Cadillac CTS-V 2009 Review

Road Test

Overall rating: 4.0/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 4.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 4.0/5.0
Safety: 3.5/5.0
Behind the wheel: 4.0/5.0
X-factor: 4.0/5.0

Oh, what might have been…

For the past couple of years, it seemed all but assured the more-American-than-apple-pie Cadillac brand would be launched here beginning in March, supplementing -- but not overlapping with -- existing GM offerings wearing Holden and Saab badges.
The drive to launch the venerable marque here was championed by, among others, former GM Holden boss Denny Mooney, who saw Cadillac as an ideal vehicle with which to spread the conglomerate’s reach upwards.

It got so close 89 examples of the CTS sedans made it as far as the unloading yards at the docks. But that was all the Australian earth those cars would feel under their tyres.

The dire state of the economy prompted current GM Holden boss Mark Reuss to announce in January that any plans to launch Cadillac here would have to be postponed indefinitely (more here) .

"With the downturn of the Australian automotive market and the broader global financial situation, we have made a common-sense, commercially responsible decision to not introduce a new brand into the exceptionally challenging Australian market at this time. GM Holden was faced with making a significant investment to launch a new, niche brand into a tough market," Reuss said at the time.

More’s the pity, because GM’s premium US brand is now producing some half-decent (by world standards) machinery, none more so than the CTS-V -- a Michigan-built guided missile aimed at the heart of Euro super-sedan heartland. We’re talking Munich, Stuttgart, Ingolstadt and even Coventry (where Jaguar’s nerve centre lies).

When Cadillac's top brains set out to conceive their performance flagship, they had a clear-cut goal: dethrone the BMW M5 and Mercedes E55 AMG (since replaced by the E63) as the fastest, baddest sedan on the planet -- however, this had to be achieved without sacrificing luxury or refinement.
Given the Teutons' long-standing dominance in the art of crafting of luxo-expresses, the task Cadillac had set itself amounted to virtually the equivalent of splitting the atom in terms of raw degree of difficulty.

Extensive benchmarking characterised the development phase of the CTS-V, and the GM coffers were raided to purchase a couple of M5s and an E55, and these were subsequently brought to test days and run back-to-back against Caddy’s prototype mules.
The Cadillac brains trust then set out in the quest for the Holy Grail -- Nürburgring bragging rights. GM development engineer John Heinricy was entrusted with steering duties as the pursuit began to set the fastest lap for a production sedan at the daunting 20.8km Nordschleife (or Northern Loop), also known as the "Green Hell".

Result? Mission accomplished via a smoking 7min 59.32sec tour of the track (watch the footage here here). To put this in perspective, a sub-eight-minute lap of the 'Ring is acknowledged as supercar territory… certainly not the domain of heavy luxury sedans lumbered with an automatic transmission.

However, it’s all very well for a carmaker to point to a sheet full of numbers and say "job done", it’s quite another for said vehicle to actually come across as a world-beating entity in the minds of independent testers. Well, the jury is now officially in and the inescapable verdict is that the CTS-V is indeed the real McCoy (if you’ll excuse the Americanism).

As with any bona fide über-performance offering, the CTS-V’s heartbeat comes in the form of an explosive engine -- specifically, a supercharged V8 with mountainous torque and a bellowing exhaust note.

The 6.2-litre LSA motor is derived from the LS9 unit that powers the new range-topping Corvette ZR1, and its outputs of 415kW and 747Nm are only slightly down on those of the 'Vette.

Most importantly, it has the statistical edge on the M5 (373kW/520Nm) and E63 (386kW/630Nm), while the new twin-turbo Audi RS6 (426kW/650Nm) pips the Caddy on power, but loses out significantly in terms of torque.

A quick summary of the LSA powerplant: it’s the most powerful engine offered in Cadillac's nearly 106-year history, and it’s based on GM’s tried-and-proven small-block architecture.

The lung-compressing torque it thumps out is partly the result of its large displacement -- as the old cliche goes, “you can’t beat cubic inches” -- and partly the fruit of the intercooled sixth-generation Eaton supercharger.

Although the CTS-V won’t see the light of day in Oz, the four-door rocketship recently went on sale in the Middle East, where -- as luck would have it -- this Carsales scribe is based.

Having spent the best part of a week with the car, here’s what we can confirm: the CTS-V is quick… horizon-warping quick, in fact. It pretty much doesn’t matter where the needle is on the tacho, mash the throttle and you’ll be fishing your eyeballs out of the back of your head. The 747Nm peak torque figure arrives at 3800rpm, but a good chunk of this quota seems to be available right across the rev range.

We road-tested a manual version (likely to be rare as hen’s teeth in our clutch-averse region), but we also had a brief thrash in the six-speed auto that 99.999 per cent of the Middle East buying public will be throwing their money down for.

