If I was on a naming committee at Cadillac I’d suggest adding the word “merging” to the moniker for the Detroit car maker’s high performance CTS-V sport wagon. You know, CTS-V Wagon Merging Edition; because all you want to do when you drive it is get on the highway and merge. Another possible name could be the CTS-V Wagon Darth Vader Edition.
Love the stealth inspired styling or hate it, you can’t help but to have near-blackout inducing amounts of fun driving one of these machines.
The 2012 CTS-V Wagon has a modest 6.2L supercharged V8 power plant. Wonderfully, Cadillac even offers it with a manual six speed transmission for about as much torque as I have ever experienced in a car. Just talking numbers, it has 556 horsepower and performance stats (0-60 in 4 seconds) that rival that of a BMW M5 (and for thousands of dollars less). Like I said earlier, like the angular styling or not, you can’t help but to want to drive this car – at least for a weekend.
I had about 72 hours with this beast and created a game plan to take it all over the tri-state. The weekend started off with a little work trip over the Brooklyn Bridge to Smith + Butler for a meeting. It was raining and the fog was hanging low on the bridge, but nothing could damper the initial thrill of piloting such an insane car. Afterwards, we drove through Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and on to Williamsburg for dinner. The CTS-V got lots of looks from all different sorts of people. Parking in Williamsburg (and hey, what do you know, ample parking in Brooklyn) was especially intriguing to the locals.
The next day my friend was flying in to LaGuardia and since I had the CTS-V at my disposal I offered to pick him up. I live in Lower Manhattan so I took the Brooklyn Bridge (again) over to the BQE and then took the side streets in Queens to access the airport. About a quarter mile from LGA I was sitting at a red light and a guy literally backed his car up to get a closer look at the Cadillac and acknowledge its awesomeness.
Once my friend arrived, we set our sights on Frank Pepe in New Haven and hit the road. We took the RFK bridge (nee Triboro) to I-95 and powered that beast north. Since we were in the neighborhood we stopped off in Fairfield, CT to see my pal Ted from Terrapin (who, if he didn’t waste so much time on Twitter, would actually have a real website for me to link to) at his majestic suburban manor. We had coffee, chatted and then terrorized Ted’s neighbors with Darth Vader. Once the neighborhood watch was deployed we decided to get back on the road in search of some famous New Haven pizza at Frank Pepe (it’s better than Sally’s too; and Colony Grill too).
It is amazing how what is normally an awful drive (I-95), turns into an experience you never want to end in the CTS-V. En route to New Haven we passed two grizzly gents in a black Chevy truck with Kentucky plates who cut across three lanes to get up next to us and the Cadillac. It seems the guys wanted a closer look and to salute our chosen mode of transportation.
That was the interesting thing about the CTS-V – it drew positive reactions from a huge cross-section of people that we encountered. I’m not surprised, the wagon has a unique appearance and is of course a helluva lot of fun to drive. It handles great and obviously has tremendous power.
Love it or hate it, you have to give Cadillac credit for having the balls that it took to get the CTS-V out into circulation.
That’s not the National Lampoon’s Vacation station wagon, that’s for damn sure.
God Bless Frank Pepe’s. And yes, it beats Sally’s and Colony and Modern in a walk!
Slick wagon! It’s crazy that a US auto maker is pushing the race car grocery getter while Audi is pulling back HUGE on Avants sent our way. We’ll see what happens.
I am however, pretty sad to hear that you took a 550hp car from NYC to New Haven and didn’t drive on the Merritt Parkway? That road is so much fun.
Ca r= Meh
Frank Pepe pizza = double rainbow
Nice photos tho.
Detroit thanks you! BTW, that pie looks amazingly delicious.
What kind of filter do you use on your photos to get that white/slightly desaturated look? Awesome!
I guess the CTS-V is a ballsy play, considering the cancellation of the Magnum. But hey, this does just-so-happen to be a freaking Cadillac, not a Dodge for cripes sakes.
Listen, I’m no major car-guy, but should my ship ever come in, I’d gladly throw down for a Caddy as opposed to flouncing around in some German Douchewagen.
I was already obsessed with this vehicle – this just added fuel to the fire. Stellar!
Next time driving north into CT, take the Merritt Parkway through connecticut. When it’s empty, it’s a fast and windy scenic drive.
God Bless Cadillac and the CTS-V Wagon 6spd.
We took the Merritt on the way home actually. It is my favorite roadway in this part of the world. Palisades Parkway a close second. http://acontinuouslean.com/2009/01/07/life-archive-merritt-parkway/
The filter is an Aperture plug in called “Rough Portrait”.
Pepe’s is the best pizza in New Haven, and thus, the best in the world.
Not sure I’d want to own a CTS-V — I prefer German douchewagens (see above) — but man I’d like to hoon that thing for a weekend…
Amazing car. Glad they’re making it.
