Driving through the backroads of semi-upstate New York, you begin to think that Deliverance was not filmed in the forests of Georgia, but instead, right here in an area that is probably two hours outside of New York City. We are cruising along the two-lane highways, past the Orange County Choppers factory/showroom of Paul, Paul Jr., and Mikey fame. Past firetraps masquerading as strip joints, to Monticello Motor Club. The most common vehicle around happens to be the high-riding F-150 pick-up truck with Yosemite Sam mud flaps. It’s a great drive with challenging roads. And a warning sign that has a bra hanging over it.
We are in the new 2009 Cadillac CTS-V. Not your father’s Caddy, nor that of rich Uncle Buck either, it is the ballsiest piece of sheetmetal to wear the Cadillac crest. The General has rented the club—sort of like a country club for wealthy gearheads, to give auto journalists a chance to thrash away at the latest offerings from the Milford Proving Grounds in suburban Detroit.
What is it?
The CTS-V is the version 2.0 follow-up to the CTS-V that was based on the previous generation CTS. This one features a whole new set of cool bits that elevate the “V” to the level of “corporate badass.”
What’s it up against?
Logical competitors and benchmarks include the BMW M5, Audi S6, Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, and the like. It has been a constant game of one-upmanship for the past five or six years and that’s a game of which we really enjoy being a beneficiary.
Any breakthroughs?
Numerous. In addition to the LSA Supercharged V8, which we’ll get to in due course, the CTS-V now features Magnetic Ride Control, which Cadillac claims is the “world’s fastest-reacting suspension technology,” to using electro-magnets to control the shocks, which help to speed up the response time. Sensors constantly “read” the road, making constant adjustments of the suspension system to give more precise control of body motions.
Peel back a few more layers and you’ll find not so much a breakthrough, as a reason to build up the muscles in your right arm. A new six-speed manual transmission, this one by Tremec, is now available, along with a Hydra-Matic 6L90 six-speed automatic with paddle shift buttons. And Brembos. And Recaros. And Michelins. And more. It reads like a Who’s Who of performance goodies.
How does it look?
Like a sharply creased sedan with a purpose. We love the profile of the new CTS and the V just carries it along and then some. Perhaps borrowing inspiration from Mercedes-Benz’s placement of their trademark star in the center of the grille on their high performance cars, Cadillac has chosen to place the Crest in the center of the mesh-covered front end. But it does look like it is bigger! A power-bulge on the hood gives added clearance for the Eaton blower underneath. Returning are the side gills on either side of the fender. New CTS-V badging on the driver and passenger doors let the residents of the gated communities know this is not the CTS that takes them to the hair salon or the local Saks Fifth Avenue. The ultra swept back C-pillar provides a nice counterpoint to the wedge-shaped side cladding which leads to a rear end with high-mount brake light that doubles as a rear spoiler.
And inside?
A blending of performance and luxury, you could say that if there was a four-door version of the Corvette, this is what its interior should look like. With a choice of standard performance seats or available Recaro sport seats, with adjustable side-bolsters, everybody sits just fine.
Hand stitching on the instrument and door panels as well as the center console gives the appearance of a designer interior in a performance car. Almost a “what’s wrong with this picture” moment. But in reality, there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s a welcomed addition.
The pop up monitor from the original CTS introduced a year ago makes a reappearance as the heart of the controls in the new “V.” Our concerns from that time had us questioning the intelligence of mounting a monitor with electric motor that pops up and down during subsequent operations. Our concerns appear to be unfounded. Gauges are well laid out in the instrument panel binnacle, and redundant controls abound all over the steering wheel. As do the transmission shifting buttons located on the wheel’s backside. We much prefer paddle shift levers rather than the nondescript push buttons on the V’s wheel. Generally, we think the interior and especially the center-stack is well laid-out, although at times it verges on busy.
But does it go?
Like a charging rhino. The first thing you notice is the whine of the Eaton twin-screw, four-lobe rotor supercharger. Hearing it spool up is music to any enthusiast’s ears, until it kicks you back into the nicely bolstered sport seats, and then it sounds even better. With an intercooler perched above it and aluminum alloy heads to fight excess engine heat, it is an engine that has been tuned to provide plenty of low end grunt as well as maintaining horsepower at the high end of the RPM range, in an area that tends to bleed off the horsepower produced by the superchargers. It works.
Producing 556-horsepower and 551 lb-ft of torque, the 6.2-liter LSA engine is a de-tuned version of the powerplant poking through the hood of the new ZR1 Corvettte. It is also a heavily cladded piece of art. Observing a demonstration model of the engine, sans cladding, it is a look that doesn’t need to be covered up by some lame piece of plastic with Cadillac badges all over it. We understand that there are no user-serviceable parts under the cover, but we are still curious how Audi is able to build an engine as beautifully as they do in their RS4, and still manage to keep it uncovered, to be admired.
