Get this: It’s 2021: car manufacturers are scrambling to top each other with EV announcements. Fabled power-brands like Mustang and Hummer are getting slapped on battery-powered vehicles. Even the Hellcat line is being retired.
Yet. Yet, late comes an unlikely hero. The Cadillac Blackwing descends on a changing landscape, bringing not a promise of the future, but a relic of the past. The brand that’s boasted about being the Standard of America reveals, not one, but two V8s with standard (ahem) to manual transmissions.
Early previews of the CT5-V and CT4-V were underwhelming. The heir apparent to the American sport sedan category, these offerings looked to barely keep up with the base 3-Series and A4s of the world. That they were supposed to compete with the Ms, RSs and AMGs went well beyond wishful thinking. There had been suggestions that Cadillac would come out later with more powerful variants, but suspicion was warranted. Cadillac, after all, was going through another identity crisis. It was struggling to define itself in a market facing an existential upheaval.
Color us surprised, then, with the specs of the Cadillac Blackwing line. Named for a production-built yet quickly-dismissed engine, the Caddy is swinging for the fences. Using their previously most powerful engine, the supercharged 6.2L V8 LT4. You might remember this powerplant from the Camaro ZL1, C7 Corvette Z06, and the previous CTS-V.
The Cadillac Blackwings Are Likely the Last
You’ll See These Types of Engines with Manual Transmissions
Rather than dropping this motor in the CT5-V Blackwing as-is, engineers finessed it a little more to squeeze out a preposterous 668hp and 659lb-ft of torque. That’s ridiculous enough before remembering that this power will be routed through a three-pedal, six-gear Tremec transmission. Speed targets are still unknown, but GM says that the auto-equipped version can do 0-60mph in 3.7 seconds. The manual will come in slightly slower than that, but also way more rad.
The CTS-V Blackwing isn’t quite as silly. It will get a smaller, 3.6L V6 good for 472hp. It, too, will come standard with a stickshift. Like its bigger sibling, rear-drive will be the only layout available, as the driving gods intended.
Expect these beasts to come with all the latest in sensors and monitors installed. They’ll be needed to keep things neat and tidy in the way people have come to expect from Cadillac. MagneRide Control will again be called on to smooth out the bumps and corners, with Brembos at each corner to bring things to a halt. The front wheels will get 15.7-inch callipers with 14.7-inch ones at the back.
Since these two sedans are likely to be the last V8s to power a Cadillac, it’s to be commended that upper-brass saw fit to make standard a manual transmission. With one already a relic for a former age and the other on its way, it’s a fitting send-off from Detroit’s finest to use them like this one last time.