WOW, caddilac is going all-out trying to retain their image as a high-end car manufacturer. I thought they'd be doing it from more of a luxury standpoint, but I guess they are going WAY, WAY back to their roots, when they put V16s in their huge cruisers and had the most powerful cars around. Im excited about it for one.

It looks pretty good IMO. But for that kind of money, no way.

Nope - this is a dead-duck.

The XLR is a piece of crap in stock form. And for $80,000 you can pick up an off-lease 2003 SL500 with 5,000 miles and have a car that is MUCH better than the XLR in every way possible.

After having spent 18 hours in a friends '03 SL500 which we picked up in Florida - for the money - the XLR is not even in the same zip code.

If the XLR cost $60,000 then it would MAYBE have the edge as a great priced car... but even with the XLR-V option, it will fall so far short it is not funny.

i actually like the XLR that is out now and i dont know why everyone thinks its so expensive and shitty, its like 75000 i think but that is pretty much optioned out whereas the merc starts at 85000 i think and thats without certain features that the caddy has like the adaptive cruise control. the XLR is also a better performer than the merc and weighs like 400 lbs less. not sure about handling but i think they are pretty even. As for this new XLR-V whether it will be able to compete with the SL55 AMG remains to be seen, it sure as hell wont with 400hp but cadillac probably knows that and will up the power accordingly. IMO its a very good car (the XLR) and is a very good rival to the SL500. And this V model is an expected evolution.

Adaptive cruise control and heads-up display does not make up for the shit that the XLR is.

It is slow, handles like a pig and costs the same as the SL500 - which is the THE long distance cruiser - period.

Every XLR should be crushed as it comes off the production line.

what is it about the XLR that is so bad. i do understand the the merc is the car to beat in this segment and as i have never been in one i have no basis for comparison but, the XLR is faster than the SL500 so the merc is slow as well, and it is like 10 grand less unless you get the preowned thing but we are talking new cars here. i really dont know about the handling but i mean it is on a vette chassis so it cant be that bad i am not saying that the SL500 sucks, not by any means its a great car. however i do think that the XLR is a decent rival. please tell me what it is that makes the XLR a piece of garbage in your opinion, other than the fact that its a GM product.

Im gonna pull a phrase out of top gear to describe this car

RANCID PORK CHOP !

Driven both.

If the XLR is what $75,000 + tax is supposed to "feel" like... (that is the ENTIRE experience... not just 1 aspect) then SL500 feels like $200,000

so is it that the XLR is that bad, or the SL500 is just that good........or both? i suppose the XLR just looks good on paper but as i have driven neither, specs are all i have to go by.

I personally have never found the benz to be athestically pleasing but in comparison to the xlr it is miss universe. its kinda like when there is one ok looking chick in the whole bar full of ugly pigs, She looks like a beauty queen.

A little of both.

The XLR misses the mark. It is not that bad of a design - it is just the thought and effort in the Benz that really drives home what a great car it is.

The effort and finish and attention to detail on the stitching on the dash is as good as the finish of the mechanics of the top mechanism.

The XLR on the other hand, just has that "assembled in a hurry" feel.

And the inside is a little tacky and not as refined.

Perhaps the problem is that the XLR is built alongside the Corvette - and they have never managed to master quality control at the Bowling Green facility to the point where the cars they make are show-worthy out of the box.

The XLR is not a good competitor for the SL...it is overpriced, and underpowered. The Northstar V8 produces a measly 320bhp and when one of my friends drove one, he couldn't even get the rear end to break loose. It has immense grip, but the handling needs work in order to be competitive with the SL while also being compliant. The car has serious build-quality problems, the seatbelt on the driver's side of the car that my friend drove was actually encased in one of the interior trim panels...if that isn't a build-quality issue, I don't know what is, and it wasn't even a pre-production prototype...

Mercedes may be getting some flak in the press for poorer build quality of late, but that has more to do with the materials they used than how they're screwed together, so I think that for your extra 10 grand you might as well get the SL, as it's a more well rounded, attractive, stylish (I think the XLR looks like a smushed CTS/Deville mix), and better-performing car.

IDK about your judgement there though, with the Measly 320HP the XLR is still faster than the SL500, and overpriced? the XLR costs a good 15Grand less than the base SL500 with a couple options, and this is a fully loaded XLR. It still needs work I mean when was the last time Caddy had a car this expensive, MB had 50 Years to get it just right, Caddy is just breaking into the market after 70 somewhat years of being absent in the upper luxury market, cut it some slack.

This I understand...it's not a bad car for what it is...a C6 corvette with a less powerful engine, trick top and some different bodywork and interior styling. I never said that it was actually a bad car, it's just not a legitimate competitor for the SL as far as I can tell. If you consider the roots of the car then it's hard for me to see how it isn't overpriced. You can get a C6 for 2/3 of the price fully loaded and it looks better, goes faster and gets better gas mileage to boot (even in automatic trim) The Caddy isn't really worth the money, that's all I was trying to say...if Cadillac manages to iron out their production glitches, improve quality to MB standards, then it might be legit competition for the SL500.

saw on on the 5 freeway here in la and not impressed at all... for the money there are a lot of options