2016
Cadillac CTS-V
A
640-hp Nürburgring-eating CTS-V isn’t a natural descendant of the house of
Cadillac. The king of cush and the caesar of geezers was once none too
concerned with steering fidelity, roll gradients, lateral grip, and the like.
These were figuratively and literally foreign concepts, as the modern luxury
car—as sharp at clipping an apex as it is comfortable on the highway—is largely
a European conceit.
Cadillac
finally turned a corner in 2003 with its first CTS. Ever since then, the brand
has been hellbent on topping its German rivals. The 2016 CTS-V, which made its
debut at this year’s Detroit auto show, is Cadillac’s best chance yet to do so.
We’ve
already witnessed the third-generation CTS top the Mercedes-Benz E-class and
the BMW 5-series. Starting from the same cornerstone, the new CTS-V should have
Germany’s three big gunslingers—Audi RS, BMW M, and Mercedes-AMG—reaching
nervously for their lederhosen.
The
CTS-V has always been a kind of four-door Chevy Corvette. The new V ties the
Vette connection even tighter with an engine lifted from the ballistic Corvette
Z06. The engine is so lightly altered for Cadillac duty that the company could
have called this car the CTS-V06.
The
6.2-liter supercharged V-8 retains the LT4 moniker and packs the Z06’s forged
aluminum pistons, powder-metal forged connecting rods, titanium intake valves,
and an Eaton blower pushing 1.7 liters of air per rotation. Aside from the
intake and exhaust arrangements, the major difference between the Corvette and
CTS-V engines is the lubrication system. In the Corvette, the low hood and the
height of the supercharger dictate a dry sump and remote oil reservoir. The
relatively tall Cadillac doesn’t have the same hood-height issues, so oil
starvation is kept at bay in high-g corners by a deep sump, reducing complexity
and weight.
Given
the differences in their cooling systems and how the two cars breathe (plus the
always-lurking horsepower hierarchy dictated by brand management), all of the
Z06’s 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque won't materialize in the
Cadillac. Instead, the CTS-V is rated at 640 horsepower and 630 pound-feet. We
project a 0-60 mph blitz of 3.7 seconds en route to a 12.0-second quarter-mile
ET. Those figures would essentially match the BMW M5’s, but lag behind those of
the four-wheel-drive Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG and Audi RS7 by a quarter to half of
a second.
The
V’s top speed stands to be even more impressive. CTS chief engineer Tony Roma
was coy at first, saying only that his team aims for “a big number,” but he
eventually let on that they’re hoping the car will exceed 200 mph. At our
interview, the closest we got to a CTS-V in motion was firing the small-block
V-8 engine. Its eight cylinders came to life with a rabid bark that ricocheted
off the coved walls of our photo studio before the 6.2-liter settled into a
gravelly idle, fast and loud. The sound is as awesome as it is assertive,
though your neighbors may think otherwise when you leave the driveway at 6 a.m.
For those occasions, you’ll want to start the car in tour mode, which keeps the
muffler-bypass valves closed to quiet the snarl.
GM’s
own 8L90 eight-speed automatic is the sole transmission, a move that
disappoints but in no way surprises us. Roma offers a conciliatory maybe: “If
there’s enough fervor from the enthusiast community, we’ll consider doing a
manual.” Don’t hold your breath. With the forthcoming ATS-V to go toe-to-toe
with the BMW M3, the CTS-V now assumes a narrower role. There will be no coupe
or wagon, and the price swells from US$ 65,825 for the 2015 CTS-V sedan to
roughly US$ 85,000.
The
chassis follows the usual formula for making sedans sportier, including stiffer
springs, larger anti-roll bars, and firmer bushings. In the front suspension,
using two lower links instead of one control arm quickens steering response.
Magnetorheological dampers are standard, as is an electronically controlled
limited-slip differential borrowed from the CTS Vsport and modified with a heat
exchanger connected to the transmission’s cooling circuit.
