'Precision Pack' launched for CT5-V Blackwing
Team America's best super saloon gets even more super - for a limited time only
For 20 years now, the V-Series Cadillacs have been defying all expectations of Stateside performance cars and Caddys in general. They’ve required no exception or excuse to take on Europe’s best, creating more than a few cult heroes - see the CTS-V wagon - in the process. But any sports saloon or SUV with a supercharged 6.2-litre V8s is not long for this world; the Escalade V is having its final year, and for the CT5-V Blackwing’s swansong Caddy has made a ‘Precision Pack’.
Even the first sentence and its footnote hints at how near the end now is: ‘Today Cadillac introduced the 2025 CT5-V Blackwing1 Precision Package’. Scroll down to the bottom and the note reads ‘extremely limited availability’. Sob. Turns out it’s the last chance saloon of every description. Those who can get a PP are going to have to move fast, but it sounds well worth having.
It gets ceramic brakes, for starters, plus a rework of the highly praised magnetic dampers (which is part of a wider recalibration of subsystems that includes steering, chassis controls and eLSD). There are some really in-depth tweaks, too, the kind of stuff that will pass most folk by but will absolutely appeal to the kind of person who’s still excited by a six-speed manual saloon with 670hp.
The Precision Pack Blackwing gets new front steering knuckles and rear toe links to allow ‘for more aggressive wheel alignment for track usage’. That’s how serious they are. Completing the upgrade are a larger front anti-roll bar, revised suspension bushings and increased spring rates. It all points to a more serious, more focused CT5-V Blackwing, which sounds right up our street. America’s M5 CS, perhaps.
Indeed, Cadillac reckons this isn’t merely some track-ready renegade; it promises improved steering feel in all situations and improved circuit ability but ‘without compromising the luxury and refinement that define the Cadillac brand’. Vice Pres of Global Cadillac, John Roth, added: “For 20 years, V-Series has represented Cadillac's commitment to performance, technology and craftsmanship, serving as the purest expression of the brand’s core values. We wanted to put an exclamation mark on this era of Cadillac excellence and offer enthusiasts the utmost in driving exhilaration.” It’s enough to bring a tear to your eye.
A price hasn’t yet been announced for the Precision Package; there’s the feeling that anyone willing to pay $100k for a manual V8 come 2025 (production begins early next year) will pay whatever premium is asked for the end-of-an-era special. Prepare the black armbands for a few months time - another much-loved American hero must meet its maker.
ks instead. As I said in another thread...If you have a euro-centric view of the world it really does look like motoring/cars as a hobby is dying, given over to tedious appliances, heffalump EVs, and hybrids exclusively aimed at poseurs and top trumps bellends, with practically nothing left for actual drivers.
Then you look over the pond where they're still going nuts with supercharged 6.2 litre V8 Cadillacs with manual gearboxes and RWD, Lexus selling a 5.0 naturally aspirated V8 IS, 480bhp NASP manual V8 Mustangs for US$35k, and a mid engined Corvette starting at $70k. They still have a brilliant car culture going on, and brilliant cars for everyone.
Maybe years of our moron journalists hooting at Japanese and US cars with subjective drivel about the plastic used for the fuse box cover and telling us all a BMW or Audi is the pinnacle of motoring wasn't so great when everyone still making proper cars has given up on Europe as a continent full of knobbers who'd rather have a hybrid 2.5 ton 5 series than a proper performance car because a man in a magazine said it has nicer plastic bits.
We're not even getting the latest Nissan Z car because we would rather a mild hybrid 420i as our "sports car" instead.
ks instead. As I said in another thread...If you have a euro-centric view of the world it really does look like motoring/cars as a hobby is dying, given over to tedious appliances, heffalump EVs, and hybrids exclusively aimed at poseurs and top trumps bellends, with practically nothing left for actual drivers.
Then you look over the pond where they're still going nuts with supercharged 6.2 litre V8 Cadillacs with manual gearboxes and RWD, Lexus selling a 5.0 naturally aspirated V8 IS, 480bhp NASP manual V8 Mustangs for US$35k, and a mid engined Corvette starting at $70k. They still have a brilliant car culture going on, and brilliant cars for everyone.
Maybe years of our moron journalists hooting at Japanese and US cars with subjective drivel about the plastic used for the fuse box cover and telling us all a BMW or Audi is the pinnacle of motoring wasn't so great when everyone still making proper cars has given up on Europe as a continent full of knobbers who'd rather have a hybrid 2.5 ton 5 series than a proper performance car because a man in a magazine said it has nicer plastic bits.
We're not even getting the latest Nissan Z car because we would rather a mild hybrid 420i as our "sports car" instead.
Not so sure about that. The market is of course bigger in the US to justify selling the niche cars, but more importantly its FAR cheaper to own and run a car in the States.
Cadillac aren't stupid, they know literally no-one would buy it in enough numbers to justify the cost of it being converted and homologated for this side of the pond - all that would happen is they would sell a few hundred and everyone here would simply do as they've always done and head to BMW Mercedes and Audi for their performance car fix.
I stopped buying BMs in 2005, haven't ever owned an Audi (thank God) and haven't had a Mercedes for 30 years, this Caddy is one of the first new cars i've seen over the past couple of years that has actually piqued my interest. The last bastion for those who still believe in 'The Joy of Motoring', something BMW forgot about years ago in their pursuit of 'The Ultimate Driving Machine'; irony is BMW's offerings from early-00s to early-10s are probably not far off their 'ultimate driving machines', given the comparatively hideous, slow, heavy dreck they're selling now.
I stopped buying BMs in 2005, haven't ever owned an Audi (thank God) and haven't had a Mercedes for 30 years, this Caddy is one of the first new cars i've seen over the past couple of years that has actually piqued my interest. The last bastion for those who still believe in 'The Joy of Motoring', something BMW forgot about years ago in their pursuit of 'The Ultimate Driving Machine'; irony is BMW's offerings from early-00s to early-10s are probably not far off their 'ultimate driving machines', given the comparatively hideous, slow, heavy dreck they're selling now.
I stand by original statement - there's no shame at all in knowing your market and sticking with it. I don't care if your interest is piqued. It's just not worth Cadillac spending the money to bring this car to Europe when fuel prices are so high, legislation means it will cost more to run than the European rivals and nobody wants a high-performance Yank-tank here.
Not so sure about that. The market is of course bigger in the US to justify selling the niche cars, but more importantly its FAR cheaper to own and run a car in the States.
It's not going to change so like it, or lump it.
I stand by original statement - there's no shame at all in knowing your market and sticking with it. I don't care if your interest is piqued. It's just not worth Cadillac spending the money to bring this car to Europe when fuel prices are so high, legislation means it will cost more to run than the European rivals and nobody wants a high-performance Yank-tank here.
And I still think they'd sell better than you think given the state of the BMW/Audi performance division at the moment. But I understand they'd need to break into the market on a wider scale not just the performance end and they don't need the UK/Europe at the moment. But they're making the Corvette in RHD for the UK market, I'd love to see that extend to other models.
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