2022 Cadillac CT5 V-Series Blackwing

Test Drive Notes Library

Pros
Last of a dying breed. Cadillac has already announced that by the end of the decade, all of their cars will be electric. So one way to view the CT5 Blackwing is as one last fling. You know, go out, drink way too much gasoline, drive around corners way too fast, make too much noise, and worry about the hangover in the morning. It’s like Cadillac is making a statement: This is us at peak internal combustion — for the historical record.
Showing off. We can’t help wondering whether Cadillac also released this hot-rod version of the competent CT5 sports sedan just so its engineers wouldn’t get sand kicked in their faces by German engineers at the beach anymore. Of course, the Germans are wearing speedos, socks and sandals, so I’m not sure why the Cadillac crew was worried. In any case, they’ve taken the mid-sized CT5 and put every sporting nut and bolt they could find in it. The result is actually very impressive, from a performance point of view. But since they’re only making a few hundred of these, it’s more a statement than consumer product.
Power. Cadillac chose to propel with Blackwing with a "hand-built" 6.2 liter, supercharged, V8, 668 horsepower gasoline glugger. According to the technical specifications, it’s… real fast. Around 3.5 seconds zero-sixty. It also sports an increasingly rare manual transmission. While the 6-speed manual was truly fun to drive for about three days, we turned against it during the remaining four days of our test. It eventually got tiresome in actual traffic. Given another week of stop-and-go commuting in the 6-speed Blackwing, we would have happily traded it straight up for a Nissan Sentra with an automatic. Fortunately, Cadillac also offers a well-regarded 10-speed automatic with paddle shifters for those who actually plan to drive this thing in traffic every day. The automatic is also more efficient. And, by the way, faster.
Handling. Cadillac engineers really upped the CT5’s handling game. Good thing, because with all that extra weight and power, it needs the road skills. The result is impressive. The CT5 Blackwing carved up corners, staying almost magically flat and controlled. Braking is excellent. If Cadillac was aiming to show BMW and Mercedes that they can make a real sports sedan, they’ve done it. Cadillac, no doubt, sees the CT5 Blackwing’s competition as other road monsters like the BMW M5 and Mercedes-AMG E63. And given the power and handling, that’s fair.
Ride. We’ll give the ride 6 out of 10. It’s definitely on the firm side. But GM’s magnetic dampers really take the edge off. It’s far from Escalade-style Cadillac cush, but it’s quite a bit better than you would expect. In “comfort” mode, it’s got a reasonably pliant ride. Put the Blackwing in “Sport” mode, however, and you’re in Princess and the Pea territory.
Interior. Cadillac put some effort into dressing up the pedestrian CT5’s interior for the Blackwing edition. There’s high quality leather on the seats, suede trim, and generally good quality parts where you can see and feel them. There are also a few hard plastic leftovers from the more basic CT5. Here’s where the German’s pull ahead. It’s also “cozy” feeling inside. Not small — there’s enough room -- but it has a den-like, enclosed feel. That makes a certain amount of sense in a sports sedan, but when combined with the low stance, it can feel a little claustrophobic.

Cons
Brutish. Impressive, yes. No question. Power and handling are on par with any top of the line sports sedan. But the CT5 Blackwing is also a bit fatiguing. Perhaps it was the Caddy’s manual transmission, the heavy clutch, the low seating position, and the cosseting interior feel, but we found the BMW M5 to be a more “livable” day to day supercar. To be fair, the Cadillac undercuts the BMW and Mercedes on price. This may also be the first time the word “undercut” has been used in the same sentence as “$113,445 MSRP."
Environmentally incorrect. We know the few hundred buyers of the CT5 Blackwing won’t care. To be fair, they’ll probably leave this future-collector’s item in their six-car garage most of the time, where it won’t be burning any fuel at all. But a 6.2L supercharged V8 that gets, say, 13 mpg, is redonkulous. There, we said it. Now you can write to us and explain that you’re saving the planet by driving this car because your Ferrari only gets 11 mpg.
Safety carve outs. If you opt for the six-speed manual transmission, you’ll have to forego some crucial safety features that we consider essential in 2022. Highway speed automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, and automatic rear braking are only available with an automatic transmission.