-Mike-

This is kind of a repost, but I thought Motortrend's perspective on this was more one-sided for the CTS-V then other articles I read. Quite impressive for the money. Would I ever buy one? Ummm, no.


"Yet where it really matters, as a performance sedan, the CTS-V soundly spanks the M5. It's quicker in a straight line, handles better, steers better, even rides better (credit those amazing, multitalented magnetorheological shocks)."

knass34

FYI, motortrend is very biased..

craigm1841

someone mentioned the other day that the premium for driving a BMW is partly due to the heritage. The M vehicles have this, the CTS-V does not.

maybe because i am an enthusiast, i want to wave at people in bmws, kinda the way bikers do. when i am on two wheels, there is that rider comradere. I kinda think BMW owners have that, we just dont wave, but more often then not, i notice another bimmer driver checking out my car, even though it is stock. of course my ride is always always spotless. today i parked next to another 5 series (which i notice if at all possible, bmws are parked next to eachother) and i was standing inside the gym when a 745 pulls up and parks next to me. i did notice when the guy got out with his kids, he looked back and kind of admired the fact that there were three bimmers parked next to eachother, like he was proud of finding that spot. I did have a guy in an new E60 wave to me in a parking lot the other day, and that makes me happy.

show me a caddy driver that will do that. the cts-v can be faster, handle better, be cheaper, but i would still drive an M5 if my choice was between the two. To own a BMW is to be a part of something. To be part of a culture. Proud like-minded individuals that appreciate fine automobiles with a great heritage. more so in my opinion than any other vehicle on the road. at least with regular production vehicles. it is a car that anyone can own. you can buy an 84 318 for 600 bucks and be part of something.

e60cs5

I'm glad you mentioned this.

So it might be a bit faster in a straight line, but I didn't see Motorweek working these out thoroughly on a track in an unbiased manner. NO

Watch the article on GM's site. You can clearly tell which car the NON-GM employee liked.

GM has come a long way with their newer vehicles, but they still lack many critical things compared to the M5.

Number 1
How about a tactile driving experience? The reason people love BMW's and M's and the reason BMW's win out over the competition time and time again.
That boat isn't going to over the same driving experience, sorry. So slap a supercharger on it...(cheap trick) It's still a Cadillac

Number 2
Reliability - Again GM is getting better, but don't get me started with all of the issues I've had with their vehicles over the year.

Number 3 - Technology The way my M5 imports all of my Iphone contacts and converts to the text to speech, so i don't have to program anything... just hit a button and say "Call Frank" Works beautifully. Or I-Drive. yeah I know I might get some disagreements here - but if you are technically minded, or used to a computer the latest I-drive is SWEET. I love the way the menu's work, I love the way I can flip through songs on a CD easy, or look at split screen Nav and Current position or 2nd perspective. I like my heated cooled seats, my heads up, my active bolsers, my comfort access, my auto orienting headlights... I can't imagine the Caddy has all this stuff. Also, not only did GM use a motor that was 20% bigger..... they still had to slap a supercharger bandaid on top of it.


Number 4 - REFINEMENT - Interior, leather wrapped everything, rain sensors, steering feel, brake feel, suspension modes.....

Also, I heard that they were cutting the performance division.... No continued development. Good luck finding parts.

Motorweek is smoking something.... Maybe the economy and a strong sense of nationalism is defining their approach to the comparison.

Should've been longer, more thorough and more fair.

JetBlack5OC

FYI, it makes the win more impressive because Motor Trend and Car & Driver have been known for years to have a BMW bias.

I don't get why it is hard for people to realize GM made a car better in all performance catagories, including handling. The M5 has been out for years so it was time for it to fall. The next M5 will take back its crown.

swajames

It might interest you to know that despite the additional displacement, the CTS-V engine is actually lighter, by some margin, than the S85B50 in the M5. Also, the LSA engine in the CTS-V is limited to 550 hp. It's essentially the same powerplant as that in the ZR-1, which produces 620 hp which is also limited and easily tunable to considerably more. It's no less impressive an engine than the one in the M5.

swajames

+1, particularly Car and Driver.

m630

i too thought it was a very interesting read...of course its way late in the game to compare a new car to a model that is about to be replaced after its run as the hands down champion since it showed up, so I dont take anything away from the e60 M5 by the story. read between the lines and those blantant, and of course probably none of us here would buy the caddy, its cheaper because its cheaper...im not into the glitz or as they put it 'gloss', but thats how American car companies design luxury cars, and what they think people here in the US think is ritzy, but ofcouse its just tacky, imho. Im actually glad about the story, its probably too little too late for GM, but I wish the US car makers were competitive in the world. I wish they offered a car that I could buy, as I tell ya Id rather help out all those attached to the industry here that are really hurting and will be getting hurt more before it gets better, if ever. But they dont, they make mostly ugly cars with crappy interiors that drive like sh*t, if they were at all smart, they'd just offer whatever it takes to get a chief designer and engineer from BMW to show them how to make cars that people will actually desire to own.

e60cs5

Yeah right.

Slapping a supercharger on it is a copout. Mercedes figured that out.

How much would you like to wager that it won't be receiving engine of the year awards like the V10 has?
Or were you not aware of the numerous awards it has received.

Nothing novel about a blown big bore motor.

swajames

Who cares? Better engines than the V10 haven't won engine of the year, and more to the point it's utterly meaningless. Nothing particularly novel in a V10 either. Dodge got there before BMW, as did Ford... And Porsche... and Lamborghini...

As for the supercharger, it's no copout. In the LSA powerplant it produces 595 lb/ft of torque across a wide powerband. BMW's V10 maxes out a 393 lb/ft only at the top of the rev band.

Both are great engines. The CTS-V motor just goes about its business in a different way.