For for than 20 years, the sport-sedan icon has been the BMW M5, model number E39. Is the CT5-V Blackwing from Cadillac up to par?
A long time back, I fell terribly enamored with the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing. No other four-entryway marked down today presents as much execution and satisfaction, whether you’re driving it to work or caning it around a course. It’s such a champion encounter that finding a commendable opponent required getting back to the past.
This story initially showed up in Volume 18 of Street and Track.
It’s not difficult to see the reason why the E39-age BMW M5 of 2000-03 has for some time been the benchmark for sport vehicles. Its very much tuned suspension was matched with a strong 394-hp V-8 and a six-speed manual transmission, all enveloped with perhaps of the most exquisite four-entryway states ever. It was attractive when new and has become considerably more engaging as present day execution vehicles appear to have lost something fundamental.
Like a bolt from the sky, the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing made its debut in 2022. The CT5-V Blackwing was and still is a discovery, a big-hearted, laugh-a-minute, yee-haw revelation with superbly tuned dynamics, an incredibly strong supercharged V-8, and a retro six-speed manual transmission. At last, after over two decades, a deserving successor to the E39 M5 crown.
The one E39 M5 I had driven before this sweltering May day in upstate New York was a nightmare of postponed maintenance. This particular example, a 2000 Oxford green beauty with 33,000 miles on it, has me completely smitten. In addition to providing contemporary comfort, sophistication, and lots of speed, it is captivating. The S62 V-8, a 4.9-liter engine, is not as sensitive as other BMW Motorsport engines. It has a remarkably calm personality instead of being erratic or violent. Still, it’s a gem.
There’s a lot of force as low as 1500 rpm and a solid kick around 4500 rpm that proceeds with the whole way to the 7000-rpm redline. Individual choke bodies produce pin-sharp reaction, and keeping in mind that the fumes note is shockingly muffled, there’s a wonderful bark inside the lodge that changes in light of motor burden. The shifter feel is commonplace BMW, light and rubbery. In any case, the motor’s fast reaction to a choke blip rouses moving for it.
The M5 represents the allure of vehicles of this period. It includes the driver in a manner such countless current vehicles don’t, yet it’s no classical. You can utilize it like it’s simply a vehicle, not some old toy that necessities cajoling into life for unique events. In any case, it addresses a totally different time.
Sliding in the driver’s seat of the Cadillac makes the most recent 20 years of mechanical advancement self-evident. After a drive in the M5, the CT5-V Blackwing feels undeniably more rigid. Beside the M5’s astounding choke reaction, each significant control feels more keen in the Cadillac. The directing and slows down have a promptness that isn’t there with the M5, and there’s less suspension travel. The CT5-V Blackwing has magnificent body control, with GM’s MagneRide dampers documenting smooth the sharp edges in the city while allowing the driver to frolic over tall street course checks like a passenger vehicle champ. This vehicle has more track ability than some other four-entryway available, effectively disregarding its 4092-pound control weight. It’s likewise superbly extravagant. The supercharged 6.2-liter little block V-8 is all force constantly, joined by the growling soundtrack of a Trans-Am vehicle. Roll on the choke in fifth stuff at 45 mph, and the Cadillac pulls like the BMW does in third. The Cadillac feels more like an unadulterated games vehicle than a compromising game car.
However, in a cutting edge setting, the Cadillac’s performance doesn’t appear to be so outrageous. Carmakers sharpen the present supersedans for dying edge elements. Drive a CT5-V Blackwing and another M5 one after the other, and keeping in mind that the two have their disparities in feel, the E39’s Bavarian relative is speedier than the Cadillac.
The CT5-V Blackwing shows exactly how much the game car game has changed since the E39 M5. In its day, the BMW was a major four-entryway that equaled Chevrolet Corvettes and Porsche 911s. For hell’s sake, the M5 pressed as much power as a Ferrari 360. This was an extravagance vehicle taken to a surprising limit. With the CT5-V Blackwing, outrageous has turned into the assumption. It’s an astonishing acknowledgment since it doesn’t feel like that much time has elapsed.
The BMW actually feels contemporary, despite the fact that Bill Clinton was president when it appeared at the Geneva car exhibition in 1998. Yet, there’s a lifetime between these two game cars. The Cadillac reflects jumps in car innovation — this notwithstanding its pushrod V-8 and manual transmission making an old fashioned feel — and aficionado taste. There’s additional capacity on both the street and track here, a prerequisite for the present game car clients.
DW BURNETT
There is, nonetheless, another significant association. What causes the Cadillac to feel so unique isn’t just its speed and innovation yet additionally the manner in which it includes the driver. The interesting thing about vehicles from the finish of the “late simple period,” the mid Nineties to mid-Aughts, is that they were extremely super advanced for their time. The V-8 in this M5 was among the most developed powerplants of its day. It’s simply that driving commitment came for nothing since innovation hadn’t yet weakened the association among driver and machine.
Today, driver commitment must be a particular designing need. The CT5-V Blackwing has all the rankling pace of a cutting edge execution vehicle, yet it’s as yet enjoyable to drive in practically all situations. I never verged on moving toward its cutoff points in my experience with it, yet I had a great time.
DW BURNETT
Holding up the E39 M5 as the highest quality level for such a long time is, obviously, an acknowledgment of its greatness. But at the same time an incrimination of the game vehicles followed. Until this Cadillac showed up, no vehicle of the kind gave such a great amount back to the driver. Sports-vehicle bedeviling execution enveloped with four-entryway extravagance isn’t enough without help from anyone else.
The Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing substantiates itself the equivalent of the long-lasting benchmark sport car by making sure to adore the driver back.
