Best car I've owned

[CaddyAg]

I don't post much, but have to say this CT5-V BW is the best car I've owned. It does it all. Its fast as hell, loud when you want it to be, has an amazing exhaust note, comfortable, has room for the kids in the back, and enough of a sleeper that only real car guys appreciate it. Plus, this unique drift metallic light blue turns a few heads. I've had BMW M's and vettes which have their pros / cons, but I think I have truly fallen in love with this BW for how incredibly versatile it is. Rowing through the gears with the windows down on one of the few nice weather days in Houston just makes you happy. Well done GM.

 

[MeanGreen]

We clearly are all completely biased on this matter lol. Yet somehow it plays as the most legitimate bias known to mankind. There's just nothing better on the road south of $200K. Period.

 

[speedygonzalez]

I don't post much, but have to say this CT5-V BW is the best car I've owned. It does it all. Its fast as hell, loud when you want it to be, has an amazing exhaust note, comfortable, has room for the kids in the back, and enough of a sleeper that only real car guys appreciate it. Plus, this unique drift metallic light blue turns a few heads. I've had BMW M's and vettes which have their pros / cons, but I think I have truly fallen in love with this BW for how incredibly versatile it is. Rowing through the gears with the windows down on one of the few nice weather days in Houston just makes you happy. Well done GM.

GM had a huge focus on driver feedback. That is a huge differentiator from a lot of vehicles in its class. A lot of performance models are made with too many electronic components trying to make the car handle better. It givies the driver a numb feeling while driving.

When they were designing it, they thought of two things.
1. How would I want mine to drive?
2. Will this be the last gas V/Blackwing from Cadillac?

Even the exhaust sound was meticulously planned to be the exact note and decible that it is. I am not sure how many versions they had to make to get where it is now, but I am willing to bet it was a lot.

Brandon Vivian who is the Cadillac Executive Chief Engineer talks a lot about how much passion they put into designing the Blackwings. It is very cool to hear him talk about it.

 

[BKC1]

GM has been doing a good job improving the cars--granted, they started from a low point and had clear guidance from ALCON on where improvement was needed. Now that GM is near-parity with the competition and no longer has obvious deficiencies to clean up, we'll see if they understand first principles or were merely copying their betters.

The interior, which has always been GM's low point, has improved markedly between all four generations. The chassis has always been good, but the suspension has improved by leaps and bounds. I can't speak to the seats in the 4th gen, but the improvements between gen 1-2 & 2-3 were huge. For powertrain, the differential now seems to be bulletproof, even under modified power levels.

The brakes have remained consistently mediocre. There's barely any difference between the OEM Brembos after normalizing for vehicle weight. The Brembo pistons are still aluminum (which contributes to the squishy pedal and transfers heat into the fluid) instead of stainless or titanium, and they're still using the squishy Ferodo HP1000 pad material for low temperature performance. Stainless pistons and Ferodo DS2500 pads should be standard.

The manual transmission is still using a remote linkage instead of using the extended T-56/TR-6060 tailhousing. As a result, the shifter is sloppy when new and the driveshaft is longer than it needs to be. The long driveshaft lowers the critical speed and mandates a steel two-piece driveshaft at the price target GM wants to hit. I can't see GM ever replacing the two-piece driveshaft with a CF single piece driveshaft, but the remote linkage can and should be eliminated.

Audio is still abysmal. You don't see paper cones these days outside of GM, the mounts are plastic (at least they're giving us a little strip of foam now so it's no longer plastic on metal), the rear deck mount is unisolated plastic and rattles from the factory, and the amplifier is so underpowered the bass has to be delayed in software to avoid overload, causing bass hits to be time-shifted out of phase with the music. The cheapest garbage you can buy on Amazon is a quantum leap over GM OEM.

I could probably do a whole post on the subject of rubber and nylon bushings; if you're designing for low cost and short lifetime they're hard-to-beat materials. Rubber does a great job transforming vibrational energy into heat and the manufacturing costs are very low to make a rubber bushing. Likewise, nylon has self-lubricating properties and the costs are low.

I really don't have any problem with GM using nylon bushings, but I do have a problem with their assumptions for how hard users load those bushings when they shift and brake. You can't just replace a bronze bushing with a nylon part and call it done; you have to make the assembly large enough to distribute the load and prevent plastic deformation.

For rubber bushings, you're in a battle against time. Just like car tires aren't sold past 4 years and have a 6 year lifetime, rubber bushings oxidize and dry-rot in 6-10 years, which is conveniently outside the warranty period. Just because the point at which the bushing has cracked and is falling apart is outside the warranty period doesn't mean the bushing hasn't functionally degraded within the first few years of service. I started noticing the shifter linkage bushings in my ATS-V being unacceptably bad at 15k miles, as an example.

I don't know a single GM owner that's using the car for its intended purpose that hasn't replaced every bushing within 5 years. GM probably doesn't recognize the true impact of their design decision here, because the majority of bushing replacements are done by the owner (owners could have GM do replacement under warranty, but replacing a garbage part with the same garbage part is pointless and frustrating).

