2022 Caddy Blackwing - 200 mph for well south of $100k

Forget silly electric cars. This new Caddy Blackwing is a serious 200 mph machine.

Cadillac historically has offered speed for cheap. Their Catera was a 140 mph automobile provided you were willing to fit the proper tires. I do wonder whether or not the Blackwing comes standard with tires able to do 200 mph, or do those tires cost extra? Anyway a very nice, and serious, automobile for small money considering what you get:

Outrun the police in a Cadillac Blackwing

And, hey, these new Blackwings are equipped with manual transmissions as standard. That is more than you can say for the new Corvettes!!

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One of the best things I think Cadillac did was properly setting up front wheel drive. You could light up their front tires while holding the steering wheel with a couple fingers. Many fwd cars (with some power) can’t handle the torque.

As for the manual transmission, that may be a way to generate revenue, or repair revenue. I suspect less than 5% of drivers can even drive a manual. Also, IIRC, you can put the vette’s tranny into manual mode.

Cadillac Blackwing, shown in white, and red.

This has to be a joke. If you were seriously mentioning the Catera positively in a post about the new Blackwing, Cadillac engineers would blacklist you from ever buying one. And saying the Catera offered speed for cheap is hilarious, so I just have to assume this is some sort of troll.

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OK, you had me going there for an instant. I thought I might have to delete this entire thread! I failed to check in advance before posting, however:

The Blackwing is a RWD automobile, not a garbage torque steering FWD POS.

As for the 'Vette:

Yes, you likely can shift “manually”. However, I’m betting it’s not a real “hands on” gearbox. So when you shift manually the gears are still changing via electromechanical means.

When I was young I rebuilt a true manual gearbox, replacing the bronze synchro rings which were all but shot. Doubt I could do it today. Those needle bearings are a serious challenge during reassembly. But “back in the day” I tackled anything mechanical and had a fair measure of success.

Well, almost anything. I did valves and seats and cylinder walls, polishing and porting. But when it came to replacing valve seats and milling heads, I had to farm that work out. Also farmed out hot tanking of blocks and cam bearing replacement.

Line boring = difficult (at least for me)

With all due respect:

The Opel Omega MV6, built in their old Russelsheim plant (now torn down), was a fine and well respected automobile in Germany. The car was, and remains today, Autobahn ready at max speed of roughly 140 mph with the correct tires. This is true also for the Catera-badged versions which can be picked up today in the USA for a song. I think some owners might even pay you to tow their Cateras away! :grinning: :rofl:

Fact is the MV6 was, and it remains, a German automobile. Simply because it was sold as a Cadillac changed nothing whatsoever. There are Cadillac mechanics and there are German automobile mechanics and they are not at all the same thing. Here is what happened:

Back circa 1995-1996 the geniuses at Cadillac got the bright idea to rebadge MV6s as Cateras and sell them in the USA. To make matters worse, those same nincompoops decided to charge stateside Caddy dealers $50,000 each for the privilege of selling the Catera. Many dealers did not buy in which meant Cadillac refused to train any of their mechanics on the German Catera. But Catera owners were never told which Cadillac dealers had Catera trained mechanics and which did NOT!

The Catera was a German car requiring skilled German maintenance by the kind of mechanics found there . . . . but not here. And that includes especially preventative, routine, maintenance which is not at all routine for American iron.

The result of all this was Catera acquiring perhaps the worst reputation of any (supposedly) American car ever marketed. It really gave Cadillac a black eye and deservedly so. The Cadillac brass messed Catera up big time.

The bottom line, though, is as follows:

If you can locate a low mileage Catera in nice shape today, and if you can maintain the car as would have been the case (and was the case for the MV6) in Germany, you will have a 140 mph Autobahn cruiser for VERY small money.

This is a situation I have watched for many years. I was a prominent poster, for a time years ago, on the Catera discussion page. I have tried to locate a German car mechanic so that I could purchase a Catera for myself. No luck. Here where I live such mechanics are incredibly scarce. But were I able to find such a mechanic I would buy a Catera in a heartbeat because they are luxurious automobiles and you can buy them for a song.

The only caveat, as before, is that prior to taking the car up to its 140 mph design speed you MUST fit tires which can handle such speed. And when sold here new, the Catera was not fitted with those tires.

Oh, one other thing. You might also have to disable the Catera’s governor. I think the factory set that to just 120 mph. But the MV6 never even had a governor . . . . and it’s the same car.

ETA

The other option is to school yourself and then do your own Catera maintenance. This is what many current-day owners do. And they love their Cateras. But you really have to know what you are doing. The Catera engine, for example, is an interference engine with a “rubber” (as opposed to steel) timing belt. It’s a recipe for trouble especially for people living in cold climates who park their cars outdoors. At one time Cadillac’s suggested maintenance interval on that belt was 80,000 miles!! My own recommended interval, depending on climate, was 40,000 miles. Because:

If that belt goes you lose the entire engine. And that actually has happened to a great many Catera owners. It’s no wonder the car has such a poor reputation!

