2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing
that will allow us to safely test it ourselves.) Before you scoff at this CT5-V Blackwing’s $114,645 price, consider that adjusted for inflation, a 1987 Allanté would cost about $122,000. This is a much better deal.
The engine is as close to Thor’s hammer as the post-norse world will know. Atop a pushrod 6.2-liter V-8 with titanium intake valves is an Eaton supercharger. Power peaks at 668 horses, and the engine spins to its 6500-rpm redline as if unencumbered by a flywheel. With 659 pound-feet of torque available, passengers won’t notice if you accidentally lug it in a higher-thanideal gear. They will, however, notice if you rip off three redline shifts in a quarter-mile pass of 11.6 seconds at 125 mph. As one staffer’s spouse put it to him: “I don’t like you driving this car.” There isn’t higher praise from an auto reviewer’s better half.
VERDICT: After 18 years, Cadillac V succeeded in its goal of taking on and beating the world’s best sports sedan.
Getting to 60 mph takes 3.6 seconds. Keep your foot in it for 17.9 seconds (something you can do thanks to no-lift shift programming) and 150 mph arrives. Those yet to master heel-andtoeing will love the automatic rev matching on downshifts, but we love that you can turn it on or off at any time with a dedicated console button.
When it was time to slow down, six-piston calipers grabbed our test car’s optional 15.7-inch front rotors while four-pot binders squeezed the 14.6-inch rears. Based on our laps at Virginia International Raceway, we expected shorter stops from 70 and 100 mph than the Cadillac’s 154- and 321-foot showings. This is about the only area where the big Blackwing’s performance is merely good instead of great. In every other way, it behaves like a much smaller car. Body motions are kept in check, the front-to-rear balance doesn’t overly stress the nose or tail in cornering, and every component works to hide the car’s heft from the driver. The chassis is daringly neutral, but meter in even a whiff too much power and the rear will step out in a controllable manner. Hold it at the limit and you’re turning at 1.02 g’s. Model-specific Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rubber, fitted on a decent stagger of 275/35ZR-19 in front and 305/30ZR19 in back, deserves credit too. Compared with off-the-shelf 4S tires, these include the polymer magic of Michelin’s track-attack Cup 2s. Both the steering and brakes are electrically assisted, but you’d never know from the natural efforts and I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-analog control feel. General Motors’ latest magnetorheological dampers can read and react to inputs 1000 times a second and will automatically change the ride as the task demands. Leave the suspension alone; it’s clever enough to trick Grandma into thinking this is her Deville. A four-step variable exhaust system takes the V-8’s operatic voice from pianissimo to fortissimo, though even in the quietest setting the cabin hums with 73 decibels at 70 mph and hits 87 with a wide-open throttle. It’ll even spike to 90 decibels with the exhaust in its most unneighborly mode. Mercedes’s engineers will envy the Blackwing’s ride quality, while Porsche’s will be in awe of how engaging the car is to drive. No one will envy the fuel economy. We averaged 13 mpg. Cycle among the four driver-selectable settings and you’ll notice a change in ride quality, steering heft, and engine sound. There are also two configurable modes to store your secret sauce, but Tour works well on all roads, proving that great chassis engineers know a great setup. Giving owners the freedom to tailor settings is one place where Cadillac followed the competition, but it didn’t need to. It’s just as possible that a million monkeys with typewriters will eventually write Shakespeare as it is that an owner will find something better than the settings GM chassis engineers created. Those same engineers dialed in the Performance Traction Management (PTM) software that uses varying degrees of stabilityand traction-control intervention to provide track drivers with a safety net. Cadillac’s development drivers used the most permissive mode, Race 2, when setting times. At VIR, they chased the 2:49.3 lap the Mercedes-amg GT63 S laid down at Lightning Lap a couple of years ago but came up 0.2 second short. The engineers made sure to tell us it was a preproduction car lapped in less-than-ideal conditions, their way of letting us know that we might do better. “Nobody sweats the details like GM” used to be an advertising tagline that nobody really believed. But it definitely applies to the CT5-V Blackwing. The grille mesh went through some 40 variations before engineers decided they’d achieved the best possible flow. And they prototyped, cut open, reworked, and resealed the mufflers countless times before finding this car’s intoxicating sound.
Driving the CT5-V Blackwing makes clear that it’s the sum of thousands of details, thoughtfully considered and executed. We’ll say it again: It’s one of the best sports sedans not only in recent memory but ever made. Buy one while you still can, before V succumbs to its own Ragnarök.