Remember when the iPhone was easy to use? Remember when Kanye and Diddy weren’t total freaks? Remember when the Germans ruled the V8-powered, high-performance sedan game? Man, so much has changed. But amid all that change, the American V8 sedan has remained unapologetically good—which is a pretty accurate way of describing the 2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing.
Like many others before it, however, the CT5-V Blackwing and its glorious 6.2-liter supercharged V8 are nearing the end of their lives. Not long ago, I spent a week driving the 2024 model and promptly told you that you should never expect a good thing to last forever—and that if you could buy one, to do it ASAP. Well, as it turns out I was wrong, and now I have to shove my foot in my mouth.
The car to buy is actually the newest and best iteration of the high-po sedan: the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Precision Package.
The Basics
Without the Blackwing moniker, the regular CT5-V is powered by a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 with 360 horsepower. That one can be had with rear- or all-wheel drive. Then there’s this big-boy Blackwing with the 668-hp supercharged V8 that’s only rear-wheel-drive. Both models undergo a hefty refresh for 2025, part of which addresses my biggest complaint with the 2024 model: the outdated-looking cabin.
Gone is the tiny, cheap-looking infotainment touchscreen sitting atop the dash. New for 2025 is a 33-inch-diagonal LED touchscreen that runs on Google Built-In and elevates the look, feel, and driving experience. The screen provides nicer, modern visuals during everyday driving, but it’s a game-changer when you hit the track and deploy the available (and overhauled) Performance Data Recorder. (More on this later.)
A little Cadillac crest on the back of the screen displays a cool light show when you approach the car. Everything else remains mostly the same inside, including the practical layout of the controls, and GM’s SuperCruise is now standard when equipped with the automatic transmission.
Cadillac took a similar approach to the exterior, giving it few but considerable tweaks that make the Blackwing appear new enough without losing its original character. The front end is, by far, my favorite update, mostly because it reminds me of the V-Series.R race car from Le Mans. The stacked, vertical headlights with Mondrian pattern etching, new grille, and front fender make the car look wider and ready to pounce. It’s a nice change from the previous wider and more blobby headlights.
Other minor tweaks include updated quad trapezoid exhaust tips, a carbon fiber exterior package with a new front splitter, and three new colors: Drift Metallic, Deep Space Metallic, and Typhoon Metallic. In plain English, that’s pastel blue, dark blue, and dark green, respectively.
At its core, the drivetrain remains untouched, and that’s a good thing. The personality Cadillac engineers instilled in the engine and both transmissions (10-speed automatic and six-speed manual), is nothing short of magical. Let’s not mess with that. When it comes to the Precision Package, however, a few tweaks pay big dividends on the road but mostly on the track.
The chassis package improves precision, hence the name, and targets road isolation, as well as improving cornering speeds and stability. It accomplishes this via stiffer spring rates all around, stiffer suspension bushings, and a larger front stabilizer bar. MagneRide dampers have been recalibrated along with the steering, chassis controls, and e-LSD.
New hardware allows for more aggressive, track-focused wheel alignment, such as steering knuckles and rear suspension toe links. The total damage for the Precision Package is $18,000, though in reality, it’s kinda-sorta $9,000, because you have to have the carbon ceramic brakes to spring up for it, and that’s a $9,000 option on its own.
Track Driving the 2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Precision Package
By all standards, the CT5-V Blackwing is a great car for the street. It’s luxurious, it’s spacious, it’s got massaging seats, room for two adults in the back, a big trunk, and with SuperCruise, it even almost drives itself when you want it to. Precision Package or not, there’s not much else I can add to express that if you can afford one only to drive to and from work, you’ll be as happy as Moo Deng eating a tubful of grass.
For this review, however, I’ll focus on tracking the 668-hp sedan in regular and Precision Package trims. You may not think a few tweaks would make a big difference in handling, but as I quickly learned, they make an enormous difference around Atlanta Motorsports Park, a rollercoaster of a track ideal for testing traction and chassis control.
My first few laps around the two-mile, Hermann Tilke-designed road course felt like I was driving a shipping container on a ledge. The car, a regular-trim automatic Blackwing, felt big, the track felt narrow, and drastic elevation changes and blind corners made things even more daunting. After eight reconnaissance laps or so, I felt loosey-goosey and began pushing.
Then, I rode shotgun with sports-car-racing superstar and all-around funny guy Jordan Taylor, and really got a taste of the Blackwing’s capabilities, along with a dose of humble pie. He’s so fucking fast. More importantly, Taylor showed me the right line through some of the track’s trickiest corners and even helped me improve my braking technique.
The regular Blackwing is a beast—one that begs to be handled with strength and finesse. I often talk about point-and-shoot cars and how they can easily be subdued, but subjugation isn’t in the Blackwing’s vocabulary. It’ll listen but it loves to bark back and try to bite you. It certainly keeps you on your toes while you’re hustling it. Even with Taylor at the wheel, his steering inputs were hard and constant while negotiating the track’s final corner, a long and wide left-hander he took at 105 mph. I only had the balls to do about 92 through there.
