There are countless reasons not to stigmatize the 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing as an attention-getting exercise for a brand that’s long been struggling with its identity. At its core, this is a machine that’s silly for the sake of it. Forget the electrified future and live in the now, because the CT5-V Blackwing is one of the best cars ever built.
I’ve had a few love-hate relationships over the years but most of them have involved the stuff i eat this might be my first with a car and it’s not that i hate how much i love the cadillac ct5v blackwing although i do really love it it’s that i hate the person i become as soon as i climb behind the wheel for more expert car reviews don’t forget to share
Our channel and subscribe so you can catch some of this and maybe even a little of that it just makes me so happy and maybe it’s a lack of discipline no an utter lack of discipline that’s the problem with a car like this because there is so much to love but there’s also so much to get you in trouble and part of the problem in the pleasure starts under the hood
There’s a 6.2 liter supercharged v8 engine that puts out 668 horsepower and 659 pound-feet of torque now yes any hellcat powered dodge charger model makes more so if all you care about is the spec sheet so you can show off to your friends then sure but to me bragging rights are more than just about output they’re about how it all comes together and this is just
A better car there’s no other way to put it this really is one of the best cars ever built not just sports cars not just sport sedans one of the best cars period now the unfortunate thing is very wet as i’m sure you can tell it’s been raining off and on all day in a car like this yeah not exactly what you want to see because this thing does channel all of that
Output to the rear wheels and this one well it’s extra special because cadillac’s still brave enough to make a six-speed manual transmission standard and it doesn’t hurt that it is absolutely amazing now here’s the thing cadillac will sell you a 10-speed automatic transmission for a few grand more but i really do think this is a car that was built with a manual
Transmission in mind like i said it is very good i’m usually not one to judge because i know a lot of people don’t like driving manual and there are some people who can’t drive manual i get that but this is a car that was meant to be enjoyed with three pedals and this is fantastic now it’s that tremec 6-speed that’s used in so many applications but it just feels so
Good here you can feel every coil in the clutch pedal spring fighting against your foot it’s so heavy but it’s so rewarding and this thing is like a porsche shifter it’s so stiff it takes such deliberate movements to do what you want it to do but that’s what makes it so amazing a couple other cool things to note about this manual transmission setup well it’s got
Auto rev matching now you can’t heal and tow if you want to but if you’d rather have the computer do it for you and it does a pretty damn good job then you can go ahead hit this button just behind the gear stick and it’ll take care of it for you and it sounds so good this thing is so ferocious i can’t get over it but it’s so precise there’s just a balance there’s
A neutrality to the chassis even when it starts to get a little bit squirrely you can kind of predict what it’s going to do and react to that and of course there are all kinds of nannies and stability management systems to help keep you pointed in the right direction but even then it doesn’t feel like some robotic machine this still feels like a car that you are
Connected with you are in control as the driver and that to me is what it’s all about this thing is a driver’s car it’s not something that’s just a novelty it’s not a toy like i said it’s not just about the numbers it’s about everything and i’m gonna say it i know it’s gonna upset some of you but this is the closest i have ever felt to driving a corvette sedan it
Really does feel like a c7 corvette with four doors and that does come down to the chassis as well as the powertrain going back to that whole charger thing the hellcat engine it being a supercharged v8 same displacement yeah all those parallels but whereas that thing is just absolutely raw and ridiculous this does have that refinement that i talked about it’s very
Nice and the adaptive dampers are incredible now it’s that magneride set up apparently this latest version can scan and measure and make adjustments like a thousand times a second seems crazy got no reason to doubt it and the other cool thing is with all the customizability of this car you can dive into these settings and change things so that they’re exactly how you
Want them so that means if you’d prefer the softest damping you can go ahead and program that with the loudest exhaust note so that it does stuff like that or like that and i do really like that it’s also got this stealth mode still pretty loud but hey it’s nice because it’s going to keep your neighbors at least a little bit happy i don’t really think this is the
Friendliest car around but it will make you at least a few friends and even if it doesn’t you don’t need them because you are going to be behind the wheel having an absolute riot which is exactly what i’m doing right now was built for roads like this not too long ago i talked about the mustang maki gt performance edition remember that and i said it was probably
The most fun i’d ever had in a road going vehicle yeah that thing’s going to take a back seat to this still a little bit scary whatever the opposite of a get out of jail free card is yeah this one comes with one of those because it is gonna get you in a lot of trouble but you’re gonna have fun doing it now it’s like i said earlier if you are discipline deficient this
Car will push you to the absolute brink it’s just constantly goading you that’s what’s been happening with me all week long and it isn’t a good way but like i said this is a dangerous car in the wrong hands in any hands this can get a little bit ridiculous of course that’s part of the appeal and part of the fun but it’s also something to keep in mind you really do
