There are no door handles, instead
a deep notch behind the top trailing edge of the door where
there is a button that opens the door. You don't need the
key to unlock or start the XLR. With the keyfob in your pocket
or purse, the door will unlock
as you stand before it, and you can fire or kill the engine
with the push of a button on the instrument panel. When you
walk away from the car it unlocks itself. If (when) the keyfob transmitter technology is KO'd
by sunspots or reluctant space-traveling electrons, there's
a little hole in the rear bumper with a plug covering a slot
for the keyfob. So you'll be granted entrance to your $76,000
car if you get down on your hands and knees in the dirt. Play
Indiana Jones entering a protected temple. Don't look over
your shoulder; the ghost of Henry Ford will be laughing at
you.
The Cadillac XLR features a retractable hard top that
flips up or down with
onebutton in 30 seconds.However, it consumes three-fourths
of the trunk space whenit's down. And because the trunk
raises and opens at the back to swallow it, rainwater will
drain down in the trunk instead of dropping on the ground
behind the bumper.
The XLR feels like a Cadillac inside. The interior is
awash in beige or black leather, eucalyptus wood and anodized
aluminum which could pass for plastic.
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From behind the wheel the view is swoopy. Between the
fender bulge and a peaked center line on the hood, a subtle
but sharp trough runs away from the driver down his line
of sight. A head-up display projected onto the windshield
indicates speed and the selected gear, the latter convenient
when using the manual
shifting mode. The instrument panel is by Bvlgari, an Italian
design company which judging by the way it spells/designs
its own name (that's not a "v" it's a Roman "u"),
might value style over clarity. Except for being dark, with
white numbers on a black background, the gauges are clear,
surrounded by unnecessary but seemingly obligatory chrome
rings. Also obligatory is the Cadillac trademark steering
wheel, leather-wrapped except for burled wood between 10
o'clock and 2 o'clock. It feels bulky on the XLR; the wood
is slippery and colder than the leather, and a driver's
hands often land on the intersection of the two materials.
Cadillac's website shows an interior picture of an XLR with
an all-leather steering wheel, which might be available.
We had driven a
Cadillac CTS immediately prior to our time in the XLR, and the
XLR seats felt softer and less sporty than the CTS seats.
The seats are heated and cooled. There's decent bolstering,
but more support could be used in a car that corners this
well.
Thankfully, Cadillac hasn't tried to compete in the
flawed technology chase that BMW and Audi send their luxury
drivers on to control simple things. Most of the functions
in the XLR are controlled by simple switchgear with finger-sized
buttons. The navigation system is displayed on a seven-inch
LCD screen located in the center console, under neat rectangular
heating and cooling vents. It will also play DVD movies
when the transmission is in Park.
