skfurr

Okay, slightly off topic here. Apologies in advance.

I have to admit, if I didn't have the luxury of a C6 and a STS (and an old '97 GMC Jimmy 4x4) in the garage and I could only have ONE car...

I would have bought the Cadillac CTS-V.

There I finally admitted it. I expect to be flogged mercilessly.

Long story: My wife had been driving a 2000 Grand Prix GTP since new. At the time and for the money it was a great car for her. Decent power, four doors, high $20's.

After I got the C6, she decided that with the warranty gone on the GTP it made sense to get a replacement. She wanted:

- More power
- Better handling
- Quieter, smoother ride
- More creature comforts
- Obviously, four doors
- And for around the same price range as the C6 was...

We looked at the Infinity line (M45 and Q45), the BMW 545, the MB E430. All nice cars, but each was just missing something...

Then we made it to the Cadillac dealer. They gave us their demo black-on-black CTS-V for the weekend! In case you haven't heard of it, it's a mid-sized four door car but with a 400HP LS6 and the Tremec 6-speed tranny! All in a package with a curb weight of 3500 lbs. WHAT A BLAST! I have to say that it was 95% of the fun of the C6, but with four doors! It has MASSIVE 14" rotors all the way around which (in my short weekend drive) had every bit of stopping power that the C6 does. Zero fade. 0-60 is supposed to be in the high 4's.

The only complaints I had were small: rubbery shifter feel compared to the C6, some wheel hop on launch, and the (standard) DVD navigation system with 6-disc in dash changer was a completely different design from the C6 (no touchscreen and the look and feel would require a constant "re-learning" when switching cars.)

The wife thought it was a hoot to drive too, but since we already had the C6 she thought it was TOO much like the C6, ie. since we have the Vette, we can let our four door car sacrifice a little performance for more comfort (and an automatic transmission.) She also missed the heads-up display and said without it she'd end up in jail (she had it on her GTP too.) Strange that the CTS-V didn't offer it as an option.

Actually the only option you had was a sunroof and a choice of colors. Everything else was standard for $50k.

In the end, we went with the new for '05 Cadillac STS. It's basically just a slightly bigger CTS, but with a more comfy ride. It's now built on a rear-wheel drive platform, powered by the 4.6L Northstar V8 with 320 HP. Still quicker than her GTP, depending on who's test you believe around 5.8-6.0 to 60 versus mid-high 6's in the GTP.

Looking back, I can honestly say that I'd have bought the CTS-V for myself, IF I were single and could only have one car. I'm lucky enough to have a wonderful wife and the ability to have both the C6 and the STS, so this is the best of both worlds.

If you want a Corvette but HAVE to have four doors (and the back seat that comes with it), check out the CTS-V... it's a hell of a car. Truly a four door Corvette in my opinion for about the same price as a new C6 (comparably equipped.)

Stephen

MThomas

Great story. I agree with you. It's a hell of a car. I think the CTS loods good and I bought one for my every day driver. Just not the V. I have the V6 with 255 HP and it has plenty of get up and go for a V6.

Datawiz

If the CTS-V came in an automatic, I might have gotten that instead of the Vette. With a 6 year old child, having 2 sports cars and 1 sport ute, the C6 was a little impractical, but hey.... it's working out so far.

TEAShea

I owned a CTS-V and now have a C6. The CTS-V was a wonderful car - very enjoyable and a lot of fun. The C6 is even better - much better transmission and quicker since it is 600 pounds lighter. I did not like the interior of the CTS-V, but overall it was a terrific car.

TEAShea
from Nebraska

AFVETTE

You can bet Cadillac will survive any GM down sizing. They finally figured it out. I too am looking at CTS/STS for a second car. But would buy a V in heart beat if I needed 4 doors.

Tom

skfurr

I'll admit, the interior on the CTS-V was a bit "bleak." Everything was black. Felt a lot like the C5's "rubbermaid" interior. (Please, no flames from the C5 crowd!)

The car we drove was a 2004; supposedly they improved the shifter linkage for 2005 so it's more direct. I think the transmission itself is the same Tremec 6-speed as the Corvette.

And the figures I saw put the CTS-V at 3506 lbs vs. 3179 for the C6 Coupe. My calculator says 327 lbs heavier, not 600...

Stephen

catpat8000

I looked long and hard at the CTS-V before I ended up
buying a C6. I was leaving a 2002 M3 which had been
recalled twice by the factory to have the bottom half of
the engine rebuilt and this was a huge hassle.

