The Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is an absolutely epic car. Not only is it the last manual V8 sports sedan on sale, it’s a thundering testament to American ingenuity. It’s your favorite car journalist’s favorite sedan, a high water mark in more than two decades of fast Cadillacs. However, there’s always room to improve upon a good thing, and that’s where the 2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Precision Package comes in. It’s here to make GM’s sabretooth sedan even sharper.
The Precision Package gets all the expected handling tweaks you’d expect from a German brand’s Competition or S packages, but it’s not just an option box you’d buy to flex, because there are few visual indicators that distinguish it from a standard CT5-V Blackwing. Take it from Cadillac executive chief engineer Brandon Vivian, who made it clear what the car’s purpose is: “We built this vehicle to set records on some of the toughest tracks around the world.” Porsche Panamera, BMW M5, you two are on notice.
To build the CT5-V Blackwing Precision Package, Cadillac started with all the goodness of a standard CT5-V Blackwing — a 668-horsepower supercharged 6.2-liter V8 engine, the choice of a 10-speed automatic or an honest-to-god six-speed manual transmission, an electronically variable limited-slip rear differential, and magnetorheological dampers. From there, Cadillac’s thrown the trackday blueprint at its most potent sports sedan with the goal of improving the breed.
Let’s start with the most important part of staying out for lap after lap — brakes. While pad compound largely determines friction, heat capacity usually determines how long a session is. So, Cadillac’s ditched iron discs in favor of some carbon ceramic hotness. We’re talking 400 mm by 38 mm front discs, 370 mm by 34 mm rear discs, and brand new rear calipers compared to CT5-V Blackwings with iron discs. Brakes out of the way, let’s move on to suspension, where it seems like Cadillac has been concentrating heavily on the front axle of the CT5-V Blackwing Precision Package. Stiffer front springs by the tune of 70 percent complement a 0.9 mm-thicker, 11 percent stiffer front anti-roll bar and stiffer bushings with the goal of a sharper front end, better feel, and yes, faster lap times.
Not stopping at tweaking spring and anti-roll bar rates, Cadillac has changed the actual suspension geometry using new steering knuckles in the front and new toe arms at the back. Since the CT5-V Blackwing uses MacPherson struts up front, a new knuckle design is a sturdy way to add negative camber without altering the strut hats or divorced lower control arms. We’re talking 2.8 degrees of negative front camber, which is huge for a MacPherson Strut setup. Out back, the new rear toe arms dial in two degrees of negative camber, although like some trick speed parts of the past, these toe links come in a trunk kit and need to be installed after the car rolls out of the factory.
Of course, in the age of electronically augmented chassis setups in performance cars, stiffer effective spring rates, different alignment settings, and different brakes call for some calibration tweaks, and Cadillac claims to have altered its electric power steering mapping, digital chassis control systems, magnetorheological damper programming, and electronically-controlled limited-slip rear differential locking aggressiveness to gel with the new hardware. In the words of Cadillac regarding the differential tuning:
We retuned the calibrations to enable the nimbleness and lively hood this package has on corner entry, this typically means less coupling when off the throttle in certain turns which helps aid the car to dive into the corner with eagerness, but still retains the confident stability. We also returned the coupling calibrations when on throttle to maximize for corner exit traction and driver yaw control. This typically means more coupling on corner exit. This helps the driver dig out of corners while giving them a stable platform.
Dialing back the locking on deceleration and ramping it up on acceleration is blueprint performance car stuff, and combined with the changes in suspension geometry, should make the Precision Package car surprisingly nimble for a luxury sedan.
The result should make one of the most visceral sedans on the market even more engaging. Needless to say, we can’t wait to try it out, although we’ll be waiting a few months at the minimum. Production of the 2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Precision Package is expected to kick off in early 2025, so you have a little bit of time to save up for a downpayment. I don’t know about you, but this seems a whole lot more tempting than a new BMW M5, yeah?
