This car blows the BMW's that I have been driving off the road. The XLR is fast, handles great, and extremely comfortable. I also love the bold design and I have been stopped many times by admirers of the car. Taking the XLR on road trips is a joy, allowing one to enjoy both the power and comfort of the car.
Best Features
The many conveniences the car offers, from the retractable hard top to the FOBs to the HUD to the Voice Recognition. It is one sharp and luxurious automobile.
Worst Features
The retractable top seems to have some kinks in it.
I traded a 1993 red Corvette for my 2005 Xenon Blue XLR and I have no regrets. I get whistles, thumbs up, nice color, nice car comments from people ages 16 to 75. Truly a fun car to drive and own.
I looked hard at the Mercedes SLK55 and the SL500. I couldn't afford the SL500 (ouch). The regular SLKs (350, 280, etc) didn't have enough horsepower to really compare. The SLK55 was almost impossible to find used with fairly low miles. Although the SLK55 is a great car, it just seemed too small for me. My daughter said "you look like an elephant riding a peanut" (referring to the short wheel base and short overall car length). Mercedes made a big deal out of their hard top retracting in 19 seconds vs. 30 seconds for the Caddy. My only trouble on the Caddy has been the computer thinking the top isn't fully locked when you hit a hard bump. That has been fixed now via some reprogramming.
Best Features
The retractable hard top is killer. Only Mercedes and Lexus have something similar. The RF key fob is awesome. I never have to touch the key at all to handle locking, starting, etc, etc.
Worst Features
Allow the retractable top to be run via the key fob from outside the car.