After the drive, thoughts on the 2010 Cadillac CTS-V

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The story so far: I picked up a 2010 Cadillac CTS-V from Crest Cadillac in Plano to test drive last weekend.  Saturday with TexasJim, then Sunday Drive are the other articles in the series.

I dropped the Cadillac CTS-V off at Crest Cadillac Monday morning and picked up my 2005 Cadillac CTS.    I would like to say another big Thank you! to Crest Cadillac for hosting the test drive.

Cadillac CTS-V

Overall the Cadillac CTS-V is almost perfect, and an amazing car for the price.  I wanted to wrap up by adding a few notes on the experience.

The Recaro Sport Seats are a desirable option even if you don’t plan to track the car.  They are comfortable and offer additional features such as seat cooling vents and additional adjustments compared to the standard seats.

The Bluetooth interface and Ipod integration both worked seamlessly.  My cell phone would re-pair each time I got in the CTS-V with no fuss.

In terms of seating and gadgetry the CTS-V is Wife-Approved, which is the highest award given in this category.

The uber-panzer CTS-V averaged about 16 mpg while I had it in a mix of city and highway driving, with no attempt whatsoever to conserve fuel at any point.  As I have mentioned, the Cadillac CTS-V is on my list of great places to invest gas money.  I appreciate a test drive is different from living with repeated refills of premium fuel, but the fun per gallon of this car is so high I think it is well worth it.

Overall the LSA supercharged V8 engine is delightful.  It revs freely, it pulls from idle to redline, it is well behaved in every situation.  At idle it does remind you that it is there, but not in an objectionable way.    I am very excited to see this powertrain in more Cadillac vehicles.  This makes me continue to think we should have the 3.6L as the base engine in the CTS, with the LS3 V8 as the premium engine and the LSA as the V Series power.

The MR Suspension — my son commented that the CTS-V did not feel any different from my ‘soft’ ride FE1 CTS.  After reflecting for a second, I think that is the point.  I have seen these cars screaming around the race track, and now I have seen them comfortably easing around town, to church, etc.  This car is perfectly tuned for almost anything you want to throw at it, and it all happens behind the scenes automatically.

I love the sculpting of the dome on the hood, required to clear the supercharger.  It gives just the right hint of “attitude” from the driver’s seat.

Conclusion: Having weighed the features, advantages, and disadvantages of the Cadillac CTS-V, I find it a very desirable package.  A lightly used CTS-V is on my watch list as a future vehicle.

My Host for this test drive is Crest Cadillac of Plano, Texas.  They are located at 2701 North Central Expressway, Plano, Texas.  You can contact them by phone Toll-free at 1-866-697-9144 or locally at (972)578-7511, or on Twitter or Facebook

Cadillac CTS: Art & Science, or Avoiding Compromise

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What makes a perfect car?  Every car is a set of compromises selected by the manufacturer for a target audience.  The cars that seem the most true, or pure in their form, are cars that are consistently aimed toward one purpose.  When a tool becomes only good for one purpose however, it also then has a limited market.

A sports car which is light at the expense of interior space, loud at the expense of weight savings from insulative materials, but has the best engine available at the time, seems focused.  A family sedan with an efficient but less powerful engine and a higher MPG rating, lots of room and storage space, and extra cupholders has the right set of compromises for its intended audience.

What makes a perfect luxury car?  A luxury car has fewer compromises.  The luxury is when given a choice between being a live hyena or a dead lion, to get to be the live lion.  Instead of choosing between a great dinner at a 5-star restaurant or a date with a Super-model, you get to have dinner at a 5-star restaurant with a Super-model, and she turns out to be very interesting to chat with.

Put another way, a luxury car compromises cash for capability.

A performance luxury Cadillac can offer a premium, high-strength light weight chassis like the Sigma II.  It can offer efficient and powerful, high tech, smooth engines like the LLT high-premium direct-injected 3.6L V6.  It can offer variable suspension electronics, traction control, stability control, and terrific exterior styling.  A luxury car can include interior appointments sculpted from high-durability, hand-sewn textures and materials that exude elegance. A performance luxury car can offer the latest technology, and be a moving work of art at the same time.  That is the luxury, art and science, albeit at a price.

When asked to recommend a model of a particular type of Cadillac, almost always the best recommendation I have is that the purchaser buy the newest one that the purchaser can afford.    Cadillac improves the breed each year, with new performance, safety, and efficiency features.  A performance luxury Cadillac is a car one can afford after one ‘arrives’.  Generally, it is not a starter car.  It can be a statement, but more often I find that it is a vehicle selected by Owners who have a certain appreciation of automobiles, and want an American performance luxury sedan.

Why do I drive a performance luxury sedan?  Because I want more car, with fewer compromises.

2010 CTS-V Test Drive: Sunday Drive

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The story so far: I picked up a 2010 Cadillac CTS-V from Crest Cadillac in Plano to test drive this weekend.

Midnight Sapele Wood

One feature of the CTS-V I am driving is the Midnight Sapele Wood accents.  This is a shot in direct sunlight to try to give an impression of the color of the wood trim.  The wood trim inserts are on the doors, the steering wheel, and along the center console and shifter.

The Sapele is a large tree native to tropical Africa, and is a member of the Mahogany family.  It is sought after for its durability, and beautiful graining.  The heartwood is pink when freshly cut, but it matures to a red-brown or purple-brown color.  For the CTS-V the Sapele has been darkened to create the midnight effect, while maintaining clear graining.

Navigation screen showing XM Information

Sunday Drive

Sunday afternoon I took the Cadillac CTS-V out for a wandering drive near Lake Lavon.  I left the navigation system up, but just kind of meandered in a general direction out near and around the lake.  I alternated between windows down and sunroof open to enjoy the afternoon, and all buttoned up and quiet to enjoy the Jazz playing on XM.

Coming out of a left hand sweeping corner I was delighted to discover that the CTS-V would downshift and chirp the wide, grippy rear tires when accelerating from 60 mph.  Nothing dramatic, and constantly under control.  But ‘normal’ cars just don’t have enough power to do that.  The LSA engine in the CTS-V is simply spectacular.  It has torque in spades throughout the rev range, which makes it easy to drive at a creep into the drive way or at full song down a long straight away.  The six speed automatic was first released in the STS-V and XLR-V, and I think the programming / calibration of this great transmission are most at home and in sync with a high power engine.

I don’t have the right venue to test the CTS-V’s absolute cornering limits, but I can say with some confidence that if you exceed them on the highway you are probably ‘doing it wrong’.    I wondered if because the CTS-V has such a powerful engine whether it might be a handful in day to day driving.  It absolutely is not.  It is so perfectly accomplished and composed that you really would have to go out of your way to get in trouble with this car.

When you look at the configuration, the CTS-V is not trying to be a BMW, Mercedes, or Audi.  This is a classic American solution to going faster — an efficient, high-output, tuned large displacement V8 up in front where God intended the engine to be, huge brakes, strong suspension, and the largest wheels and tires that fit.    The CTS-V is an American Sports Sedan.

Thanks to Crest Cadillac

My Host for this test drive is Crest Cadillac of Plano, Texas.  They are located at 2701 North Central Expressway, Plano, Texas.  You can contact them by phone Toll-free at 1-866-697-9144 or locally at (972)578-7511, or on Twitter or Facebook