2003 Cadillac CTS in Chicago

There is a corner on the fabulous 12.8-mile Nrburgring Nordschleife racetrack in northern Germany that sorts out the great from the merely good. Approached downhill at extreme speed, the Fuchsrhre ("Foxhole") is a gentle left-hander that exits steeply uphill. A car goes from full jounce to full rebound in short order here, so the suspension damping has to be outstanding. A further complication is the following left-hand bend, where one has to turn and brake at the same time. Porsche 911s and BMW M cars cope with the Fuchsrhre magnificently. Audis and Volkswagens fall down in this corner, their damping unable to cope with its extreme demands. The new Cadillac CTS-V is brilliant here, however, the first American car that can stand up to the world's best sport sedans. It's that good.

The basis of the car, the first in a line of V-series performance Cadillacs, is the CTS sedan. The most fundamental difference is under the hood, where the LS6 5.7-liter OHV V-8 has been squeezed in, replacing the standard car's 3.2- and 3.6-liter V-6s. This aluminum V-8 makes a bountiful 400 horsepower at 6000 rpm and 390 pound-feet of torque at 4800 rpm. The powertrain is similar to that of the Corvette Z06, although there is a new induction system and a new dual exhaust, and the accessory drive had to be moved back 1.5 inches. When you open the hood, you'll also see a structural brace over the V-8, which helps steering feel and precision as well as suspension tower rigidity. A six-speed Tremec manual transmission is the only available gearbox. The engine and transmission account for about 119 pounds of the 264-pound penalty over a CTS.... Read full article