2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing First Test: Prepare to Take Flight
Cadillac's story in the two decades since the year 2000 has been one of chasing dreams. It went on a search for Art and Science. It traveled east to New York to find brand cachet and score modeling gigs. Like every carmaker, it pivoted wildly to crossovers and SUVs. Then along came EVs and the pledge that every Cadillac would soon be all-electric, all the time.
Then there was V, the attempt to out-German the Germans at sport sedans. Like many of Cadillac's efforts in the past 20 years, it didn't quite pan out. But man, did the company ever get close, and the 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is the proverbial going-out-with-a-bang car that should reverberate as one of the greatest American sport sedans of all time 20 years from now.
The powertrain numbers are the pinnacle of Cadillac's gas-only power and performance: 668 hp and 659 lb-ft of torque from a 6.2-liter supercharged, direct-injected V-8. The engine itself is one of the last of the venerable LTs from GM's murderer's row of V-8s—the LT4. You get your choice of transmissions to pair with this aluminum-cast monster: an available 10-speed automatic or the standard Tremec six-speed manual.
How Well Does the CT5-V Perform?
For our instrumented test runs, we scored a manual-equipped version of the 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing. It also came with one significant performance upgrade, Cadillac's optional carbon-ceramic front and rear brake package ($9,000). Though our test team experienced some issues launching the car from a stop, the CT5-V (eventually) performed about as expected.
In fact, our number from 0-60 mph mirrored what Cadillac called out in its own estimates, a 3.6-second run. But it didn't exactly come easy. We found it incredibly tricky to get the CT5-V to hook up, despite following Cadillac's extensive launch instructions, including bleeding the tires down to 35 psi, which helped.
Our most experienced tester, road test editor Chris Walton, also had his hands full with getting the CT5-V to launch correctly and channeling the car's prodigious power to the pavement. It ultimately thundered its way to a best quarter-mile time of 11.5 seconds at 127.5 mph.
"I, too, struggled with the launch on this car," Walton said. "It's one of those 'you can't go to wide-open throttle until the very top of first gear or you roast the rear tires.' I tried automatic launch control first, then started tweaking the launch rpm and tire-slip knobs. After failures and some successes, I found one that worked on our testing surface: 4,000 rpm with 10 percent slip, which goes against logic, but it worked."
The brakes were also a bone of contention with the test team. We recorded 102 feet to stop from 60 mph—a more than respectable number, especially considering the CT5-V Blackwing's 4,067-pound curb weight—but Walton wasn't exactly enamored with what he found when he pressed the slow pedal. "The brakes are OK," he said. "The pedal feels unnecessarily firm, making it difficult to modulate on the release into the skidpad." That said, the team reported that the carbon units held up well after repeated whoa downs from triple-digit speeds.
Dynamic Numbers Are Dynamic
We also had some trouble getting things totally sorted on the skidpad, but the 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing still put up some super numbers in the lateral-g and figure-eight departments, helped in part by a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires. Its 1.04-g average number is up there with the best sedans we've tested in recent years, and it matches that of the 2022 BMW M5 CS (interestingly, its CT4-V Blackwing stablemate performed a smidge better at 1.05 g).
Out on our MotorTrend figure eight, the CT5-V Blackwing posted a 23.4-second lap at 0.89 g (average), with the M5 edging it at 23.2 seconds at 0.92 g. No, it didn't quite out-German the M5 dynamically, but for a front-engine, rear-drive sedan with a manual transmission (the M5 is all-wheel drive with an eight-speed automatic), the Cadillac is right there with it. That's duly impressive for a car that is in essence in its first and last generation. Yes, it's an evolution of the CTS-V, but the 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is its own car, a Blackwing that can really fly.
SPECIFICATIONS 2022 Cadillac CT5 V Blackwing BASE PRICE $84,990 PRICE AS TESTED $112,545 VEHICLE LAYOUT Front-engine, RWD, 5-pass, 4-door sedan ENGINE 6.2L Supercharged direct-injected OHV 16-valve 90-degree V-8 POWER (SAE NET) 668 hp @ 6,500 rpm TORQUE (SAE NET) 659 lb-ft @ 3,600 rpm TRANSMISSION 6-speed manual CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST) 4,067 lb (54/46%) WHEELBASE 116.0 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 194.9 x 74.1 x 56.5 in 0-60 MPH 3.6 sec QUARTER MILE 11.5 sec @ 127.5 mph BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 102 ft LATERAL ACCELERATION 1.04 g (avg) MT FIGURE EIGHT 23.4 sec @ 0.89 g (avg) EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 13/21/15 mpg ON SALE Now Show AllLooks good! More details?
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