Caddies Come A-calling

Newcastle Herald

Wednesday April 30, 2008

Brent Davison

CADILLAC will enter the Australian market with its CTS sedan later this year and speculation is rife about which models from the American luxury car maker's catalogue will be chosen to join it.

One of those that might be on the short list is the seven-seat SRX luxury sports utility vehicle which has just gone on sale in Britain as a right-hand-drive model.

UK-spec SRX models come in two trim levels, Elegance and Sport Luxury, both available with a choice of 195-kilowatt, 3.6-litre V6 and 245-kilowatt, 4.6-litre V8 engines, with a five-speed automatic for the six-cylinder and a six-speeder for the eight-cylinder.

Other nice touches for SRX include magnetic dampers, fully independent suspension with self-levelling rear, power-adjustable front seats, dual-zone air-conditioning, leather upholstery, adjustable pedals, a power-fold third seating row, power-operated tailgate and an eight-speaker audio.

The off-road Caddie is 4953mm long, has a 2957mm wheelbase and weighs 1890 kilograms.

All THUMS

WHAT does a Toyota Camry have in common with a contemporary Formula One racing car? Not a lot really, with the exception of the Total Human Model Safety (THUMS) crash test system devised originally to make road cars safer and now being extended to study seat structures in high-speed racing cars.

Toyota and the International Automobile Federation (FIA) Institute have been working together using the THUMS computer program to study racing rear-enders to analyse the interaction between driver and car in a high-speed crash, replicating spinal injuries in an effort to understand the impact of seat design and position and reduce spinal stress.

Hot take

SO you want an Audi S3 but the three-door hatchback body style is just a weeny bit impractical? Audi has come up with an answer.

That car is called the S3 Sportback, a hot take on the rather sweet A3 station wagon of the same name but with a 2.0-litre, turbocharged, direct-injection, four-cylinder engine delivering 188 kilowatts and 350 Newton metres of torque, enough to punch through the 0-100kmh run in a claimed 5.7 seconds (three-door) or 5.8 seconds (Sportback).

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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