2020 Cadillac CT5

The new sedan sports a more upright nose, a wider grille, vertical headlights, a wheels-at-the-corners stance, and sculpted, angular shapes. The hood and body sides are deeply creased and skip the Art & Science jaggedness for a blockier, but ultimately more contemporary look.

The CT5’s rear roof pillar may be the most recognizable design cue compared to the outgoing sedans; it creates a fastback shape (even though the CT5 is a sedan with a trunk instead of a hatchback) and its rear window line kicks up quickly toward a high tail. The elongated greenhouse resolves in a black plastic piece that mimics the look of a rear quarter-window.

Inside, the design plays off the exterior and impresses with carefully assembled soft-touch materials. It’s overwhelmingly black, though, as the standard synthetic leather upholstery comes only in black. While it is broken up by aluminum controls on the dash and steering wheel, Cadillac makes buyers pay for any upholstery color other than black and requires spending extra money on other options to do it.

Every CT5 is outfitted with a MacPherson strut front suspension with a double-pivot design and an independent five-link rear suspension. The CT5-V gets a performance tune for the suspension, plus GM’s outstanding adaptive and adjustable magnetic dampers. Other performance parts include an electronically controlled limited-slip rear differential, four-piston Brembo front brake calipers that clamp 13.6-inch discs, summer-performance Michelin Pilot 4S tires, and a traction management system with several modes to control tire slip. 

The CT5-V weighs in at a hair under 4,000 pounds, but it feels lighter than that. The magnetic dampers do a fantastic job of balancing ride quality with handling response, and the electric-assist power steering provides quick reactions, on-center stability, and more feel than than most systems this side of hydraulic assist. The car exhibits some body lean in sharp corners, but it’s well controlled, and the handling is agile with just a slight tendency to push forward rather than rotate when driven fast into a tight corner because of its weight and size. The rear differential sends power to the rear wheel with grip, which helps launch the car out of turns. 

The CT5-V’s ride quality is firm, but not harsh, and the driver can feel what’s going on at the tires without risking internal organ damage. Those magnetic dampers are a blessing.

So is the CT5-V’s engine. It’s a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 that spins out 360 hp and 405 pound-feet of torque. It delivers its power with gusto. The torque comes on like a wave at low rpm and pushes the CT5-V from 0-60 mph in as little as 4.6 seconds, according to Cadillac and our personal chronometer. Passing is a breeze, and the V-6 works well with a smooth and quick-shifting 10-speed automatic transmission. 

The V-6’s sound isn’t as premium as its power. It makes a droning mid-range howl when pushed, and sits quietly but noticeably in the background while cruising. 

Cadillac also offers a 335-hp version of the V-6 in the Premium Luxury model and a new 2.0-liter turbo-4 that makes 237 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque. We’ll update this review when we’ve driven those models.

We like the size of the standard 10.0-inch touchscreen, and Cadillac provides three ways to control the infotainment system: touch, voice, and a rotary dial on the center console. The screen’s large icons, swipe capability, and proximity to the driver make touch controls easy to use and understand. The screen also has the best rearview camera resolution we’ve seen. More information can be found in a digital driver information center that sits between the analog speedometer and tachometer.

Cadillac makes some odd choices for a few features. The control for a lumbar massage function is a small round button on the outboard side of each front seat. Most drivers wouldn’t find it unless someone pointed it out to them. The standard upholstery is faux leather that looks just fine, but buyers who want to go with real leather and/or add color have to choose additional packages as well. On the base model, the jump is $2,300 for leather seats and on the CT5-V it’s at least $6,990 and up to $13,000 due to required additional trim packages. 

Cadillac switches from a traditional sedan layout in the CTS to a more flowing coupe-like design with the CT5. The new car rides a 1.4-inch longer wheelbase, but is 1.7 inches shorter. The net effect is an additional 2.5 inches of rear leg room, but almost an inch less rear head room. A 6-footer should fit just fine behind another 6-footer, with leg room to spare, but anyone taller than that will have a head room issue in back. 

The trunk also has a smaller aperture, so larger items might not fit, and it holds only 11.9 cubic feet of cargo, which is quite small for the class. While the rear seats fold flat, the opening between the trunk and interior will also limit loading longer, wider items in the CT5.

Standard safety features consist of eight airbags including knee airbags for the front passengers, forward collision warnings with pedestrian detection and automatic emergency braking, and GM’s safety alert seat that vibrates in the direction of possible danger such as from merging cars. Also available on higher line models and in various packages are a surround-view camera system, adaptive cruise control, active lane control with lane departure warnings, blind-spot monitors, rear cross-traffic alerts, rear pedestrian alerts, reverse automatic emergency braking, rear park assist, adaptive headlights, and an automatic parking feature.

Standard equipment on the base Luxury model includes synthetic leather upholstery, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, a 12-way power-adjustable driver’s seat and a 10-way front passenger seat, a split-folding rear seat, keyless access and starting, a 10.0-inch touchscreen for infotainment with natural voice recognition, three USB ports, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, a nine-speaker audio system, satellite radio, HD radio, Bluetooth, 4G LTE wi-fi hotspot capability, a digital driver information center, remote starting, dual-zone automatic climate control, 18-inch alloy wheels on all-season tires, and LED headlights and taillights.

We like the performance of the CT5-V. It adds 18-way power-adjustable front seats, 19-inch alloy wheels, summer tires, Brembo front brakes, a rear spoiler, magnetic dampers, an electronic limited-slip rear differential, driver memory, alloy pedals, ambient lighting, and wireless phone charging.

Leather upholstery is standard on the Premium Luxury trim, unavailable on the Luxury trim, and optional on the Sport and CT5-V, where it requires other features. On the CT5-V, adding leather and any interior color other than black adds $6,990 to the price, though many of the additional features are quite useful.

Other notable options include all-wheel drive, navigation, a 15-speaker Bose audio system, heated and cooled seats, massaging seats, a heated steering wheel, a larger 8.0-inch digital driver information center, a head-up display, and a sunroof.

Cadillac makes two versions of its twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6. The 335-hp version in the Premium Luxury trim is rated at 19/26/21 mpg with rear drive and 18/25/21 mpg with AWD. The 360-hp version in the CT5-V drops slightly to 18/26/21 mph with rear drive and 17/25/20 with AWD.