Negotiating some of the tighter curves requires patience and lots of self-control with the right foot. Turning in early or too tight, and applying too much throttle too soon quickly kicks the rear out, triggering traction and stability control. Unlike its German rivals, the car feels incredibly analog. In an AMG or BMW, there’s always that slight hesitation where the car wonders if you’re really trying to do what you told it to do—like battling through 20 layers of electronics and software before the car responds. In the Blackwing, your hands can feel what the tires are screaming, your butt what the chassis is saying, and the differential fights to apply 700 horses to the tarmac via two rubber patches.
Hitting the little bumpy right-hand kink that leads to the main straight at about 105 mph feels super sketchy. MagneRide sorts that stuff out quickly and easily, but that doesn’t mean you don’t feel it. Boy, you do, and it makes your jaw clench. The Caddy lurches forward with force and feels like it’ll never run out of power—and it just might not, but unfortunately, AMP isn’t the kind of track to explore the upper end of the speedo. Then, there’s the hardest braking zone of the track, heading into Turn 1.
The run between turns 8 through 12 is a combo of fast uphill and downhill corners that require throwing the car around with confidence to nail the apexes. Connecting those turns were three short straights where you can lay on the throttle hard before tapping on the brakes to pitch the car sideways again. And while the steering in the normal Blackwing leaves little to be desired, the Precision Package takes it to a whole new level.
Hitting the brakes and turning left in the Precision Package for the first time made me go “Huh?” The 15.67-inch front carbon ceramic rotors don’t even break a sweat slowing the hefty sedan down from 120-plus to 70 mph in a matter of seconds, and neither do the Michelin Pilot Cup 2 R tires. It almost feels like child’s play. Even with Taylor’s higher speeds and more aggressive braking, still not a hint of fade or vibration. This is the compounding effect that weight savings has on handling, whether you’re accelerating, braking, or cornering. At 4,123 pounds for the manual or 4,142 for the automatic, the Blackwing isn’t a lightweight machine, yet it’s 1,267 pounds lighter than that new plug-in hybrid BMW M5.
Right away, the Precision package feels deliciously different—stiffer but not in an unforgiving way. The body stays so flat through the corners that it simultaneously reveals there’s way more body roll in the regular Blackwing than I had originally processed. This sharpness and stability only translate into better handling and even more phenomenal steering. Still a beast to wrangle but one that’s laser-focused on slicing through corners like its Cadillac Racing siblings.
And at the end of the day, that’s where a lot of this technology comes from. After two years of watching Cadillac tackle the 24 Hours of Le Mans, speaking with engineers, designers, and the very people who race these things, it’s undeniable that a lot of what makes the Precision Package so phenomenal is derived from the company’s racing experience. As chief engineer Brandon Vivian likes to say, “If it doesn’t make the car faster or better in the track, then it doesn’t go on the car.”
Video Games
Lastly, the biggest piece of proof that Cadillac has designed this car for track duty is the updated Performance Data Recorder. The system itself is not new, but it sees some updates for 2025 that will seriously make you think you’re playing Gran Turismo—but more importantly, it also aims to improve how you drive on the track.
The system continues to record your your laps via its front-facing camera with driving data overlays like rpm, speed, gear, string angle, g’s, lap times, and track positioning via GPS. Now, however, you don’t have to wait until your track session is over to see your lap-by-lap performance.
The new Lap Analyzer gives you a Gran Turismo-like mode where you can constantly chase your best time by relying on the timer displayed on the infotainment screen. If you’re going slower than your previously-set lap time, the screen flashes red and shows you the delta between the record and your current lap—in real-time. If you’re doing better than the record lap, it flashes green. There’s no need to actually focus on the screen while driving because the display is so large that you can catch the colors and figure via your peripheral vision. It’s almost like having a professional racing timing system in your street car.
Once you come into the pits, the Cosworth-developed system analyzes all of your laps and gives you three main suggestions called “Speed Tips.” These focus on specific corners and compare two laps side-by-side. In my case, Turn 1 is apparently where I’m losing the most time, highlighting how the line I took the through corner, where I braked, and where I accelerated could shave up to 0.7 seconds. A real game changer.
Click here for a more in-depth story on this system.
The Early Verdict
The 2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is the car that enthusiasts dream about and clamor for, yet, when I talk to them about it, all they can focus on is that it’s not an M5 or something. Blah blah blah, Cadillacs are for old people with romanticized views of America, they might say. For those people, it’s really too bad because they’re missing out. The CT5-V Blackwing has defeated the Europeans at their own game.
Buy one.
| 2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Specs | |
|---|---|
| Base Price | $96,990 |
| Powertrain | 6.2-liter supercharged V8 | 6-speed manual or 10-speed automatic | rear-wheel drive |
| Horsepower | 668 @ 6,500 rpm |
| Torque | 659 lb-ft @ 3,600 rpm |
| Seating Capacity | 5 |
| Cargo Volume | 11.9 cubic feet |
| Curb Weight | 4,123 pounds (manual) 4,142 pounds (auto) |
| 0-60 mph | 3.4 seconds (auto) |
| Top Speed | > 200 mph |
| EPA Fuel Economy | 13 mpg city | 20 highway | 15 combined |
| Quick Take | It’s the car enthusiasts have asked for. It’s here. Buy it. |
| Score | 9.5/10 |
Email the author at jerry@thedrive.com