CADILLAC'S WAR WITH A SHADOW

THE CT5-V BLACKWING VERSUS THE GHOST OF BMW'S M5. BY MATT FARAH

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A. Squint hard enough and the new Yellow Metallic paint blends in with the fall foliage.

FOR TWO DECADES, Cadillac has waged war with BMW’s M division for sport-sedan supremacy. But Cadillac’s products are aimed at a version of its German archnemesis that no longer exists. The Americans are fighting a phantom.

Twenty-one years ago, Cadillac brought the goods by putting a Corvette V-8 in the CTS sedan, inaugurating the V performance line. The first CTS-V ran the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 8:19, one second quicker than the BMW E39 M5, and did the quarter-mile quicker too. And yet, the BMW achieved icon status. The Cadillac, not quite.

For the most part, the first CTS-V was like the Corvette its engine came from. General Motors' cars put up numbers but had substandard interiors and subpar ride quality (though both improved over time). So, as in most cases, the best V car is the newest one. Subsequent generations of fast Cadillac sedans have refined the recipe, adding power while remaining among the lightest cars in their class and almost always offering rear-wheel drive and usually a manual-transmission option too. The CTS-V's current successor, the CT5-V Blackwing, makes 268 hp more than the 2004 variant but is only about 200 pounds heavier. The power-to-weight ratio is improved by more than 50 percent.

BMW hasn't evolved its cars with the same slim discipline, especially the M5s. Though fans debate which is the greatest M5 of all, it's unlikely any would advocate for one built in the last dozen years. Subsequent M5 generations get quicker but at the expense of feel and driving joy. (Full disclosure: I've not tested the new 2025 M5.) BMW dropped the manual gearbox, added power to the front wheels, and has now gone hybrid. Those aren't bad things on their own, but it's not my definition of "the Ultimate Driving Machine."