Zero-60 mph clicks off at 3.9-seconds, while the quarter mile is achieved in 12-seconds, flat, at 118 mph. Let’s repeat: Zero-60 mph clicks off at 3.9-seconds, while the quarter mile is achieved in 12-seconds, flat, at 118 mph. Mileage, by the way, has yet to be determined. But at this point, does it matter?
The six-speed Tremec made for smooth shifting throughout the 4.2-mile road course at Monticello. Running up the back straight, which used to be the main runway of the Monticello airport, the GM small block wanted to keep going and going until the kink on the track appeared over the ridge. Squeezing the Brembo six-pot calipers in front and the four-pots in the rear, clamped the slotted and vented rotors, which helped to settle the CTS-V before its next sweeping right-hander.
Switching over to the six-speed Hydra-Matic gearbox, incidentally the first time an automatic has been available on the CTS-V, showed a transmission that was able to perform as seamlessly as possible on surface streets, yet still be able to stretch its legs on the highway or the race track. Switching gates on the automatic put the shift lever in the sport mode, effectively remapping engine shift points for quicker shifts and faster acceleration. With all the power on tap, Cadillac beefed up the limited slip differential and prop shaft for extra durability during extreme loads. The 4,200-pound (4,300 with the automatic) “V” rides on 19-inch Michelin PS2 Z-rated tires (255/40 up front and 285/35 out back) specifically designed for the car.
Handling is improved over the last model by use of the Magnetic Ride Control (MRC) in conjunction with the CTS-V’s multi-link independent rear suspension. A fast-reacting technology, it relies on shocks controlled by electro-magnet, rather than mechanical valves. The result is a faster response time because sensors at all four wheels are reading the road every millisecond causing different damping rates at a constant pace. Controlling the CTS-V in either Touring or Sport mode, MRC was first seen on the Cadillac STS, it has been utilized on several high performance European sleds as well as the Corvette.
As it sits, don’t expect to see many CTS-Vs parked inside Century Village. Pick up one, though, and you can be assured that there won’t be many others on the road that will be able to keep up with it. After all, this is the same car that lapped a circuit of the Nordschleife portion of the Nürburgring in under eight minutes (7:59:32) making it the fastest documented time for a production sedan.
Why you would buy it:
Expected to hit market in the high $60,000s, it’s a bargain that can transport five comfortably and still run on track day at your local racetrack.
Why you wouldn’t:
You eschew any type of excitement in your life.
Pricing has yet to be determined for the 2009 Cadillac CTS-V.
Words and photos by Mark Elias.
2009 Cadillac CTS-V
08/29, 3:08 PM
posted by:
acura_el2000
NICEE although I kinda like the regular grille better
08/29, 3:28 PM
posted by:
corvette
i love it.
08/29, 3:37 PM
posted by:
gitcypher
The bra?
“Hot XXX Dancers?”
Are you trying to get something through LLN?
Anyway,
HOW can anyone not like that interior. 3.9 Seconds will get the kids to practice mighty quickly!
08/29, 3:47 PM
posted by:
jumpoffit
think they are trying to say, this thing just blows off bras and bras? and has sex appeal up the whaaa-whooo, or that maybe they were on break and they were getting lap dances , i don’t know- car looks bad ass in red though i must say
08/29, 3:48 PM
posted by:
RaineMan
Nice review! Sweet car… except for the fender vents.
08/29, 3:49 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
melias: did they tell you what the percentages of manual vs auto would be?
And you know you’re going to have to be punished? For your next road test I hear they’re lining up that guy’s million mile Silverado.
08/29, 3:52 PM
posted by:
drchiem
Very impressive look from inside to outside plus with the awesome engine. I think this is the best looking Calilac and craftmanship ever. Way to go GM. I am so looking forward to test drive this baby.
08/29, 4:07 PM
posted by:
howsmydriving
If GM had sh-it for brains like Ford, they would name CTS-V the Cimarron.
08/29, 4:11 PM
posted by:
Z06ified
Great review. I’m sold. I WILL own one of these.
08/29, 4:17 PM
posted by:
Htay9000
Finally, it gets a stick. I don’t have the money sadly
08/29, 4:40 PM
posted by:
F451
Transport four comfortably, but not five (I’ve been there in the standard CTS).
08/29, 4:45 PM
posted by:
A4
gorgeous
08/29, 5:04 PM
posted by:
sprockkets
Maybe if Trinity had this version, she would have had no problem escaping the twins in an SUV
08/29, 5:06 PM
posted by:
brassmonkey
Has anyone at LLN ever ridden a charging rhino?
