Cadillac XLR Auction Recalls The Last Time GM Got Serious About Luxury

Cadillac really wants to recapture its glory days. After a decade or so languishing as an also-ran against luxury players like BMW, Lexus, and even Genesis, GM’s prestige brand is readying an ultra-premium onslaught by way of the Celestiq sedan, a $300,000-plus EV that hopes to give Rolls-Royce a run for its money. The Celestiq isn’t Cadillac’s first renaissance flagship, though. Back in the mid-2000s, the company wanted to shake off its stodgy Sedan de Ville image by introducing a splashy, sporty roadster – the XLR. This example, which has just under 13,000 miles on the odometer and is headed to the Mecum Houston auction in April, reminds us of the last time GM got serious about its luxury brand.

The XLR Is A Gorgeous, Well-Engineered Failure

Cadillac’s “Art & Science” design philosophy is more obvious in the 2004 XLR than any other product from the company’s 2000s lineup. Inspired by the incredible Evoq show car from 1999, the XLR borrows its architecture from another aspirational GM product, the C6 Corvette. The hydroformed perimeter frame and rear-mounted transmission come straight from the Corvette playbook, and the Caddy was even assembled on the same Bowling Green assembly line as the Chevy. It did get its own powertrain, with a 320-horsepower, 4.6-liter Northstar V8 and five-speed automatic gearbox imbuing it with some high-tech panache (unlike the pushrod ‘Vette).

To their credit, the Corvettte bones also made for some slinky sheet metal. The XLR’s hood was long, low, and wide, and its sharply creased fenders and angular haunches made it the perfect flagship for GM’s reborn luxury brand. The interior even did its best to give the Mercedes SL a distinctly American run for its money, with broad planks of eucalyptus, walnut, or sapele wood trim, as well as an art deco gauge cluster designed by Bulgari. The XLR was the first GM product to get adaptive cruise control, which came standard along with a head-up display, heated and cooled seats, an in-dash DVD entertainment system, and powerful Bose audio.

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In the 2000s, Cadillac opted to construct a rival to the Mercedes SL500. Despite having more power than a Corvette, it didn’t live up to the hype.

Despite the long list of luxury features, the stiff platform was pretty lithe. At around 3,600 pounds on the road, the XLR weighed in 400 pounds less than the Mercedes SL, and its 320 hp was more than enough to get it to 60 miles per hour in less than 6 seconds. Compared to the Benz, it was right in the hunt, and it was even quicker and more athletic than the four-seat droptops from Lexus and Jaguar. Still, not even a $15,000 savings relative to Mercedes’ luxury roadster could convince folks to take a chance on the Caddy, and GM discontinued it in 2009 after only around 15,000 were built.

This Low-Mileage Aspiration Could Be A Future Classic

The 2004 Cadillac XLR that’s heading to auction currently has 12,958 miles on the clock, an average of just about 600 miles per year. The incredibly limited use betrays itself in the car’s cosmetic condition. Despite unforgiving black paint, the Mecum Houston–bound XLR looks glossy and lustrous, and its taupe-on-beige interior is commendably clean – even the tan carpets look new. With honey-toned wood trim and a cabin that still looks modern 20 years on, this black and tan XLR is the archetype of American luxury in the optimistic 2000s.

It could also be an interesting investment in what’s almost a brand-new Cadillac. Mecum offered a pair of even lower-mileage XLRs at last weekend’s Arizona auction, and they sold for around $30,000 – the much more popular Mercedes-Benz SL and Jaguar XK8 are nowhere near as valuable in similar condition. Unfortunately, it seems that people only realize what they had once it’s gone, and that’s the case with the underrated Cadillac XLR.

Source: Mecum Auctions