I want this car. So bad.
I recently bought a 2011 CTS Caddy, i love it. It’s small and fast and the interior feels better than any other luxury car i’ve sat in.
Car is sick!
so this post is just an ad for Cadillac?
It’s an ad for Frank Pepe actually.
you should see it it pearl white. my next whip
Sorry. Say whatever you want about the car, but you lost me at Pepe’s. Sally’s rules.
Mi casa es su casa. That vehicle has Bawls.
Thanks again for the ride.Colony BLOWS. Irish fuckin Pizza. What the F?!
Wow, starting MSRP for that rig is 63K!
My 70 yr old dad just bought the CTS-V Coupe and it is the fastest car I have ever been in. Fucking insane.
I have always said, I would Never Never ever own a cadillac. I have been in 3 accidents in my 45 years of driving, and all 3 were caused by ladies driving white cadillacs. A Dr buddy of mine recently bought the coupe version of this car. Me, I would consider buying the wagon :)
I believe the kids these days call that a whip… tight whip Michael.
I thought this article was an ad for Ted’s Twitter Feed?!
I am like Kevin- I’ve always said I would NEVER own a caddy… but that wagon is one bad mofo! HOT DAMN!
I hope this wagon trend continues… I prefer them over an SUV any day.
eww.
im driving a 1990 buick centry 160.000 miles how about being a decent guy an giving me one vof those beautiful blk caddy bso my children wont be inparressed in it there mom died 12/13/2010 that would make them an me very happy please try an help us sylva nc 28779 yhank you
It’s a wagon dude. Kids will get to soccer practice super quick!
Tacky is tacky is tacky is tacky.
We need a rear quarter panel shot…just to contrast with that awful new X6 BMW thingy. I’ve been driving high-performance 5s since 1987 and still have no fear that Caddy will overtake that Ultimate Driving Machine.
The black-out treatment reminds me of my Victory Hammer S, except that’s a bit more subtle; if you can imagine…
I love all these of the interiors, the pizza-which is a work of art in itself, and the layout of the streets & design of the buildings. Very walkable, and beautiful.
I like it all except the car. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I see it as a giant engine, aggressively wrapped in sheet metal, & humongous tires, which has been done to death actually.
There are some beautiful old cars out there for sure, I’m just not sure the world needs another one to add to the stable.
A modest 6.2l supercharged V8. LOL
The only reason for buying the wagon is the extra room… How was that? And relatedly: What about playing country squire? Can it do that? Otherwise, what’s the point of being a wagon? Does it have all wheel drive and room for the dog? I think that would make it perfect.
That is, without a doubt, one of the most vulgar cars I’ve ever seen.
@ The Trad: That’s the point!
I had the oppurtunity of driving one of these at Road Atlanta earlier this month. Wow, just wow. Now I need to figure out how to justify it for a daily driver…..
that is the cheesiest car i’ve seen in years… might be great fun to drive, but man you’d look stupid.
I was involved in the transformation of Cadillac. We started in 1989. I wrote a manifesto called “Project Blackfin”. The opening line was to the effect that we must build a car that we take to the Nordeshleife, the German Nurburgring racetrack, and set the lap record. It took a little time, and I left GM in 2002 before the job was done. But now their commercial is the V-series car setting the lap record for sedans there. It was incremental change, but it took too long, 20 some years. But, that’s the value of having a clear vision that people can get behind and sticking to it through thick and thin. It’s hard to change direction for a big brand company, but not for Darth Vader. Thanks for the review.
Everyone always compares their sports sedan/wagon to BMW. Just buy the BMW and you’ll know why, especially if your budget is $60K.
Otherwise, nice informercial.
Wisco, $60k won’t by you anywhere near this much performance from BMW. In fact, the M5 starts at $86k and offers considerably lower performance in a package that looks dated. Not to mention the fact that they had a hell of a time cobbling together a real manual transmission for the M5 and ended up doing some rather un-BMW engineering to make it “work.”
As to the infomercial, if Cadillac offered me a chance to borrow one of these and review it for my personal blog, I’d take it. No hesitation.
The Cadillac is an interesting looking car that I think will quickly date itself (visually). If you were looking for big engine thrill and wanted to feel the torque, and perhaps even come in below that price tag, I would go with a classic car. The M5 is considerably more – but that’s a machine that will give you a new driving experience.
All that’s missing are a set of truck nuts on its ass end.
A few months ago, I shot a video for a client in Detroit. They were doing a pop-up retail location in downtown Detroit to bring awareness of the need for retail to come back downtown. Cadillac was a sponsor. So they were nice enough to give us a limited edition CTS-V to tool around the city. The video was shown at a big block party in the middle of “Main” Street in Detroit.
Here’s the video: