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2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing First Drive Review | Peak oil

We may have embraced the coming of electrification. We may love a good, high-performance hybrid or EV. We could quite frankly not care less how a car makes power, so long as the end result is satisfactory. But man, nothing suits a big, square-shouldered American sedan quite like a V8. Question our commitment to Mother Gaia if you must, but the blat of a small block is the bass line in the song of American speed. And now onstage for the V8's farewell tour is the 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing, a midsize, manual-transmission luxury sedan that comes out swinging with a hand-built, supercharged 6.2-liter V8 making 668 horsepower and 659 pound-feet of torque. The CT4-V Blackwing may be great in its own right, but it's still down a pair of cylinders. The old Cadillac CTS-V (S not 5) was never the slimmest, sharpest or most luxurious sport sedan money could buy, but it always offered excellent performance for its price. It was also one of the few midsize manual transmission holdouts, at least until the third-generation V model debuted in 2016; for its brief run, it was offered only with the eight-speed automatic. Its spirit lives on in the CT5-V Blackwing, but Cadillac refined the formula significantly for its transition to the updated Alpha platform. The manual is back, it gained 28 horsepower and 29 pound-feet of torque, and the aerodynamics and braking were completely overhauled for this, the final iteration of the V8-powered Cadillac sport sedan. Apart from the larger footprint and all that comes with it, most of the Blackwing formula carries over almost unchanged to the CT5-V from its smaller CT4-V sibling. A six-speed manual gearbox is standard with a 10-speed auto available as an upgrade (which it truly is, in some ways). The electronically controlled mechanical limited slip differential, fourth-generation Magnetic Ride Control and various other tweaks made their way here too, but there are a few noteworthy deviations. Let’s start where the CT5-V stops: the brakes. Since the larger, heavier CT5 needs more braking capacity, its wheels grew an inch in diameter to accommodate a bigger set of stoppers. The wheels are wider too, the better to fit its Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires in 275/35ZR19 (front) and 305/30ZR19 (rear) – 20 mm wider up front and 30 mm wider out back than the 18-inch tires on the smaller CT4-V Blackwing. Exclusive to the CT5 is a carbon-ceramic brake package that reduces unsprung mass by 53 pounds and rotating mass by 62 pounds.

Even if GM does close all 5 of those plants, it'll still have too many

DETROIT — General Motors' monumental announcement on Monday that it will close three car assembly plants and two powertrain plants in North America and slash its workforce will only partially close the gap between capacity and demand for the automaker's sedans, according to a Reuters analysis of industry production and capacity data. Sales of traditional passenger cars in North America have been declining for the past six years and are still withering. After GM ends production next year at factories in Michigan, Ohio and Ontario, it will still have four U.S. passenger-car plants — all operating at less than 50 percent of rated capacity, according to figures supplied by LMC Automotive. In comparison, Detroit-based rivals Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will have one car plant each in North America after 2019. The Detroit Three are facing rapidly dwindling demand for traditional passenger cars from U.S. consumers, many of whom have shifted to crossovers and trucks. Passenger cars accounted for 48 percent of retail light-vehicle sales in the United States in 2014, according to market researchers at J.D. Power and Associates. This year, sedans will account for less than a third of light vehicle sales. That shift in turn has left most North American car plants operating far below their rated capacities, while many SUV and truck plants are running on overtime. The collapse in passenger-car demand is a challenge for nearly all automakers in the United States, including Japan's Toyota and Honda, which have the top-selling models in the compact and midsize car segments. Toyota executives said last month they are evaluating the company's U.S. model lineup. But Toyota also plans to build compact Corolla sedans at a new $1.6 billion factory it is building in Alabama with partner Mazda. The obstacles facing GM in its plans to close more auto factories became apparent on Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to block payment of government electric vehicle subsidies to GM. While it is not certain that Trump unilaterally has the power to do that, he made it clear he intends to use his office to pressure the company to keep open a small car plant in Ohio that GM says will stop building vehicles in March.

J.D. Power study sees new car dependability problems increase for first time since 1998

For the first time since 1998, J.D. Power and Associates says its data shows that the average number of problems per 100 cars has increased. The finding is the result of the firm's much-touted annual Vehicle Dependability Study, which charts incidents of problems in new vehicle purchases over three years from 41,000 respondents.
Looking at first-owner cars from the 2011 model year, the study found an average of 133 problems per 100 cars (PP100, for short), up 6 percent from 126 PP100 in last year's study, which covered 2010 model-year vehicles. Disturbingly, the bulk of the increase is being attributed to engine and transmission problems, with a 6 PP100 boost.
Interestingly, JDP notes that "the decline in quality is particularly acute for vehicles with four-cylinder engines, where problem levels increase by nearly 10 PP100." Its findings also noticed that large diesel engines also tended to be more problematic than most five- and six-cylinder engines.