Dear Cadillac, I LOVE my 2006 SRX but...

by Rhoda Faller

I adore my new SRX. It is beautiful. It drives like a dream. It is exceedingly quiet eliminating road noise, with an extremly smooth ride. Visibility is great from the front, the rear and from the side view mirrors. Power, pick up, passing ability as well as braking are just fabulous. The headlights are wonderful offering great visibility on dark roads and easily readable road signs even without the bright headlights on. The front and rear windshield wipers and washers add to the safety of the vehicle. Chromatic side view mirrors greatly improve my visibility driving after dark.

The seat is comfy and easily adjustable. Access is easy with memory exit seat settings. The OnStar is a comfort as well as useful, the radio is clear, well as clear as my ears can hear, the GPS makes life so very easy. Storage is generous, both the back and from the drivers seat.

But what are the buts? Lots of little things that could improve the car, make it more friendly.

- How about directionals on the side view mirrors? A VERY important safety feature, just like the brake light on the rear view mirror, and present on other Cadillac models.
- How about a cargo net to hold items you don’t want to topple over?
- I had to purchase a special floor from Cadillac for the cargo area as all my belongings would slip and slide at the slightest provocation; a better surface would be nice.
- The gas door does not lock, not even with the car locked. Cadillac, come on.
- An additional visor, that is a second visor, on the drivers side, such as I had on my Oldsmobile Aurora, so that when on a twisty road you don’t have to keep moving the visor from the side to the front would spell wonderful.
- A heated steering wheel is nice in a luxury car on a cold morning.
- The driver information component, while chock full of information, requires you to go through each screen to see what you want to then get back to an earlier screen. For example, if I want to keep the time and temperature strip up, and then check the trip odometer or the gas mileage, to get back to the time and temperature strip I have to go through each tire’s pressure, the oil life, etc. for a total of about 17 screens. This should be adjustable to allow the features you want to show up and allow the rest to be hidden.
- The exterior colors are boring, truly just nothing of interest. You have black, no white except for white diamond which is extra, and then lots of “muddy” colors. Dull grays in 3 varieties, dark purple that is almost black, dark blue that is almost black, dull maroon, and 2 taupey colors. Cadillac, if you are marketing to a younger crowd, these colors just won’t do. GM has fabulous colors on other vehicles, often pick up trucks or lower end vehicles. Just because I wanted a luxury vehicle doesn’t mean I want stodgy and dull.
- The inside colors are no better. The choice is black, a muddy gray or a dull beige. A bit of zip and pizzaz would help here as well.

Cadillac, I LOVE my vehicle. But ….

By the way, I chose a black interior with a white diamond exterior. I wanted to have it repainted metallic fuchsia or purple but when I learned that my vehicle would have to be taken completely apart I nixed that idea as I felt it would never have the quietness I adore again.

So instead I opted to have some detailing done in fuchsia and purple. I get scads of positive comments on my vehicle. Cadillac, are you listening?

Rhoda Faller is an attorney living and working in Louisville KY.