In researching the CTS-V, I learned the car has extremely
bad wheel hop problems and that a significant number
of owners were inadvertently destroying their rear ends.
Whether the rear ends were insufficient for the power of
the LS6 or whether the extreme wheel hop contributes is
something I think is still being debated on the CTS-V
forums.

In any event, it seems apparent to me there is a major
issue with these cars which GM wasn't addressing when
I looked. Coming from the M3 hassle, I decided no way
was I getting into another vehicle with major inherent
design flaws.

Pat

catpat8000

Not claiming Motor Trend has the truth but their Feb road
test put the CTS-V weight at 3850 lbs.

Pat

skfurr

I stand corrected then... that's a whole 600 lbs plus some.

I was looking for a number when I posted originally, and by freak chance Google came up with the following site for the search "cts-v curb weight": http://www.automotive.com/2005/12/ca...pecifications/

It says right there: 3,509 lbs. But then I went back and checked again... they also say:

Do you see the problem here???

I think they are probably listing the curb weight of the V6 CTS. I can see the LS6 in combination with the beefier suspension, larger rotors, etc. adding up to the difference.

My bad.

I agree with your issue with the rear-end. I noticed bad wheel hop trying to get a good launch in just a short weekend test drive. I can see how that would quickly wear or break things.

It's still one bad-a$$ car. It's nice to see a little bit of '60s musclecar mentality every once in a while. Take a grocery getter and stuff the biggest engine in it you can!

Stephen

richard70

I was seriously thinking about the cts-v until I went to the auto show in motion in Orlando. My two biggest gripes where the interior and the clutch pedal. The interior seemed very cheap. I went last year (to the same show) and was in the cts and remarked at how much I like the interior OVER the BMW's. Did they change the interior from the 04 to 05? Or am I just crazy? The clutch pedal seemed very weak. I thought it would snap off. I like a stiff clutch, something that you can feel under your foot. In the cts-v, it just fell to the floor when I leaned my foot on it.

I really want a C6 but I have 3 small boys (1, 2 and 4) and do think it would be impractical and selfish of me to go with the 2 seater over something with 4 seats. So, the cts-v seemed like a good compromise. They gave the car the hp but they need to sure up the clutch and feel of the stick (make it short throw).

Any thoughts?

coolcat

Why is this car not available with an automatic transmission? After all it is a Cadillac. Bet you they would sell a lot more if the auto was available.

dreamcarc6

Only a guess, but maybe they don't want to sell more. Just want to get people in the showroom. Hard to say what kind of margins they have with the V. But my guess is they make more money on the STS and CTS. Just my thoughts.

smook

1 comment.

FLOG him.

skfurr

Consider me flogged...

The C6 is the best car in the world to me, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Sometimes though your priorities dictate a compromise; you can't take the wife and parents to dinner in the Corvette.

Thankfully, I didn't have to compromise!!!

Stephen

skfurr

Here's the funny thing: our local dealer isn't a very big Cadillac dealer, they are a Pontiac/GMC/Buick/Cadillac dealer, so Cadillac is just part of their business. Nevertheless, in November when we were shopping they had 7 CTS-V's in stock: 6 2004's and 1 2005. As much as we tried, they wouldn't deal on the 2004's. Same price as the 2005 (less the $1300 gas guzzler tax the 2005 has.) One 2004 didn't have the optional $1200 sunroof. We were able to negotiate our GM Supplier discount on the car though unlike with the Corvette.

Not sure if this is an indication of the market at a whole, but I wouldn't have expected them to have so many 2004's around in November last year. And if they did, why weren't they willing to deal? GM was offering NO incentives on the CTS-V while they had huge price cuts on everything else (2004 models.)

Interesting, no?

Stephen

skfurr

I don't remember any difference in the clutch feel vs. the C6. Both are surprisingly light compared to other high performance cars.

The interior is decent, just not up to the standards of BMW or Mercedes. There's a lot of use of plastic. You're paying for the performance. It wasn't BAD, just not up to the spec of other $50k luxury cars. But they don't have 400 HP either.

I do like the suede inserts on the seats. Did a good job of holding me in place through the turns.

And the equipment level is good: navigation, 6-disc changer, nice instrumentation.

If you can get past the interior, it's a great car. Don't do a lot of drop clutch launches and I think you'll be fine with the rear-end.

Like I said, I would own one in a second if I didn't already have the STS for the family outings...

Stephen