We're at the point where 60-80A polyurethane bushings should be standard; the cost delta is less than a hundred dollars, and you get all kinds of benefits in terms of reliability and brand quality perception in addition to technical benefits (e.g. linear instead of progressive control arm motion). The Precision Package revealed to me that GM is not ignoring polyurethane, they're just ignorant. A set of soft polyurethane bushings on the rear subframe and control arms would've done wonders for handling and cost about ten bucks instead of the $1k+ billet aluminum arms GM offered instead.

This post is already too long and I don't want to go into greater depth, but there's a lot of things you can do with polyurethane that you can't easily do with rubber (e.g. machining, casting, or 3D printing polyurethane structures that have different stiffnesses in different axes) that makes it a superior option in addition to the fact that it essentially never wears or ages out.

 

[blackeneth]

I don't post much, but have to say this CT5-V BW is the best car I've owned. It does it all. Its fast as hell, loud when you want it to be, has an amazing exhaust note, comfortable, has room for the kids in the back, and enough of a sleeper that only real car guys appreciate it. Plus, this unique drift metallic light blue turns a few heads. I've had BMW M's and vettes which have their pros / cons, but I think I have truly fallen in love with this BW for how incredibly versatile it is. Rowing through the gears with the windows down on one of the few nice weather days in Houston just makes you happy. Well done GM.

To expand on “comfortable”, the suspension is amazing. Buy it for the V8 and the 6MT, keep it for the 4th generation magna-ride suspension.

 

[speedygonzalez]

GM has been doing a good job improving the cars--granted, they started from a low point and had clear guidance from ALCON on where improvement was needed. Now that GM is near-parity with the competition and no longer has obvious deficiencies to clean up, we'll see if they understand first principles or were merely copying their betters.

The interior, which has always been GM's low point, has improved markedly between all four generations. The chassis has always been good, but the suspension has improved by leaps and bounds. I can't speak to the seats in the 4th gen, but the improvements between gen 1-2 & 2-3 were huge. For powertrain, the differential now seems to be bulletproof, even under modified power levels.

The brakes have remained consistently mediocre. There's barely any difference between the OEM Brembos after normalizing for vehicle weight. The Brembo pistons are still aluminum (which contributes to the squishy pedal and transfers heat into the fluid) instead of stainless or titanium, and they're still using the squishy Ferodo HP1000 pad material for low temperature performance. Stainless pistons and Ferodo DS2500 pads should be standard.

The manual transmission is still using a remote linkage instead of using the extended T-56/TR-6060 tailhousing. As a result, the shifter is sloppy when new and the driveshaft is longer than it needs to be. The long driveshaft lowers the critical speed and mandates a steel two-piece driveshaft at the price target GM wants to hit. I can't see GM ever replacing the two-piece driveshaft with a CF single piece driveshaft, but the remote linkage can and should be eliminated.

Audio is still abysmal. You don't see paper cones these days outside of GM, the mounts are plastic (at least they're giving us a little strip of foam now so it's no longer plastic on metal), the rear deck mount is unisolated plastic and rattles from the factory, and the amplifier is so underpowered the bass has to be delayed in software to avoid overload, causing bass hits to be time-shifted out of phase with the music. The cheapest garbage you can buy on Amazon is a quantum leap over GM OEM.

I could probably do a whole post on the subject of rubber and nylon bushings; if you're designing for low cost and short lifetime they're hard-to-beat materials. Rubber does a great job transforming vibrational energy into heat and the manufacturing costs are very low to make a rubber bushing. Likewise, nylon has self-lubricating properties and the costs are low.

I really don't have any problem with GM using nylon bushings, but I do have a problem with their assumptions for how hard users load those bushings when they shift and brake. You can't just replace a bronze bushing with a nylon part and call it done; you have to make the assembly large enough to distribute the load and prevent plastic deformation.

For rubber bushings, you're in a battle against time. Just like car tires aren't sold past 4 years and have a 6 year lifetime, rubber bushings oxidize and dry-rot in 6-10 years, which is conveniently outside the warranty period. Just because the point at which the bushing has cracked and is falling apart is outside the warranty period doesn't mean the bushing hasn't functionally degraded within the first few years of service. I started noticing the shifter linkage bushings in my ATS-V being unacceptably bad at 15k miles, as an example.

I don't know a single GM owner that's using the car for its intended purpose that hasn't replaced every bushing within 5 years. GM probably doesn't recognize the true impact of their design decision here, because the majority of bushing replacements are done by the owner (owners could have GM do replacement under warranty, but replacing a garbage part with the same garbage part is pointless and frustrating).

We're at the point where 60-80A polyurethane bushings should be standard; the cost delta is less than a hundred dollars, and you get all kinds of benefits in terms of reliability and brand quality perception in addition to technical benefits (e.g. linear instead of progressive control arm motion). The Precision Package revealed to me that GM is not ignoring polyurethane, they're just ignorant. A set of soft polyurethane bushings on the rear subframe and control arms would've done wonders for handling and cost about ten bucks instead of the $1k+ billet aluminum arms GM offered instead.

