2009 Cadillac CTS-V sets pace at Nurburgring
May 14, 2008 by Alborz Fallah
Update: Video of the car around the ring now posted (check bottom of article)
The time has almost come, Cadillac is coming to Australia in the fourth quarter of this year and all of us here at CarAdvice simply cannot wait. The first model we are getting is the CTS, powered by GM’s global 3.6-litre V6 engine (shared with Commodore).
The the US car will feature direct petrol injection helping it to 227kW and 370Nm. The good news though, is that with the CTS already confirmed, there is hope the hotter version, the CTS-V (pictured above), will also come to Australia.
Why are we so excited about the CTS-V? Because as of yesterday it set an sub-8-minute lap at the Nurburgring. Potentially the fastest documented lap time for a production sedan.
The 2009 CTS-V managed a remarkable lap of the legendary Nordschleife in 7:59.32. Cadillac says the car was not modified in any way to improve its time. The feat was achieved by John Heinricy, director of vehicle integration and an acclaimed racing driver.
If you’re new to Nurburgring times, an eight-minute mark is a major milestone, usually only race cars and supercars achieve such glory. Mind you, the new Nissan GT-R recently managed 7.29 seconds.
The CTS-V is powered by a 400kW+ 6.2-litre Supercharged V8 engine and is currently going through the final stages of intensive testing and development. Cadillac is not messing around, its aim is to make the CTS-V the world’s fastest production sedan.
Technologically, it’s not your typical American ’straight-line’ performer. The CTS-V comes with a new version of Cadillac’s acclaimed Magnetic Ride Control suspension (similar to the system found in the HSV GTS).
It will be available in either a 6-speed manual or automatic transmission, with the new automatic sporting steering wheel-mounted shift buttons.
Please GM, bring this to Australia!
Print it: 
Agreed. Bring it.
What, not modified, apart from the visible roll cage??
227kW AND 370Nm? Thats alot of kW and not much pulling power at 370Nm. The new FG Falcon is only 195kW and 391Nm @ 3250rpm and over 400Nm on PULP. At 227kW it must be revving its ring out, and it doesn\’t look like a light car either.
i would want to hope its the fastest sedan around the ring, its probably the most powerful production sedan int the world
Seb – Where do you live?sounds like inside a Cadillac.
Nath – it’ll do 0-100 in the low 7 second range which is more then reasonable. It’s a good couple of hundre kg’s lighter then the falcon. Also the falcon 6 is well regarded as a torque monster, 370nm is quite good for a V6, don’t forget the falcon is a bigger engine by 400cc’s which is why it has an extra 21nm of torque.
Anyway back to the CTS-V, Caradvice should probably start keeping up with the news, GM has already confirmed that the CTS-V will be produced in left hand drive only due to complications with the supercharged V8’s dry sump lubrication system, basically it sits where the steering rack would need to sit in a RHD car, therefore it would be quite a large engineering job to make a RHD version, and as such GM will not be doing it. Sorry everyone
Aussie.
7.59 seconds – that would have to make it the world’s fastest BRICK.
Seb – you are obviously forgetting about cars such as the BMW M5 and Audi R8;
R8 only has 2 doors & M5 has 378kw’s.
Wheelnut, he said most powerful production SEDAN, of which the Audi R8 is not. Also the BMW M5 produces 373kw, the new caddy produces 420kw according to GM, therefore, it is more powerful
Bring it over GM! Please!!!!!!! Bring the CTS and CTS-V over!!!!!!!!
Richo, I can’t see where we said the CTS-V is coming to Australia. To my knowledge, we have only ever said that the CTS was on its way?
I think what he means is that you shouldn’t be putting “there is hope the hotter version, the CTS-V, will also come to Australia.” and “Please GM, bring this to Australia!” when apparently it has already been publicly confirmed that GM will do no such thing, according to Richo.
If there is enough people shouting, there is always hope! Keep shouting, GM might here it and presto, we have the CTS-V. The UK would also love the car, so there’s two right hand drive countries!
Bloody Hell – Manufacturers seem to be going mad with power outputs and breaking records. It’s no wonder why GM & Ford are losing so much developing frankly pointless opportunities like this. Yeh great stuff but really WHATS THE POINT. Enjoy it while you can cos it won’t carry on for long, there’s too much pressure on manufacturers to make vehicles go further on a litre of fuel
The cars as ugly as to go with it.
are they HSV wheels???
How long until Caddy lands here?
Hmm….
Was the designer given only a ruler?
I can see lots of these with 29″ Chrome Rims driving around in the suburb up the road.
It’s still an American car.
Richo,
the caddy is also direct injection, the falcon motor is not.
am i reading it wrong or does the V6 version do 0-100 in 7.56 secs?
that not impressive…..
Andrew M Says:
May 14th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Richo,
the caddy is also direct injection, the falcon motor is not.
am i reading it wrong or does the V6 version do 0-100 in 7.56 secs?
that not impressive…..
———————————————————————————————————–
Actually, the direct injection V6 verson that we are getting does 0-60mph in well under 6 seconds. So I would expect about 6 seconds flat or a little bit over for 0-100kmh.
Andrew M whats with the whole “the falcon motor is better” crap? No one cares, everyone knows the six in the falcon is a very good motor, but by all reports the direct injected V6 in the caddy is a very very nice motor, and i just did some checking and i was wrong, its not low 7’s the V6 CTS does, its 5.9 seconds according to GM. Is that figure a bit “optimistic”? Who knows maybe it is, but at the end of the day i have a suspision that cadillac probably wheren’t targeting the aussie ford falcon when they where developing this car!!!!
Audi RS6 427kW (573bhp) and 650Nm. The Caddy is down on power, but has more torque. At this stage RS6 is Avant only, but that will change.
Hmm this looks like a good car, 7.59… easy…. on a playstation!! Even on a playstation with road tyres, to achieve that time is pretty good :P
Most powerful production sedan you say? hmm me thinks NOT the 2007 W221 Mercedes-Benz AMG S65 with a twin turbo V12 puts out 450kw and has a combined fuel consumption of 14.8L/100k’s. All while capable of 1200Nm at 2000rpm, but they limit it too just 1000nm :(
No Doubt, the AMG S65 clearly has more power. …Speaking of worlds fastest Brick…
I’m not sure American cars will ever be ‘that much’ better then imports considering all the talented engineers here end up with “real” jobs involving military contracts manufacturing the worlds most impressive “everything.”
Anyway back to Cadillac. Was there anything they didn’t invent? It seems like they were the world first to invent just about everything found on a modern vehicle. What would the rest of the world have done without them.