08/29, 5:30 PM
posted by:
f***********
i love the looks. looks best in black
08/29, 7:14 PM
posted by:
crackerhemi
The interior is incredibly cheap when compared to import brands. It looks good for GM, but that isn’t saying much.
The exterior is horrible and performance is horrible at best.
08/29, 7:27 PM
posted by:
f*********e
^^^^ that comment must be sarcasm when you say exterior is horrible and performance is horrible
08/29, 7:31 PM
posted by:
2002tii
CrackerHead,
When did you get a chance to drive it?
08/29, 7:58 PM
posted by:
inline6
I think crackerhemi is referring to the M5.
08/29, 8:13 PM
posted by:
f*********e
inline 6 dont be such a twat.
cts and ctsv deserve credit and success where due, both great cars. But M5 is still class leader
08/29, 10:32 PM
posted by:
melias
johnnycanuck,
No word yet on auto to manual ratio. Heck they didn’t even have MSRP yet. I’ve heard the boss mutter something about a road test on a Lada….
08/29, 11:03 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
melias: don’t laugh, but I remember those very well. I came way too close to buying a Niva. I blame the B.C. bud.
08/30, 5:43 AM
posted by:
audifan
its sooo cheape for its performance, cheape compared to other rivals, and just generaly a cheape car, when the Audi RS6 Sedan is proberly released that will definatley be the class leader, BMW has sliped and is now the worst performing of the Hot sedans, horrible car anyways, got rid of myn in less that a month of release
08/30, 9:45 AM
posted by:
DeansterTJ
Good review, Mark! Liked the bit about the bra on the sign…
One of my good friends has the last-gen CTS-V, and that was outright INSANE. I’m having difficulty imagining what 0-60 in 3.9 seconds is like. All I remember from that day tooling around in the CTS-V was tunnel vision and a massive headache from the brute force.
The interior looks gorgeous. I’m looking for a new car in 6 months, and was set on a luxe 4WD sedan or small SUV (Cayenne, A6, etc) for the Canadian winter, but now you got me thinking about this baby….in black….
08/30, 12:32 PM
posted by:
gbb
Absolutely beautiful!
08/30, 12:33 PM
posted by:
123sub
Wow, you can get a manual trans., that is something you cant have in the M5 or AMG Mercedes! I am a 2-door man, but if i would buy a 4-door(not gonna happen), then i would have this one. (old and used so i could affort:-)
08/30, 12:52 PM
posted by:
tyler_is_aero_tt
Looks amazing! Now all we need is for Lincoln to produce their MKR with an Ecoboost engine (it should get about the same power as this) and we’ll kick those imports out of our country.
08/30, 1:19 PM
posted by:
DeansterTJ
123sub, give it a good 10 months and you can this in 2-door coupe configuration!!!
08/30, 2:18 PM
posted by:
carstuff
Hey the interior pics are right there in front of you!!! They might be 1″x1″ but anybody as intelligent as crackerhemi can tell that the interior has awful quality. I mean look at the gaps. Heck even the leather feels and smells cheap.
08/30, 2:45 PM
posted by:
f*********e
and we’ll kick those imports out of our country
tyler_is_aero_tt
what a stupid statement.what do u think the chances of that ever happening.
and what mkr is he talking about?
mks maybe and then it is FWD so never gona happen.
this is the best car GM has ever produced but it only meets the standards it doesnt beat them.
i do love it though
08/30, 7:38 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
If any of the IT people working on the new format are reading this the scroll bar is very slow to respond (or maybe it’s just me). Other than that, love the new logo and format. Is the counter device for the comments coming back?
08/30, 9:04 PM
posted by:
2002tii
Gee, how have Carstuff and CrackerHemi had a chance to check out a car that isn’t even out yet???
Do you guys work in Detroit or something?
08/31, 12:04 AM
posted by:
jayjc08
Carstuff- Hey, the interior pics ARE right there in front of you! But the pics don’t do it justice. Gaps is about the worst thing you could point out, as there nearly literally aren’t any! I was surprised to drive one at the nearest dealership (just the 3.6, non direct injected V-6 CTS), and the interior is one of the best to come from GM. And hey, they make Mercedes Benz look like days of old from GM. And I seriously doubt it will peel away in 5 to 10 years time like BMW’s and Audi’s have. However, both BMW and Audi have a seriously nice interior, and I like the looks of the CTS’s interior, but BMW and Audi’s both look a bit more… upscale.
Talking about the competition… my favorite is Lexus’s GS series. It used to be an ugly, awkward looking car, but it’s come a VERY far ways. The interiors nice too, albeit extremely conservative.
Anyways, enough with that. I would dare to say the CTS’s interior is better than that of Mercedes Benz which have seriously slipped, and close to- or on par with Audi’s and BMW’s. I seriously doubt however you’ve sat in the CTS. The leather smells just like a new car scent, and feels new- not nice and warn in some, but not cheap.
