Gentleman’s Express: The XLR Led Cadillac’s Charge Into High Performance
Back in the early Aughts, Cadillac was in the midst of a paradigm shift. While iconic GM brand had earned its stripes with opulent personal luxury cars like the Coupe de Ville and Eldorado in the 1950s and 60s, the onslaught of sportier rivals from Europe in subsequent decades had made Cadillac’s lineup look geriatric by comparison. Eager to establish inroads with younger buyers as the 1990s came to a close, Cadillac designers set to work developing the successor to the Allanté with the intent of beating roadsters like the Mercedes-Benz SL and Jaguar XK8 at their own game.
The result was the XLR, a front-engine, rear wheel drive convertible that utilized the majority of the sixth-generation Corvette’s chassis and suspension setup. Given its closely-related architecture, the XLR also featured a rear-mounted transmission, a layout which provided a near-perfect 50/50 front-to-rear weight distribution. But in contrast to Chevrolet’s sportscar, the XLR was motivated by Cadillac’s own 320 hp 4.6-liter naturally-aspirated DOHC Northstar V-8 rather than a Chevy small-block.
Debuting in 2004, the XLR was nominated for North American Car of the Year by the motoring press than same year, and the even-hotter supercharged XLR-V would follow a few years later. But due in part to its sky-high MSRP, the XLR ultimately proved to be a low-volume endeavor for Cadillac, and the model was given the axe by 2009.
In the years since, the XLR’s legacy has been largely overshadowed by models like the world-beating second-generation CTS-V and the CT5-V Blackwing, yet those in the know have kept this roadster on their radar in the hunt for accessible performance.
“I had actually been thinking about buying a Chevy SSR,” says John Phillippe of Wichita, Kansas. “I think those are neat little cars. But I drove one and it just didn’t do it for me – to me, it felt like driving a Trailblazer. So I started looking around at what my other options were.”
Coming from a family of General Motors diehards, Phillippe wanted keep his search within the GM family of brands. “My mom had worked at a Cadillac dealership, but I’d never really given those cars much thought until I saw an XLR in the showroom back in the day. It was almost a hundred thousand dollars at the time, though, so I never considered it to be an option for me.”
In the years since the XLR went out of production, the XLR has become much more accessible on the second-hand market, yet they’re still capable of delivering the same thrills that they did back in the model’s heyday.
“These things drive like a more refined C6 Corvette,” he tells us. “I actually have two of them now. I bought the first one – a 2005 model – earlier this year, but I’d been having some trouble with it. The initial plan was to buy another one that was in better shape with lower miles and just sell off the 2005.”
Phillippe set up an alert to ensure that he’d be the first to know when new Cadillac XLR listings were posted to the Hemmings site, and not long after, this 2006 model landed in his inbox.
“It immediately stood out to me because of the price point and the mileage, and it was just a very clean car. But I think what really had me hooked was that the seller had recently gone through the stuff that causes headaches with these things – the hydraulics for the retractable hard top, and the Magnetic Ride Control system. Those are really the only two things that are going to give you trouble with these cars.”
Listed with Hemmings Make Offer format, Phillippe initially tested the waters with a competitive offer, but within an hour he decided to simply purchase the car at the asking price. “There were few other folks who were also making offers, and I was starting to think that this one might get away. I decided that I needed to either commit to this one or get out of the running.”
He notes that while this was his first time purchasing a vehicle through Hemmings, it likely won’t be his last. “The seller was really easy to work with, and I absolutely love the car – it arrived needing nothing. This is the fourth car I’ve bought this year, and after a bad experience with another online auction site a few months back, I wasn’t really sure what to expect with Hemmings. I was a lot more excited when this Cadillac was being pulled off of the transport trailer than I was with that other car – let’s put it that way.”
With the 2006 XLR ready to hit the road right out of the box, Phillippe has turned his attention back to the problematic 2005 XLR that he purchased earlier this year.
“I used to go to autocross events with a friend of mine who competed, and I was thinking that might be something fun to get into,” he explains. “I don’t really have to get rid of the 2005 car, so I’m thinking I might set it up as an autocross and track car. I think it’d be a fun platform for that type of a project. You might see a dozen Corvettes at an autocross event, but you probably won’t see another XLR running the course! I’m considering doing a drift school with it as well. So I think I might hang on to that one and play around with it, and the 2006 will be the one that gets babied.”
Phillippe also plans to put a few personal touches on his latest acquisition. “I’ll probably paint the calipers and swap over the Lexani wheels that’re currently on the 2005 over this 2006 XLR and put the factory wheels on the ‘05. The 2005 will be the one that gets beaten up, so that makes sense to me. And when I want to get some sun and go relax at the lake, I’ll grab the keys to this one.”
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