well (or, at least, expensively). This is also true of the car you drive: Pull into valet parking in an old jalopy, and you might as well be invisible. Cruise into the lot driving a Cadillac SRX, and you command attention.
Not that living in NYC offers you many valet parking opportunities, but if you take your car to one of the Atlantic Beach clubs, or you go to the Hamptons, a nice car gets you a better reception.
And the Cadillac SRX delivers.
The drive of the SRX, a sporty SUV crossover, may be familiar to those accustomed to luxury cars. The SRX is both smooth and quiet. Plus, it has sumptuous leather seats that adjust with the flick of a finger.
You can start the car without actually being in it. This is a handy feature that lets you warm up the car in winter or cool it down in summer. Just make sure your kids don’t find this out, or they may turn the car on when it’s in your driveway. The starter works from up to 200 feet away. But there is no danger of the car accidentally moving; it stays safely in park.
Technology in the 2013 Cadillac SRX
The Cadillac SRX is idiot-proof. The integrated GPS includes a backup camera, so you won’t hit the car behind you. And if you drift over your lane, a buzzing under your butt reminds you to pay attention and drive properly.
The 2013 Cadillac SRX’s panoramic sunroof brings in a lot of natural light–great for reading during the tripThe car we drove had a double sunroof, giving kids in the back seat plenty of natural light to read. Additionally, the SRX has a built-in DVD player back there with headphones. Kids may be more apt to watch a movie, in which case you might want to close the sunroof slightly.
The car’s Bose speakers were excellent for listening to satellite radio or music from a Bluetooth-connected phone or tablet.
The Cost of Luxury: Pricing the Cadillac SRX
Driving this car reminded me of one of my most humiliating moments. My brother lives in Scarsdale, an upscale suburb of NYC. My family and I drove up in our trash heap car (seriously, the car seat was the most expensive part of it), and the police came to the door.
The cop explained that a neighbor had called in a ‘suspicious’ car parked in front of my brother’s house. “Oh, no,” my brother explained. “It’s just my sister’s car.”
But on this recent trip upstate, we stopped by my brother’s house in the Cadillac SRX. This time, the neighbors came by to check out the hot car at my brother’s house. What a difference $50,000 makes in the eyes of others…
The SRX model we drove is priced at $51,125. As a Cadillac should be, it was loaded with luxuries, including roadside assistance, a heated steering wheel and heated leather seats.
Mileage and Other Notable Features
On our trip, the SRX got 24 mph on the highway, decent for an SUV and quite accurate. The tank holds 21 gallons, which gave us a nice range of 500 miles on a tank of gas; if you are heading upstate from NYC, you can fill up on bargain gas in New Jersey and probably not need to gas up on the Thruway.
We drove the car to bitterly cold Utica, where it was ten degrees below freezing with the wind chill. Even after sitting outside all night, the car started right up. That amazing rear view camera meant we could back up without waiting for the rear defrost to kick in (which nevertheless cleared the window quickly).
The cabin in the SRX is quite roomy. My husband is only 5’7” so headroom wasn’t an issue, and the kids had over 3 feet of rear leg room. The backseat also has a “sibling saver,” a console divider with room for 2 drinks and snacks, and it gives two kids plenty of room. Even if you have a third (and the console can’t be pulled down), the kids still won’t be on top of each other.
The rear seat also folds down for more cargo room. The cargo space was ample, and there was a button that closed the liftgate slowly. It’s nice not having to strain, and you no longer need to worry about little kids getting their fingers squished.
What We Loved
One feature we loved was the Driver Awareness Package. At $445, this is an option no car should be without. It included a forward collision alert, lane departure warning and safety alert seat. As the mother of two newly minted drivers, this is a priceless option and one that I would want to be retrofitted to any car they drive.
Other things we loved about the Cadillac SRX include:
- The quiet, smooth ride
- The comfortable seats
- The Driver Awareness Package
- Huge double sunroof
- Easy maneuverability; a cinch to park
- Heated leather seats
- Heated steering wheel
- Rearview camera
- Remote starter
- Bose Speakers
- Blu-Ray DVD player with headphones
- Roadside Assistance package
The Cadillac SRX’s instruments and controls are all right in the driver’s field of vision, making everything easy to see and reach
What You Need to Know
Base Price: $47,715
Price of the model we drove: $51,125
Extras: Our loader had a duel screen Blu-Ray Player ($1,595), 20” Polished wheels ($495), and a four-year/50,000-mile warranty.
Disclosure: GM provided the SRX for our test drive, but all opinions are my own.
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