- Here’s a Cadillac wagon with the heart of a Corvette.
- Even better, this is one of the rare examples with a manual transmission.
- The mileage is low, but not museum grade, so feel free to unleash that supercharged V-8 daily.
Today’s Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is a monster, and a multiple C/D 10Best Cars winner, but one thing is doesn’t offer is a long-roof body style. To get that, you have to travel back to the CTS-V last sold in 2014. That car blended the presence of a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk with the supercharged V-8 belligerence of a Corvette ZR-1, and combined it with an old-school manual transmission. And it was available as a station wagon. Glorious madness.
An ideal example of this Batmobile of wagons is for sale right now on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos). It’s a 2014 Cadillac CTS-V wagon with the six-speed manual, black on black. The mileage is low at just 48K miles, but not so low that you’ll feel bad about actually driving it and being the coolest parent at the school pick-up line.
Under the hood is a supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 good for 556 horsepower and 551 pound-feet of torque. These were bonkers numbers a decade ago, and still very credible today. And whereas modern war wagons like the Audi RS6 Avant or the Mercedes-AMG E63 (last sold in 2023) feature all-wheel drive to tame the power, the Cadillac lights up its tires with rear-wheel drive tempered only by a limited-slip differential.
This example is unmodified and equipped with some niceties including a panoramic sunroof, Bose audio, and navigation. What really matters, from an enthusiast perspective, is the stick shift sitting between the front Recaros, linked to a Tremec six-speed manual transmission.
Besides Corvette power levels, the CTS-V also gets Brembo brakes to handle stopping duties, and GM’s lightning-quick adaptive magnetorheological dampers. C/D put 40,000 miles on a CTS-V wagon back when the model came out, and the praise for the way this thing delivered power and polish was universal.
It’s the quintessential “They don’t make ’em like that anymore” Cadillac, and ones with the manual transmission are few and far between. This one checks all the boxes and is sure to dole out thrills by the wagonful.
The auction ends on May 6.
Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels.
Source: Motor - aranddriver.com