Want to have that discipline that self-control i’m not saying i don’t i usually do it’s just very hard in a car like this and it was built for the track i know at least some of you out there would take this thing to the track i’d highly recommend it especially if you do want to explore its full potential because there is so much here and there’s so much i can’t do
Out here on these public roads but it’s still so much fun so i can only imagine what it would be like on a closed track and i don’t want to upset any of you bmw fans out there but i honestly don’t know how you could buy an m5 knowing that this thing is on the market okay i’m sorry and it’s not just about price we will get into that in a little bit but just from
A fun factor from a packaging perspective this is a better car i’ll say it again it’s one of the best cars i’ve ever driven it’s one of the best cars i think that has ever been built it is so phenomenal the m5 competition you can buy right now very cool car but this thing is just cooler it’s better it’s so amazing and it’s just so in your hands it just feels
Like it’s an extension of you okay it’s one of those vehicles where when you drive it you really do feel that connectedness and again this six-speed manual just makes it that much better all these carbon fiber accents they give this thing so much presence and they are well worth the money it costs to add them now the first package is 4 700 bucks and that’s how
You get this deck lid spoiler as well as that splitter up front and then there’s another package that’s six grand and that’s how you get this rear diffuser as well as the rocker panels and that little strip across the top of the grille just a nice little touch but i do love the way it all looks and i also love these bronze wheels and bronze brake calipers another
Upgrade that is well worth the price of admission it looks great against this black paint which i gotta admit i wasn’t so crazy about when i read the spec sheet that gm sent me before i picked this thing up i thought another black car but then i saw it and fell in love with how menacing it is i also like some of the hidden touches here you got blackwing logos
Inside the lips of these bronze wheels and if you take a look inside well the covers where the paddle shifters would be on the steering wheel little diagrams of gm’s proving grounds such a cool touch and just one more reason to pick the manual now like i said about 90 000 to start for this thing which seems ridiculous for how much car you are getting even from a
Performance perspective it’s very much like that corvette recipe where it competes with very exotic vehicles for way less money yeah that is this because that 90 000 starting price that’s about 35 000 less than a bmw m5 which is insane now i know some of you are about to jump in the comments and say no dealer is going to sell you one of these ct5v blackwings for
Msrp yeah you’re probably right but i can’t talk about how much they are selling the cars for i can only talk about msrp what cadillac thinks this thing should sell for in canada which is about 90 000 before tax now there’s a lot of car here not just from a performance perspective but from stuff from a luxury car perspective you get heated and ventilated front
Seats you get a head-up display there’s even this little massage functionality for both front seats not a full massage but there is a little bit of this roll setting i think cadillac calls it pretty cool great stereo this touch screen infotainment system wireless apple carplay and android auto connections all the stuff you’d expect now this one’s got a whole bunch
Of upgrades not just that carbon stuff i talked about these upgraded leather seats those add something like seven thousand dollars to the price tag but even still and even when you account for the federal green levy that gas guzzler tax that adds a few grand to the price tag of this one i’m driving doesn’t even touch a hundred and fifteen thousand dollars before
Tax so it’s like 10 grand less than the starting price of a bmw m5 insane and there’s just so much car here it is absolutely unfair it is ridiculous makes me smile laugh and cry a little bit because i don’t think i’ll ever be able to get my hands on one but man i am so happy to be driving one though i am gonna throw a couple complaints out and they start with the
Mirrors basically pointless they are so narrow so tiny i mean you can’t really see anything when you look in these mirrors and that includes this one now the upgrades here mean it does have one of those digital rear view mirrors kind of cool make people like jodie sick she doesn’t like using it but it is handy especially because you get a way better view than you
Do just looking at the reflective glass and then the other complaint i have well it has more to do with the fact that i have three fractured ribs right now but these seats are so stiff that every time i move just a little bit my ribs hurt so much and yeah i wouldn’t be complaining any other time just bad luck bad timing but that did stand out to me but otherwise
I just adore this car i can’t express that enough it’s exceeded my expectations i was expecting a lot and it just took me to a new place i really love it i’ve driven cars that i’ve loved before but this just speaks to me in a whole different way we have that connection even on a day like today i haven’t really been able to tap into it too much because it’s so
Wet but it’s so great to drive but then again it does come back to that accessibility and the risk that comes with a car like this one to recap i like how precise and purposeful the ct5b blackwing feels how insane it sounds and the amazing manual transmission i don’t like the tiny mirrors or the stiff seats but let’s be honest half of those complaints wouldn’t
Exist for me any other time this ct 5v blackwing is a license suspending diabolically delightful machine to drive and i feel lucky to have experienced it for myself this thing has instant classic written all over it don’t get me wrong i’m excited for the electrified future but if this is a farewell to gas guzzling performance it’s a damn good one you
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2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Review: Diabolically Delightful By AutoTrader Canada