08/31, 4:13 PM
posted by:
Deux
Of all places for you to travel you had to choose Newburgh, New York as your photo destination? From the looks of it you got off I-87 and hit the slummiest part of Newburgh, took pictures and jetted. You would have been much better off staying around Exit 16. Challenging roads is an understatement.
Is the photo gallery not working after the first photo for anyone else?
08/31, 6:56 PM
posted by:
Jeff Grand Cherokee
Cannot wait for the estate version, that’ll be too cool
08/31, 11:55 PM
posted by:
melias
Deux,
Hey, what can I say? Cadillac gives us a route book and pairs us up with another journalist. Neither of us had been here before, and all we can do is navigate for each other through the back roads of suburbia!
We always like to see small towns on the way to other cool places. Which picture grabbed you? The Pleasure Island one or the Bra on the sign?!!!!
BTW: Still having problems with the photo gallery? Mine is working fine so far on this end, but please let us know if you are still experiencing any glitches.
Thanks,
Mark Elias
LeftLaneNews.com
09/01, 1:07 AM
posted by:
beatusmongous
I have zero problems with the galleries. I’m browsing with Safari 3 on Mac OS X 10.5, just FYI. I suggest if someone is having problems with the galleries, they should try FireFox or Safari.
09/01, 12:42 PM
posted by:
jayjc08
I’m using the new version of Firefox. I find that a lot of pages have glitches the first time you load them (not exclusive to LLN), but after that, I suppose Firefox “gets used to them”. The only problem I had was with tables on the page, which came out of alignment, and that’s now gone.
On the old page I remember occasionally it would come up with a pretty much white page with a whole bunch of symbols (not any internet language/ html I know, if not encrypted). As far as I know, that is now gone.
I find though the new page doesn’t seem to put enough emphasis on new articles. Something we’ll all get used to, but it was always the emphasis of LLN. BTW, is there anyway you can have the names still appear highlighted if they’re linked to another page? This was very helpful in finding my comment, as I just had to scroll down to a highlighted name.
Other than that, no complaints. The articles are getting better and better all the time Mark, the layout looks good and it seems everyone’s been hard at work with vehicle descriptions.
09/01, 1:59 PM
posted by:
monte
My scroll bar doesn’t work either, have to use the arrows.
JAYJC08, THe comment carstuff made was a sarcastic responce the the comment crackerhemi wrote, he wasn’t serious………I think?
09/01, 4:42 PM
posted by:
jayjc08
Oh, well if it was, then no need to pay attention to it.
09/01, 11:47 PM
posted by:
V2
All the numbers sound great, but after having spent 2 weeks in the US of A and seeing the new caddys up close I’m sure this will be a poor quality piece of s**t that will fall apart in a week and will have no idea how to take a corner……………the real reviews will come when the European’s test drive this and they write a review and put it up against the M5, not some American being patriotic and writing propaganda.
09/02, 9:54 AM
posted by:
jayjc08
OK, maybe that was sarcasm, but I don’t think V2 is being sarcastic.
If you REALLY want to hear a “European opinion” that matters… look up the Top Gear episode about the Cadillac CTS-V. And I seriously doubt Mark was being an “American being patriotic and writing propaganda”.
In other words, you’re full of it.
09/02, 10:05 AM
posted by:
melias
JayJC08,
Thanks for the comments. Actually I am just a small gear in this whole machine, but I will pass the kudos on. In the meantime please be patient as we get some of the glitches that come along with a new design ironed out.
V2: As for the old CTS-V, this new car is so much better, it’s not even funny. You’re right, time will tell as to whether parts will last, etc. But the new car can find its way around a corner pretty well. I think if you had a chance to see the old car next to the new one, not to mention drive them, even someone of your stature could see the difference.
Mark
09/02, 11:57 AM
posted by:
Z06ified
V2 - go back to Europe and orgasm over your SLOWER and inferior M5, or AMG. What American patriotism are you talking about? Americans don’t have patriotism for their own cars, especially journalists. American journalists love European cars more than the Europeans do! Well, except for the British - they’re just blatently biased.
Face it - the Europeans just got beat in the performance luxury sedan segment. Beat at their own game, and even at their own track! YOU LOSE.
09/02, 3:18 PM
posted by:
ktulu
Deliverance was not a good movie
I really like this car
it could B the best car GM has ever produced
Lexus sucksa
11/09, 1:41 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
Possibly the best car America has ever produced.
“Why you wouldn’t:
You eschew any type of excitement in your life.” Beauitiful piece of language, that.
crackerhemi: You done lost yo’ damn mind!
jayjc08: The toyota crown isn’t a competitor. The C63 AMG and M5 are.
11/21, 2:48 PM
posted by:
sarge81
this looks amazing