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Porsche chasing in a Cadillac XLR-V on the Autobahnen
The Porsches don't want to play. Over 1000 hard-charging miles in two days across Germany, Austria, and Italy, and not one appears in the Cadillac's sights. Which is a pity, because our wedgy, quad-piped XLR-V is locked and loaded for 911s.

Whoa! Back up a minute! Did I just say we went chasing Porsches...in a Cadillac? In Germany? Um, yah. Because that's exactly what we did. And while the 911s proved elusive, no one -- apart from a lunatic in a black BMW 645i convertible who kept the hammer down in a speed-limited construction zone-passed our XLR-V on the autobahnen. Not the silver-haired guy in the big, black Audi S8 with Wuppertal plates. Nor the guy in the E46 M3 who tried to run with us near Nuremburg. Nor even the guy in the AMG Benz who gave us a cold, hard stare after we blew by him near Mainz. They couldn't keep up.

Cadillac general manager Jim Taylor clearly has a sense of adventure, because when I idly suggested a while back it might be fun to disable the 155-mph speed limiter on an XLR-V and take it to Germany to see what it would do on highways with no speed limits, he didn't suddenly look at his watch and start mumbling something about a meeting he had to catch. Instead, he simply cracked a wry grin: "That sounds like fun. Let me see what I can do."

Lord only knows what it took to shepherd the idea through GM, because every few months I'd see Taylor at some event or other and he'd always say: "I haven't forgotten." But Cadillac's decision to hold preview drives of the all-new CTS sedan at the Nurburgring made a bunch of logistics a whole lot easier, which is how photographer Mark Bramley and I came to be pulling out of the carpark of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Mainz, Germany, bound for Italy and the famed Stelvio Pass in an Infrared metallic XLR-V.
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Porsche chasing in a Cadillac XLR-V on the Autobahnen



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bmwfan1513bmwfan1513 - 12/11/2007 3:58:12 PM
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I agree completely kraut master. German cars are much better.

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M35MTM35MT - 12/11/2007 4:44:16 PMView My AgentSpace
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bmwfan and kraut, shouldnt you be in 4th period right now?

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ShredmoShredmo - 12/12/2007 2:53:50 PM
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Kraut master, I read your screen name as French, Kraut=Crow, as in eating crow. Most of your posts are lame, but the last one at least made me laugh, when read completely out of context of course.

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KZ258KZ258 - 12/11/2007 4:48:10 PM
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"bmwfan and kraut, shouldnt you be in 4th period right now?"

LOL

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Need4SpeedNeed4Speed - 12/11/2007 5:04:59 PM
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Just goes to show that most buyers of high end performance cars are just after the cachet and have little or no interest in exploring the performance of their cars...how sad!

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BillBill - 12/12/2007 2:56:30 PM
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Um, no.

It means that the owners of these cars didn't feel like "racing" on a public road. Let's be honest here. If someone challenges you to a race on the highway, would you take it up? I wouldn't, even if I drove the superior car. Safety first.

The article says that "they couldn't keep up". How does it know? For all you know the driver of the challenging car decided to give up for safety reasons. Wet roads, ice, strong winds? There are tons of factors at work here.

If you ask me, this little article was pretty lame. The XLR-V is an awesome machine, but the way this article portrays its usage here makes it look like it was bought by some rich "boy racer" who took it to Germany for the sole reason of hoping to race with Porsche's on the Autobahn.

Furthermore, the myth of the "speedlimitless" Autobahn is being further reinforced here. Um, hello, people? The Autobahn's have speed limits, in many sections. I've been to Germany numerous times and have driven on the Autobahns. In many cases, there's a speed limit of 120 or 130 kph in place with only a few short sections of road being speedlimitless.


bankheadbankhead - 12/11/2007 5:31:06 PM
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It's neat that GM even gave them a car like this!

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S4cabriofoxoneS4cabriofoxone - 12/11/2007 5:46:52 PMView My AgentSpace
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The strange thing is, I read the article in print, and they didn't see a single 911 while there. They just saw an AMG Merc, an S8 and some BMW.

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HwanyHwany - 12/11/2007 10:52:13 PM
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I would think the next one will be alot better.

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yrralis1yrralis1 - 12/11/2007 10:54:53 PM
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Oh yeah ? Well where's the video proof to show us exactly what the pages of journalistic praise claim ?

Also show us the advertising revenue statistics of both companies to that magazine .

Besides --the word "chasing" is ambigous too . One can "chase" a Porsche on a bicycle . It doesn't mean much . That's not to diminish the Cadillac's ability --but rather to hold the journalist accounatble being clear and providing proof.



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IS3andMEIS3andME - 12/11/2007 11:48:59 PM
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I actually like the XLR-V, I think they need to up the ante in terms of HP so that it can keep up with the AMG Sl's.

And by the way, Edmunds should change the name to "Slowest Times", because they consistently get the slowest times from 0-60 and the quarter mile. I think they do it on perspose.

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S4cabriofoxoneS4cabriofoxone - 12/12/2007 8:41:17 PMView My AgentSpace
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Yes, most people do things on perspose.


MeanVulcanMeanVulcan - 12/12/2007 12:21:34 PM
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That's simply because europeans are not idiotic drivers looking to drag race down the autobahn. It's shameful that you have to go there and display this careless attitude and go pick on drivers.

Try pairing that same Cadillac on a track with a car in its class and don't forget to take their license plates as they dust you.

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993Turbo993Turbo - 12/17/2007 7:58:01 AM
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What a bunch of crap. Besides, the XLR is in the top ten list of lowest selling cars.

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