Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing: Car and Driver 2025 10Best Cars
A pinnacle driver’s car and one of the world’s best high-performance sedans, the small Caddy shows how it’s done. Again.
By Rich CepposPublished: Dec 3, 2024
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Michael Simari|Car and Driver
Sports sedans at the hottest end of the market are like the gunslingers in old Westerns. They roll into town each year with their bandoliers full, ready to fire bursts of horsepower, handling, and speed at their rivals. We pit them against one another in “shootouts” to see which will be the last one standing when the tire smoke clears.
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In the pitched battle that is 10Best Cars, the CT4-V Blackwing has once again defended its place as the compact high-performance sports sedan to beat. It’s back for the fourth time in a row since it first went on sale for the 2022 model year. Note that neither of its most formidable antagonists, the BMW M3 and the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, have made the 10Best list during that time. In this class of high-performance turbocharged six-cylinder four-doors, the CT4-V Blackwing rules.
car and driver 2025 10best cadillac ct4 v blackwing
Car and Driver
Its claim to the top spot isn’t simply a function of its results in our instrumented testing, though those spec-sheet numbers are plenty impressive on their own: 60-mph times that hover around four seconds flat, quarter-mile sprints of about 12.5 seconds, and roadholding of well over 1.0 g—plus a claimed top speed of 189 mph. Those figures are almost identical whether you go with the standard slick-shifting six-speed manual gearbox or the 10-speed automatic. But the Caddy’s rivals deliver equal and sometimes better numbers. There’s something more to the CT4-V Blackwing’s continued dominance.
The Caddy’s magic sauce is its broad range of capability, as well as the finesse and nuance it brings to the everyday task of being exciting and rewarding to drive anytime, anywhere, on any road, at any speed. Tap the mode switch into Tour and you’ll discover its softer side: the talkative steering lightens, the 472-hp twin-turbo V-6 lowers its voice, and the MR dampers let it step deftly over rough pavement—all without losing the car’s inherent pinned-to-the road feel. It’s a comfortable daily commuter that you can drive to the racetrack, flip into Track mode, and be thrilled by all day—and then use to ferry friends or family out to dinner in the evening.
car and driver 2025 10best cadillac ct4v blackwingView Photos
Michael Simari|Car and Driver
Speaking of passengers, anyone consigned to the rear seat will notice one of the CT4-V’s nagging shortcomings: cramped rear legroom. The cabin is quite a bit smaller than the M3’s. Nor will anyone who has been in the Bimmer be impressed with the Caddy’s interior materials, which have been a sore point since the model was reconstituted from the ATS-V that preceded it. A car that starts at more than 60 grand and can top 80 when loaded deserves better, although the CT4-V Blackwing is still considerably less expensive than its rivals.
