2016 Cadillac CTS-V: Just How Good is the Cadillac with the Corvette Engine?

MotorTrend

On this episode of Ignition

Transcript

00:00 (dramatic music)

00:02 Time flies, people.

00:04 Even on a Daytona-winning Rolex.

00:06 Guess what?

00:07 This is the third generation Cadillac CTS-V.

00:11 It's got the engine straight out of the Corvette Z06.

00:15 640 horsepower, 630 pound-feet of torque.

00:20 I'm a race car driver.

00:22 This is a racetrack.

00:24 Let's go.

00:25 (dramatic music)

00:27 (dramatic music)

00:30 (dramatic music)

00:40 Leaving pit lane in the third generation Cadillac CTS-V.

00:53 The rumble's different.

00:56 It's now more of a cyber rumble

00:58 done electronically through the exhaust.

01:01 Still sounds strong.

01:04 But I miss that old pure Chevy V8 sound.

01:12 It's still a V8, and it's a monster.

01:18 Supercharged, 640 horse,

01:21 running an automatic transmission.

01:26 Good running car.

01:28 Broad torque curve.

01:29 We're pulling 135 on the way into turn eight,

01:33 and I can sit here and talk to you.

01:35 This is a good handling car.

01:36 Look at the relaxation of my hands.

01:39 120 miles an hour in turn eight.

01:42 That's a sign of how well balanced that the CTS-V chassis is.

01:46 It's always been an impressively good handling car,

01:50 and this third generation is better yet.

01:54 (engine revving)

01:57 (tires squealing)

02:01 (horn honking)

02:03 (engine revving)

02:07 (tires squealing)

02:10 (engine revving)

02:12 (tires squealing)

02:16 (engine revving)

02:19 (tires squealing)

02:22 (engine revving)

02:26 (tires squealing)

02:28 (engine revving)

02:39 (tires squealing)

02:52 (engine revving)

02:55 (tires squealing)

03:20 (engine revving)

03:22 - Hey, Randy.

03:44 - Hi, Johnny.

03:45 - How is the CTS-V?

03:47 - It's got really good handling.

03:49 It's powerful, strong brakes.

03:51 I like it better than the Corvette.

03:53 - So let me ask you a question.

03:54 I know you just did Pike's Peak.

03:56 How do you think the CTS-V would do as a hill climb car?

03:59 - This would be a terrific hill climb car.

04:01 It's got a supercharger to help compensate

04:03 for the altitude, strong brakes, good stable handling.

04:07 It'd be good.

04:08 - Well, this is what I wanted to hear,

04:09 because I just entered this car

04:11 in the 44th annual Virginia City Hill Climb,

04:14 and I'm driving.

04:15 - Really?

04:17 - Oh, yeah.

04:19 - Johnny, you better get in.

04:21 I think you need some tips.

04:22 - Done.

04:23 - Apex late.

04:27 - Apex late.

04:28 - Late, over there on the right.

04:29 Now, late again, and I'll get kind of close,

04:32 'cause you want to set up for the,

04:34 set up close.

04:35 So you set up for this,

04:37 'cause it's important to get a good run through here.

04:40 See how long this entry is?

04:42 Then apex very late right here.

04:44 Go straight for a moment.

04:46 Down in here, yeah.

04:48 And don't be stabby.

04:50 Smooth, especially, you know, a long, slow brake release.

04:54 And on the power, you have a tendency to get on, off,

04:56 on, off.

04:58 Look ahead, feed that power on gradually.

05:01 Well, whatever you do, don't do what I did at Pike's Peak.

05:06 (tires screeching)

05:10 (upbeat music)

05:13 (dog barking)

05:16 Virginia City is your classic Western boom town.

05:22 The massive Comstock Lode was discovered there in 1859,

05:26 just before the Civil War broke out,

05:28 turning the mining camp

05:30 into one of the wealthiest cities on earth.

05:32 Rumor holds that the town got its name

05:34 when a prospector named Old Virginia Finney

05:37 dropped and subsequently smashed a bottle of whiskey

05:40 on the steps of a saloon.

05:42 Virginia City also happens to be high up on Mount Davidson,

05:46 and the road, Highway 342, is quite treacherous.

