Yahoo Autos 2023 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing: Car and Driver 10Best
Winning a 10Best award is difficult. Successfully defending one is even tougher. To remain on the list, a car must provide a superior experience and unequivocally fulfill its mission.
Even before you set it in motion, Cadillac’s CT5-V Blackwing struts like a winner. The 668-hp supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 puffs its chest as if it’s in a Corvette, because in a different life it was. Considering that GM plans to make its light-duty fleet fully electric by 2035, it’s hard to believe the company builds a supersedan that guzzles 13 mpg city and 21 highway.
The version with the 10-speed automatic does get marginally better fuel economy, but the manual costs $3175 less, which will buy a lot of 93 octane. If your left leg isn’t strong enough to squeeze a clutch coddling 659 pound-feet, buy a gym membership with the savings. Manual buyers get a Tremec TR-6060 that moves through the gears with an impossible smoothness and lightness. Shift-it-yourselfers don’t give up much to the automatic in terms of straight-line performance. The six-speed’s no-lift-shift function means you can keep your right foot pinned to the floor. Nail the hole shot and the six-speed CT5-V Blackwing hurls itself to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds and erases the quarter-mile in 11.6 seconds, only 0.1 and 0.2 second behind the automatic, respectively.
