Cadillac CTS V Sport-Luxury & Speed

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The Cadillac CTS is 2014 Motor Trend's car of the year. The CTS was also the #1 choice for Motor Trend in 2008. For the purposes of this article, let's focus on the 420-hp twin-turbo CTS V Sport. According to the Nov. 2013 issue of Car and Driver, Cadillac has finally bought its way into the crowd. Motor Trend calls it, track - capable luxury.

Weight

Dave Leone, the CTS's chief engineer, says the entire project was developed with a lighter weight in mind. Everything was measured, not in pounds, but grams. The new CTS V Sport is the first production GM vehicle with aluminum doors, front sub frame, bumper beams, shock towers, hood and front suspension arms. Its curb weight is 3966 lbs compared to 4791lbs on the Mercedes S550. Car and Driver test results show the V Sport can do 0-60 in 4.4 seconds. ( the S550 4.9 sec) Motor Trend states the CTS's intended function is to take the fight to BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi-and win. It had to beat all 3 on style, on performance, on comfort, and on quality. It did just that.

Safety

The new CTS offers a full suite of passive and active safety equipment. Front, front-side, front knee, rear side, and front and rear curtain airbags are standard on all models as is On-star with Automatic Crash Response. The CTS offers several optional safety features such as backup camera, automatic parking, lane-departure warning, and the vibrating Safety Alert Seat just to mention a few. In National Highway Traffic Administration crash testing, the 2013 CTS received an overall 5 start rating. At the time of this article, the National Highway Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety did not have crash test results for the 2014 model.

Design

The Cadillac CTS has always been synonymous with design. The second generation CTS arrived in 2008 and made the original CTS look incredibly dated. Now the new CTS V Sport is absolutely stunning in design and has once again successfully evolved to remain contemporary and competitive well into the foreseeable future.

Price/Value

The CTS V Sport is priced below its V-8 competition. It offers the same all-around driving performance as some specialty M or AMG models at a lower cost than their base V-8 models. According to Lawrence Ulrich of The New York Times, you can expect a $60,000.00 price tag out the door, but you'll get a luxury sport sedan that's more satisfying to drive than any comparable Audi A6, BMW 5-Series or Mercedes E-Class. Cadillac also offers the V Sport Premium, which adds $10,000.00 worth of luxury equipment for about 70K.

I have only covered a fraction of the highlights and awesome features that the CTS V Sport offers and, no, I don't work for Cadillac. I am, however, very impressed with the CTS and I look forward to following Cadillac's success in the future.

Eduardo Dieguez is a professional writer for Linear Automotive in Plano, Texas. Eduardo is a 1st generation American born Cuban that is currently in pursuit of his AA Degree.