2007 Cadillac SRX

Cleaning Up Its Act

The Cadillac SRX gets a much-needed interior update and a lower starting price.

Interior

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Cadillac claims the SRX’s new interior is “hand built” in the manner of its high-performance V-Series models. It’s certainly a notable improvement over the previous version, though fit and finish still isn’t quite in the league of Audi, Lexus or Mercedes-Benz.

Soft, pleasingly textured plastic covers the dash, with light stitching along its edges and tasteful strips of faux-wood trim. An analog clock resides in the center. Driver readouts are clean and precise; the large, wood-handled shifter is snugly integrated into the streamlined center console. Overall, the design is simple, luxurious and vastly easier on the eye.

The Cadillac will carry five passengers in standard trim, or seven with the optional third row, which powers neatly into the floor by pressing a button. As with many vehicles in this class, that third row is for children only, and when it’s in use, there’s scant cargo room behind it — a mere 8.4 cubic feet. Fold the second and third rows, however, and there’s nearly 70 cubic feet of storage.

Second-row passengers fare better, with 41 inches of legroom, the most in this class. Skip the third row, and you get a cargo storage compartment with a removable bin; there’s also storage along the sides of the cargo area.

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Front seats are comfortable and offer decent lateral support. Cadillac’s touch-screen controls for audio and navigation functions work intuitively, though the navigation maps lack good, detailed views of road and street names. If that nav system isn’t enough, models with GM’s OnStar system feature the new “Turn-by-Turn Navigation” system: Drivers tell a live OnStar representative where they’re headed, and the rep sends a set of digitized directions to the vehicle, which play through the audio system as spoken instructions.

A Bose audio system is now standard, with an optional upgrade to a Bose 5.1 digital surround-sound system. A theater package adds the DVD navigation and rear-seat DVD player.

While the cabin looks sleek, a few issues remain. The steering wheel doesn’t telescope, and its manual-tilt function remains the same-old GM unit that adjusts in wide, clunky increments rather than a precise range. A lidded storage compartment above the glove box kept getting stuck in the open position.