Cadillac SRX (2006) CAR review

Hmmm, this looks like the dictionary definition of a Yank tank...

The SRX is nearly as long as a Range Rover and weighs well over two tonnes, so it's hardly compact. But you ain't seen nothing yet. Compared with its obese brother, the Escalade ESV (2696kg and 5.6metres long), the SRX might seem a bit on the diminutive side. It's also over here for the first time. The SRX is offered in left hand drive only and with a choice of 3.5-litre V6 or 4.6-litre V8 (tested here), seven seats and more kit than Chelsea.

So what is it?

Cadillac calls it a crossover - part estate car, part 4x4. The former's more convincing than the latter. It's a proper seven seater with good head and legroom and easily enough space to carry odds and ends. The boot is massive and with the seats fold down you could fit most of DFS in there. The four-wheel drive system is brutal but effective but the fragile-feeling suspension and meagre ground clearance knocks any cliff-scaling aspirations on the head. But then it could always tow the mountain behind it. Underneath is a mighty 4.5-litre Northstar V8 engine developing 325bhp and 315lb ft of torque - enough to blast the SRX to 62mph in a scarcely believable 7.4sec. That's only 0.2secs off a VW Golf GTI. The flipside to such energetic driving is economy hovering in the mid-teens and CO2 figures normally associated with products from Boeing.