The story so far: I picked up a 2010 Cadillac CTS-V from Crest Cadillac in Plano to test drive last weekend.  Saturday with TexasJim, then Sunday Drive are the other articles in the series.

I dropped the Cadillac CTS-V off at Crest Cadillac Monday morning and picked up my 2005 Cadillac CTS.    I would like to say another big Thank you! to Crest Cadillac for hosting the test drive.

Cadillac CTS-V

Overall the Cadillac CTS-V is almost perfect, and an amazing car for the price.  I wanted to wrap up by adding a few notes on the experience.

The Recaro Sport Seats are a desirable option even if you don’t plan to track the car.  They are comfortable and offer additional features such as seat cooling vents and additional adjustments compared to the standard seats.

The Bluetooth interface and Ipod integration both worked seamlessly.  My cell phone would re-pair each time I got in the CTS-V with no fuss.

In terms of seating and gadgetry the CTS-V is Wife-Approved, which is the highest award given in this category.

The uber-panzer CTS-V averaged about 16 mpg while I had it in a mix of city and highway driving, with no attempt whatsoever to conserve fuel at any point.  As I have mentioned, the Cadillac CTS-V is on my list of great places to invest gas money.  I appreciate a test drive is different from living with repeated refills of premium fuel, but the fun per gallon of this car is so high I think it is well worth it.

Overall the LSA supercharged V8 engine is delightful.  It revs freely, it pulls from idle to redline, it is well behaved in every situation.  At idle it does remind you that it is there, but not in an objectionable way.    I am very excited to see this powertrain in more Cadillac vehicles.  This makes me continue to think we should have the 3.6L as the base engine in the CTS, with the LS3 V8 as the premium engine and the LSA as the V Series power.

The MR Suspension — my son commented that the CTS-V did not feel any different from my ‘soft’ ride FE1 CTS.  After reflecting for a second, I think that is the point.  I have seen these cars screaming around the race track, and now I have seen them comfortably easing around town, to church, etc.  This car is perfectly tuned for almost anything you want to throw at it, and it all happens behind the scenes automatically.

I love the sculpting of the dome on the hood, required to clear the supercharger.  It gives just the right hint of “attitude” from the driver’s seat.

Conclusion: Having weighed the features, advantages, and disadvantages of the Cadillac CTS-V, I find it a very desirable package.  A lightly used CTS-V is on my watch list as a future vehicle.

My Host for this test drive is Crest Cadillac of Plano, Texas.  They are located at 2701 North Central Expressway, Plano, Texas.  You can contact them by phone Toll-free at 1-866-697-9144 or locally at (972)578-7511, or on Twitter or Facebook