Cadillac SRX ownership wrap up (Long)

LVSteve · Sep 12, 2018

Got rid of a 2014 Cadillac SRX4 Premium last week. We only had it for two years, but the purpose it was bought for never materialised. It was my wife's car, and I have to honest and say that I'm not sorry to see it go for reasons that will follow. First, what was it?

VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 5-door SUV/crossover/wagon. (Whatever you want to call it)

ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 24-valve V-6, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection

Displacement: 218 cu in, 3654 cc
Power: 308 hp @ 6800 rpm
Torque: 265 lb-ft @ 2400 rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed automatic with manual shifting mode

DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 110.5 in
Length: 190.3 in
Width: 75.3 in Height: 65.7 in
Curb weight: 4600 lb (estimated)

Exterior
I'll post a picture later, but it was a fairly handsome vehicle in white with the 20" gray wheels.

Interior
The interior was very nice. It has leather seats and lots of soft touch materials everywhere. It wasn't huge inside like a Tahoe or Escalade, but with four on board everybody seemed happy. The leather was pale tan with the rest of the interior being black with some wood accents. It was very striking. The front seats were heated and ventilated, with the latter feature essential with the poor A/C performance. The rakish roofline and thick pillars were not kind to outward visibility. The successor vehicle, the XT5 is better in that respect. Instruments were very clear but the telematics system called CUE was a royal PITA. This CUV was fully loaded including DVD screens in the rear that we never had cause to use.

Storage space was good including the James Bond style cubby hidden behind the a motorised door mounting the CUE controls.

One of my biggest beefs was with the HVAC system. It was always noisy for the amount of flow and lacked capacity for the SW desert. When set to automatic the fan always seemed to run too fast/noisily and if there was ANY humidity the system just plain could not cope. It was checked by the dealer and had the filter changed to no avail. It's just rubbish, plain and simple.

More in the next post.

LVSteve · Sep 12, 2018

Cadillac SRX ownership wrap up #2

Engine and transmission
The engine was the ubiquitous 3.6 V6 that GM stuffed in a lot of cars. However, don't confuse it with the latest 3.6 as that is a different motor. Our 3.6 needed to be revved to get you going, and the lack of low down grunt was made more obvious by the wide spread of the 6 ratios in the transmission. I also wonder if the 20" wheels blunted the acceleration a bit. The XT5 loaners I have driven on 18" rollers with the new motor and 8-speed box seem so much more driveable on light and medium throttle. With our SRX it seemed you had to drive it in one of two modes, hooligan or grandmother. "Normal" throttle applications left you bogged down and worried you were impeding traffic. More juice led to a downshift, zipping up the revs and made you look like a boy racer. Even the cruise control resumed speed in a very aggressive manner. The transmission was smooth right up until they had to rebuild it due to a failed bearing. Shifts were smooth afterwards too, to be fair.

Gas Mileage
For me, a sure sign of a vehicle with no torque and considerable weight is that the gas mileage varies little over different journeys. Around town it did about 17 mpg, or 18 if there was a bit more freeway. I don't think it broke 25 mpg on longer freeway trips. It ran on regular, but a few times it hot weather it felt like it was pulling timing. Maybe I should have run it on mid grade. I am convinced the 87 octane is degraded by heat by the time it hits the tank in this city.

Ride and handling
The ride was excellent despite the 20" footwear. That was a surprise. Handling was pretty sharp given the vehicle's size, and perhaps that was down to the big boots. I never liked the brakes. The pedal was firm but after the initial bite more pressure did not give the increase in retardation I expected. I now wonder if the disks were glazed.

Pros and cons in the next post.

LVSteve · Sep 12, 2018

Cadillac SRX ownership wrap up #3

Pros
Good looks
Rich, spacious interior
Great ride
Dealers everywhere
Quiet when cruising

Cons
Needed to be revved to make any progress above glacial.
Hopeless, undercapacity A/C
The CUE system. Almost EVERYTHING had to be done via a touchscreen. It was an MMI disaster as far as I am concerned.