05:49 Luckily for driving enthusiasts,

05:51 Story County went ahead and built Highway 341,

05:55 a truck bypass parallel-ish to 342

05:58 that serves as the course for the Virginia City hill climb.

06:02 I've been graciously invited to participate

06:04 in the 44th running of the climb.

06:06 First run in 1964 by a Bay Area Aston Martin owners group,

06:11 the modern version of the event is jointly put on

06:13 by the Ferrari Club of America Pacific Region

06:16 and the NorCal Shelby Club.

06:18 The climb itself is 5.2 miles long

06:22 and rises 1,200 feet in elevation along the way.

06:25 There are 20 major turns to deal with.

06:28 Both lanes are at your disposal,

06:29 and there's no speed limit whatsoever.

06:32 (engine revving)

06:36 (upbeat music)

06:39 (engine revving)

06:42 So you can't talk about the new CTS-V

06:45 until you talk about the previous second generation CTS-V,

06:48 and that was a car I loved, the wagon specifically,

06:52 because, remember, it had a 6.2 liter supercharged LSA V8,

06:57 556 horsepower, 553 pound feet of torque,

07:01 and a six-speed manual.

07:03 It was just so cool.

07:04 This generation, though, things have changed.

07:08 Yes, more power, and we will get to that,

07:11 but I hope you like four doors with automatic transmissions,

07:14 'cause that's all you get.

07:15 There's no coupe.

07:16 They've told me point blank to my face a million times.

07:18 There's no wagon.

07:19 I think it's a big mistake, not just because I love wagons,

07:21 but because Cadillac wants to become a global brand.

07:25 (engine revving)

07:28 That said, the new CTS-V, it's a hell of a beast.

07:32 Back to the engines, the LT4,

07:35 it's the same engine that's in the Z06.

07:37 It's detuned marginally, so instead of 650 horsepower

07:42 and 650 pound feet of torque,

07:43 we're talking 640 horsepower, 630 pound feet of torque.

07:48 There's nothing close to it, except for, of course,

07:52 the Hellcat, but that's a much bigger, much heavier,

07:55 much sloppier car.

07:57 General Motors, specifically, Cadillac, Camaro, and Corvette

08:01 has invested a massive amount of money

08:04 in developing cars on the Nurburgring.

08:06 Why do you develop cars on the Nurburgring?

08:08 To make 'em better.

08:10 The Nurburgring just beats the hell out of anything,

08:13 and so what you get is you get these wonderful chassis.

08:15 This is the Alpha chassis, the Alpha platform,

08:18 which is the same as the ATS,

08:20 which is the same as the upcoming,

08:21 about to be launched Camaro, and it's magnificent.

08:25 Stiff, light, imagine the best E46 BMW M3 you ever drove.

08:30 This is like that, just blown up.

08:33 Terrific chassis.

08:36 As for the road, I like this road.

08:38 This is the kind of road I grew up driving.

08:40 It's similar to some of the Cans in Malibu,

08:43 or like Big Tujunga, or Angeles Forest.

08:45 There's nothing super technical about this road.

08:48 There's no blind, off-camber, decreasing radiuses.

08:52 It's just a big, flowing road.

08:54 I can tell already, it's high speed,

08:57 not a lot of brake zones.

08:59 And not only is this road gonna be good for me,

09:01 it's gonna be great for the CTS-V,

09:03 because cars like this, big luxury sedans

09:06 with all the horsepower in the known universe,

09:08 they love roads like this, where you can just get on it,

09:11 not a ton of braking, really just use that power,

09:14 use the great chassis, and flow from one corner to the next.

09:17 I'm not really seeing anything that's gonna trip me up.

09:20 There's no one corner where I was like, whoa.

09:23 The one thing that's a little scary

09:25 is there's no shoulders whatsoever,

09:27 and if you go off that way,

09:29 you're gonna fall down a silver mine.

09:31 But aside from that, it's a pretty good road.

09:33 The pavement's in great quality.

09:36 I like it, I like it a lot.

09:38 The thing is, I'm not going absolutely nuts right now,

09:42 but tomorrow when I'm competing

09:44 and Sunday when I'm competing,

09:46 things change as you go faster.

09:47 I'll never forget that Sterling Moss,

09:50 when he was talking about the 55 Mille Miglia,

09:53 saying, "We pre-ran the route at 120 miles an hour,

09:56 "everything seemed fine, but at 170,

09:58 "that little crest became a jump."

