Corvettes are wonderful things. Blisteringly quick. Insanely agile. More fun than a season’s pass to Busch Gardens. Easy to mistake one for a Ferrari, too. Especially if it’s painted red.
Downsides? A few. Like there are only two seats. Trunk space? You’re packing light. And unless you’re under the age of 40, climbing in and out is a lesson in body origami.
Now if you crave Corvette performance and handling with four doors and four seats, you need to look at Cadillac’s latest CT5-V Blackwing sedan rocket ship. You won’t be disappointed.
Like the ‘Vette, this thing comes with a 6.2-liter all-American V8 with more thrust than a Saturn rocket. Count the horseys—a total of 668, with a stump-pulling 659 pound-foot of torque. That’s a big step up from the base Corvette’s 490 horsepower, and right up there with the Z06 Corvette’s 670.
And for the true, hot-shoed, red-blooded sports car lover, the Blackwing comes standard with that one essential ingredient for driving nirvana: A six-speed manual transmission. Yup, a stick.
While the CT5-V Blackwing has been around since 2022, it got a makeover for 2025. Nothing too radical. The front end was made a little more visually aggressive. Notice the wider, reshaped grille, new stacked headlights, and new, pencil-thin LED running lights that plunge vertically down the front edge of the fender.
Inside, the big news was the switch from last year’s 10-inch touchscreen and analog gauges, to a new 33-inch curved display that flows across the dash. It runs GM’s new Google-based infotainment interface.
For buyers who want to head to the racetrack for fun, Cadillac engineers also came up with a new Precision Package to really transform the car into a track star. Stiffer springs, a larger front anti-roll bar, tighter steering, stickier rubber, carbon-ceramic brakes, and some very trick performance data recording. It’s an $18,000 option.
Talking of money, this latest Blackwing has a base price of $96,900. Pricey, yes, but its closest rival is BMW’s brand new M5 plug-in hybrid packing 717 horsepower, which kicks off at around $124,000.
After a joyous week spent behind the Blackwing’s chunky wheel, wrangling that six-speed manual shifter, it’s easy to talk of the Caddy in the same breath as the M5. The testers at Car and Driver even rate it higher than the BMW.
What this car is all about is sensational performance. The Caddy’s supercharged 6.2-liter V8 is one of the world’s greatest engines. Fabulously refined. Fabulously powerful. Fabulously vocal when revved.
Pedal to the metal, it can catapult the Blackwing from standstill to 60 miles per hour in just 3.6 seconds, do zero to 100 in 7.3, and not quit until the speedo needle is kissing the 205 miles per hour mark.
If stick-shifting isn’t your thing—and here in stop-start-traffic-Florida I can understand why it wouldn’t be—the Blackwing is offered with a 10-speed automatic. Interestingly, it’ll get you from 0-to-60 in a tenth of a second faster.
There’s a real Jekyll and Hyde character here. Yes, it can rocket around a racetrack like it’s on fire. Yet it feels buttery-smooth and refined in daily commutes. With the stick shift, it’ll accelerate away in sixth gear from walking pace.
Gripped tight in the Blackwing’s available carbon fiber-shelled front bucket seats, clinging to that thick-rimmed wheel, the Caddy’s cabin is a wonderful place to be. It’s big and roomy too, with stretch-out space, especially in the rear. Plus, a trunk Tony Soprano would love.
There’s no word on just how long Cadillac will continue building this supercharged V8-powered, track-focused sedan projectile. Especially with its focus on EVs—the upcoming 615 horsepower all-electric Lyric-V will be the quickest Cadillac ever.
So, grab one while you can. It’s no wonder they call it the four-door Corvette.
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