Yahoo Autos Our Long-Term 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Provides Daily Wows
10,000-Mile Update
While she meant it in a much nobler context, Maya Angelou's quote "Nothing can dim the light which shines from within" seems to apply quite well to our CT5-V Blackwing. Our feverish praise for Cadillac's brightest-ever four-door never wavered, although it has taken a couple pauses. Most recently, there was a $5563 monthlong pit stop to repair or replace every major passenger's-side body panel and various trim pieces crinkled by a kamikaze deer during our second try at initial testing, after the engine self-destructed during the first go.
But, like we said, the light from what is arguably the best sports sedan ever created isn't easily extinguished. Video maestro Carlos Lago sums up the CT5's all-around awesomeness: "It's everything I could hope for or want from a daily-driver sedan: comfortable, bonkers fast, subtle looking, but also childishly loud." Part of the loudness is that the engine starts with an extra-raspy blip during a cold start, which we enjoy every time.
To that, we'd add that this car's sizable trunk makes five-person weekend getaways possible. We don't understand, though, why there's a hands-free unlatching feature when the lid can't power itself open all the way, requiring a hand to complete the task. Our CT5 has gotten out to see more of our corner of the world, traveling to Toronto, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and Virginia International Raceway for this year's Lightning Lap, where it did a few laps of its own and earned a track-outline sticker on its rump.
Commenters repeatedly praise the Caddy's high-speed serenity, comparing notes about how difficult it is to keep the cruising speed below three digits. And, totally unrelated, certainly, they mention the CT5's lack of range. While the supercharged 6.2-liter small-block V-8 has gained 112 horsepower since the second-generation CTS-V, the fuel tank hasn't gotten any larger. In fact, the CT5's 17.4-gallon hold is slightly less than the 18.0-gallon tank in our long-term 2011 CTS-V wagon, a car that inspired similar complaints. We've crested 300 miles a few times, and the longer trips have pushed our running average fuel economy up by two miles per gallon to 17 mpg. On highway legs, including our 75-mph highway fuel-economy test, we've seen as high as 22 mpg, 1 mpg better than the EPA highway figure, which means that theoretically a run in the high 300-mile range is possible.
Although there haven't been any complaints about either the comfort or the finish of the carbon-fiber-backed seats, the nonadjustable headrests hit tall occupants, like six-foot-five yours truly, well below the top of the head. (BMW and Porsche are more accommodating to the tall with their fixed-headrest designs.) The Blackwing's seats also creak slightly when leaned upon. We've criticized the CT5's interior trim, which is quite lowbrow for a $100,000 anything, and now a couple of stitches on the leather steering wheel have started unraveling. We have been digging the night mode, which dims all dash lights except for a minimalist speedo. This is perhaps an idea swiped from Saab, which had a similar feature called Night Panel.
We've also completed our first service that didn't involve swapping out the entire engine. The oil filter was just $5, while each of the 8.8 quarts of 0W-40 cost more than three times as much, yielding a $195 total.
On the way back from VIR, we had another run-in with a quadruped. This time it was a deer carcass in the middle of the interstate, hidden by darkness until it was too late to do anything but center it under the car. At every stop for the rest of that trip, we were bathed in the rank smell of warm and very bad meat, and the entrails shattered a couple of plastic underbody aero bits and dented the oil cooler.
At least putting on a set of winter tires for Michigan's cold season should be easy. Right? But just as with our CT4-V Blackwing, we struggled extensively to source tires in the CT5's sizes. After exhausting all the usual outlets, we found a hodgepodge set at a local Mercedes-Benz dealer. All four are Pirelli Sottozero Serie IIs, but the fronts are Mercedes-spec Winter 270s (and also five years old), while the rears are Porsche-spec Winter 240s. That's a lot of caveats when shelling out $1830 for tires. We also removed the low-hanging brake-cooling ducts before snow has a chance to do that for us.
The unavailability of tires will hopefully provide sufficient motivation for restraint. There's so much torque all over the CT5's tach that this heroic V-8 makes quick work of the standard 305-width Michelin Pilot Sport 4S summer pelts, so you can be up a gear or two and these squishy Pirellis still don't stand a chance. We are equal parts in awe and in love.
Months in Fleet: 9 months Current Mileage: 14,672 miles
Average Fuel Economy: 17 mpg
Fuel Tank Size: 17.4 gal Observed Fuel Range: 290 miles
Service: $195 Normal Wear: $16 Repair: $50 Damage and Destruction: $5563
