Alex Roy, Editor-at-Large at The Drive grew up around Cadillacs. His father once had a 1977 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, which is a warship of a vehicle (calling it a boat understates it). The ATS-V is the polar opposite of what Alex Roy’s father drove when he was growing up, the cars only have the brand nameplate in common. As Alex checks out this sleek Caddy, we learn a lot, mostly that we really want a ATS-V for our next shop car!
The Cadillac ATS-V is meant to compete with the BMW M3 and M4, costing around $75k. Cadillac has been chasing down the BMW M3 and M4 for two decades, and the ATS-V may finally dethrone the BMW in the sport coupe niche. We do want to add that GM has had no problem with the M3 and M4 with their latest round of cars. In a recent Motor Trend real life comparison, the 2016 Camaro SS was compared to the M4, and it smoked it in both speed and luxury tests — so it’s hard to imagine that the M4 would have a fighting chance against this Caddy.
For the price, what you get from the ATS-V is a 3.6L twin-turbocharged V6, magnetic suspension, and ‘everything’ GM could think to throw at it. Alex comes close to calling it perfect — but has some hangups on the exterior design. In his opinion the car could be improved upon in styling, and mentions that the ATS-V doesn’t look as good as it drives. So in that regard the car isn’t perfect, but maybe that’s just preference. It’s easy to agree with him there though, as the ATS-V looks similar to other modern Caddys, which are phenomenal looking cars, but there’s not a lot of edge to the ATS-V to make it a standout model. What do you think?
Elizabeth is a hardcore horsepower enthusiast with unmatched intensity for making things faster and louder. She wakes up for power and performance and only sleeps to charge up for the next project that’s heading to the track. From autocross to drag racing, Elizabeth is there with you, so stay tuned for her unique perspective on horsepower news, builds, tech info, and installs — with her, it’ll never be boring!
