I bought a replacement for my Corvette, and it's amazing!

I've been interested in getting a car to replace my Corvette and Lincoln Town Car.  No more summer car and winter car.  Less insurance, less maintenance, just one cool car to do it all.  Porsche Panamera GTS was a front runner but I decided it was too much money up front, too much fuel cost, and probably too much potential maintenance cost.  I also found a pretty nice Lexus IS300 Sport Cross wagon that was a good potential but it had the unfortunate combination of low power and low fuel mileage on premium gas.  I've been wanting a plug in hybrid for the advantages of electric powertrain, unlimited range on gasoline, and the ability to preheat the car on electric before driving in the winter.  Chevy Volt was a possibility but just not "special" enough.  Looks like a rental car on the outside and inside.  BMW i8 is way over budget.  Lexus CT200h...not sporty enough.  Cadillac ELR?  Gorgeous exterior, gorgeous interior.  One of the few concept cars that went to production without being rubbed with a big bar of vanilla to make it look like every other car on the road.  But, all I ever see for sale are 2014 models, and they just seemed too slow.  The 2016 got a big boost of power, Apple CarPlay (which I'm totally addicted to having since I've had it in my Motovan and the Lincoln.) and improved chassis, suspension tuning, brakes, software. Most of the options were made standard like automatic high beams, rear cross traffic alert, lane change alert, blind spot monitoring, etc.  But, I've never seen a 2016 for sale.  

A 2016 ELR in white pearl metallic with cashmere interior was posted for sale in Portland, just a few hours away from me.  As soon as a buyer made a deposit on my Corvette I called the guy with the ELR and made a deal.  I put together a loan with my credit union and my girlfriend and I drove over the Cascades to go get it.  

Untitled by Petrolburner, on Flickr

Untitled by Petrolburner, on Flickr

Untitled by Petrolburner, on Flickr

Untitled by Petrolburner, on Flickr

Untitled by Petrolburner, on Flickr

Untitled by Petrolburner, on Flickr

I have a charging station at work that, so far, hasn't charged me for charging.  But the display says I have 8 grace sessions remaining. I'm not sure what that's all about.  I don't need to plug in to make my whole commute on electricity, but right now I only have a 120v charger so it's slow.  That and free juice is free juice, more foot to the floor and faster recharge at home.  

Untitled by Petrolburner, on Flickr

I took it out the other day and raced up a mountain road with zero regard for battery or fuel economy.  It's quick and goes around corners as fast as I would drive my Corvette on the street.  

Untitled by Petrolburner, on Flickr

The interior is just amazing.  The whole ceiling is alcantara.  The stitching, the mix of materials and patterns just makes me smile.  It reminds me of the Lexus LC500, another car that made it from concept to production without being totally watered down.  

GOPR0092 by Petrolburner, on Flickr

GOPR0105 by Petrolburner, on Flickr

GOPR0098 by Petrolburner, on Flickr

GOPR0097 by Petrolburner, on Flickr

The rear seats fold down so I can carry my snowboard to the mountain. Mt Bachelor has a couple of charging stations right up front too.  

GOPR0096 by Petrolburner, on Flickr

85 MPG lifetime average over 36,500 miles.  

GOPR0103 by Petrolburner, on Flickr

GOPR0102 by Petrolburner, on Flickr

GOPR0101 by Petrolburner, on Flickr

I love the dash display and the parking sensors are really cool to have.

GOPR0100 by Petrolburner, on Flickr

GOPR0099 by Petrolburner, on Flickr

I've driven it for a few days and a few hundred miles now and I love it.  I've gotten a ton of compliments, double takes and thumbs up already.  It makes me smile everytime I drive it.  It's fast enough to be entertaining.  It's not a sports car like the Corvette, it's a luxury sports coupe.  245/40-20 tires on all 4 corners provide the right amount of grip.  The Bose noise cancelling cabin contribute to a very quiet ride.  It feels really well built.  There are zero squeaks or rattles.  The Bose audio system also sounds great and I don't forsee making any modifications.  It doesn't launch off the line like a Porsche Taycan or Tesla, but it accelerates really well from 5-60.  From 90-100 it starts showing that it only makes 233 hp and 373 lbs-ft of torque.  I don't usually exceed 100 and most of the time I just drive the speed limit anyway.  All in all, I'm stoked.  

