Cadillac CT5

Model Years Produced: 2020 to Current

Summary

Cadillac’s mission is seemingly to confuse its customers with names. The CT5 is the replacement for the Cadillac CTS, the CT5-V is the replacement for the CTS Sport, and the CT5-V Blackwing is the replacement for the CTS-V.

The CTS has always struggled as a midsize luxury sedan. The Germans consistently had nicer cabins and could go toe-to-toe on performance even with the pumped-up CTS-V, so the only reason to get one was for the perceived higher reliability and lower running costs of having an American vehicle. The CT5 suffers from some of these same maladies, though with the end of internal combustion engines seemingly on the horizon – especially in in the case of Cadillac, who is going all-in on electric vehicles – the performance versions of the CT5 are some of the best sport sedans that money can buy if fun is what you’re after.

For the first time, Cadillac has found a way to thoroughly decimate the Germans.

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CT5-V

Like its CT4 little brother, the CT5-V is overshadowed by the Blackwing trim. Even so, the non-Blackwing V is a great sporty sedan, with a healthy twin-turbo V6 under the hood plus a standard limited-slip differential and magnetic-ride dampers.

Reviews

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CT5-V Blackwing

The CT5-V Blackwing is simply the best American super sedan ever made.

A common criticism lobbed at cars like the BMW M5 and Audi RS7 is that they lack “personality” or feel too “insulated.” A drive in the Blackwing shows exactly what that means. Its supercharged small-block V8 – borrowed from the C7 Corvette and Camaro ZL1 but massaged to produce even more power – sounds spectacular and propels the CT5 like a bat out of hell, and its curb weight is significantly lower than its German rivals too – helpful for going around corners. When fitted with the optional automatic transmission, there’s some pretty great tech available too, like Cadillac’s much-lauded SuperCruise.

Where the Blackwing unfortunately does fall short is in the quality of its interior materials, an area that GM has struggled with for decades. They’re not bad, certainly a significant improvement over the previous generations of the CTS, but they still don’t live up to the likes of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes.

That said, while the Germans might be better on paper, you can’t drive a spec sheet.

Reviews