Me, that's who.

Cadillac was nice enough to invite me and a guest to the Autobahn Country Club, a private racetrack in Joliet, to drive afew laps in the CTS-V coupe.

I won't get into a big review since most of you guys are pretty familiar with it. I will mention that I really like the (synthetic) suede seat inserts and steering wheel though.

I'll tell you, the power delivery is deceptively smooth. I mean, when you exit a corner and give it full throttle, you're expecting a tsunami explosion of power and torque. What you get though, is a gradual building of speed, as if you're connected to a gas turbine. It's hard to explain.

The brakes are just awesome. It's amazing how well they can slow this 4300 pound car as you enter a corner. Very confidence inspiring. And the chassis tuning and steering felt nearly unflappable. Great job GM! Awesome car.

But If I were buying one, I'd go with the sedan or wagon. Personal preference I guess, but I just think they look better than the coupe. And a 6 speed manual is a must.

 

Sweet, sounds very 5.4 SCish in the way it builds power.

 

The more I hear about the new CTSv coupe, the more it sounds like a modern day Thunderbird SC.

The jetliner-like smooth acceleration, the unflappable brakes and handling... and the higher than one's used to price and the heavier than one's used to weight.... in a car that benchmarked BMW's finiest performance. But cost many thousand dollars less.

 

Yeah, I guess in the context of a hefty car which really hauls ***. But I'd put the V into a completely different league though.

 

Alot of the new high powered cars don't seem as fast as you think they would be. Could be from alot of things. Probably has alot to do with all the electronic nannies butting in.

I mean, if I had no idea of what a CTS-V was, my butt dyno would say it's got around 450-ish hp. Maybe even less. I felt the same way when I first drove an LS2 Corvette. I was very fast mind you, but I was expecting insanely fast from it's 400 hp.

OTOH, cars like the 4.6 powered Mustang GT seem faster to me than I'd expect from 300 hp.

Kinda weird.

 

Yeah I know its not what you had in mind for the Z28....we wont' go into that...

But are S/C engines not a blast to drive? I haven't messed w/my exhaust because I like the sound of the blower better...

Edit: btw I'm jealous!

 

I know with my car (being supercharged) it builds power in a very linear fashion when you smack the loud pedal, no big explosive surge and nosing over at some point. (peak power is at 6000 rpm and the limiter hits at 6250 rpm)

I'm sure the OE's also employ pretty subdued throttle opening rates with the drive by wire system. One of the tuning tricks employed by aftermarket guys is to change the rate that the throttle opens relative to how fast you mash the gas.

I know of one case where a tuner's "race" tune employs their most aggressive street tune and just maximizes the rate at which the throttle opens.

Then again its probably for the better, it proabably keeps alot of people from permanently fusing themselves into concrete barriers or doing dounuts in the middle of a traffic jam.

 

Driver's side intake on the S-197's FTW! Its amazing how much sound travels down the intake path from the blower, with the factory box it was pretty subdued, but when I switched to an open element CAI it really allowed the whir of the compressor to come through.

 

No it's not, but I enjoy driving cars with different performance characteristics. Disparate cars like a CTS-V, Miata or HHR SS for example, can ALL be great fun, but in different ways.

Yup, that's exactly how it felt to me. The throttle would be opened at whichever rate the computer determined was appropriate, regardless of how fast my foot was manipulating the gas pedal. There's alot of that business going on with modern cars, especially really powerful ones. I know all of the reasons for it, but it does kind of insulate you from the driving experience. Kind of like having sex with a gym sock on.

I remember the old aircooled Porsche 930/911 turbos. Man, those cars were just animals. When you hit boost, it felt like you were rear ended by a speeding freight train. They were incredibly thrilling to drive, but you needed to be very attentive and focused if you were going to give them full throttle.

 

That's exactly what I hate about every single torque-managed LS motor that I've ever driven. My old 91 corvette is more fun to stab the throttle on than my friend's 2010 Grand Sport.

Though the cost had the greatest impact, it's also got a lot to do with me not buying a new Camaro. When I drove it, I was really let down by the factory tune, and couldn't swallow the idea of a $36k car payment on a car that I'd immediately void the warranty on with a new tune.

 

What exactly do you mean by "torque-managed"?

I've certainly never had a problem with throttle response in the LS cars I've driven. Several LS1s, a few LS2s, a few LS6s, two LS7s, an LS4 (fwd)... Not to mention various electronic throttle truck engines (5.3L, 6.0L).

 

Not... jealous...

http://www.camerephotography.com/cli...eries/vseries/

I got to do it too.

I got to tear up the track with the CTS-V coupe and let me tell you. It's nothing like you would expect looking at the spec sheet. Lots of power on a big car... but it feels.. dare i say... nimble... it loves to begin thrown around in the track. I drove it in the West Palm Beach International Raceway.

I was having so much fun... I was driving a manual CTS-V and the guy in front of me with a Porsche that wouldn't shut up about his driving skills was driving the Automatic (excuse? he didn't fell comfortable with it). At the 2nd lap my instructor had to call the one front of us so he would let me pass. (Porsche guy) He wouldn't talk to me the rest of the day. That was great

Anyway... yes... the CTS-V coupe is bad.. and if i had the money i would jump on it.

We do have video coming of our drives.. so I will share mine as soon as I get it.


Note: not me driving.. just a shoot of the other group racing around.

 

Yeah, I'd call it nimbler than what you'd expect. Very composed is how I'd describe it, in every way. When the video is up, it'll tell me my speeds, but I didn't feel one bit uncomfortable pouring on ALL of it's power, or ALL of it's brakes, or ALL of it's chassis. It's just a really nice package.

I had a problem with the guy in front of me too. I don't know who he was, (we were all Cadillac, BMW, Audi owners), but I caught up with him and the instructor made me stop for afew seconds to re-open a gap.

 

Side rant:

This CTS coupe business irritates me to no end.

Someone inform GM that CTC makes much more sense.

 

I'm with you on this. S=sedan C=coupe