Wasn't that car posted on the ugly thread...lol just kidding, what a good looking car and great MPG to boot.  Congrats to the new owner!

I've always liked the ELR and the tan interior is surprisingly nice looking. Might be time for a new username though.

I did not know these even existed. Looks like you got a nice clean car. 

The ELR is nice ... but that Honda ATC is amazing!!

Sweeeet!!

TJL (Forum Supporter) said:

I did not know these even existed. Looks like you got a nice clean car. 

They were absurdly slow-selling. GM would try and send them on tractor trailers to a dealership and a lot of dealers would refuse to take delivery and send it back to GM because they knew they wouldn't be able to sell it. My dealership certainly never got one, and I've never seen one in person. They are cool though, and I think they are a future collectible.

Slippery (Forum Supporter) said:

The ELR is nice ... but that Honda ATC is amazing!!

I was gonna ask about the Econoline box truck

Good looking car. 

Congrats. 

Might be time for a name change is you aren't going to actually burn petrol. 

Wattkiller maybe. 

I agree on the future collectible call, I think they didn't sell due to the crazy price difference between it and the volt. They were ALOT of money new in the days before Tesla had sold all of cardom on the "value" of an electric car. 

That looks cool - what are they selling for these days?

MadScientistMatt said:

That looks cool - what are they selling for these days?

I hate this place sometimes - off to autotrader to kill some working at home time......

Is it just me, but the bottom line of the side windows looks weird to me.  It forces the mini B pillar which doesn't look too bad from outside, but would drive me nuts from inside.  Was the lower window line an aesthetic choice or a functional necessity?

TJL (Forum Supporter) said:

I did not know these even existed. Looks like you got a nice clean car. 

X2!

I like it. Cadillac has such a neat history, this is exactly the type of car they should be making today. But I haven't even heard of it

It's a car that truly turns heads, both because it is striking in person and because you don't see them often. I think it will be a car that is lauded for being ahead of its time.

Username barely checks out.

Congrats, I had an early Volt, and really wanted one of these new as a replacement. Did not know about the Carplay. I just saw my first one IRL six months ago - you've got a real unicorn.

Afer leasing a first gen Volt and falling in love with it I came really close to looking for one of these. Less range, but two less doors and a little more gittyup, what's not to like?! I'm not sure what they go for now, but as recent as two years ago there was still a brand new holdout on a dealer lot in the low 30s.

Also, you might see a few corvettes a day but I've only seen ONE of these in person. Looks like the concept buck for Cadillac's design language—it's truly shocking how unreal this car looks in person. 

MadScientistMatt said:

That looks cool - what are they selling for these days?

On CarGurus I'm seeing $20-30K, '14 to '16 w/ varying mileage.

Oh my...

Congrats 

with All the panamera gts talk on your other thread, and seeing "cool car" on title, I thought ctsv coupe 

And unlike the first gen CTS(IMO) this hasn't aged out; the design is still fresh.

Congrats on the purchase! This post is making me miss the PNW more than anything. 

And the car also comes with a cute girl...............well done sir.

In reply to A 401 CJ :

1997 E450 Super Duty BoxVan with a 7.3l Power Stroke diesel being built into a toyhauler.  There's a thread on here called Grumman the Backcountry BoxVan. 

I think my username is still safe as long as I have 9 motorcycles, 4 ATCs and I fly an airplane that burns 90 gallons per hour for a living.  Oh and the ELR burns gas in sport mode when you floor it.  

Petrolburner said:

I think my username is still safe as long as I have 9 motorcycles, 4 ATCs and I fly an airplane that burns 90 gallons per hour for a living.  Oh and the ELR burns gas in sport mode when you floor it.  

Ok, I guess we can let you slide. 

TJL (Forum Supporter) said:

I did not know these even existed. Looks like you got a nice clean car. 

I never even heard of them, let alone saw one in the metal, until Jim Thwaite bought one a few years ago.  They're pretty cool.

Nice score!