Business – Detroit Does the Unthinkable, Designs Cars People Might Want
Review by Jason H. Harper
Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) — Desirable designs from Detroit.
Unlikely as it may seem to bankruptcy-weary investors, this isn’t the name of a cut-price home-furnishing outlet. Detroit’s humbled carmakers have given up their former business model and are releasing new cars that consumers actually want. It is a marketing plan of genius.
Exhibits A and B are the Cadillac SRX and the Lincoln MKT, from General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co., respectively. Each gains high marks for smart design, though for different reasons. Both are crossovers aimed at the toting-the-tots crowd. The $41,000 Cadillac seats five. The $45,000 MKT is bigger and fits a third row. Oversize vehicles may be passe, but moms still need nice cars.
Cadillac has led GM’s design renaissance, so it’s not surprising that the brand is looking to muscle in on the lucrative territory marked by the Lexus RX and Acura MDX. (All those X’s — can we please stop engineers from naming cars?)
In a sign that GM really is finally paying attention to design, it quickly killed off a new Buick crossover last week when it was universally (and correctly) deemed to be too ugly to go on.
This month, the company brings the highly stylized SRX, easily the comeliest crossover in the land. One imagines that Caddy targeted its audience carefully: It’s aimed at the same brand-savvy type of homemaker who wears Lululemon yoga wear and buys kitchen doodads from Williams-Sonoma.
The SRX is a bold design, with a Zorro line slashing upward from behind the front wheels all the way to the taillights, and fronted by that dazzling Caddy grill. It will be the hippest thing in the yoga parking lot.
Touch Screen
The razzle-dazzle extends to the inside, which has a smart layout that would appeal to an interior decorator, with real wood and leather accents and an elegant integrated center stack. A touch screen pops up when you turn it on. The 2010 model is a total departure from the previous incarnation.
The original was a rear-wheel-drive with a rip-roaring 320- hp V-8 and a crass attitude. It was a blast to drive, but it missed the marketplace. You’ll still find them, unloved, on dealer lots.
The new SRX is a bit bigger than the Lexus RX and is front- wheel-drive as standard, with an all-wheel-drive option. It has a new, smaller engine, a V-6 that manages 25 mpg on the highway. My tester, an AWD model with all the options, came to $47,000.
Unfortunately, this SRX is a bore to drive. The 265-hp engine, with 223-pound-feet of torque, is laggard at best, and the six-gear automatic transmission hunts around for gears absentmindedly. (An optional 300-hp, turbo-charged V-6 with a different transmission, available in the autumn, seems like a good idea.)
Nor does the SRX have the magic Gene Kelly-glide of the Lexus. Still, to many style-conscious moms, these will not be the determining factors. It looks good.
Supersize Lincoln
Which brings us to the Lincoln MKT. At 17 feet long, the vehicle is better suited to a supersize family, yet it handily outdrives the SRX. This is for the mom who peels out of PTA- meeting parking lots and loves to hate minivans.
The MKT’s styling is zany and just this side of wacky. The horizontal grill extends from the center Lincoln badge like massive metal wings, catching up the headlamps in their exuberance. The rear tailgate seems to reach to the ground. You’d never mistake it for a Lexus.
Yet it disguises its girth well, using tricks like a staggered shoulder line and blacked-out side pillars. Think of a black one-piece bathing suit with hip ruffles.
The fit and finish inside is pretty good, with bright wood on the steering wheel and the sides of the doors. It seats six adults fairly comfortably, though my passengers complained that the non-adjustable seatbelts strangled them.
Turbocharged Engine
What most impressed me was the drive. Ford is rolling out its new, more-efficient EcoBoost engines, which are direct- injected and turbocharged. While the MKT’s base engine is a 3.7- liter V-6, I’d opt for the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6, which makes 355 horses and 350 lb-ft of torque, yet still manages 22 mpg on the highway.
The peppier engine is only available with AWD, which adds about $5,000 to the price. Yet the AWD means it handles curves better than could be expected for such a big auto. It’s also exceptionally quiet, even at highway speeds.
Tech geeks will love it. There are heaps of gee-whiz options, from a handy (and recommended) blind-spot assist that tells you when another car is alongside, to an adaptive cruise control and a system that warns drivers when it senses an imminent collision.
The truly technology-mad (or driving-deficient) can opt for the $595 Active Park Assist, which will guide you into parallel parking spots. There’s even an optional refrigerator that can turn into a freezer — a device that excited my passengers and required us to stop and buy ice cream for their experiments.
Are all the design details necessary? Not necessarily, yet both these American autos should get people talking and, ultimately, buying. If only Detroit had thought of that earlier.
The 2010 Cadillac SRX and Lincoln MKT at a Glance
Engines: 3.0-liter V-6 with 265 hp and 223 lb-ft of torque; 3.5-liter V-6 with 355 hp and 350 lb-feet of torque.
Transmission: six-speed automatic; six-speed automatic.
Gas mileage per gallon: 18 city and 25 highway; 16 and 22.
Price as tested: $47,320; $57,180.
Best features: The Caddy’s stylish looks and the Lincoln’s power and many options.
Worst features: The SRX is slow and the MKT looks a bit wacky.
Target buyers: Design-lovers will swarm to the SRX while hotfoots who loathe minivans will adore the MKT.
(Jason H. Harper writes about autos for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the writer of this column: Jason H. Harper at Jason@JasonHharper.com.