Adaptive cruise control with no "normal" setting. After the HVAC, this was my biggest beef with the car. The adaptive cruise had no concept of getting out of the throttle to slow down. It ALWAYS seemed to hit the brakes. When resuming speed it was hyper-aggressive. It was just rough, and I don't travel that way. Occasionally it reacted to cars that weren't in my lane, and again, it didn't have a mean to disable the adaptive feature. That's now a "no sale" feature on a car for me.

Anything else you guys want to know, just ask.

johngalt · Sep 12, 2018

What's different between the old 3.6 and the new one? I was not aware GM has a new 3.6

LVSteve · Sep 12, 2018

johngalt said:
What's different between the old 3.6 and the new one? I was not aware GM has a new 3.6

The engine in my wife's SRX is known as the LFX and has a capacity of 3564cc.

The new engine is called the LGX. GM rejigged the bore spacing and the new 3.6 has a bigger bore than the old LFX. Capacity is now 3649cc. This new engine has more sophisticated controls allowing V4 running and is supposed to be 15% better on gas than the old engine.

johngalt · Sep 12, 2018

LVSteve said:
The engine in my wife's SRX is known as the LFX and has a capacity of 3564cc.

The new engine is called the LGX. GM rejigged the bore spacing and the new 3.6 has a bigger bore than the old LFX. Capacity is now 3649cc. This new engine has more sophisticated controls allowing V4 running and is supposed to be 15% better on gas than the old engine.

From what I've been reading on the Corvette forum, the cylinder deactivation in the C7 is the source of some reliability problems. I not sure I am completely sold on it, but I guess it postpones downsizing to a turbo 4-banger.

Bullet Bob · Sep 12, 2018

Cylinder deactivation and automatic stop/start that can't be turned off are two of my biggest gripes with new cars. I'd probably buy a new Chevrolet Impala if I could turn off the automatic stop/start system.

Some people like them, and that's fine by me, just make it optional.

cohiba66 · Sep 12, 2018

I just left a Cadillac Dealer as a Asst Manager to go back in the Insurance business. I just remember thinking under the SRX skin is the usual shared GM parts, doors, engine, tranny etc that's in every other Chevy, Buick, Olds and on and on. Never saw anything in the SRX that would EVER entice me to drop that kind of money on a SUV. The local lots are chocked full of them, only the CTS and CT6 outnumber them. Shame cause the new CTS and CT6 are really nice cars that can compete with Germany and Japan as far as looks, ride,handling and fit and finish. Engine are a different story...ugh.

Erich · Sep 13, 2018

I had my 2006 SRX crossover from 2006 until early this year - only put about 70k miles on it. Comfortable car. Northstar V8 sure would move and would shut off 4 cylinders when cruising on the freeway, but that sucker drank gas nevertheless. A lot of fun to drive. My brother-in-law has it now and is delighted with it at the price we gave. Only had some electrical issues (with one light always wanting to short out and was a PITA to replace), water pump died once and at the end had a chip that controlled the traction control go out (more $ than I was willing to put into the car).

This was just before I sold it:

BaldEagle1313 · Sep 13, 2018

When I was car shopping last April, the SRX was one of the vehicles I had on my short list. When I went to look at one at the dealer I was stunned at the lack of room in the driver's seat. I could barely get in it, and could not get comfortable.

Now I know, I'm a fairly big fellow at 6'2" and 250+ pounds (okay, okay, more like 270), but still. I suppose I was thinking "Cadillac", not "mid-size SUV". It disappeared off my short list very quickly.

TheHobbyist · Sep 13, 2018

Thank you for the post and feedback on your experience. I am surprised to hear that it seemed underpowered...although this model is more of a family vehicle than intended for cruisin'.

I have always been a fan of Cadillac and know there is another one in my future somewhere. Think before that happens though I am going to get a newer Corvette for a while...then afterwards get another Cadillac and reflect on how I have matured.

