Edmunds Licks the CTS-V to Death

[79VetteZ06]

Sick With Power

Oh, also I'm nauseated. This is what happens once you've spent a couple laps in the passenger seat of the 2009 Cadillac CTS-V while being hurled around the test track at GM's proving ground in Milford, Michigan.

Thanks to the Sparco racing seat and five-point racing harness that GM has added for safety reasons, my body is bound tightly to the vehicle. It's the stuff inside of my body that I wish were more securely strapped down. There's a steep hillock about three turns into the proving ground's road course that's immediately followed by the "toilet bowl," a heavily banked left-hander that's supposed to replicate the Nürburgring's Karussell. This particular section is evil.

Given that the CTS-V's LSA V8 is simply a dressed-down version of the 637-horspower LS9 V8 in the ZR1, it should come as no surprise that there's more power to be had from this relatively unstressed motor. Dave Mikels, the CTS-V's powertrain integration engineer, reckons a 10 percent boost in horsepower should be within easy reach for a tuner. "I know because we've done it in development," says Mikels with the sly smile that inevitably comes when boys talk about horsepower.

In any case, so smooth and consistent is the acceleration of the 2009 Cadillac CTS-V that I might have been unaware of the magnitude of the accelerative force had I not been involuntarily tensing my abdominal muscles in a fruitless attempt to stay upright. Turns out, muscles are unaware that seatbacks can perform this duty — particularly muscles so unaccustomed to being roused.

That's not a small amount of money, but it's a hell of a lot of horsepower.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

WTF does it matter?

Soon enough GM will stop offering cars this sweet anyway.

I hope everyone jacks off over a 138hp "PERFORMANCE" Astra in the same manner.

[Windy-57]

WTF does it matter?

I asked myself the same question and actually came up with an answer:

It matters because a CTS-V with this much power and performance helps put the overall lineup in the same league as the BMW 5-Series. That means a combined STS/DTS replacement will be enough above the CTS in the current market landscape. It also means they can offer a sedan below the CTS that can have some true luxury and performance aspects and that's key because it won't jeopardize the status of the brand. It sounds odd, but a 565 hp sedan from Cadillac helps adjust their lineup to be more relevant in a world of increasing gas prices.

[Lamar]

I asked myself the same question and actually came up with an answer:

It matters because a CTS-V with this much power and performance helps put the overall lineup in the same league as the BMW 5-Series. That means a combined STS/DTS replacement will be enough above the CTS in the current market landscape. It also means they can offer a sedan below the CTS that can have some true luxury and performance aspects and that's key because it won't jeopardize the status of the brand. It sounds odd, but a 565 hp sedan from Cadillac helps adjust their lineup to be more relevant in a world of increasing gas prices.

Let me see where you're going with this, and also score off it...

The smaller sedan (almost certainly a 3-Series, C-Class, and A4 fighter) should end up selling in higher volumes than the big brothers CTS and STS/DTS/DT7/VHF/whatever. And it will probably be more fuel-efficient than either of the bigger cars, especially if they offer a smaller engine (small turbo-4, de-stroked HF?). And this can help CAFE and enable Caddy to, for lack of a better word, breathe. Meaning the V-Series will live on, since it's really a niche/halo line anyway.

[ShadowDog]

The last 'hurrah'? Probably not. Like everything else in this upside-down world, expensive fuel-sucking vehicles built purely for the fun of it will only be accessible to the affluent.

[Drew Dowdell]

*sigh*... it'll never be as good as BMW because it has pushrods, doesn't have 22.7 surround sound, 93 way power adjustable seats with power reach around.....</sarcasm>

[CARBIZ]

*sigh*... it'll never be as good as BMW because it has pushrods, doesn't have 22.7 surround sound, 93 way power adjustable seats with power reach around.....</sarcasm>

'power reach around?' Where can I get me one of those?

[Windy-57]

Let me see where you're going with this, and also score off it...

The smaller sedan (almost certainly a 3-Series, C-Class, and A4 fighter) should end up selling in higher volumes than the big brothers CTS and STS/DTS/DT7/VHF/whatever. And it will probably be more fuel-efficient than either of the bigger cars, especially if they offer a smaller engine (small turbo-4, de-stroked HF?). And this can help CAFE and enable Caddy to, for lack of a better word, breathe. Meaning the V-Series will live on, since it's really a niche/halo line anyway.

That's basically it, but my point was that, until now, the CTS has been somewhere between the 3-Series and 5-Series and every inch it moves upmarket, including the addition of a monster performer like this, the more room there is for a true 3-Series competitor below it.

Also, I think GM is prioritizing the importance of their fuel suckers in order to meet the upcoming CAFE standards and I think it's evident that the list goes something like:

1. Pickups

2. Corvette line

3. V-Series

4. Large SUVs

5. Pontiac

6. Hummer

[2chevs]

Well on a different note, thats the new blue for 2009 ;-)

[The O.C.]

This car, the '09 CTS V-Series, is a PRIME EXAMPLE of the kind of product planning that GM has needed to do in order to recapture their glory from the imports.....

.....and that is, not only match the competition, but beat the living pants off of them! This car is so over the top, it's going to really pull in alot of people (well, relative to how many they actually build of the V) that would not have considered a GM product before.

I honestly believe you'll have guys in their M5s and AMG Benzs seriously considering this car....as fast as those cars are, this one spanks them.....

Now....I don't believe that Cobalts or G6s or Malibus need to go 0-60 in 3.9secs to beat their contemporaries in the marketplace, but they need the same kind of dedication to excellence in development that obviously went into this new CTS-V.

That's what GM has been lacking......

[turbo200]

it's a great blue. the bulish gray color is all over here on new 3er coupes and the new c-class. it's the new import color du jour, and I can understand it, elegant, shows the lines well, and it's just a great color.