Rob
Grace under pressure.
October 2014
BY CAR AND DRIVER
We had to keep reminding ourselves that the Cadillac CTS Vsport has 420 horsepower. Part of the problem is perspective. Jump from a 577-hp Mercedes-Benz E63 into the twin-turbo CTS and suddenly the Vsport—a car capable of zero to 60 in 4.6 seconds—feels a little pokey. But a VIR lap time of 3:06.8 isn’t pokey. In fact, that puts the CTS just one-tenth of a second off the 550-hp Jaguar XFR-S’s time.
Like the CTS-V before it, the new CTS’s chassis is unfazed by the smack of a curb, the disturbance of a blind crest, or the crash of a downhill landing. Nothing seems to disrupt the cabin’s serenity. As a nearly 4000-pound car, it easily overwhelms the grip of its Pirelli P Zeros, but the Cadillac never fights back. Here, a loss of traction isn’t an emergency; it’s a trip without a fall.
Through sector one, the CTS is already up 1.1 seconds on the XFR-S. Peak grip is shy of the Jag’s, but the Caddy is quicker through here due to its ability to accelerate cleanly out of the corner. In the XFR-S, by contrast, nearly all power delivery is accompanied by the time-robbing snap of oversteer.
Full Story: Video: Lightning Lap 2014: Cadillac CTS Vsport
Related Forum Discussion: Video: Lightning Lap 2014: Cadillac CTS Vsport
