Some preproduction test models of the upcoming track-focused Cadillac CT5-V — these apparently with muscular V8 engines — showed up at a Michigan car show this past weekend, and they sounded extremely supercharged.
The new Cadillac performance models have been a bit of a mess. First, they’ve been renamed from ATS and CTS to now be quasi-numerical. The old CTS-V is now the CT5-V. But that’s not all — the CT5-V is already on sale, but it’s been powered down from the previous CTS-V and is consequently very different.
Now Cadillac is working on a hotter version, but it’s not even getting the company’s new Blackwing V8. So what do these cars have, then?
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The current CT5-V is powered by a twin-turbo V6 that makes 360 horsepower and 405 lb-ft of torque, which would be fine if its predecessor with a nearly identical name hadn’t made such a big splash in having a whopping 640 horsepower. Of course, the new car’s price has dropped substantially compared with the old V models, but so did the performance. Cadillac claims it’s because owners found the previous cars too “intimidating.”
But Cadillac knew the newer, cheaper, lower-powered and “less-intimidating” V cars wouldn’t satisfy everyone, so we’re also getting hotter, more track-focused models, like these prototypes at the High Octane Cafe & Bakery in Michigan this weekend. (Note: This language previously insinuated the new track-focused models were a response to backlash, which is incorrect. Damn, we’re sorry.)
The second clip of the two cars taking off down the road appears to confirm that the engine will at least be supercharged. That alone lends a lot of credence to the idea that Cadillac is still working with the old V-car’s 6.2-liter LT4 V8, as the rumors suggest, which was supercharged in the old CTS-V. Previous reports also seemed to show a prototype with a manual transmission like the earlier version, which is good news.
The current CT4-V, confusingly sized between the old ATS and CTS sedans but slightly smaller than the CT5-V, starts at $45,500, and the current CT5-V with rear-wheel drive starts at around $49,000. The previous CTS-V was priced around $89,000, so figure these more track-oriented V-cars will be somewhere (hopefully) under or around that more substantial wad of cash.
