I hate weddings.

Because of stress levels, elevated anxiety resulting from my being depended upon, and excessive discomfort and sweatiness triggered by the use of a suit, I’d typically rather lick the business-end of a road-flare than be involved in setting up a wedding. So, thankfully, a few of the Cadillac SRX’s handy touches helped reduce the unpleasantness of my involvement in a friend’s wedding a few weeks back.

Rear Moving Object Detection. It jams on the brakes, hard and fast, if something or someone moves suddenly behind your SRX as you reverse. Someone, say, like one of my fellow groomsmen, trying to avoid detection by a fuming Bridezilla, irate that I hadn’t yet arrived with the centrepieces I could have sworn someone else was picking up. Over a dozen of these tall, fragile glass receptacles full of frilly glitter were in the SRX’s cargo hold as I backed up to the doors of the wedding hall.

“BEEP BEEP!” I just caught the pair of legs crossing the backup camera screen. There was full auto-braking, the sound of glass clinking behind me, and me hoping I had a new pair of shorts somewhere nearby.

Luckily, and thanks to a clever organizer rail gizmo that’s easily adjusted to keep items intact and upright while you move about, the centerpieces stayed in position.

Plus, the powerful air-conditioned seats had prevented excessive sweatiness, and Cheryl, my OnStar advisor, sent directions to the SRX for me, so I didn’t have to pull over and search for, then enter the coordinates to the wedding hall. The result? I was 3 minutes late, not 10. Centrepieces intact. Bridezilla? Placated. Pritchard? Cool, calm, and still far from sweating through his tux.

The SRX is getting old. A new Caddy crossover called the XT5 will soon replace the current SRX, which itself began its second tour of duty for model year 2010, and has become a prominent part of the luxury crossover scenery on Canadian roadways ever since.

Since then, numerous competitors of note have joined the market, while others have been re-released in their latest all-new generation models. Though numerous updates and facelifts have been applied to the SRX to help keep things fresh via injections of new Cadillac design and tech, the SRX is now entering its twilight years.

But the old gal should still represent good value, depending on shopper priorities, and it has numerous admirable attributes on offer to help set it apart in a churning sea of luxury crossover utes.

A second opinion: Test Drive: 2015 Cadillac SRX

One standout attribute is the cabin. The one in the SRX hits you before you’re even seated: first, right smack in the schnozz with the smell of gorgeous, quality leather as if you’ve walked into a high-end furniture store. Then, the design of the cabin strikes the senses. It’s not super-formal like some of the German stuff, nor does it flaunt numerous big display screens and advanced-looking consoles like some of the Japanese stuff. Instead, SRX is neat, tidy, casually organized, crisp and trimmed with a just-right amount of stitching, metal, gloss and wood. It’s unique, discreet, does its own thing, and uses a just-right palette of contrasting colors to pull off a finely honed look that’s upscale and techy, without being overwhelming.

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