One of my first cars was a Pontiac J2000. Ugly brown colour but it drove pretty good and it came with a few options which was way better than the beater I had before.
One of the features was a seat extender for the driver.
A section of the seat between the drivers legs that extended forward for a more relaxed position when cruising, or if you had basketball player legs you could extend the seat to fit better under your legs.
I often wondered why more vehicles didn't have this option but I haven't seen it since.
That is until this week.
Heading out in the new
Cadillac SRX I noticed a small grab handle at the front of the seat, which when pulled extends the length of the Cadillac's seat. The big difference between this and the Pontiac is this one looks like the seat is still one piece.
In the Pontiac it looked like it had separated from the main part of the seat.
For some people, getting just the right cruising position can be difficult. The back of the seat reclines but the front doesn't budge. This extender was a good idea in the Pontiac and it is a good idea still in the SRX.
Another thing the Cadillac has lots of that I enjoy is gadgets. The more the merrier as far as I am concerned and the SRX has a ton of them.
There are buttons and dials and screens for just about everything.
After I adjust the power heated mirrors I was a bit curious as to why they were both pointing down toward the ground. I found the answer to this puzzling question when I placed the SRX in reverse.
Both mirrors turn down so you can see the curb while you are parking. Everything that is behind you appears on the pop-up navigation screen and the park assist beeps as you near any objects.
The Cadillac feels solid from the first time you climb into it. The seats are reasonably firm and the door closes with a thunk.
The vehicle has a feeling of heft to it while at slow speeds in parking lots and the like, yet it is quite nippy when you need to get moving.
The hefty feeling also makes the Cadillac feel safer. After all trying to squash an empty pea can is a lot harder than trying to do the same with an empty pop can.
The SRX is also very quiet with barely a sound entering the cabin even at highway speeds.
This makes the sound of the wonderful Bose system all the more entertaining.
A button on the dash allows the navigation screen to pop up and down when you need it and another button makes the readout for the temp, air flow direction etc. absolutely huge. It is so big someone who is legally blind could probably make out what it says.
The SRX is a very comfortable ride and it is not just because of the seats and low road noise.
It is also due to the low movement of the SRX while driving.
There is a lot of snow and ice on side roads, which can cause a vehicle to bobble and move around a fair bit, but the Cadillac maintains a firm footing over all these bumps.
Power in the Cadillac is good and is smoothly transferred through the six-speed manumatic transmission, however in this lovely weather I never felt the roads were good enough to play sporty driving and hammer the SRX through the gears.
Rear seat passengers get reclining seats and their own heater vents with temperature and power controls. There are also two auxiliary jacks for headphones so they can listen to the radio. Two lucky passengers in the back also get heated seats.
Heated seats are also available for the front passengers as are cooled seats and the driver will love the heated steering wheel. It gets hot in no time at all and it was so nice it had me flipping the middle finger to Mother Nature outside.
With a Cadillac you expect excellent fit and finish with quality materials and the SRX doesn't fall down in this department. Everything looks very slick from the leather seats to the charcoal stitched leather on the dash and the wood on the doors and steering wheel.
