Thanks to its 6.2 liter supercharged V8 engine, the Cadillac CTS-V clocks in at just under 556 horsepower on the power scale, placing it right under the 580hp Audi RS6 in the race for the most powerful factory D-segment sedan. That’s of course if you discount the Brabus E V12 based on the W211 E-Class, producing 640 horsepower from its S-Class-sourced V12 engine.
You may wonder how Cadillac ended up with names like the CTS and DTS when it used to have proper wordy names such as the Deville, Seville and Eldorado. Well, those names are still alive today actually. DTS stands for DeVille Touring Sedan while the CTS you see here actually replaces the Catera, so CTS actually stands for Catera Touring Sedan. The STS is the Seville Touring Sedan.
This is based off the second generation CTS, and the V at the end of its name denotes it belongs to the V-Series of high performance Cadillacs, which also include the STS-V sedan and the XLR-V hard top convertible.
0 to 100km/h only takes 3.9 seconds with this car, and Cadillac claims a sub-8 minute lap time around the Nurburgring circuit. Manual shifting via steering wheel shift buttons is available via a hardy 6-speed automatic transmission that has to handle 748Nm of torque, but for the full manual experience complete with clutch and all a 6-speed manual is also available.
The CTS-V also features what it calls the world’s fastest reacting suspension – Magnetic Ride Control shocks sourced from Delphi, who also supplies its MagnaRide adjustable magnetic suspensions to Audi.