For what it's worth, the six-speed manual is a relatively slick-shifting device, but it seems slightly out of place in an overtly luxurious sedan -- it’s a bit like inviting Hulk Hogan to a seminar on astrophysics. This being the case, the Hydra-Matic 6L90 six-speed automatic with paddle-shift control is the no-brainer choice.

It was an automatic CTS-V that John Heinricy used to set the Nürburgring benchmark, so there’s clearly no discernible performance loss associated with plumping for the self-shifter. What’s more, Heinricy left the transmission in full auto mode -- proof that it’s pretty adept at tailoring shift patterns to even extreme driving styles.

We've driven many American cars that accelerate like scalded cats as long as the road is arrow-straight, but it's actually refreshing to sample one that doesn’t turn into a wallowing mess as soon as curves are introduced to the equation. Put simply, this thing really handles.

There’s no getting away from the sheer mass of the car (1905kg in manual form, 1950kg for the auto), but the CTS-V does an impressive job of disguising its bulk.

The standard CTS is already a fairly sound handler, but the "V" raises the bar to an altogether different league. The so-called Magnetic Ride Control suspension uses shocks controlled by electro-magnets, rather than mechanical valves (it’s similar in principle to Audi’s Magnetic Ride system), and without boring you with a whole load of techno hogwash, the benefit of said technology is that it reacts quicker than conventional systems.

It actually works. Even when punted at pace around Dubai Autodrome's 3.56km National Circuit, the Caddy stayed flat and composed -- especially with the magnetic ride control switched to 'Sport' rather than 'Touring' mode. Impressively stable through high-speed corners, the CTS-V also proved surprisingly nimble through the tricky Club Link (a much tighter version of Oran Park's 'flip-flop'), with the Michelin Pilot Sport 2 rubber providing good grip levels.

For track attacks, the stability control system is best left in 'Competitive' mode, which raises all the thresholds before the system will intervene, enabling you to hang the tail out in a controlled drift before reeling it back in (this is an effective… and, ahem, fun way of getting it through tight corners).

Crucially, the car stops as well as any sedan we’ve driven, thanks to the huge Brembo braking package, with six-piston callipers at the front and four-piston callipers at the rear. Even sustained punishment around the National Circuit failed to induce fade, which is pretty impressive for a two-tonne projectile.

There's no doubting its performance credentials, but where the Cadillac also shines is in its ability to back it up with a compliant ride and a cosseting cabin. General refinement levels are good, although the manual car we tested transmitted a discernible driveline vibration through the seat of the pants.

Wind noise and tyre roar are well suppressed, which means you can savour the supercharger whine and deep-chested bellow from the dual drainpipe exhausts under heavy throttle loads.

The cabin is tastefully executed -- a pleasant surprise for an American offering -- and our test vehicle featured classy piano-black gloss trim on the steering wheel spokes and centre console. The latter also featured carbonfibre trim inserts, which seemed appropriate given the car’s high-po job description.

Like every CTS, the V-Series includes a hand-stitched instrument panel, door trim and centre console. Mod-cons include a 40-gigabyte hard drive, advanced navigation system with a "pop-up" screen and Bose digital surround audio system. Optionally available are well-contoured Recaro performance driving seats that are 14-way adjustable and include pneumatic bolster controls in the seat cushion and backrest.

Externally, the "V" is instantly discernible from its garden-variety CTS siblings, and unique to the former is an aggressive front bumper/spoiler assembly, which features XXL air intakes to keep the force-fed V8 nourished and cooled.

Surprisingly, the mesh grille is fabricated from plastic, rather than metal, and company execs say this is in the interests of weight saving. The ominous bonnet bulge also lets onlookers know there's more than a V6 lurking below (the bogger CTS uses a direct-injection version of the HFV6 that powers our own Holden Commodore).

Other giveaways to the CTS-V's identity include a chunky set of 19-inch alloys shod with Michelin Pilot Sport 2 rubber and a pair of fat tailpipes protruding from cut-outs in the rear bumper diffuser.

Decision time: Does the CTS-V come across as a truly well-rounded ultra-performance sedan, especially when measured up against the lofty benchmarks established by the M5 and E63 AMG? Well, the Caddy has the odd rough edge (not many, mind you) and it’s marginally less refined than the Germans, but in a word -- or actually two words -- the answer is still "Hell, yeah!"

It may be a big call (or not, depending on your perspective on 'Yank tanks'), but the CTS-V's all-around capabilities distinguish it, in our opinion, as the finest car America has to date produced.

What's more, contenders in this segment aren't typically marketed on value, but when you factor in the CTS-V's razor-sharp entry price -- in the Middle East it costs just $US72,600 ($100,500 in our money) -- the inescapable conclusion is that Cadillac has a winner on its hands. And this is coming from a doubter
who thought the Americans didn’t have the wherewithal to beat the Germans at their own game.

The only regrettable aspect is that Australian performance-car shoppers won’t be able to glean any of this for themselves (unless they move to the Middle East or North America).