Twenty years after its “breakthrough” ad campaign with Led Zeppelin’s classic “Rock and Roll” as its soundtrack, Cadillac is still working hard to produce performance cars that upend people’s perception of the brand.
Cars like the CT4-V Blackwing, complete with a six-speed manual and 472 horsepower (to say nothing of the CT5-V Blackwing, with 668 horses), prove that Cadillac can build cars that can run with – and, in some ways, beat – European monsters like the BMW M5 Competition.
That’s great, but that’s also limited-production territory. What could recenter Cadillac’s reputation a whole lot quicker is the CT5 V-Series – the sweet spot of the CT5. It’s better equipped and more powerful than the base CT5, less outrageous than the Blackwing.
If only people knew.
Under the hood, it boasts a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 with 360 horsepower, 405 pound-feet of torque, capable of 0-60 mph runs of 4.6 seconds and a top speed on the racetrack of 156 mph. All while returning an Environmental Protection Agency-estimated 18 mpg city/27 highway/21 combined.
The CT5 V-Series is rear-wheel drive, with magnetic ride control, rear electronic limited slip differential, customizable drive modes, launch control and Brembo front brakes. And it comes with low-profile summer tires.
Behind the wheel
With my wife in Georgia helping with our new grandchild, I had a Saturday all to myself and the CT5 V-Series in my driveway.
I had never been to the National Automobile Museum in Reno, and I hadn’t walked around Virginia City without news to cover and deadlines to meet since I was a kid, so I cooked up a plan that put me behind the wheel of the Cadillac for a day trip – to Reno on Interstate 80, down to Virginia City, then to Nevada’s oldest settlement, Genoa, over Kingsbury Grade to South Lake Tahoe, then home on U.S. Route 50.
The drive included interstates, two-lanes, winding back roads and a lot of elevation changes (220 feet above sea level to 7,343 and back, with a lot in between). And the CT5 V-Series handled them all flawlessly, as it did city streets and urban freeways during the week. I drive 104 cars a year, and at no point did I think some other car would have been a better choice.
The car boasts supportive seats, room for five people and their stuff – and actual physical controls with a 10-inch touchscreen that largely confines itself to nav and entertainment (including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto) duties.
Recently, my criticism of Cadillac has been that, apart from the Escalade SUV (On the Road, August 2021), Cadillac cuts too much from its cars to keep the starting price lower, which then requires a bunch of extra-cost add-ons to make them feel like anything special – which a Cadillac should be.
The CT5 V-Series fixes all that. Setting the base price at $51,890 (including destination) allows them to equip this car properly. Along with the aforementioned engine, there are suspension pieces and tires, ambient lighting, rain-sensing wipers, 15-speaker audio system, wireless phone charging, adaptive cruise control and 18-way adjustable front power seats with four-way power lumbar and bolster adjustability. It also, in a major gold-star moment for GM, includes a comprehensive suite of active safetyfeatures.
Our test car did have extra-cost options: $3,700 for the Super Cruise 1 Package, which in addition to Cadillac’s hands-free Super Cruise driving tech upgrades the touchscreen to 12 inches (which makes a convincing case for being as large as a touchscreen needs to be). The package also includes a reconfigurable driver cluster display, launch control and video recorder; $1,500 for the jet black with jet black accent leather interior. The Climate Package ($1,190) includes power lumbar massage for the front seats, and the Rift Metallic paint runs $625.
Bottom line on the window sticker: $58,905.
And that strikes me as the sweet spot for a premium American road car. The Blackwings tend to get the attention – especially from automotive journalists – and they’re amazing. But the real story for those of us who care about real-world performance sedans is just how good the CT5 V-Series is.
