# Motor Trend; Supercharged 2009 Cadillac CTS-V



## 05GTO (Oct 6, 2004)

*First Look: 2009 Cadillac CTS-V**
Cadzilla! Meet the fastest, most powerful Cadillac ever built.*http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/sedans/112_0803_2009_cadillac_cts_v/
By Angus MacKenzie
Photography by Wesley Allison, the manufacturer







This is it. The fastest, most powerful Cadillac ever built. The fastest, most powerful American sedan in history, for that matter. Locked, loaded, and gunning for Europe's heavy-hitting sport sedans-BMW M5, Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, Audi RS6. Read all that again. Now pinch yourself. No, you're not dreaming. Motown-well, GM at least-has its mojo back. Meet Cadillac's monster new CTS-V. Cadzilla, if you will.Here are the raw numbers: 550 horsepower at 6200 rpm. 550 pound-feet of torque at 4000 rpm. They're only official "estimates," but as the engine under the new CTS-V's power-domed hood is fundamentally the same as the supercharged V-8 that's credited with 620-plus horsepower and at least 600 pound-feet in the hot new Corvette ZR1, you can safely assume the real SAE-certified figures will be close. "I'm confident we'll disappoint nobody with the numbers," says Ed Piatek, the CTS-V's program engineering manager.

There are no performance figures yet, but by way of context, AMG's E63 Benz nails 60 mph in 4.3 seconds. The new CTS-V weighs about the same and has at least 43 more horses and 85 pound-feet more torque. Draw your own conclusions: The car also has been extensively tested on the legendary Nrburgring Nordschliefe, and while insiders are tight-lipped on the actual lap time-for now-they will admit Cadzilla has terrorized factory hotshoes from Munich out on the daunting 13-mile road course. "People who've never been passed by a Cadillac have now had that experience," smiles Piatek.Piatek works for the GM in-house hot-shop, High Performance Vehicle Operations, headed by John Heinricy, and was the man tasked with overseeing the transformation of the COTY-winning CTS into Cadzilla. He had good raw material to work with: Unlike the previous model, the new CTS was engineered from the outset with the high-performance V-series model in mind, with extra stiffening and strengthening built in. "That was a lesson we learned with the first CTS-V," says Piatek. "If you start with this [idea] going in, there may be a small mass penalty on the base car, but there's less cost and tooling needed to do the V."

As a result, the basic CTS body structure is little altered. Most of the changes that have been made-mainly around the front and rear suspension cradles and the suspension links-are purely to handle the much higher cornering loads induced by the specially developed 19-inch Michelin Pilot Sport 2 tires and the prodigious torque output from the engine. On that last point, everything rear of the front transmission flange has been beefed up. There's a larger-diameter prop shaft, and asymmetric halfshafts (one side is a 55mm-diameter unit, the other 35mm) to help reduce wheelhop under full power launches).


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

what is the logic with the different sized halfshafts? The slightly different load side to side helps stop the wheel hop or what?


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## NJG8GT (Nov 14, 2007)

Rukee said:


> what is the logic with the different sized halfshafts? The slightly different load side to side helps stop the wheel hop or what?



(one side is a 55mm-diameter unit, the other 35mm) to help reduce wheelhop under full power launches).
__________________


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

I read that too, I`m asking.....what is the logic behind it? How does it help reduce wheel hop?


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## JerseyGoat (Dec 2, 2005)

That is a very nice car. I'm real impressed with Cadillac, some damn fine machinery has been coming from them.


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## aintmisbehavinn (Feb 9, 2006)

I wish I could get an option like that in the G8....


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## Good 2 go (Sep 7, 2005)

Rukee said:


> I read that too, I`m asking.....what is the logic behind it? How does it help reduce wheel hop?


Apparently, different sized halve-shafts prevent the rhythmic oscillations that occur during wheel hop. The ZR1 has this also.


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## G.T.O (Dec 28, 2005)

Nice. Now all I need is to win the lotto.


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## TrueBlueGTO (Sep 19, 2004)

*Don't forget that interior to die for...*

and my favorite angle:cheers


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## PWR_SHIFT (Feb 10, 2005)

I see a slush box shifter in the interior pic. Someone please tell me this car will come with a manual as well, if not, to me that's a deal breaker.


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## TrueBlueGTO (Sep 19, 2004)

From what I read it'll come with either 6sp manual or a 6sp auto with paddle shifters


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