Cadillac V series is the brand's highest distinction when it comes to
high-performance vehicles
perhaps most notably in the Cadillac cts-v 4 2016 the compact 80s gets the v
treatment with the ats-v and just because a tsv is the CTSV his younger
brother doesn't mean the ats-v is any less dedicated of a performance package
in fact it is a thorough reworking of the 80s and its goal is to offer
trackday fun in every day luxurious drivability all 80's fees use a carbon
fiber hood and underneath that carbon fiber hood is a 464 horsepower twin
turbocharged v6 and the Achilles heel of any turbocharged engine can be its turbo
lag and a lot of work went into the ats-v to maximize boost response with
the turbocharger placement turbocharger construction as well as the intake track
for the intercooler system and it works well boost ramps up real quick power
comes on strong
it's a great little engine now it's 92 horsepower down from the previous
generation cts-v it's also 500 pounds lighter hard what makes the ats-v such a
blast to drive is its exhaust note but it's not entirely attributable to the
exhaust while there are mechanical part that bypasses the muffler is also an
active system inside the car that pipes and certain engine frequencies the
combined effect is great there's this exotic whale
when you're getting on it it doesn't get old in the automatic transmission or the
manual transmission
the 80s he may not have an excess amount of power that contributes to the car's
overall feeling of being extremely well balanced the Cadillac guys have referred
to the CTSV new one as the sledgehammer
where is this is the scalpel and I kind of get what they're saying it's an
extremely precise very well balanced car and it's perfectly capable as a track
toy cat like benchmark the BMW m3 and m4 for a lot of its driving characteristics
and lap times
now there's one area wish the ats-v were a little closer 2 m3 and m4 on is its
steering feel I wish there was just a little bit more feedback from the front
tires through the steering wheel
but if you're not that far off on that area from BMW m3 and m4 you're doing a
pretty good job
our introduction to the ats-v came on Austin's circuit of the americas formula
1 track
it's not a track to be taken lightly and the ats-v didn't feel out of place at
all on this extremely technical extremely fast track through the fast
esas the car remains extremely well balanced
even in quick transitions
when it came time to slow down from hundred forty miles an hour on the
circuits long straightaway
the brakes were absolutely up to the task up front you have cts-v breaks from
the previous generation and outback you have Corvette z51 breaks the stopping
power is just incredible and didn't wear down after a half day of constant
lapping the key to exploiting the 80s vs full capabilities lie in its various
driving modes you have the touring mode sport trac and snow track mode is the
most aggressive and with in track mode
there's also five levels of performance traction management system
now that's going to rain in various stability and traction control settings
so you can tone down the suspension steering and throttle settings and make
the car perfectly livable in normal situations
it's still apparent though that this car has been worked over pretty heavily
there's all sorts of chancy bracing that's been added as well as over a
dozen new bushings that are stiffer or replacement ball joints
there's more road noise about it's not unlivable it's still perfectly
manageable
considering the cars capabilities I have to give credit to cadillac for offering
a six-speed manual transmission in the ats-v a few of its competitors don't
and it's a big advantage for those looking to grow your own gears you
honestly can't go wrong with either transmission option because the
automatic is an eight-speed automatic transmission and it's borrowed from the
Corvette
there are changes made for use in the ats-v but it has the same
characteristics that we love in the Corvette
that's it keeps the revs high between shifts as overall just a very smooth
very smart transmission especially in track mode where it intuitively changes
gears and it needs no intervention
I just transferred out of paddle manual mode and went in full automatic and had
just as much confidence and what the transmission was doing on the track then
trying to do it myself with the paddle shifters
I'm leaning towards the manual transmission on the ats-v because of
three very unique very fun features launch control is just a blast if you
have some long stretches road ahead of you you gotta try it out in track mode
and in the various p TM modes and also affect will spend you can push in the
clutch jam on the accelerator dump the clutch and first-year little control
wheel spin to give you a nice hard launch and there's active red match with
that feature activated when you downshift it will automatically blip the
throttle to match that gear - engine speed and then there's no lift shift
no left shift is a little tricky to master but once you do it is extremely
rewarding with no lift ship when you go to your room
your foot to the floor you quickly press the clutch pedal and change the gears
and now the trick is to do it fast if you do it slow its going to bounce off
the rev limiter but if you do it fast it just meshes so perfectly and it's an
absolute blast
if it sounded like the 80s he is built with a lot of GM parts been product
you're partly right but everything's been fine tuned for the Cadillac version
and includes another feature that we've seen before but makes an appearance in
the ats-v and that is the performance data recorder
now this is a camera and telemetry system that's integrated into the car in
with an SD card you can record in car video of when you're on the track or on
a nice scenic
coastal cruise and you can overlay various gauges like speedometer
tachometer steering angle and multiple inputs
plus you can pull that data and get track times acceleration numbers
very cool feature in the Cadillac it's been tweaked slightly with better audio
and slightly revised color you can watch playback of your lap on the car screen
with the audio playing through the system and it sounds very good and it
looks much better than it's 720p resolution should suggest the GM is
working on finding a upgraded camera for future systems
a few gripes aside at sixty thousand dollars for the sedan and around sixty
three thousand for the coop
there's no question that the ats-v is a world-class handling machine and it does
that with the everyday drivability that we expect from a Cadillac performance
vehicle