Iron
brake discs mounted on aluminum hats measure 15.4 inches up front and 14.4 in
the rear. They’re squeezed by six- and four-piston calipers, respectively,
borrowed from the Camaro Z/28’s carbon-ceramic brake package. The rear discs
are so large, they’d be verboten in the World Challenge series where the current
CTS-V coupe competes. The brakes surely won’t shed heat quite like carbon
discs, but the added surface area of the massive rotors means the front discs
run 200 degrees Fahrenheit cooler while working than those of the outgoing car.
Michelin
tailored the Pilot Super Sport tires—265/35-19 front and 295/30-19
rear—specifically for the car, and the tires come out of their own bespoke
mold. Two different tread rubber compounds balance the contradictory goals of
extending tire life and maximizing cornering grip.
The
CTS-V is one car with one suspension. There are no upgrades, no optional big
wheels, and no add-on carbon-ceramic brakes. The only chassis-related choice
comes down to wheel finish. “These cars are meant to be the boutique offering,”
Roma explains. “We feel like good is good, so we’ve tuned the chassis and you
get the good stuff. You don’t have to check the track-package box. This is the
track package.”
Those
who do venture onto road circuits will benefit from the CTS-V’s first use of
the Performance Traction Management (PTM) system. First demonstrated on the
2010 Corvette ZR1 and now offered on all Corvettes, PTM’s five modes—from wet
to race—progressively loosen the stability-control system’s oversight. Track
rats also can record their exploits on the optional Performance Data Recorder,
which overlays vehicle data on a video captured by a camera mounted ahead of
the rearview mirror.
If
the CTS Vsport is any indication, the full-blown V should deliver some of the
purest steering feel out there—not just among the competition, but in all of
luxuryland. For the Cadillac team, it’s a product of philosophy more than an
engineering challenge. “If you look at the fundamental parts that a lot of our
competitors have in their cars, you’ll find architectural components that you
would put in a car to get what I call good steering feel,” Roma says. “So when
we go drive the resulting car, a lot of times we go, ‘Whoa, this is so
isolated.’ Clearly a lot of our competitors favor ride and isolation because
there is a trade-off to be made.”
The
CTS lineup benefits from an electric power-steering motor that connects to the
rack via a belt rather than a gear or a recirculating-ball system. When the car
passes over a pavement imperfection, there’s enough compliance in the belt for
the jostle at the tires to reach the steering wheel without being damped out by
the assist motor’s inertia. In the V, the steering supposedly becomes even more
direct when the PTM system is set to its highest levels, switching off the
electric power steering’s damping and self-centering functions.
The
V-specific weight-saving measures are few and limited, but the Alpha platform
on which the CTS is based has a lean bone structure to start with. Cadillac
claims a weight of 4145 pounds for the CTS-V, a drop of roughly 100 pounds from
the previous car. And while 4150 pounds isn’t light, it is less than the
4300-pound M5, the 4400-pound E63 AMG, and the 4500-pound RS7.
Less
weight is one advantage Cadillac has never held in previous comparisons. We’ll
soon know if the claim holds up, and more importantly, if Cadillac’s
long-running pursuit of Germany’s ultimate sports sedans has finally paid off.
Billed
as two cars in one, Cadillac delivers on that assurance with a host of
selectable integrated chassis controls with varying shades of performance and
comfort. As with other cars of its ilk, a driver can select Snow, Touring,
Sport, or Race drive modes, each with tailored gauges plus suspension,
steering, throttle, and transmission calibrations. What's different here,
however, is that within Race, five more levels of Performance Traction Management
(PTM) vary the amount of electronically controlled stability and traction
control, including a dedicated launch mode.
The
2016 Cadillac CTS-V is about to draw everyone's attention to the King's new
clothes and lay bare any doubt that this is the new benchmark in the supersedan
class. Badges be damned.
Source
: caranddriver
