Yahoo Autos 2020 Cadillac CT5 550T: A Twin-Turbo V-6 Gives Us Reason to Hope
Cadillac has a sedan problem. All it takes to realize it is to look at the brand's sales. In the last decade or so, Cadillac has built its share of great sedans: the ATS, the CTS, all of the high-performance V models. Even the CT6 was fun to drive, despite its other deficiencies. But cars only accounted for 18 percent of Cadillac's sales in 2019, despite making up about half its product portfolio. Meanwhile, customers are drawn to its XT4 and XT5 crossovers like moths to a flickering fluorescent light outside a Target.
Credit to Cadillac for sticking it out when plenty of other companies have abandoned the premium-sedan game. The brand's latest attempt to draw customers out of German, Japanese, and even Korean sedans—crucially, younger customers with their car-buying lives still ahead of them—involves a complete re-thinking of Cadillac's sedan strategy. The CT5 is the middle child in that restructured family, in which three sedans, clearly differentiated in size and price, replace four sedans with more fluid boundaries. All of that business strategy has created a lot of background noise around Cadillac's car offerings, but the signal is clear for those who are listening: Cadillac, at least for now, is going to build sedans whether or not people are buying them.
From a driving perspective, the CT5, which we previously reviewed both in its CT5-V configuration and with its inferior four-cylinder, is just about everything a person could hope for from a luxury sedan. It rides on a rear-wheel-drive platform (all-wheel drive is available for an extra $3090). The ride is relaxed but never displays the disconcerting floatiness over bumps and through corners that you'll find in a Lincoln, for instance. We noted some loud impacts on Michigan's crop of spring potholes, but never felt those shocks reverberate through the cabin the way they might in a lesser vehicle.
Skip right past the CT5's 237-hp 2.0-liter inline-four and go for the vastly superior 335-hp twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6, a tuned-down version of the engine that powers the CT5-V. It's denoted by 550T badging, according to Cadillac's relatively new and inane method of categorization by peak torque in newton-meters. We've yet to test the non-V CT5 V-6, but we expect it to reach 60 mph in just over 5.0 seconds. Our test car came with $1100 19-inch wheels and Michelin all-season tires. This car is unlikely to set records on the skidpad, but it can confidently navigate a series of corners in excess of recommended speeds.
The CT5's steering is awfully heavy for around-town use, even in Comfort mode. That heaviness serves the car much better during enthusiastic driving, where steering heft and resistance to jerky inputs are more helpful. The engine pulls hard, and the amount of power feels appropriate. Switching into Sport mode floods the cabin in stereophonic V-6 noise that's at odds with the Premium Luxury trim level's name. The standard 10-speed automatic transmission is silky smooth, even when aggressive driving triggers the Performance Shift mode.
Inside there are leather seats, plenty of rear legroom, and some leading-edge technology such as one-touch Bluetooth pairing. But there's also a large amount of glittery black-plastic trim that has all the luster and charm of cheap nail polish. Then there's the rotary control knob for the infotainment system that doesn't toggle up, down, right, or left (as is the industry standard). It's easier to just use the touchscreen for nearly all tasks.
Yet, despite the limits of the rotary dial, Cadillac continues to make real improvements to its infotainment system. The most important is that there are now buttons and knobs in place of the touch-sensitive sliders that we used to complain about. You'll never accidentally turn the stereo volume to 11 in your Caddy again.
This CT5's mix of driving dynamics and an almost-luxurious interior make our Premium Luxury example's $53,345 as-tested price palatable. A CT5 with the very desirable V-6 starts at $46,540. That strikes us an absolute deal, provided you can live without a few things like ventilated seats and driver-assistance tech.
The "if you build it, they will come" ethos has typically only applied to Cadillac's SUV lineup. But there's some good news for the CT5. It sold an estimated 3000 units in a historically bad first quarter of 2020, and it accounted for almost twice as many sales as the CT6. It's still far off the mark set by the XT5 (9023 units sold). But if there was ever reason to hope, this is it.
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