Car And Driver Compares The Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing To The Audi RS7, BMW M5
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With customer deliveries of the 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing now underway, the American automotive media has also started to get their hands on the supercharged luxury sedan. Car and Driver is among the few outlets to have already tested the vehicle, with the publication comparing it against two of its direct rivals: the Audi RS7 and BMW M5.
While Car and Driver’s test of the 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing did not include any track time, the outlet took the sedan and its two German counterparts on a lengthy road trip from Michigan to the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, giving editors a very good idea of how these three six-figure sports sedans perform in the real world. The magazine also invited the Mercedes-AMG E63 S along for the trip, but the Daimler brand didn’t have a car to supply it with.
Finishing last in this three-way comparo was the BMW M5. The publication liked the BMW M5’s blistering acceleration (it accelerates from zero to 60 mph in just 2.7 seconds and can hustle through the quarter-mile in 10.8 seconds), but editors felt the Bimmer had numb steering, boring exterior styling and a relatively dull driving experience. The M5 also carries an eye-watering price tag of $141,045 as tested – although it justifies the high MSRP with an impressive list of luxury features that include 20-way massage seats, motorized rear window shades and a configurable all-wheel-drive system that can be flipped into a drift-happy rear-wheel-drive mode.
The Audi RS7, meanwhile, was second. Editors loved the Audi’s handsome exterior styling, wonderous build quality and easy-to-drive nature, but docked it points for being slower than both the Cadillac and the BMW and not placing an emphasis on driving enjoyment.
Finally, there was the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing in first place. Put simply, the Cadillac offered the best overall driving experience, impressing editors with its instant torque and responsive steering as well as its bargain $105,665 as-tested price. “The Blackwing was clearly developed by people who care about cars,” the magazine proclaims. “Dynamically, it’s near perfection. The ride control is amazing. The steering is honest-to-God great, like the man upstairs developed it himself.”
While this three-way comparison test did not include every sports sedan on sale today (the aforementioned Mercedes was absent, as well as the Maserati Ghibli Trofeo) it serves as a testament to Cadillac’s lasting ability to make fun-to-drive performance four-doors for the most hardcore of driving enthusiasts.
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Yes, but once again takes a lot of criticism for a subpar interior. As the owner of an ATS-V, I now see what all the complaining has been about.
Agreed about the ATS-V. I am a current owner, but waited in the wings for a while before buying. Having said that, I honestly don’t really care about the interior at this point. The car is an absolute blast to drive. Many track days and the joy of rowing my own (plus Android Auto and PDR) make the whole point about enjoying the drive and not so much about the interior.
GM should focus Cadillac ICE efforts around Blackwing if they sell. The Cadillac Fleetwood pimping of my youth could have never fetched 6 figures and these margins are great plus like Corvette create a great halo for GM.
The rs7 is slower than the Cadillac?! Wow, didn’t expect that! Great job Cadillac!
The Audi is nice, but the BMW’s interior is nothing to write home about IMHO. I have no problem with the CT5’s interior, especially at 35 grand less.
I find the Audi’s are to clean and clinical when it comes to interior style.
Nice win for the Caddy, Caddy performance sedans have been very good for a while, and if GM could just clean up the interior materials and switchgear a bit, they would be real contenders for best in class with no side-notes.
I agree with you.
Sam, please be a little more objective. Why not quote the acceleration times fir the Audi and Cadillac like you did for the BMW? After all these are performance cars.
Even more so, include the negatives for the Caddy as you did for the other two. They did complain about the cheap plastics in the interior and very poor gas mileage!
All the performance data is in the article. Gas mileage, they are all within a mile of each other.
Wrong! In observed mileage it was 3 mpg less!
And $35,380.00 savings will pay for a whole lot of gas!
Cadillac has a perfect score for chassis w/ each category getting the top score. Has any ultra high performance brand had a perfect score for chassis in the past anyone is aware of from C/D?
I’m not understanding what the problem is with the interior. The interior may not be the most stylish in its class but other than the dull plastic switchgear, the interior is nice and seems high quality too me.
I don’t care if the switch gear in the BMW is gold plated $141,000 dollars is way to much… The Audi and Cadillac are better looking vehicles besides what highway where I live in the northeast are you going to go that fast as in the BMW? Without killing someone or getting your license revoked! I am used to this though my wife’s Buick Enclave always gets criticized for the interior but we think it’s just fine it’s definitely classier then my Equinox LTZ. I guess if you have what my house costs for a car it doesn’t matter to you.
This is the biggest story Cadillac has had to tell the 2014 CTS beat the 5 Series BMW and the E-Class Mercedes to be awarded Motor Trend Car of the Year. This is big news…Cadillac Marketing and Advertising groups should be shouting it from the rooftops, but I suspect they will keep it a secret just as they did in 2014. And they wonder why Cadillac sales are in the dumper. This is MARKETING 101, what’s wrong with these people. What’s wrong with Mary Barra !!!
The ct5 v blackwing is great. Just slap in a higher quality interior and more Escalade tech and then this will be the perfect competitor or even the perfect car. Gm knows how to make a world class performance car! The interior may not be perfect for a 100k car but the hand built v8 and manual bridges in that gap. The Germans are great but there too expensive! You can buy a great house for 140k instead of this car.
I know that I’m late to the game here, but this is certainly a feather in the hat for Cadillac. Now, like Frank said above, market the heck out of it!! Make this news to be proud of. I’m just not sure why I keep reading so many comments about the interiors. For a while I had both the CT4 luxury and Volvo S60 T8 Inscription. In other words, I had the “base” Cadillac sitting along side the best and most expensive S60 you can get. On top of that, Volvo has gotten much praise for their interiors. I like the S60’s interior, but it wasn’t any better than the CT4 and in fact I’d actually prefer the CT4’s slightly over the S60. I certainly see no issues with the inside of the CT4/CT5.
On another note, I sure wish Cadillac would give as much attention to the luxury side (more quiet and better riding with more comfortable seats) as they do now to the performance side. They can do it. I just don’t see them doing it.
Cadillac has “Marketing”. And “Brand Positioning”. And “Diversity Outreach”. God knows how many high-salaried talents are currently being wasted on all the virtue signaling Woke BS that puts Barra in the headlines and gm in good graces with the current “administration” but does absolutely nothing to get people excited about buying gm cars. How about some good old fashioned Advertising? The Car people built a winner. Now, let some of the tortured souls mired in Diversity and Green unleash their talents promoting Cadillac’s lofty automotive accomplishments for once. In epic fashion. Duh.
Apparently GM is marketing the CT’s-v much like they did the Chevy SS (the ‘14 thru ‘17 models) made in Australia. In fact the caddy is much like an enhanced SS. With the same body it looks like a re-badged SS but obviously there are differences at around $50K in 2017. I wonder if GM did not market the SS because of something to do with fuel economy and the climate change crowd. They made a huge mistake halting the manufacture of the SS not to mention killing one of Australia’s major auto manufacturer, Holden. Seems like GM’s leadership puts a big emphasis on globalism and Chinese relations. I hope GM continues with the CTS-V considering their rumored intention to discontinue the Camaro. I have owned two SS’s and still holding onto my ‘17. I would like caddy, maybe I will consider a one year old used car in a few years.
well the ctsv blackwing was within 2 mph of the m5 128 to 130 awd help out.