At recent auto show appearances, Cadillac has been clear about the German luxury cars in its sights. This continues with the 2016 Cadillac CTS-V, the third incarnation and most direct shot at Ms and AMGs.
It helps to have a good-looking base. The current CTS works well with the styling Cadillac is promoting right now – lots of chrome and LEDs, but classier than before. And this new CTS-V’s larger wheels, mesh grille and deeper fascia don’t fuss up the design too much.
That said, the available carbon fiber appearance package shown on one of the cars at the Detroit Auto Show made the car look fussier than necessary. Or maybe that was because it was on the CTS-V with the matte white paint that looked super attractive on the ATS-V Coupe shown in LA a couple months ago.
The interior retains the standard CTS’s design, but there’s a great big helping of carbon fiber trim and Ultrasuede or whatever they’d like to call it here. If you were on a track trying to use as much of the supercharged 6.2-liter V8’s 640 horsepower as possible, though, the optional Recaro front seats might be worth it.
Cadillac’s leaders seem adamant this car is about awesome performance, and all stats point to it being a lighter, stronger rival to the M5 and E63. And for the moment, Cadillac may have made the most seductive one. Coming from an M5, the CTS-V is a nice reminder that a large sports sedan doesn’t have to bulge in strange places.
On the face of it, Cadillac appears to have finally built a big, fast German sedan.
Photos: Zac Estrada / Carscoops.com
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