2020 Cadillac CT4-V & CT5-V In Depth Comparison - Blackwing Supercharged V8 Manual?! YES!

I'm Yuri. I'm Jacob. And we're going for a virtual drive. 2020 Cadillac CT4V and CT5V. And also a little bit of the Blackwing. So we were actually supposed to drive these two, but everything got canceled because of the worldwide thingy going on, so let's start with the horsepower and torque. Starting with the CT4V, we have 320 horsepower, 369 pound-feet of torque from a 2.7-liter turbo four-cylinder. Then on the CT5V, we have 360 horsepower, 405 pound-feet of torque from a 3-liter twin-turbo V6. And these are to replace the ATS and the CTS. Yeah, and they are CT5V, just like the CTS-V was a thing, but it's not an actual true V model anymore. Yeah, so if we're comparing this to the Audis, the non-V would be the A, the V would be the S, and there's no RS yet, which should be a real V. So the real V is actually going to be called the Blackwing, and they did release a little bit of information on it. It will have a manual transmission, and it should have a supercharged V8, so let's take a listen to that really quick. So right now, you can only get both of these in a 10-speed automatic transmission, correct? Yeah, there is no manual option for these Vs, which are kind of like the old V Sports, but they're a little bit more than that. It's really confusing. I don't like what they did here. So we haven't reviewed any of these yet, but I did get to drive one of them on the track at the Ron Fellows School. I drove the ATS-V two-door manual, and I really liked that, but you got stuck with the automatic. Yeah, so after driving the ATS-V automatic on the track after the first turn of me using the paddles to upshift, I was so angry, I put it back into automatic because it was so slow to upshift. And I actually had a wicked time in the manual transmission, but to these. Should we start with the looks? Yeah, I actually really like the way this design language works, especially on the 5V. And the reason we're covering both of them in the same video is because they're so similar, but the thing that I noticed to differentiate them the most, the CT-4 has headlights that come all the way down in one piece, and the CT-5 has headlights that come down and then split and then continue on. That was the first thing I noticed as well. I think they had to do that just to break up the line because apparently it might look a little bit too long and weird. I really like how they've got different versions of the big vertical DRLs across the whole lineup. They've probably done one of the best jobs of keeping that design language with DRLs from any company around. And just speaking overall for a second, I think the 5V just looks better overall because of the proportions of the car. It's just a little bit bigger than the 4. And another thing I noticed with the front ends to differentiate them, the 5 has a black gap between the top part and the bottom. It kind of looks like it has an overbite where the CT-4V is one solid thing. And then speaking of the 4V and the 5V compared to the non-Vs, the Vs look 10 times better. Yeah the Vs get dark exterior accents and V mesh series grilles, a unique rear diffuser, and quad exhaust tips. All right, since you said exhaust tips, have you noticed that they've got really fake crappy exhausts at the back? I did actually. I'm really disappointed. But there's still the black wing coming, so there's that I guess. And then if we look at the side views, the CT-5V is very smooth all the way across, nothing really much going on. But the CT-4V has a really cool body panel shape at the bottom. And I really like the wheels on the CT-5V. I don't like them as much on the 4V, however they both come with Brembo front brakes only, not the rears. And you get 19-inch wheels on the CT-5V, but only 18s on the 4V. You know what I really like about the CT-4V? What's that? Sitting on some Contis. All right on. And then if you look up at the front of the 5V, there is a bunch of fake grille there. And the 4V has some too, which is kind of gross, but from a distance, it looks good. Yeah, I mean, I kind of expect that from the V-plus series. I don't even know what to call this. Yeah, everyone's kind of letting us down. Like even Hyundai's got the N-line, and everyone's watering everything down. It kind of sucks, but at least the fast ones will be good, right? Yeah, I'm fine with them doing that, as long as they differentiate it enough. Like, V-sport made more sense than calling it a V. I was going for a walk, and I saw a BMW with a little M badge on the fender, and then I looked at the back, and it was like a 318D. I'm like, but why? You know what I mean? Yeah, sometimes they have the M-sport appearance package, or the M-sport brakes, or the M-appearance package, or whatever. It's just, it's too much sometimes. Then if we look at the colors that the press footage came in, we've got a really cool orange, and a really cool blue. How much do you like this orange? The orange kind of reminds me of Nissan's burnt orange. It kind of reminds me of your Raptor. No, my Raptor's slightly more red than that. And then ending off the color stuff, I really, really like how the rear diffuser on the CT5V is color matched. So talking about the looks of the 5V and the 4V overall, Yuri, which one's your favorite? 5V's my favorite, obviously. There is no two-door version yet, though. Yeah, I don't think there will be, ever. Okay, the first ATS-V, that's the one I'm talking about, right? The really triangle-looking one? You're talking about the CTS-V Coupe. Yeah, yeah, that's the best one, but this is pretty good for now, but nothing's better than that. And that's also the same generation where they had the V-Wagon, which was also the sickest, so I think that was probably Cadillac's prime. Yeah, I kind of remember them winning a lot of races out of nowhere, and I remember thinking, like, all right, they were just in the Matrix, they're winning all these races, like, who is this Cadillac? Well, they made a V8 supercharged manual wagon, so... Like its sedan and coupe stablemates, the CTS-V Sport Wagon is powered by a supercharged 6.2-liter V8. Did the coupe come in manual? Yeah. Honestly, I'd go coupe over wagon, I don't care, like, that coupe is just so cool. I wouldn't, that wagon's so sick. And then back to some more driving stuff, these are going to be available in rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive. Yeah, the all-wheel drive