Byron gets behind the wheel of Cadillac's new baby performance sedan.
TranscriptBYRON HURD: Hi, folks. It's Byron. I'm here with the new Cadillac CT4-V. This is Cadilla's subcompact sedan. It's going against the likes of the Audi S3, the BMW M235i Gran Coupe, all the other cars they're kind of in that performance and of the baby luxury sedan segment.
Now, with the CT4-V, you get some mechanical upgrades, a little extra horsepower. It has the larger four cylinder engine. It's a 2.7 liter. It's related to the engine that's in Chevy's new trucks to the Silverado and also in the GMC Sierra.
In this car with this tune on the V, it makes 320 horsepower. You get a little bit less in the premium luxury variant of CT4-V. And the lower-end models get a 2-liter engine. That's more in line with what BMW offers in the M228i Gran Coupe.
Now, with this, you also get some actual performance upgrades. It has a mechanical limited slip differential, which is pretty unusual for performance cars in this segment. It's rear-wheel drive in this trim. It's available with all-wheel drive. But that's an all-weather system. It's not really a performance-oriented system.
So if you want a baby sports sedan that's fun to drive and has good dynamics, the rear-wheel drive one is the one you want. That's what I've got here. It's a beautiful shade blue as you can see. And I haven't really had a lot of time to drive it quite yet. But I'm about to hop in, do a little loop here around Ann Arbor, and see what we can see with Cadillac's new fun car.
So welcome to the cabin of the Cadillac CT4-V. In here, it's actually quite nice. This is a fairly well-equipped example. I believe the price on this is about $54,000.
The materials are nice I like the shape of the wheel. It's a little large in terms of diameter but nice and thick. And it's got a good feel to it, nice grip spots on it. The perforated leather is a nice touch.
And this is a preproduction example. So I'm not going to get too nitty gritty with the fit and finish on everything. But on first glance, I'm honestly fairly impressed. I actually find this more attractive and upscale feeling than the BMW M228i I was driving the other day. Granted, that's a much less expensive car.
So I switched over to sport mode here. And I can already tell this is really waking the car up quite a bit. When you're cruising along and touring in this car, it's very docile, very comfortable. It's very much a luxury car.
But when you switch it over to sport-- and there's a handy little feed button if you'd want that on demand right here on the steering wheel-- the exhaust note opens up. The active noise cancellation and amplification switches over to bring in the good notes that the engines are producing. It's nice little visceral addition to the electronic changes that are happening behind the scenes.
So the idea here is that the throttle is more responsive. The shifts are quicker. The traction control systems are more limited in how they restrict a little playtime here and there. I'm not driving it terribly hard yet. But we're on some-- we're on public roads, obviously.
And speed limits here are really nice for a little spirited driving. But they're nothing crazy. This is a great little sports sedan. And the fact that it's available over this enthusiast-friendly rear-wheel drive layout and a more practical all-wheel drive layout makes it all the more enticing. This is the kind of car that can be anything to anyone.
The rear-wheel drive vehicles can come with summer tires. I'm not sure whether the all-wheel drive ones do. But I know they are available at all seasons. And so if-- you know, if you want a fun little car that you can go throw around some back roads but still practically commute in just about any day of the year, it's a pretty good fit.
And quite frankly, it's kind of refreshing to see something from Cadillac that feels like an over-the-top effort because I, frankly, wasn't too impressed with the XT6 Crossover. I think it's a very nice crossover. But I don't think it's worthy of being a Cadillac. I think it would make a very compelling GMC. They already have their own variant of that three-row platform. But it's just not something that I got into that had screamed American luxury to me.
This has the luxury touches, the design, and the driving dynamics that, I think, are a complete home run. And I mean, yes, this model waters down the V nameplate a little bit. I get it.
A lot of enthusiasts are going to be upset by that. But frankly, it's so good. It's such a great in-between performance model that I think a lot of people will forget what V is supposed to be and allow the new top-end models to take their slot while these do the grunt work.
So low lights, CT4, for the time being, is equipped exclusively with four-cylinder engines. This V model gets 2.7 liter. It's similar to the engine that's offered in the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups. But it's been thoroughly revised. I'm actually waiting for figures from our GM contacts to tell us exactly how many parts were changed, replaced, modified.
I don't want to go over the top, criticizing Cadillac for choosing to use a four-cylinder engine for this particular model because everything else in this little subcompact segment that has something hot, it uses a four-cylinder engine. So it's not like they're alone in this. It does feel like a four cylinder.
It's a little bit thrashy at times. You can feel the turbocharger working. There's a little bit of lag. It's not quite as smooth as a six- or eight-cylinder engine would be at low RPM. A V8 is not going to happen in this chassis, so don't even get excited about it.
Don't get me wrong. It's not bad. And within the context of the class, it's perfectly acceptable. In fact, it might be one of the most inspiring engines you can get in one of these small luxury cars. But it's still a little disappointing. And it's a reminder that the CT5 exists. And later on, when Cadillac introduces the top-end performance variant of CT-4, this four-cylinder engine will be a reminder that that high-output six-cylinder exists.
So let's talk Blackwing for a second here. Blackwing is now the official confirmed name for the higher-performance variance of the CT4 and CT5-V. So that's going to be the old-school Cadillac V [? banner ?] [? carrier. ?] It's the one that you buy if performance is all you care about and the luxury is secondary.
So those are coming. They're probably going to be introduced later this year. And they'll be offered with a manual transmission. Cadillac's already confirmed that. And they're going to have a hell of a lot more power. Cadillac's also confirmed that.
So the idea here is that the regular CT4 and CT5-V will serve as that middle ground car, the one that goes up against the Audi S3 and the BMW M235i and the Mercedes-Benz-- so then the idea becomes that the CT4-V goes up against the Audi S3, the Mercedes-- ah, Jesus. So the idea is that the CT4-V will go up against the likes of the Audi S3 and the BMW M235i series cars, leaving the high performance niche to--
So then the idea becomes that CT4-V will go up against the Audi s3s and BMW m235is eyes of the world. And the Blackwing will go up against the Audi RS3s and the BMW M2 if such a thing were to exist in the world. So these don't have to be dedicated performance machines. And they don't have to be dedicated luxury cars.
They just need to be somewhere in between. And I think Cadillac's really nailed it with this car, to be perfectly honest with you. The feedback, the sensations of driving a sports sedan are all here. They've--
The whole point of this car is to be the middle ground, to be luxurious but not soft, to be sporty but not over the top, not an aggressive, hard-edged high-performance corner-carving sedan. That's Blackwing's job. This is supposed to make doing this a little bit more fun without, A, breaking the bank or, B, liquefying your kidneys. And they nailed it.
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