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2020 Cadillac CT4-V, CT5-V revealed, less powerful than predecessors

Expectations have reached stratospheric heights for the 2020 Cadillac CT4-V and 2020 Cadillac CT5-V, and for good reason: Their ATS-V and CTS-V predecessors were potent sports sedans with gobs of power and handling and braking to match. Now the new sedans have been revealed, and they're not what we expected. They each lose two cylinders compared with the other vehicles, and on paper, they don't look as capable. But we do have hope that these won't be the end-all, be-all performance Cadillacs. First, let's look at the cars. The CT4-V will be the base of the V brand, and it's our first look at the small luxury sedan. It has a roofline and window treatment more like past Cadillacs, eschewing the C-pillar garnish of the CT5. It also naturally gets dark trim and headlights, a unique spoiler and quad tailpipes to distinguish it as a V. Under the hood is a turbocharged 2.7-liter four-cylinder that is based on the engine in the new Chevy Silverado. It makes 320 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque, a far cry from the ATS-V's 464 horsepower and 445 pound-feet of torque. Cadillac CT4-V View 12 Photos Power goes through a 10-speed automatic transmission only. Both rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive are available. It gets a mechanical limited-slip differential whereas the ATS-V had an electronically controlled limited-slip differential a la Camaro ZL1. The brakes have four-piston calipers at each corner versus six-piston front units and four-piston rear units on the ATS-V, and the rotors are smaller. Magnetic Ride Control remains standard on the rear-drive version, but the all-wheel-driver version sticks with conventional shocks. The new CT4-V is about 200 pounds lighter than the ATS-V, though, and it has 50/50 weight distribution. Additionally, both the CT4-V and the CT5-V have Super Cruise available as an option. Moving on to the CT5-V, it looks like a regular CT5 but with dark trim and lights, quad tailpipes and a unique rear diffuser. Instead of the CTS-V's 640-horsepower supercharged V8, the CT5-V uses a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 making 355 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque. Changes made to the 3.0 for the CT5-V include a new intake system and new exhaust, and it revs higher too. Like the CT4-V, it comes with a 10-speed automatic and either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. It does get the electronically controlled limited-slip differential.

2016 Cadillac ELR gets more power, $9,000 price drop

Cadillac has announced a series of updates to the ELR for 2016 that promises to make the plug-in hybrid luxury coupe a more desirable proposition. Perhaps chief among them is a price drop of $9,005 compared to the slow-selling 2014 model. The news follows an announcement yesterday that the Chevy Spark would get a $1,500 price drop. Cadillac is quoting a net price for the updated ELR at $58,495, which is obviously substantially less than the $75k it was asking for the previous version. But it's important to note that the new price is listed after US federal tax credits. The 2014 model came in at $67,500 after the full $7,500 tax credit, so math tells us that Cadillac has slashed the price on the 2016 ELR rather dramatically by about nine grand with a new MSRP of $65,995. One big upgrade on the performance front is a 25-percent boost in output from the hybrid powertrain that marries a pair of electric motors to a 1.4-liter inline-four gasoline-burning generator. The increase is said to be enough to drop 1.5 seconds off the 0-60 time, now quoted at 6.4 seconds. It'll travel for up to 39 miles on electric mode alone, but with the generator spooled up will go up to 330 miles before needing to stop. The engine management software has also been updated and the regenerative braking system reconfigured as well, but GM's luxury division didn't stop at the powertrain, fitting the 2016 ELR with a raft of other enhancements. Visually there's a new grille with the marque's latest emblem embedded. The suspension has been stiffened, the steering recalibrated and the brakes optimized for better feel. Cadillac is also throwing in the previously optional Driver Assistance package of active safety systems as standard, with adaptive cruise control available as an option. And the infotainment system comes with OnStar, 4G LTE connectivity and on-board Wi-Fi. There's even a Performance Package available with 20-inch performance tires offering 10-percent better lateral grip, four-piston Brembo brake calipers up front to help reducing stopping distances by 12 percent, recalibrated dampers and steering and a thicker-rimmed steering wheel. Because of the higher rolling resistance tires, however, the Performance Package kills four miles off of the electric driving range.

Junkyard Gem: 1979 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz

The Cadillac Eldorado lost a foot of wheelbase and 1,200 pounds when GM's luxury front-drive platform got downsized for 1979, which turned out to be prescient timing considering the massive spike in oil prices in the wake of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The General kept the pricey Biarritz option package from the previous generation, adding a stainless-steel roof in the process. Here's one of those cars, found in a chilly Denver boneyard last month. The stainless-steel roof panel, inspired by the one used on the 1957 Eldorado Brougham, identifies a 1979-1985 Eldorado as a genuine Biarritz. This generation of Eldorado Biarritz achieved its greatest renown as the car bomb that detonates when pink-suited Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro) cranks the starter in the 1995 film Casino. Naturally, a 24 Hours of Lemons team obtained one of these cars and raced it while the pit crew wore pastel suits and sipped from Tangiers Casino highball glasses. The MSRP on the base '79 Eldorado was $14,240 and the Biarritz package with leather seats tacked on an additional $2,600. That's $64,495 in 2021 dollars, at a time when plenty of car loans had interest rates approaching 20%. The '79 Seville's base price was higher ($15,646), despite being based on the lowly Chevy Nova, but that difference was erased by the cost of the Biarritz package. The Fleetwood limos were the only pricier Cadillacs that year. Yes, you had to be a true high-roller to purchase a '79 Biarritz. Of course, a new Mercedes-Benz 450SLC cost a terrifying $32,858 (about $125,850 today) that year, but the $13,067 Lincoln Mark V (the price went up substantially if you got one of the editions designed by Bill Blass, Givenchy, or Emilio Pucci) was close competition for the Biarritz. The 1979 Eldorado had something the Lincoln didn't, however: electronic fuel injection. Yes, a 350-cubic-inch (5.7-liter) Oldsmobile V8 engine with a pretty-modern-for-1979 throttle-body fuel-injection system sent 170 horses to the front wheels via GM's impressive Unitized Power Package longitudinal-engine front-wheel-drive system. Look at all those futuristic devices in that faux-wood dash! That stereo cassette deck added $225 ($860 today) to the price. Cruise control cost $137, the rear defogger added $101, and… well, you get the idea. This Cad is a bit tattered and has some rust spots here and there, but wouldn't have been an overwhelmingly difficult restoration.