The 2016 Cadillac CTS-V is definitely made for the track.
It seems to be crafted for even the most novice of drivers to feel like Mario Andretti when going around a carousel or accelerating down a straight.
It doesn't matter if the buyers of this 640-horsepower — yes 640 — luxury sedan ever set rubber on a track like the famed Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., where I recently tested the edgy looking beast. Those who plunk down $85,990 — after destination and gas guzzler tax — of their (hopefully) hard-earned money will benefit from its taut steering, smooth bursts of extreme power and raft of performance technology on regular roads too.
Related: Which Is Faster: BMW M4, Cadillac ATS-V or Lexus RC F?
Most surprisingly though, all of this extreme performance is kept at bay during ordinary driving, making the CTS-V a truly luxurious daily driver that can transform to performance beast at will.
How It Drives
2016 Cadillac CTS-V; Cars.com photo by David Thomas
Road America is a long course that shows best with cars that pump out a lot of power. The CTS-V checks that box quite well.
It wasn't really on the long straights where you could hit a top speed of more than 150 mph that impressed me most; it was coming out of one corner and being able to get speeds back into triple digits so quickly before the next tight turn approached.
2016 Cadillac CTS-V; Cars.com photo by David Thomas
Then the huge brakes — 15.3-inch rotors up front and 14.3 in the rear — kick in. I probably could have pushed the brakes much harder than I did ... actually there was an entire other layer of performance a moderately skilled driver like myself won't be able to touch, but that's the beauty of the CTS-V.
It truly makes you a better driver on a course like Road America, or at least feel like one. I've taken many a car around this course during the years and unlike something like a Dodge Viper that tests the very limits of your driving ability to just stay straight, the CTS-V lets you go into the toughest turns with pure confidence. Maybe it's the advanced limited-slip differential that is the reason — or the Michelin Pilot Super Sport high-performance tires — but I was amazed at how rarely I scurried to recover the times I went into a corner too fast or without the proper line.
2016 Cadillac CTS-V; Cars.com photo by David Thomas
Coming up the hill to Road America's front straight is a gut-dropping experience, and even with that elevation I was able to touch just north of 150 mph. That speed in that location requires quite a bit of effort, and of course a lot of braking on the other end, but it's two turns later when there's a bit of open road that I was reaching 130 without effort that showcased the car's true speed.
What does that mean on the street?
This is the big question and what makes the CTS-V so interesting. Ultra-sport sedans like the BMW M5 and Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG have a habit of reminding you of their ultra-ness over every bump in the road to Road America or work or the golf course. There were times tooling around the farmland of Wisconsin that I really did forget I was in a performance car.
The ride is extremely comfortable even on rather rough roads, and the exhaust that rip-roars when in Track mode, goes mostly silent when in Tour. Then a turn approaches and the CTS-V just reacts like an extension of your arms through the steering wheel, and you snap back to the realization you're piloting something special. And when you need to pass ... well, the other car knows it too.
Interior
2016 Cadillac CTS-V; Cars.com photo by David Thomas
The typical high-performance niceties are all over the cabin of the CTS-V, like the thick steering wheel wrapped in microfiber. I discovered that the generic term for synthetic suede most associated with the Alcantara brand is microfiber. The application in the CTS-V is indeed suedelike, not the feel of those towels you use to detail such a machine after a wash.
In fact there is microfiber all over the CTS-V. It's on the headliner and in the seat inserts, steering wheel, shift knob and shift boot, and even the backs of the seats are lined with it whether you get the base seats or the optional Recaro seats.
Let's talk about those seats.
The base seats are indeed comfortable, and I drove extensively with no complaints from my finicky back. Usually I'm not a fan of Recaros because they sacrifice too much comfort for the "performance" of hugging your body, often too tightly for my taste as well.
These Recaros I would recommend because not only do they hug Goldilocks just right but because after hours of pushing the limits around Road America there was not a scant bit of back soreness. I was 45 minutes into my drive home from the event in a Mercedes C-Class and my back was uncomfortable. Get the Recaros if you're checking off boxes at the Cadillac dealer.
The 2016 CTS-V and the regular CTS get Apple CarPlay, which I hadn't had the chance to experience before this evaluation. Integrated within Cadillac's advanced Cadillac User Experience system it completely takes over when accessed, which is strange. I did prefer the straightforward menus of CarPlay, and the Siri integration for messaging worked well too. But some things Cadillac does well, like shortcuts for navigation destinations as well as radio stations, were sorely missed. You can go back and forth of course, but that seems counterintuitive.
Value in Its Class
2016 Cadillac CTS-V; Cars.com photo by David Thomas
It's not easy to say $85,990 is a bargain, especially since I just recommended $2,300 Recaro seats. And you should really get the $5,500 Carbon Fiber Package (above) not just because it provides more downforce on the track but because it looks better. So the CTS-V I'd want is $97,140 when all is said and done.
But the Cadillac is faster and better equipped than the 2016 BMW M5 that starts at $96,395 or the 2016 Mercedes E63 AMG at $102,625. Sadly, I have not tested those two cars in the same way at Road America. But on the street they definitely sacrifice daily comfort that the CTS-V does not.
I'll have more on the CTS-V, its various driving modes, data recorder, what you get with the Carbon Fiber Package and the eight-speed automatic transmission in a full expert review in the near future.
2016 Cadillac CTS-V; Cars.com photo by David Thomas
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