version's gonna cost you about $2,000 more, but it's really cool to them offering both versions of both of the 5V and the 4V for North America. And then we can also get magnetic ride control, otherwise known as magnetorheological, which we really liked in the CT6 review, which was like our third review ever. Yeah, that suspension is really good, and GM has been putting it in a lot of different cars, including the Corvette. We also get a limited slip differential, but the one in the CT5V is actually electronic. Then there is also an option for supercruise in both, which will be fun to test out one day, I think. Yeah, but the fact that it's not standard, like, come on, Cadillac, what are you doing? But if you're getting a V version, maybe you want to go fast and never use lane keep, so I kind of understand why they don't include it. Yeah, but you're getting a V Sport, don't forget that. Oh yeah, yeah. Yo, wait, wait, wait till Ford starts making a Raptor Sport. Oh god, so it's just gonna be the fake Raptors with the fake grill and the fake fenders. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's just gonna be fake Raptor grills on normal F-150s. Oh no, I'm, oh god. In three years it'll be out. Remind, remind me to check this video. It's probably gonna come out with the Bronco, it'll be the Bronco Sport or whatever. So that's it for the driving stuff, let's bring it into the interior with one feature that we've seen on the new Corvette. It now has vehicle control mode with customizable V mode, so you can basically customize all your screens and all your infotainment and all your settings, which is kind of like what we've seen in the Corvette, which is really cool. Yeah, it's got that little V button on the steering wheel, it doesn't look too dramatic like the M buttons on the M5, but I guess it's a good start. But what I really noticed that stood out, if you look at the infotainment screen at the bottom left side, it looks like there's a volume knob and a tuning knob right next to each other. That's pretty crazy if that's what it is. I complain in so many cars that my hand can't reach as far as the tuning knob, you can't even reach and you're taller than me, like why does it need to be symmetrical? Why can't they both be in the right spot? And if that is a tuning knob, I'm going to be very, very stoked. The more hard buttons, the better, pretty much always, especially for climate control, but we also do get Android Auto and Apple CarPlay on the touchscreen. Then below that, to control the touchscreen, we do have the rotary knob like we have in the Escalade and the XT6 that we actually drove, so that'll be a lot of fun to use because it is kind of distracting to touch stuff while driving. And it's the same shifter that we've seen on the Escalade, so there's no column shifter here. Then if we look at our gauges, it is two analog tacks and in the middle, it's a digital screen. And if we look at the seats, I think they actually look pretty nice. Yeah, nothing too fancy. We've got some color trim, which is nice, and since these are V versions or V Sport or V-ish, whatever you want to call it, we do have a lot more carbon fiber trim on the interior too. I didn't see a 360 camera in any of the footage, but I did see a big reverse camera, but even if they put a 360 camera in, it would probably look like something out of GTA San Andreas like it did in the Escalade, so maybe it doesn't need one. So that's pretty much it for the whole car. I think the interior is a pretty big improvement. The exterior looks really good, but let's talk about the Blackwing version for a second. Blackwing was an engine in the CT6, which is no longer going to be a thing, but they're using the same name for their crazy V Blackwing series. I think it's a really weird move and people are going to be really confused. But it's a really cool name, so I don't blame them for sticking with it. Yeah, it's just one of those things that adds to the confusion like F Sport versus real F, and like M versus M Sport, and it's just a confusion that people didn't need. And then how Genesis Coupe turned into the Hyundai Genesis, which turned into its own brand. Yeah, so there's a lot of companies that are guilty of doing this weird confusing thing. I think it's just kind of to confuse the whole market to make people think that they're driving better cars than they are for the non-car people. People who drive M Sports and AMG badged cars really love their M Sports and AMG badged cars. But the only people that they're trying to fool are the ones that don't care about having those kind of cars because they're not car people, and every car person knows that you're lying. Yeah, but non-car people fall for that. Like, they see like the color red, light blue, and dark blue on a BMW's grille, and they're probably like, that must be fast. And then us, we're just like, nah. So that's pretty much it, except the price. Hit me with it. The CT4V rear wheel drive starts at $45,398 Canadian, $45,490 US dollars, and the CT5V rear wheel drive starts at $49,798 Canadian, which is $48,690 US. So the real question is, would you take this over its German counterparts, like the CT4V over an S3? Like an S4. Isn't S4 to go with the 5V? I don't even know anymore. It would be nice if everyone just used the same numbers across the line, kind of how like Audi is using the 8, and then so is BMW for their top car. Yeah, it's a little confusing trying to follow which number from which company competes with the other number or letter from another company, because it's all numbers and letters in the luxury space. Because technically an A8 lines up with a 7 series, even though there is a BMW 8, you know what I mean? Yeah, and it also kind of lines up with the CT6, even though the 6 is a bit smaller, but that's the biggest one that they currently make. And then Mercedes is just using letters, like the S class. It's just, there's a lot going on. So back to the question, do you think there's a reason for people to go for this instead of the German rivals? Well, that's pretty much the price. You seem to get a lot more for your dollar here. That's pretty much it. And it'd be pretty cool to drive something American that can take on the German rivals too. So let us know what you guys think, and in the meantime, watch our Corvette C8 review, because that was a lot of fun. Yes, GM, kind of like Cadillac, and we did donuts. And maybe even watch our Cadillac Escalade in-depth look.