Btw, congrats on getting married. I have been on this forum over a decade and didn't think it was too long ago that you posted on here about a new girlfriend and found someone you were happy about, but I guess it has been a number of years now. Congrats!

Separately, the new Lincoln sedan 2018 is really nice. A business associate had one I rode in recently to a lunch meeting.

LVSteve · Sep 13, 2018

TheHobbyist said:
Thank you for the post and feedback on your experience. I am surprised to hear that it seemed underpowered...although this model is more of a family vehicle than intended for cruisin'.

It's not so much that it is underpowered so much that it lacks low down torque. The power is there if you stay on it hard and get the revs up. Peak power is specified at 6800 RPM, which is getting up there in an SUV.

LVSteve · Sep 13, 2018

BaldEagle1313 said:
When I was car shopping last April, the SRX was one of the vehicles I had on my short list. When I went to look at one at the dealer I was stunned at the lack of room in the driver's seat. I could barely get in it, and could not get comfortable.

Now I know, I'm a fairly big fellow at 6'2" and 250+ pounds (okay, okay, more like 270), but still. I suppose I was thinking "Cadillac", not "mid-size SUV". It disappeared off my short list very quickly.

You were thinking "fullsize battlecruiser" Cadillac like one of these, I expect.

TheHobbyist · Sep 13, 2018

Gorgeous Fleetwood ^^^^

I have owned I think at least three. (Got bit bad by the collecting bug as a young man and interested in classic cars. Heck, all the 'muscle cars' were bought up before me.)

I owned at one time a 63', 64' and 65' fleetwood and a 64' Eldorado convertible (really nice car I wish I kept), 70 (?) Eldorado conv., 64 coupe, and a number of others. Always wanted a 40's or late 50's....59' highest tail fin year...but just never had luck finding them before the internet was really big for car collectors (mid-to-late 90's).

TheHobbyist · Sep 13, 2018

Forgot I briefly owned a fleetwood limo from the 60's but sold it because it was way too much money to bring back even to 'local car show' standards. Miss them old cars.....

tndrfttom · Sep 13, 2018

Wife's SRX 3.6

My wife got a 2016 which she really loves. She originally wanted a Lincoln but it had a lower roofline and it was hard for me to get in and out - (I'm 6'4"). The only time I've driven the SRX is to get it serviced. I agree with comments about the CUE touchscreen contol system and the A/C issues.

Thus far the car has needed a new set of tires at 19k miles, the CUE screen delaminated and had to be replaced under warranty, new battery and the useless roof racks began corroding and were replaced under warranty. The back of the car seems to attract parking lot dings. Both rear fenders have been rubbed just ahead of the rear brake light housings and the wheel opening flares also the rear bumper was smacked hard enough to break one of the proximity sensors in it ($1,000 to replace bumper and sensor).

I'm not impressed with the car but then its not mine (except when something needs fixin').

Bill Raby · Sep 13, 2018

I want a Cadillac convertible from the 1970s with giant cow horns on the front. New cars have to much electrical nonsense in them.

BaldEagle1313 · Sep 13, 2018

LVSteve said:
You were thinking "fullsize battlecruiser" Cadillac like one of these, I expect.

Yeah, that's about the right size for me.

Sometimes I miss my 1974 Lincoln Continental. The thing had seats more comfortable than a lot of couches I've sat on.

johngalt · Sep 14, 2018

Dad had a '76 Fleetwood with the 500 ci engine. That's about 8.2 liters in the new fangled metric units. The biggest car I ever drove - including the Suburbans. That was the dark days of the emission strangled engines, but that one was big enough to still have some decent power. And it was smoooooth running. I recall gas mileage not being outstanding, but it had a huge gas tank to compensate. The biggest problem was rust issues. I miss it.

Golddollar · Sep 14, 2018

I had a 1977 Chrysler New Yorker with a 400 V-8 engine. The first of my line of Batmobies. It was a great touring car with plenty of power for towing. Haven't thought about that car for a long time.

Cadillac SRX ownership wrap up (Long)

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