This post is already too long and I don't want to go into greater depth, but there's a lot of things you can do with polyurethane that you can't easily do with rubber (e.g. machining, casting, or 3D printing polyurethane structures that have different stiffnesses in different axes) that makes it a superior option in addition to the fact that it essentially never wears or ages out.

I definitely understand a lot of your post and I agree with a lot of it.

The main things you have to keep in mind are scale, cost per unit, and quantity of parts. They have to consider cost per part based on a very large number. You referenced the different material for the bushings. Something that is less than $100, usually means over $90. When you think about that multiplied by something as low as 50,000, you are talking about $4.5 million. Now, imagine that difference for just 10, 20, or 30 parts. When the cars get excellent reviews by customers and auto magazines, etc. It makes it hard to warrant a change.

When you build cars on a conveyor belt and you finish one every 5 minutes, you have to think about variety of parts being installed on the line. The more complicated it is to do different parts on each car on the same line, the slower it is, with a higher chance to make a mistake. The CT5-V Blackwing and CT5-V are still a CT5 at the end of the day and built at the same plant. You cannot upgrade every component just for the CT5-V and the CT5-V Blackwing. They don't build 50 CT5-V Blackwings in a row, then 100 CT5s in a row. It is completely random. Imagine what it would be like to ask 50+ people (probably more with 1,400 employees) on the line to look up every VIN to verify which components it gets. I have been to the GM plant in Arlington and I can tell you first hand, this would not work.

I assume you are not talking about the AKG system when you say the audio is abysmal.

One example:
I have driven the CTS-V and the M5 at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin. The BMW M5 had significantly more "brake fade" after multiple laps compared to the CTS-V. They could make Carbon Ceramic brakes standard, but if they can match or beat the competition with the current compounds, why would they? Granted, I have not driven a 2025/2026 CT5-V Blackwing and M5.

2025 M5 60mph-0mph = 115-118 feet
2025 CT5-V Blackwing (No Precision Package) 60mph-0mph = 100-104 feet

Yes, the materials you are talking about are better than what is currently used. But, every vehicle in it's class will have components and materials that could be upgraded. Profit & loss, customer base, competition, MSRP comparison, performance, etc. are just some of the factors that go into desiging these vehicles. These vehicles are undoubtedly amazing and above their competitors.

I 100% understand your point. I just want to put it in perspective from the manufacturers point of view.

 

[Finally-a-V]

I agree with @speedygonzalez . It's all about speed, ease and money. Yes, probably better parts, but "confusion" and cost are the issue. How many times have the "bean counters" decisions superseded quality, etc?

As far as the Brembo's....I'm not a track rat by any means, but I've driven CTS-V's (and ATS-V's) at COTA (and other manufacturers at the same or other tracks)....and hard. I don't recall any brake fade. What I remember were great brakes that took a beating....all day. As far as my 5BW, I don't experience any fade in the mountains of California when I'm out there. Granted, it's up one side, and down the other a few times and not all day. One road in particular, I think it's S7 out of Palomar Mountain, is awesome to drive down. Dozens of hairpins, some very sharp, down hill all the way, no fade. I've always been impressed with OEM Brembo's.

 

[white98ls]

Even the exhaust sound was meticulously planned to be the exact note and decible that it is. I am not sure how many versions they had to make to get where it is now, but I am willing to bet it was a lot.

They actually said in a Hagerty article that they went through 40+ iterations of the exhaust to find the perfect tone.

 

[CT4-Venom]

I guess they should have done 41 iterations as I think the corsa sounds better than stock.

 

[white98ls]

I guess they should have done 41 iterations as I think the corsa sounds better than stock.

Based on videos I've heard back to back with stock, I highly doubt that would meet noise regs!

 

[BigShark]

That drift metallic blue sounds awesome, I've only seen a couple in person but they definitely stand out more than the regular colors.

 

[+ManifoldPSI]

For powertrain, the differential now seems to be bulletproof, even under modified power levels.

When I first got the car, I inquired (more for fun than anything) with Hennessey about their 1000hp package, and pointedly asked if they felt any need to or actually did any rear diff upgrades for the extra power. I was told the rear end was not touched. Now, whether that is due to their engineers researching & deciding the unit was stout enough, or simply not wanting to add that extra R&D and parts/reliability testing cost, I don't know.

Presumably this is much the same diff as in the 6th gen ZL1/E Camaros? I remember asking GM staff as SEMA over a decade ago when the Z/28 was new if it used the same unit as the ZL1 and being told it did not need the bigger piece from the ZL1. Made sense, with the Z/28 being a road course car.

I'd imagine now the 5VBW diff is a version of what is in the last ZL1s. Can't imagine many people will take their 5VBWs to the dragstrip, and even fewer will repeatedly clutch-dump their 6spd units, but ya never know.

I'll keep an eye out for YT vids titled something like "world's fastest 6 speed CT5V Blackwing" as I'm sure at least a few people will be clamoring for that title eventually.