Somewhere in the labyrinthine halls of General Motors, this car makes sense. Call it a halo vehicle. An image car. It's the kind of car dealerships don't expect to sell like Escalades, but hey - it gets people in the showroom. Maybe. Then again, if it looks like an XLR, why, people have already seen that trick and all the hood scoops and ten-spoke wheels won't make it look much different. But 440 horsepower might. Debuted at the 2005 New York International Auto Show and due to lay a patch on the street for 2006, that's the best thing the new Cadillac XLR-V has got going for it - 440 horses coming from a 4.4-liter V8 engine, and a slew of performance features sure to make any self-respecting Prius blush. Originally previewed at this year's Super Bowl, the 2006 Cadillac XLR-V will surely be more exciting to drive than that snooze-fest of a game, especially if they come through with a 0-60 claim of under five seconds. Final pricing was not available, but with the regular old XLR roadster at around $72,000, expect the "V" to cost you upwards of $80,000. The XLR-V also gets additional suspension mods - for that real sporty-like feel, even with all that leather. It sits on 20-inch performance ties, 10-spoke wheels and has markings to identify it as the REAL mid-life crisis car. Buy one today, and divorce your wife tomorrow. Even though the current, regular-strength XLR isn't exactly flying out the door, there's always room for a V - and this one packs 440 horsepower under the hood. That, along with its edgy, macho look, might be enough to turn heads at stop lights. After that, passersby may have trouble seeing the car as you flash by - the XLR-V goes 0-60 in under five seconds, something which GM is quite proud of, judging from the barrage of "under 5" marketing materials. What this car is, well, is gratuitous speed and power, look-at-me design and wanna-be-me interior. So except for those who want to be seen, and loudly, the Cadillac XLR-V is a car many will forget just as soon as the ink dries. And that's okay, because the XLR-V is a specialty car, not one that is tasked with selling in the thousands. It will join the ranks of other fun and feverish General Motors vehicles such as the Chevrolet SSR. One notable exception may be its Advanced Forward Lighting System that uses sensors to determine speed and steering wheel angle input in determining how fast and how far to swivel the headlamps for improved night driving vision in curves. Other than that, the XLR-V is notable only in that it goes down a straight line to 60 mph in under five seconds. Buy this car after your children have grown up and moved away. If that's now for you, then the XLR-V will be on sale in September, along with the Cadillac STS-V. --By Brian Chee
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