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- 2008 Mazda5 5MT Sport w/ Popular Package
Comparison: 2009 BMW M5 vs 2009 Cadillac CTS-V
Mirror, Mirror: The $89,325 Munich Benchmark vs. the $60,700 Motown Doppelganger.
Which is the Fairest Supersedan of Them All?
Once "The Standard of the World," by the early 1980s GM's Cadillac division had nose-dived to "The Standard Engine on Our New Cimarron Is a Four-Cylinder." Cadillac has since scrambled back to become "Another Legendary Automaker Attempting To Reestablish Past Glory." But give the Wreath-and-Crest brand credit for aiming high. With Bavaria's BMW proffering a 500-horsepower, V-10-propelled Motorsport Division version of its 5 Series sedan, Cadillac has unveiled a new, second-generation CTS-V that wouldn't look out of place alongside a crate of TNT.
Clearly, Motown 2.0 was asking for this matchup against Munich.
Dimensionally, M5 and CTS-V are near-mirror reflections, within fractions of each other in length, wheelbase, width, and height. By those mere fractions, the BMW is the larger car, but it doesn't tip the scales accordingly. In fact, aided by its high-strength aluminum chassis, it's 183 pounds lighter than the CTS-V.
Leaving aside debates about the relative merits of the Cadillac's creased-envelope styling versus Chris Bangle's baroque E60 M5, there's a clear distinction in the Motown and Munich approaches to supersedan elegance. The Munich way is subdued and muted, with little exterior adornment and a neatly tailored cabin of matte-finish materials. The Motown way, in contrast, is all flash and Yankee Doodle dandy, the product of designers and marketers who equate "deluxe" with "shiny." Not a piece of trim or a ring of instrument escapes the Vegas patina. Thus, the understated M5 looks and feels far more expensive (and, at a base price of $89,325 including guzzler tax, it is -- almost shockingly so). The CTS-V starts, with guzzler, at $60,700. Brush away the glitter and the Caddy would look far richer.
Both cars wear enormous, ventilated disc brakes at each corner (the M5's discs are cross-drilled; the Caddy wears six-piston Brembos up front, four-piston in back), and the 19-inch alloys on both are shod with the same Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 performance tires. Computerized variable suspensions grace both sedans, too: The BMW uses the latest iteration of the maker's three-mode (comfort, normal, sport) Electronic Damper Control, while the Cadillac boasts Delphi's brilliant MagneRide shocks.
[MotorTrend]