10:01 (engine revving)

10:02 I'm gonna have fun.

10:03 I don't know if I'm gonna be competitive

10:04 in any way, shape, or form,

10:05 but I know I'm gonna have a really good time.

10:08 Saturday is considered a practice day.

10:15 After a long, but entertaining, safety briefing,

10:18 rookies were given three practice runs

10:20 with an instructor in the passenger seat.

10:22 The idea is that you get a chance to practice on the hill

10:25 while a wiser driver tells you about the tricky bits.

10:28 At some point, I asked my guy, Chris,

10:30 "What's a good time to aim for?"

10:32 "Four minutes is a pretty respectable time," he tells me.

10:35 Later, as my buddy Scott stands there and eyeballs the CTS-V,

10:38 he says, "Nah, in this thing,

10:40 "you should be able to pull off a 350."

10:42 (dramatic music)

10:45 - Go ahead.

10:57 (engine revving)

10:59 - Imagine my surprise when on my second run,

11:02 I caught the car in front of me

11:03 and still ran about three minutes, 45 seconds.

11:07 What would a clean run bring?

11:10 A pretty damn fine time, if I don't say so myself.

11:13 336.859.

11:16 My head was spinning.

11:17 That's way faster than I was supposed to run.

11:24 Not only that, I was in a bone stock,

11:26 4,100 pound, four-door Cadillac.

11:29 I didn't even put fancy tires on the CTS-V,

11:32 even though when I got to Virginia City,

11:33 I noticed that half the field was running DOT slicks.

11:36 I was in danger of hurting my wrist

11:38 from patting myself on the back.

11:40 That night, I tossed and turned

11:44 with visions of grandeur dancing through my head.

11:47 How much faster would I go when it counted?

11:49 I could probably shave a couple of seconds off here or there.

11:52 In fact, after talking to some guys at dinner,

11:54 I even had a better idea of line through some

11:57 of the trickier corners.

11:58 My first run on Sunday was a big bucket of cold water

12:05 dumped on my head.

12:06 Three minutes, 42 seconds.

12:08 Not even kind of close to what I did the day before.

12:11 But hey, that was just the first run.

12:13 The road was cold.

12:14 I'll nail it on the second run.

12:17 I happened to talk to a guy from Cadillac

12:18 after that first slow run, and he suggested

12:21 I leave the transmission in full auto.

12:23 After all, Cadillac spent a lot of time and money

12:26 calibrating the thing.

12:28 I tried it.

12:29 Three minutes, 41 seconds.

12:31 That's not good.

12:32 Most entrants in the event get about 10 runs in on Sunday.

12:35 But because I was busy screwing around with my video crew,

12:38 I'd be lucky to get five.

12:40 The next one had to count.

12:42 I went back to full manual mode for the gears and pushed.

12:45 338.

12:47 Better, but still not nearly as good as the day before.

12:50 What the hell?

12:51 [MUSIC PLAYING]

13:21 Result, 336.953.

13:25 Success.

13:26 It was just less than a tenth of a second

13:28 off my best run on Saturday.

13:30 But who cares?

13:31 I did it.

13:32 We did it.

13:32 Me and the Cadillac, we did it.

13:34 Need further proof?

13:36 We beat every single Ferrari present.

13:38 Two of the three McLarens, though the P1, of course,

13:40 slaughtered us.

13:41 All of the Porsches save one.

13:43 All the Vipers, except for my buddy Scott's.

13:45 And a Ford GT.

13:47 Of course, we got beat by a Datsun 240Z, 260s Mustangs,

13:51 and a whole bunch of Z06, Z01 Corvettes.

13:53 But again, who cares?

13:56 Could I have driven better?

13:58 Yeah, sure, of course.

13:59 Could the CTS-V be any better?

14:02 Yes, there's room for improvement.

14:04 Tires, of course, are the big thing.

14:05 Randy told me that Pilot Sport Cup 2s would

14:08 have shaved a second per mile.

14:09 Easy.

14:10 But I'm just fantasizing out loud.

14:12 As it stands, the Cadillac CTS-V is the ultimate production

14:16 hill-climb sedan on earth.

14:19 Can't wait for next year.

14:20 [CAR ENGINE]

14:50 [CAR ENGINE]

14:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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