Chicago Auto Show: 2014 Cadillac ELR
TTAC writers will stoop to any trick to get access to cars. This may be my last post at TTAC because I bribed my way into the ELR and may be removed for ethics violations (a Diet Pepsi was involved.) Fresh off its début in Detroit the ELR may be old news, but since none of the TTAC staff had seen one in the metal, I knew my duty.
Is it a “Cadillac Volt?” Yes. But what that means is thankfully different now that GM seems to be shunning badge engineering. So it’s a Volt with a different body, different interior, different infotainment systems, a more powerful motor and plenty of tweaks, so it’s not really a Volt at all.
What do you need to know?
It’s a two-door, two-plus-two coupé that places style and efficiency on the same high pedestal. Power is up from 149HP to 207 while torque takes a more modest increase from 273 to 295. Cadillac hasn’t released any weight numbers but we were told that the weight would be largely the same as the Volt since the battery pack is essentially the same. The ELR seems to focus more on handling than economy with wide 245-width rubber all the way around on 20 inch rims.
Did you sit in it?
That’s where the soda bribe came in. The interior is oddly enough the best that Cadillac has made yet. It shares the steering wheel design with the XTS and ATS but the cheap plastic airbag cover is replaced by a leather/suede version. The dashboard is full of angles as you would expect from Cadillac but the materials choices are higher than expected for the most part. As often happens things get a bit less harmonious down on the center console but on the whole it’s a marked improvement.
Cadillac hasn’t announced the important things like sale dates or pricing yet, but you can be sure with wide rubber and a lead foot that the ELR won’t have the same range or economy as the Volt. Does that matter? No. This is what GM should have built first, luxury buyers are more likely to want to pay for gasoline/electric novelty.
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What is everyone's problem with 2-doors these days (or just this site, since I haven't seen so many complaints anywhere else)? Families don't buy this! Have you ever sat in the back of a car this size, such as an Impreza? It sucks no matter what. You guys sound like my wife. Needs a 4-door just so it's easier to throw shopping bags in the back seat because she forgets there's a trunk for this purpose. If I needed to carry people in the un-usable back seat in a rare instance, then asking them to scurry behind the seat isn't much more of a stretch. The sacrifices some of us will make for a nice-looking coupe shape, and the freedom of not having a pillar next to your head.
Love. And I suspect it will be over priced (translation, won't be able to put one in my garage). Be one Hell of a commuter car/long haul combo for my universe. But I'm guessing $60K before 'guberment handout to the rich.