The Cadillac ELR
By Farah Amin
From the looks of it, the 2014 Cadillac ELR is low, chiseled, aggressive and provocative with uncompromising practicality. Because beneath that is sculptural brilliance and with a price tag that starts at $75,995 lies a platform based on the humble bones. The ELR Cadillac runs on electricity nearly all the time and has a conventional internal-combustion engine aboard that churns a generator to keep the car’s lithium-ion battery pack charged up.
The ELR’s aluminum-hooded nose spills down more, while, the rear window is less drastically scraped, giving the ELR a more elegant roofline, and the headlights are more accurately crafted. The rear deck has a more severe face, with hockey stick-shaped LED taillights. The ELR is mesmerizingly beautiful and making it even more so is the closed front grille.
With 106.1-inch wheelbase this is a coupe is well proportioned and although the front passengers are afforded generous legroom and perfectly shaped, well-crafted seats, they sit in relatively narrow channels between the outside rockers and the thick center tunnel that houses the forward section of the huge lithium-ion battery pack.
The Cadillac ELR has exceptional materials throughout the cockpit, including a rich-looking micro-fiber headliner, hand-stitched leather elements, real matte-finished wood, brushed metal, and high-quality “piano black” plastics. F
As an ELR driver, you can tailor the driving experience by selecting any of four driving modes. Left to its own devices, the ELR is in the factory-default Tour mode, which aims to balance economy and comfort. Sport mode ramps up suspension, steering, and throttle responses. Mountain mode runs the gas engine at higher speed to keep the battery charged.
And Hold mode allows the driver to save the battery charge for electric-only operation, such as in city driving. I
Its safe to say that the car is stuffed with radar-based safety and convenience technology including lane-departure warning that alerts the driver via a haptic butt buzz and a forward-collision alert system.
The electric drive motor boosts the car’s front wheels with the equivalent of 157 horsepower in EV mode and 181 horses in extended-range mode, the large T-shaped battery array that runs down the car’s spine and across its rump, and the 84-hp, 1.4-liter internal-combustion four-banger.
ELR operates with the ease and quiet, which is expected of a fossil-free car. But once the charge in the batteries has been expended, that 1.4-liter lump kicks in and, droning away, heads for its torque peak. As a plug-in hybrid luxury coupe, the ELR is something unique in the market. And as pure automotive sculpture, it’s extremely stunning.
SPECIFICATIONS
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2-door coupe
BASE PRICE: $75,995
ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 16-valve 1.4-liter inline-4, 86 hp, 94 lb-ft; AC permanent magnet synchronous electric drive motor, 181 hp*, 295 lb-ft; combined power rating, 217 hp, 295 lb-ft; 16.5-kWh lithium-ion battery pack *157 hp in EV mode
TRANSMISSION: continuously variable automatic
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 106.1 in
Length: 186.0 in
Width: 72.7 in Height: 55.9 in
Curb weight (C/D est): 4050 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST):
Zero to 60 mph (EV mode/Extended-range mode): 9.1/8.2 sec
Standing ¼-mile (EV mode/Extended-range mode): 17.1/16.6 sec
Top speed: 107 mph
FUEL ECONOMY (C/D EST):
EPA city/highway driving: 34/38 mpg
