The 464-HP Twin-Turbo Cadillac Sedan That Runs With The M3 For Civic Type R Money
A used performance car that delivers thrills typically reserved for something far more expensive is the holy grail of automotive enthusiasts with a thirst for speed and finite resources. If the vehicle in question has been hiding in plain sight for years, it only sweetens the appeal, especially if it’s been largely forgotten while fashionable rivals hogged the spotlight.
Everybody Wanted A Piece Of The BMW M3
The BMW M3 spent decades establishing itself as a performance benchmark for those in the know and those pretending to be. It wasn’t always the most powerful option or even the quickest around the track, but the combination of driving dynamics, everyday usability, and enthusiast street cred made it the car to beat in its segment.
Plenty of manufacturers took their shots at the king over the years, and by the mid-2010s, the competition was particularly stiff. Rivals weren’t just coming from German neighbors like Audi and Mercedes-AMG, but also brands like Lexus, offering their own interpretations of the performance sedan formula.
Then, for the 2016 model year, a twin-turbo V6 demanded attention from an unexpected direction. The Americans had come for the M3.
The Cadillac ATS-V Was Detroit’s Answer
When Cadillac launched the ATS-V for the 2016 model year, it wasn’t just limping its way into the compact performance sedan segment. The company had already earned some performance credibility with the larger enthusiast-darling CTS-V, and now it was bringing that same energy to a smaller package.
The star of the show was a twin-turbo 3.6-liter V6 putting out 464 hp and 445 lb-ft of torque at a time when the M3 was in the low 400s on both counts. The ATS-V was available with an eight-speed automatic or a six-speed manual, sending all that power to the rear wheels.
Despite going hard on hood vents, exhaust outlets, and sporty fascias, there was no doubting that you were still looking at a Cadillac. Yet it was clearly an unusually athletic luxury sedan with a taste for German sports cars, which was much of its appeal then and perhaps even more of it now.
Cadillac Gave It More Than Muscle
It would have been straightforward enough for General Motors to crank up the horsepower as far as it would reasonably go, stiffen the suspension until it felt amazing on the test drive but terrible riding to work, and call it a day. But the ATS-V was conceived as more than a luxury sedan that could light up the tires when it wanted to.
Underneath was GM’s rear-wheel-drive Alpha platform. It was the same one underpinning the sixth-generation Camaro. The Cadillac also had third-generation Magnetic Ride Control, an electronically controlled limited-slip differential, and Brembos to slow the whole thing down. The result was a car genuinely capable of acting like a civilized luxury sedan when that’s what you wanted, and something much more performance-minded when it was called upon.
The six-speed manual had automatic rev-matching and no-lift shifting, not small things, especially in 2016. An American luxury performance sedan that could pass muster with enthusiasts had arrived.
It Could Run With The M3, And Sometimes Beat It
With all of that power and capability spelled out on paper, the ATS-V made a compelling case for itself. But so did plenty of other cars that could technically best an M3 but lacked that certain something to win the day. As journalists started putting it through its paces, it was quickly clear that Detroit had done its homework.
In a Car and Driver three-way comparison test pitting the M3 against both a Mercedes-AMG C63 S and the ATS-V, the Cadillac was very much in the mix and was praised as the best-driving car of the three. Top marks on the skidpad. A tenth of a second behind the BMW in zero-to-60. And a manufacturer-claimed top speed of 189 miles per hour with the manual transmission, enough to leave the electronically limited Germans behind given enough road.
The Cadillac didn’t take the crown overall, but one thing was clear: GM had delivered something that could make the Europeans sweat.
A $60,000 Cadillac Has Become A $30,000 Performance Bargain
Of course, being able to hang with the M3 on a good day wasn’t necessarily enough to justify taking a chance on the ATS-V when it was new. With a starting price north of $60,000, the luxury American underdog wasn’t exactly a low-stakes proposition.
This brings us to what every enthusiast looks for when they have exceptional taste and a modest budget: a decade of depreciation. Kelley Blue Book reports that a 2016 ATS-V sedan with an original MSRP of $68,335 now carries a typical dealer purchase price of around $28,800. That’s nearly $20,000 less than a new Honda Civic Type R at $48,690, including destination.
Yes, that’s a brand-new car with Honda’s reputation for reliability, a factory warranty, and modern sensibilities versus an aging Cadillac that has none of those advantages, but it’s a compelling enough proposition to at least make you think about it.
Aging, Imperfect, But One Hell Of A Driver’s Car
Obviously, a ten-year-old Caddy with two turbochargers isn’t something to buy without doing your homework, to say nothing of the kind of treatment such a sporting vehicle might have received from the type of person who would buy such a thing.
And then there’s the interior. Even when it was new, the ATS-V drew criticism for fit and finish that wasn’t on par with German rivals, and the CUE infotainment system started out rough and has surely aged more like milk than wine.
But none of that changes the ethos of the car or what Cadillac managed to accomplish with a seriously credible performance sedan that very well might be a bad idea, but most certainly isn’t another fast Honda.
Sources: Cadillac, Car and Driver, Kelley Blue Book, Honda
Related posts
Latest Post
No Comments