2015 cadillac cts 3.6 l twin turbo vsport

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For instance, I was, most recently, confused by the whole V badging thing. Like pretty much everyone who sampled its 556 horsepower and gummy Goodyears, I loved the second-generation CTS V. It knew what its competition was (the mighty BMW M5), what it was supposed to do (go fast) and what its main appeal was to be (see the previous aside and aim it directly at those disappointed that the latest M5 has become a Biggest Loser contestant). Caddy’s V was simply BMW’s M — a little less refined, perhaps, but with great, honking doses of supercharged horsepower more than making up for any perceived lack of sophistication.

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Car Review: 2015 Cadillac CTS VSport Back to video

Then came the 2014 CTS VSport. Gone was the V8. Ditto the supercharger. Instead there’s a V6 under the hood — with two turbochargers. Sounds vaguely European to me.

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And, instead of the V’s 556 horses, there’s but 420. Now, 420 hp is plenty manic in anyone’s book — good enough to scamper the car to 100 kilometres in just 4.6 seconds — especially from a mere 3.6 litres. But it’s not terrifying, which, whether the dilettantes who bought the second-gen V would admit it or not, was one of the prime attractions of that 6.2L supercharged V8.

So, what gives?

Where we — I will continue to assume, perhaps erroneously, that everyone was as confused as I — went wrong is surmising that Cadillac’s business plan was to emulate BMW. Take one mid-sized luxury sedan with a plethora of modest engines for the masses and then build one stupidly fast, mega-motor beast for the halo effect. In BMW’s lineup, there’s a big jump from 550i to M5.

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However, it’s not Munich that Cadillac seeks to emulate, but Ingolstadt. In Audi land, there is indeed said basic sedan with multiple variants — A7 3.0T, A7 TDi — and, likewise, the mega-motor Ferrari-chaser (the all-conquering 560-hp RS7). But, unlike BMW (and Cadillac, I thought), Audi has an in-between model, the only partially insane S7, with the same 4.0L V8 as the RS, but with its boost turned down to 420 hp. So, whether it’s been the plan all along, or this was just a clever last-minute feint, the Cadillac’s VSport is meant to be only partially unhinged and not a replacement for the V.

Viewed through this lens, the twin-turbo VSport makes a lot of sense. Like the S7, the engine feels massively torquey, completely disguising that there’s but six pistons under the hood. Throttle response is impressively immediate, thanks to the twin Mitsubishi turbochargers being placed extremely close to the exhaust ports, say Cadillac’s engineers. Passing is blindingly quick and, if the jump off the line is just a little softer than one might have thought for something with 435 pound-feet of torque, then attribute it to the fact that, again, this is only the half-bonkers cousin. It’s truly an impressive engine. Even its fuel economy exceeds expectations, the 10.7 L/100 km I averaged in my week-long test better than the 11.2 rating from Natural Resources Canada.

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A little less impressive is the Aisin eight-speed transmission. Oh, in Tour mode, it’s all sweet shifting and creamy smoothness. But, if you toggle up to Sport or Track, shifting becomes far too abrupt. Considering the VSport is supposed to be just the mildly unhinged model, why is it shifting like it just flew over the cuckoo’s nest? The S7 wouldn’t rattle fine china, even shifting on full throttle at 6,000 rpm.

Where the VSport gets some of its mojo back is in the handling department. No, it’s still definitely not the track-terrorizing V, but the VSport is capable, according to Car & Driver, of generating some 0.97g’s in lateral acceleration. Behind the wheel, the turbo’d VSport corners with precision; credit Pirelli PZero traction, well-calibrated suspension and an electronically enhanced steering system not nearly as numb as some of its competitors. If you’re looking for the reason for VSporting rather shopping Audi other than price (the Caddy is some $17,000 less expensive than the S7), its grace and pace is its best foot forward. That said, the VSport is available in rear-wheel-drive guise only.

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General Motors has made much of its redesign of the CTS’s cabin. Indeed, where the previous version looked like Honest Ed’s rendition of luxury, the 2014 revision shines with the build quality and material selection that should have been there all along. The leather is top-notch, the wood grain suitably subdued and, for 2015, the CTS’s OnStar system gains a faster 4G LTE network and a Wi-Fi hotspot. There’s also a new text message alert system for CUE as well as a new perpendicular parking system and it’s worth mentioning that Cadillac includes a much more convenient 110-volt power source in the centre console.

The exception to all this interior goodness, however, is the piano black centre console. It’s a little loud, Caddy obviously hoping to create something different: They just got “classy.” Ditto for the touch-less switchgear; it’s an unnecessary complication that simply doesn’t work very well.

But the interior’s foibles and the transmission’s abruptness are hardly reasons not to buy this car. I’m not quite sure if I’m quite ready to recommend the VSport over the S7 — the Audi remains noticeably quieter and smoother, not to mention less garish — but the turbo’d CTS is a step ahead of its direct BMW and Mercedes competition. Even if I’m not always quite sure what Cadillac’s end game is, the VSport is still an engaging sports sedan.

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David Booth

Canada's leading automotive journalists with over 20+ years of experience in covering the industry

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