Non Sequitur Cadillac CTS V-sport

I bought this car mostly by accident and by default. Default because I vainly anticipated prepping a 1988 near show room Lincoln MK VII with all the suspension, brake and engine preps any Ford product could take include cryo dipped brake rotors and positive displacement supercharger at 1/2 atmosphere. It did not work out and thats one hell of its own story.

However, purchase by accident is also true. Out of simple curiosity I perused internet leads for latest car gossip. A lot of that gossip included the latest GM platform used in many of its recent vehicles including Caddy ATS and CTS. And the reviews I read of these various vehicles were often laudatory.

Laudatory reviews of any new platform for any vehicle from a Yugo to a Lada to a Trabant are normal. So I dug deeper. I noticed some suspicious oddities. For instance one or two reviewers considered the cars built on this platform to be not just one, but perhaps two levels advanced from the Germans. Not possible says EYE. Even though I know modern German electric steering seams to have been inspired by a 1955 Buick. [I do not know why. Apparently nobody knows why.]

So, out of curiosity I looked into the Caddy rendition of that platform which was introduced in the 2014 ATS and CTS. Again, everyone lauded the platform, but not every one liked the normal two liter turbo 4cyl@ 275hp engine. And in fact, that puts the 4,000 lb CTS at a relative hp/lb ratio disadvantage to my thirty year old Mondial! And the 3.6 VVT was simply a more refined version of the same thing.

But what the hell. Lets see what these things go for after three years. My old man did not teach me much but he taught me to let the original buyer absorb three years depreciation on a new car. So what did I find? I found out Cadillac designed a purpose built 3.6 twin turbo at 420 hp for the CTS. Perhaps as a temporary replacement for, and later addition to, The CTS-V. The CTS-V is no ordinary production vehicle. For instance, it held the track record for a production passenger car at one or another German test track. Nurenburg? Hockenheim? Something or other. But that was in the PREVIOUS platform!

So what the hell is this 3.6 twin turbo Cadillac CTS V-Sport? First of all, it is NOT a CTS -V. Further, there are not very many of them. I just recently googled them used for sale model years 2014 - 2017 came up with less the 20 total available in the entire continental United States. They are rated 420hp @430 ft/lbs or something like that. Along with ALL the Corvette special things. Differential being a dramatic thing in and of itself.

The car I now own was a one owner Fleet Car out of Dearborn, Michigan. It was auctioned to CarMax and was in a CarMax lot for sale at about $36k in Maryland. I accidentally ran across it snooping about and put an immediate HOLD on the car. CarMax sells used cars at fixed prices. In addition, they move their cars from one location to another over the continent for very reasonable prices.

For instance, in order for me to inspect the car outside Atlanta I was charged less then $500 to ship it down from Maryland. Forfeiting the shipping charge if I declined. But I did not decline. That is the short story of acquisition. However, this is not your grand daddy's Cadillac. And there is lots more to it. After all, I live in The North Georgia Mountains! Ferrari Paradise!

I can tell you a thing or two about the Caddy CTS V-sport.