Car and Driver October 2003 Review

The October 2003 Car and Driver has a "drive off" between the '04 Cadillac XLR, the '03 Jaguar XK8, the '03 Lexus SC430, the '03 Mercedes-Benz SL500 and the '03 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet. As the author says at the beginning of the article, the drive-off was a "scam" since they really wanted to test the XLR.

Final results were:

1 - Mercedes SL500 (200 of 220 points)
2 - Porsche 911 (183 of 220 points)
3 - Cadillac XLR (180 of 220 points)
4 - Lexus SC430 (178 of 220 points)
5 - Jaguar XK8 (174 of 220 points)

One slightly disturbing note in the article was the following from page 54,

"An added irritation comes in the form of a luggage soaking if the top is raised during a sudden rainstorm. All water on the rear decklid is dumped into the trunk - begging the question, Did (SIC) anyone in the Cadillac engineering department actually attempt such a maneuver during the 48 months of development?"

I thought I had read that problem had been seen previously and was being fixed. But, this article raises the concern again.

BTW, if anyone is looking for nice photos of the XLR, this issue has them. A red XLR is featured with a shale interior.