In the event you appreciated the Chevy Volt however demand fewer doorways and extra swank, then the automobile for you would be one thing like right this moment’s Good Value or No Cube Cadillac ELR hybrid. That’s if its worth doesn’t show too stunning.
Talking of shocks, I used to be really greatly surprised on the response to final Friday’s 1968 Ford Torino. I assumed it introduced nicely and supplied a fairly distinctive little bit of automotive historical past. The final consensus within the feedback, nevertheless, was a powerful “meh.” That was solely exacerbated by the vendor’s $10,950 asking worth, with the top consequence being a 68 % No Cube loss.
With simply 3,000 bought over the course of its non-contiguous two-year mannequin run, right this moment’s 2014 Cadillac ELR might simply take the laurel for being the Cadillac Least Prone to be Seen on the Highway by its classmates.
Critically, although, have you ever ever seen an ELR exterior of a automobile present or on the Interwebs? I’ll wager lots of you’ve seemingly purged your reminiscence of this automobile’s existence, and it’s solely ten years outdated.
That’s as a result of it was a automobile that missed the market. Based mostly on the Delta II platform and Voltec drivetrain of the Chevy Volt, the electrical ELR introduced a two-door coupe physique model to the celebration at a time when few automobile patrons had been exhibiting a lot curiosity in two-door coupes.
Maybe another excuse for the mannequin’s failure is a historic jinx. The final time a Cadillac shared a platform with a small Chevy mannequin, the Cimarron was the consequence. That automobile grew to become little greater than a punchline.
However have a look at this Crystal Purple Tintcoat over baseball glove leather-based hybrid. It’s fairly doggone cool wanting. And why wouldn’t it’s? The ELR did arrive because the manufacturing mannequin of a present automobile, on this case, the Cadillac Converj. I wager we’re all grateful Cadillac caught with the present automobile styling however not the title.
Beneath the swank duds sits a 119-kilowatt DC motor, electrified by a set of 16.5 kWh lithium-ion batteries which can be packaged in a T formation down the middle backbone and again behind the rear seats. A 1.4-litre EcoFlex 4 engine runs in collection with the electrical motor and is a spread extender. The ELR was rated at about 37 miles below batteries alone and 340 when emptying each these and the gasoline tank.
Full electrics and hybrids have been all of the vary for a while now, proper? Effectively, apparently, Cadillac patrons didn’t get the memo. The corporate solely bought about 1,400 ELRs within the mannequin’s first yr. Gross sales had been so poor, the truth is, that the automobile skipped the 2015 mannequin yr completely, transferring about 1,000 left-over ’14s till the marginally massaged 2016 fashions hit the road. Excessive costs and first-cousin Volt’s transfer to a refreshed mannequin finally doomed the ELR, with 2016 being its ultimate yr.
Now, it’s a little bit of an eclecticism. It has the hybrid chops and a luxurious enchantment lacking in lots of different tree-hugging choices. There’s received to be anyone on the market for which that odd mashup holds an enchantment.
This one comes with 88,000 miles on the clock, and it doesn’t look to have led a troublesome life within the least. That cherry paint exhibits off the automobile’s traces to good impact and pairs nicely with the twisted spoke manufacturing unit alloys beneath. The nostril has a little bit of a cartoonish, or perhaps its unfinished look. That’s owed to the blanked-off grille and dead-eye headlamps. Out within the again, issues look just like the modern CTS coupe, however truly with extra success because the ELR is, the truth is, extra rakish and fewer Igor-ish.
The inside seems appropriately upscale and a bit avant-garde with its fascinating alternative of upholstery shade. The middle stack and instrument pod owe so much to the Volt, though all the pieces right here is 2 steps up from Chevy’s feel and look. The wooden trim and carbon fiber-look accents are good touches, too.
Doorways are massive and open with electrical poppers slightly than mechanical handles, ala the Corvette. The again seat is a purgatory, as you may count on, with packaging so tight and a mode so daring. Every thing appears to be like to be in glorious form, with solely the blight being an aftermarket cellular phone holder on the sprint.
These vehicles value an eye-blistering $75K when new, and the vendor claims this one was in some way optioned as much as six figures. The 2016 fashions had been adjusted down about ten grand, however that also proved too excessive, even with the Authorities incentives piled on. This one now asks $16,757, which is an odd however perhaps oddly compelling quantity. Is it value that sort of money, contemplating its rarity and uniqueness? Or is that price ticket simply too expensive for this misfit toy of a automobile?
You determine!
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