Thursday 30th September 2010

Paris: Cadillac CTS-V Coupe

US muscle-coupe arrives in France; may get no closer

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Cadillac has decided to show the French how to 'do' muscle properly and has brought along the CTS-V Coupé. It's got 556bhp and 551lb ft thanks to its supercharged 6.2-litre V8.

It comes with 19-inch cast aluminium wheels and massive Brembo brakes to make sure it can stop in good time. Which is a bonus considering it'll hit 60mph in just 3.9seconds and top out at 191mph.

It's not 'just' a cut down version of the CTS-V Saloon, either. While they share a few parts - instruments, console, headlights, front bumper, grille - the Coupé is two inches lower and shorter than its four-door sibling.

Bearing in mind that the saloon managed to get around the Nurburgring in less than eight minutes (a first for a standard saloon) the coupé's extra sporting pretentions promise even more. Or less, depending on which way you look at it.

The rear-wheel-driven hyper-coupé hasn't been given a UK launch date or price yet. However, with the obvious success of the CTS in the UK... Oh, hang on...

With the brand struggling to shift rebadged Saabs in the UK, it's unlikely we'll see it in showrooms any time soon.

[Squabbler]

Prius rear end anybody?

[Maiathualdar]

Squabbler said:

Prius rear end anybody?

+1 and ugly

[clonmult]

Maiathualdar said:

Squabbler said:

Prius rear end anybody?

+1 and ugly

Whats scary is that its even uglier than the Prius.

[OwenK]

Oh dear, the back end of that's not gone well has it. Shame, as the saloon was quite attractive, in a chunky, angular sort of way. Looks like they've got a bit confused and made it a sort of hatchback thing rather than just an actual coupe.

[RSnut]

Yeah a shame, the saloon is much better looking!

[tgx4776]

It's even uglier in real life as the rear quarter panels seem to be a solid chunk of metal where glass should be killing visibility.

[LuS1fer]

I prefer the saloon. This looks a bit like it's wearing a rucksack.

[jake15919]

It looks like three different cars glued together. None of them were pretty.

[blearyeyedboy]

Slightly off topic, but bear with me...

"With the brand struggling to shift rebadged Saabs in the UK, it's unlikely we'll see it in showrooms any time soon."

See, I *had* one of these rebodied Saabs (Cadillac BLS)... and it wasn't half bad. It was just a Saab 9-3 wearing different clothes.

The problem was negative (but fair) press because they just weren't as good as a 3 series BMW. In fact, it was a similar steer to a Vectra- unsurprisingly, given the common parts bin- but it had a more comfy ride and was filled with toys as standard. If you viewed it as a BMW rival it was poor. If you viewed it as a rare but better Vauxhall Vectra for long distance cruising, it was a brilliant barge.

They had shocking second hand values... which was great if you were someone like me buying one. It was way better than any similarly priced Mondeo/Vectra. I got a decent 20,000 miler at 2 1/2 years old for £6000 that beat st out of any other big cheap diesel cruiser I could get for that money. It drew positive attention from everyone and their jaws dropped when I told them how little I paid.

After one year and about 18,000 miles I sold it for £5200, because I was doing lower mileages and fancied a toy instead of a cruiser. £800 depreciation in one year makes it the cheapest year's motoring I'm ever likely to have.

I'm delighted with my Octavia vRS, but in some ways I still miss that rebodied Swede. It had character in spades, and if I ended up doing long distances regularly again I might try to get another.

Edited by blearyeyedboy on Thursday 30th September 18:13

[anonymous-user]

I was looking forward to seeing this new coupe but the back is just so wrong....

When you look at the European coupes available at the same money it will take a dedicated Caddy fan to invest hard cash into one of those.

[Spiritual_Beggar]

"MY EYES.....THEY BURN!!!!"

[anonymous-user]

I like it!

But the comment on Saab got me thinking! Caddy cant sell a Saab 9-3 rebodied as a Caddy, but if Saab did a deal with Caddy, this rebodied would make a fine Saab halo, if that makes sense!

[MrTappets]

And how have they managed to make 19s look like 16s?

[blearyeyedboy]

MrTappets said:

And how have they managed to make 19s look like 16s?

By the rest of the car being effing huge. Even if it's smaller than a CTS, it's a huge beast of a car.

[F93]

Far too slab sided. They looked at the yachts from the 70s and thought 'yes, that's how to design a Cadillac'

Front is fine, back starts to look like a failed van.

[EBruce]

Not sure if you Brits will get to see these in person, but the CTS Coupe has a great presence and a much better look than pictures can provide.

[Squabbler]

^

[MDT]

looked over one of these over in the states last week…. not a nice thing to look at, and the boot is that pointed it almost looks like a pyramid when it is open.

Every one says that Porsche have the laziest design team in the industry. Well I think Cadillac’s are hyper active, it looks like the might well have got it looking ok if they had stopped 12 versions before they did.

[DavidHM]

blearyeyedboy said:

MrTappets said:

And how have they managed to make 19s look like 16s?

By the rest of the car being effing huge. Even if it's smaller than a CTS, it's a huge beast of a car.

Shorter, narrower and lower than an Insignia? Even the saloon is only an inch longer than a 1.8 litre, 4-cylinder Insignia that you can buy brand new for £12k.

Might be driving the (non-V) saloon next week.

[mattviatura]

I've got a feeling this has been around for a while. And I think it was designed by a Brit.