In recent times, Cadillac has had its sights trained on German premium brands in terms of performance and driver appeal, which is logical since the GM luxury brand shares prospects with the likes of BMW and Audi. In a bid to match the imports, Cadillac is now training where the Germans train – we’re of course talking about the mother of all test circuits, Nurburgring.
In the video above, you’ll see the new 2014 Cadillac CTS Vsport, a rival to the 5-Series and A6, lapping the famous track. Measuring 20.8 km and including some 154 turns, the Nurburgring’s Nordschleife (north loop) is widely considered the world’s most-demanding course for vehicle validation.
The CTS Vsport is powered by Cadillac’s first twin-turbo engine (420 hp from 3.6 litres) and eight-speed automatic transmission, not to be confused with the upcoming next-gen CTS-V performance flagship, which will take on the BMW M5. Think of Vsport as Caddy’s M Sport.
“The new CTS was an absolute riot to drive on the Ring. It’s more athletic and refined, and the Vsport proved extremely capable. If a car performs well on the Ring, it will perform well on any road in the world,” said vehicle dynamics performance engineer Kevin Zelenka.
So how did it do? The CTS Vsport recorded a lap time of 8:14.10, which is almost six seconds faster than what the first-gen CTS-V recorded 10 years ago, although it’s some way off the outgoing 556 hp CTS-V’s time of 7:59. Quite near the E60 M5‘s time though, just one second slower than the V10 hero.
Cadillac came away from the test happy, and says that the Nurburgring lap times enhances the nameplate’s reputation as a driver’s car, adding that Nurburgring validation certified that all CTS suspension packages are capable of handling the extreme conditions and unlimited speeds of Autobahn driving.
The third-gen CTS range, powered by either a 2.0 turbo four-cylinder or 3.6L NA V6, will start at $46,025 (RM145,415). The RWD-only twin-turbo V6 CTS Vsport starts at $59,995 (RM189,492) in the US.
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That body roll. They should hire Lotus to tune their suspension.
Reviewers had already mentioned that the “normal” CTS already matches if not actually beating the handling of the 5 Series. Hopefully this one (the V) will shame the M5 too. Bring on American powarrhhh!! Its been a long time since American cars have been exciting, so credit to them for what its worth. Its just too bad these cars will never grace Malaysia, though I have seen the previous generation CTS before in the flesh, and what a beauty that was. The new CTS (and the new ATS too) just looks a bit too sharp for my liking. But I guess thats the Cadillac corporate identity now.
E60 M5 also cannot beat, how to beat f10?
This is no M5 competitor, it is more of a 535i/540i M Sport competitor…. M5 have the CTS-V..
no matter how good it is, it still looks ugly.
you’re blind.. go check your eyes..
i’m guessing in your eyes, the current camry looks good then?
A recond 2013 cadillac escalade being sold at rm2 million….crazy…it cost no more than rm400k in the US….
This is not the Caddies of the old times….
Brand new 2013 cadillac escalade cost between usd63k to usd82k in the states……but in malaysia it cost rm2mil to rm3mil….
In my opinion Cadillac is better than Ford’s Lincoln… There is enough distinction between Caddy and its cheaper brethren… Rear wheel drive, different platform… Lincoln nowadays is simply just a rebadged Ford…. MKS is a souped up Ford Taurus, MKZ is a souped up Ford Fusion (Mondeo)…
Walawei. Cheaper than my mazda 6. Rm 180k.
very cheap.. but if it is sold in Bolehland, the price will be “cheaper”.. eh, cheaper..?? hahahaha..
Well no prizes for guessing where a big chunk feom the cost of an imported car goes to in Malaysia.
American cars ugly??Serious?Did you know that in US many US cars are kept more than 25 years in prestine condition and still running strong,,I love their unique V8 sound rather than Euro V8 SOUND