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      09-13-2008, 01:01 PM   #1
Lester
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CTS-V Beats the M5 at Nurburgring - under 8 minutes.

CTS-V is both faster and more
nimble than its BMW counterpart

BY DAVID BOOTHWESTCHESTER, N.Y. -
Imagine BMW's chagrin. Not
only does its flagship supersports
sedan, the all-conquering M5, get
trounced, but the car doing said
trouncing is from — Gasp!
Shock! Horror! — North America
and not one of its traditional Ger-
man competitors. Worse yet, the
car stomping all over its previous
hegemony wears a Cadillac—
yes, a Cadillac — badge. Oh, the
shame.

Cadillac's all-new, monstrously
motored CTS-V is both quicker
and faster than the once-dominant
M5. Powered by a new 6.2-litre,
supercharged V8 only recently lib-
erated from the fire-breathing
Corvette ZR1, the CTS-V boasts.
556 horsepower, 551 pound-feet of
torque and can accelerate to 96
kilometres an hour in just 3.9 sec-
onds.

American brands have always
been able to get massive amounts
of horsepower from their super-
sized-displacement engines, so
perhaps we can forgive the Bim-
mer its deficiency in straightline
speed. But the M5 remains the
master of the twisted line, the
curvy road, the winding race
track -T- right? Oops, wrong
again. As it turns out, the CTS-V
now holds the production sedan
record for the fastest lap around
the Nurburgribg, thr 22.7-kilo-
metre race traick in BMW's
homeland, Gemiany that is the
gold standard for determining
the fastest cars in the world. The
CTS-V took seven minutes and
59 seconds to negotiate the Nur-
burgring's 172 corners; the M5
took eight minutes and 13 sec-
onds. But that's hardly the worst
of it.

Adding further insult to injury
is the fact that Cadillac’s
record lap was set in a CTX-V with
an automatic transmission.
Both manual and automatic seem
equally suited to the race track
until I tested both the manual
and automatic-equipped CTS-Vs
around the 22 corners of the
Monticello Motor Club's new
race track back to back. Despite
my skepticism, I equally had
to admit that Cadillac has so
thoroughly engineered its new
six-speed automatic transmission
that it is equally competent to its
six-speed manual and easier to
drive to boot.

The Caddy doesn't trounce the
M5 in positively every way.
Steering feel still favours the
Bimmer. The CTS-V can't be
tossed into corners with quite the
abandon of the M5. However, in
all other measures of handling,
the muscle-bound CTS is all but
as good as the Bimner.

So, the cars, apart from the
CTS-Vs performance advantage,
are roughly equal — until the
ultimate price reckoning, of
course.

The Cadiliac will be priced
about the same as BMW's new
VS-powered M3, which means
there will be a significant amount
of change back from $80,000.
The M5 retails for $113,300.
Put in perspective, for the same
price as an MS, a prospective
Cadillac owner could buy a CTS-
V plus a JCW Mini for the kid or
a 128 Cabriolet for the spouse and
still have money left over for a
family dinner out on the town.

Canwest News Service
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      09-13-2008, 01:06 PM   #2
EINSER M
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great news for caddy lovers but i seriously doubt the cts-v appeals to the BMW crowds...
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      09-13-2008, 03:55 PM   #3
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I could be wrong, but I would be surprised if any cadillac (including this one), or M5 for that matter, would be the weapon of choice for anyone who is into thrashing their car around the track on a regular basis. To me this article just points out the levels of silliness that the ongoing horsepower wars have reached.
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      09-13-2008, 05:10 PM   #4
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That Cadillac is ugly.
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      09-13-2008, 08:00 PM   #5
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Signs of the American Automobile coming back.
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      09-14-2008, 05:59 AM   #6
JC Jai
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Yea.....

but the M5 is from like 2006 isn't it? Took like 2 3 years for GM to beat it
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      09-14-2008, 06:44 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jrc View Post
I could be wrong, but I would be surprised if any cadillac (including this one), or M5 for that matter, would be the weapon of choice for anyone who is into thrashing their car around the track on a regular basis. To me this article just points out the levels of silliness that the ongoing horsepower wars have reached.
Maybe, maybe not, but when you're buying cars at the $50k+ price point, having bragging rights is a big factor. This will almost certainly help Cadillac move a few of them.
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      09-14-2008, 09:05 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JC Jai View Post
but the M5 is from like 2006 isn't it? Took like 2 3 years for GM to beat it
The M5 came out in 2005. CTS-V = 2009
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      09-15-2008, 09:44 AM   #9
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The point of the CTS-V and M5 are not to be track monsters but to be VERY capable daily drivers for executives who enjoy a back road jaunt or canyon run now and then. Most of the buyers of these cars typically have a "Sunday-car" for thrashing on the track or other means of automotive entertainment. What is surprising is the fact that GM has been able to create this type of car for $23,000 less than the BMW. Granted some will complain of the build quality but Cadillac has learned and is becoming much better and I believe they are a world class luxury sports sedan competitor.
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      09-17-2008, 01:38 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Mac View Post
The point of the CTS-V and M5 are not to be track monsters but to be VERY capable daily drivers for executives who enjoy a back road jaunt or canyon run now and then. Most of the buyers of these cars typically have a "Sunday-car" for thrashing on the track or other means of automotive entertainment. What is surprising is the fact that GM has been able to create this type of car for $23,000 less than the BMW. Granted some will complain of the build quality but Cadillac has learned and is becoming much better and I believe they are a world class luxury sports sedan competitor.
Drive a CTS and a 5 series back-to-back and you'll see where that $20k went
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      09-18-2008, 09:41 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DaleM View Post
It is nice to see an American product handing the Euro elite a nice helping of Humble pie. I wish we would see more of it.
agreed...

what this article is really saying is that in a few years BMW is going to one up them, and caddy vice versa.

until we run out of gasoline that is....
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