The date was Dec. 22nd 2003 and General Motors was enjoying the pinnacle of the American Auto Industry; their stock was cresting over the $53 mark! Fast forward 5 short years and GM is barely making ends meet, and their poor stock has looked the worse for wear: under $5 a share. Although the bottom has recently fallen out, GM is ignoring, no challenging the 92% stock tumble with the New 2009 Cadillac CTS-V! That’s right; the General Motors Performance division has given us the fastest, most powerful, awe-inspiring Cadillac ever….the CTS-V.
Let me tell you that right off the bat this is no old people car. I remember the Cadillac’s of my youth; big, long, heavy, and slow! But yes they were super comfortable and loaded to the brim with options. Well the newest generation of Cadillac’s has all the goods. The first generation CTS-V came with the capable LS engine from the C5 Corvette and a six-speed transmission. The car also had a beefier drive-train, sporty suspension, 18-inch wheels, and a redesigned look. The totally redesigned 2004 CTS-V looked to challenge the reigning kings of the Super Luxury car world; the Mercedes C63 AMG, BMW M5, and Audi RS.
The 400-hp first generation CTS-V held its own pretty well in a sea of performance luxury sedans. Fast forward a few years and the new generations of the BMW M5 and Mercedes C63 AMG got some more power and grew a bit faster. With the long-anticipated release of the greatest American Sports car ever; the corvette ZR-1, Cadillac was looking to claim the top spot once again in the luxury world. The new that the New 2009 CTS-V would sport a detuned version of the LSA V-8 engine (still sporting over 550 hp), the same six-speed short throw transmission as the Corvette, some super high-tech magnetic tuned suspension that I can’t understand, and Recaro seats; this car was making waves in the auto community long before it’s shake-down runs!
Soon there was talk about a black demon making ridiculously fast lap times around the Nürburgring, a famed testing ground in Germany. This was in fact the 2009 Cadillac CTS-V. While on its way to posting a sub 8 minute time (the course is 12.9 miles long), this CTS-V set the fastest time by a Sedan on stock tires. Beating out the Mercedes CLK 63 AMG, the BMW M5, Audi RS4, Porsche 911 Carrera, and a Dodge Viper; this Cadillac is all business. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordschleife_fastest_lap_times)
There are those BMW motorheads that are so stubborn they will not concede the victory to the CTS-V. They argue the BMW M5 was a 2008 and this Cadillac is a year newer. They will argue that nothing can touch a BMW’s quality and reliability; even though Cadillac is #3 behind Lexus and Buick in terms of reliability. They argue that a BMW or Mercedes is the cream of the crop and knowledgeable car buyers (yuppies) only settle for the best. But the real kicker and moral of the story is that the Mercedes will set you back $80k and the BMW costs $85k. So how much is Cadillac charging for superior performance? How’s $65k sound? That’s right for a whopping $25k less than an M5, you can have an American car that will kick the piss out of anything on the road!
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