Photography by ©2017 Toni Avery

The Cadillac brand, similar to Lexus, carries the misconception of a car for older clientele that aren’t looking for performance, but rather luxury. As I’ve proven with reviews on cars like the RC-F Coupe, the CTS V-Sport moves closer toward the performance side.

This Cadillac is equipped with a 3.6 L twin-turbo V6 engine producing 420 HP and 430 lb-ft of torque going from 0-60 in about 4.5 seconds.

While this CTS is not the same V you may identify with as the powerful, fast and high-performance variant, the V-Sport gives you much of the same styling as you’d find on the CTS-V, just with less performance. To put it in other words, it’s the F-Sport to Lexus for Cadillac.

Cadillac managed to pull a nice note out of the optional sport exhaust that’s just the right amount of loud and from the rear seat sounds even meaner. The suspension adjustments make a little difference in each of the modes, but nothing dramatic enough to make the choice of modes significant. Driving the car in its normal mode makes it the most traffic friendly with the sound and suspension settings in the softest level. The most fun modes are Sport and Track. You really won’t get any tire slip without a significant amount of effort, even in Track mode. Throttle response and gear changes are heightened in Sport and Track and the car feels a little more like its higher-performance brother.

The exterior of the V-Sport features accents from the Carbon Black Package (optional), including: a black chrome grille, 18” ultra-bright w/ after-midnight dark finish alloy wheels, performance exhaust kit (separate option), and is finished in Phantom Gray Metallic (optional).

The front-end of the CTS is its most attractive angle while the profile confirms the cars large size. The wheels and badging remind you it’s a V-Sport.

Inside the CTS is an all-black interior featuring more V-Sport styling with an all-electric gauge cluster and touch activated functions on the center stack.

The interior was my favorite element of the CTS. It felt more expensive than it was with all the alcantara accents and touch activation of functions in the center cluster. The Recaro seats had too much back lumbar that I couldn’t seem to adjust lower. All the digital tech was high-quality and added to the high-end feel. The Bose sound systems quality is comparable to what you’d expect from a car in its price point. I really enjoyed sitting in the CTS to where even LA traffic was tolerable.

The CTS V-Sport offered a sneak peek at what the CTS-V / ATS-V will be like. It’s been a while since the Bondurant school I attended that used Cadillac products (over ten years in fact), and I look forward to hopefully trying a new V in the future.

2017 Cadillac CTS V-Sport:

Base Price: $70,795

Options:

Carbon Black Package (Recaro front seats, Black chrome accents grille, 

V-Series spoiler, 18″ Ultra-bright w/ after-midnight dark finish

alloy wheels), Performance Exhaust Kit, Phantom Gray Metallic,

Black Suede Steering Wheel, Black Sueded Microfiber Shifter, 

Brake Linings (performance)

Destination Charge: $995

Total Price: $77,730

Fuel Economy: 16 City, 24 Highway, 18 Combined 

 GirlsDriveFastToo gives the 2017 Cadillac CTS V-Sport an overall rating of (out of 5 total):