Cadillac CTSv draws on Corvette LS6 engine for awesome power
Bob Plunkett
Date Posted: 5/10/2005
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WICKENBURG, Ariz. -- West of Wickenburg in pancake flats of the Sonoran Desert, U.S. 93 runs straight into the horizon as we put the pedal down on a powerful new sports sedan packing serious equipment for playing on the swift side of automotive performance.
Our test car, riding on a stiff platform with taut independent suspension elements at every wheel plus disc brakes by the Brembo brand from Italy, stocks the massive LS6 V8 engine off a fast-track Z06 Corvette and its close-ratio manual shifter by Tremec with six forward gears.
All of that engine's fire power flows directly to the rear pair of low-profile Goodyear tires and sets them spinning.
In a flash we're streaking across the desert, the red needle in a round gauge on the instrument panel pointing to a speed number so tall it's inappropriate to mention.
But fast times and hard-wrought performance seems to be the point of this lickety-split sports machine.
On a test track it earns zero-to-sixty times well below six seconds and is rated for running at high speeds in excess of 150 mph.
Such scores indicate the car can easily keep pace with top-dog Teutonic performers like the M series cars of BMW and those AMG-tuned Mercedes sedans.
Only incongruity here is that our test car doesn't come together at one of Germany's automotive assembly plants and there's no badge of a German car company on the hood.
Instead, the round wreath and crest of Cadillac, premier marque of Detroit-based General Motors, mounts squarely at the center of a mesh steel grille on this car's chiseled prow.
Cadillac builds a big-engine muscle car?
It does now with the roll-out of CTSv -- quickest and most powerful production car ever in the line of Cadillac.
It's the first vehicle crafted by GM's new Performance Division, sort of a tuner shop charged with pumping up racy versions of GM production models. Short-range model strategy at Cadillac indicates a tuner-style V-badged version planned for several models in the Cadillac line.
After our time behind the wheel in CTSv, we think the 'v' tacked to the CTS label should stand for 'velocity.'
CTSv begins with the rear-wheel-drive (RWD) Sigma platform of the CTS (Cadillac Touring Sedan), which itself made history with a 2003 debut as the first RWD vehicle in Cadillac's fleet since 1979 and the first to offer a manual transmission on a rear-drive chassis in half a century.
The Sigma platform features an extended wheelbase and wide track with wheels set on corners for a sure-footed stance. And the package size measures to mid-size proportions with the overall length held to five meters so the vehicle remains competitive in a global market.
Suspension elements consist of lightweight aluminum for upper and lower control arms to reduce the vehicle's unsprung mass, which makes it stick better on the road and glide more uniformly over bumps.
To get that V-badge, though, Cadillac's engineers re-tuned the suspension, stiffening all settings significantly and dropping the rig slightly -- to a rocker height of 196.7 mm in front and 199 mm in back for a low-slung stance.
Steering, through a rack and pinion device enhanced by a TRW Speedpro variable-assist power system, feels dead-on precise and quick. A below-hood brace stretching from strut tower to strut tower across the car was added to increase steering response times and improve the linear action under stresses of high-performance driving.
Brakes to counterbalance this car's go-power get serious too under a motivating goal of virtually eradicating brake fade.
The four-piston Brembo mechanisms include big vented rotors in front and solid ones at the rear.
Also, there are electronic connections to anti-lock (ABS) and traction control (TCS) devices, plus dynamic rear brake proportioning (DBP) and StabiliTrak, the world's best vehicle stability controller.
But the essence of this V-version for the CTS comes from that Z06 Corvette LS6 powertrain with an expansive twin-pipe exhaust system aboard to sing the deep-bass V8 tune.
The plant, displacing 5.7 liters off an aluminum block with two-valve cylinder heads, develops 400 hp at 6000 rpm and torque of 390 lb-ft at 4800 rpm.
All of that muscle translates through a 'Vette transmission with the Tremic six-speed manual, which uses a dual-mass flywheel to tame vibrations and a heavy-duty prop shaft to handle the high torque loads.
Also, the CTSv has a limited-slip back axle with brief 3.73-to-1 final drive ratio to maximize acceleration.
Park the CTSv beside a CTS and you'll see that the V-badged version looks like a muscle-bound cousin.
It sits lower on bigger rollers -- seven-spoke aluminum wheels with 18-inch diameters and Goodyear P245/45WR18 Eagle run-flat summer tires.
The aggressive face -- chiseled and angular in form with piercing optics from stacked round projector-type headlamps that look like camera lenses mounted on vertical corners -- contains a modified fascia with two grilles covered in stainless steel mesh.
At the tail with a slick slab bumper in monochrome flanked by tall vertical taillamps there are two chrome-coated exhaust pipes that signify the V-badged version.
The cabin, spacious quarters with seats for five, extends the exterior theme of chiseled forms and angular features in a monochromatic treatment interrupted by bright touches of aluminum and satin-finish chrome.
The three-spoke steering wheel gets the aluminum trim, and door handles plus the shifter knob are finished in the satin chrome.
Leather-clad front buckets get extra bolsters to keep you pinned in place during tight-corner maneuvers and the armrest on the center console has been lowered to keep from interfering with right-hand movements for shifting.
Analog gauges in the instrument panel have satin chrome rings and aircraft-style white lettering on black faces.
Cadillac's most powerful car carries a price tag of $49,300 plus a $695 freight fee.
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| 2004 CADILLAC CTS V VEHICLE SPECIFICATIONS |
| Description: |
Mid-size high-performance sports touring sedan
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| Model Options: |
Mid-size high-performance sports touring sedan
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| Wheelbase: |
115.2 inches
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| Overall Length: |
194.5 inches
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| Engine Size: |
OHV 5.7-L V8 LS6
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| Transmission: |
Manual/6 Tremec T56
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| Drive: |
Rear
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| Braking: |
Power 4-disc Brembo
ABS/TCS/StabiliTrak
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| Airbags: |
2 (front)
2 (side)
4 (side curtain)
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| Gas Mileage: |
18/25 mpg
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| MSRP Price: |
$ 49,300 |
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