But when those Catera engines are running properly they are high revving things of absolute beauty. It’s a great engine but only when properly maintained as the Germans originally intended.

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It was an overpriced Opel that didn’t make sense in America, especially under the Cadillac brand name. I don’t know what you mean by “luxurious.” It had GM switchgear and terrible plastics. This was 1997. BMW was already making the best small 4 door 6-cyl car for only $3k more and they had a dealer network that could actually service it. And even though new it was $3k more than the Catera, you got that $3k back when you went to sell/trade it as the BMW 328i held its value MUCH better than the Catera.

But I do have to apologize. There is apparently a legitimate reason to talk about the Catera and the Blackwing together:
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a35371712/cadillac-catera-to-blackwing/

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Well I thought the one I drove was quite nice. The most luxurious car I’ve ever actually owned is my current Mercury Grand Marquis. So my tastes and ownership experiences might not be up to your lofty standards.

As for BMW automobiles, I know from nothing. Doubt they are as inexpensive today as the Catera, though. And will they do 140 mph? I dunno.

My only experience on the Autobahn was in an Audi at probably right around 140-150 mph. I remember the big Mercedes would pull up behind us with their left signal on and we had to get over to the right and allow them to pass. I guess the Blackwings would be able to give those Mercedes cars a run for their money.

Well I think that is pretty much what I said. And I explained, in some detail, why it did not make sense.

Consider Ford’s answer to the Catera: Lincoln LS

The LS had a steel timing chain so no lost engines. The LS had Jaguar breeding, so a very cool car. The trouble today is that Lincoln LS automobiles, especially the eight cylinder versions, sell for a whole lot more than Cadillac Cateras.

The 328i had 190 hp to the Catera’s 200. The BMW had a 2.8 liter inline 6 cylinder engine. The Catera had a 3.0 liter V6. They were both designed to be driven on the autobahn. I’m pretty sure the difference in top speed is negligible.

Both are so old now that they are essentially collectible if they are in good enough shape to drive everyday. I did a quick search on auto trader and the only 3-series sedan I saw was more expensive today than they were when I was in the market back in 2005.

Are you sure? My understanding was that automatic transmission fails more often than manual. Or are you suggesting they’ll fail more because most people don’t know how to drive manual?

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Gotta finally admit that I fall into that 5% of drivers. I’ve been driving my manual porsche for many years.

Don’t know much of anything about cars, but shinobi’s talk of the new Blackwings is interesting. Wonder what I might get as a trade-in on my Lexus for the new 2022 Caddy Blackwing? :wink:

This makes me think of my mom, may she RIP.

Mom taught my dad how to drive. She cut her teeth, automobile wise, on a Stutz Bearcat which of course had a manual transmission. Mom finished up driving an Austin Healey 3000 Mk III . . . . which also had a manual transmission. Ma weighed in at about 105 soaking wet, so when she drove that big Healey it was so lightly loaded that it jumped off the line like a jackrabbit. :grinning:

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We bought our porsche new in 1987. Not quite as old as your Mothers Stutz Bearcat. Luv it!

Well, now I have to admit my ignorance. The only Caddy that I ever owned, and a couple of others that I’ve driven were all FWD. From that limited experience, I made the huge leap that all Cadillacs were FWD.

The 71 Eldo did not exhibit torque steer … or the power steering was so great that it didn’t get to your hands. :smile:

I suspect both vehicles have the flappy paddle dual-clutch electronic shifters. I don’t know if you can get a pure manual transmission in a non-truck vehicle.

Bingo. If you asked 10 people to start a car that has a clutch pedal, I suspect 9 wouldn’t be able to do it.

A small correction to my previous post - I forgot that almost all manual transmissions today can’t really be damaged much because of built-in safeties that prevent you from blowing your engine. Most of the flappy paddle shifters will up-shift if you wind the engine too high. Likewise, it won’t let you down-shift if you’re engine is revved too high.

Thus the only real “damage” you’ll probably do is to your wallet in the form of poorer gas mileage.

Bite your tongue. :smile: That Lexus has more miles left in it than the Caddy.

Are you sure??? Cause I thought paddle shifters were a feature of automatic transmission, by definition. Manual comes with a stick, no fancy electronic buttons (and putting an automatic transmission “stick” into “manual” mode doesn’t mean it’s using a manual transmission, it just simulates one). And you can down-shift into high revs by double-clutching (to sync). I don’t know if there’s anything new to prevent a manual from blowing up. Pretty sure my RSX (mfg’d in '02-'06) didn’t have any such fancy features.

I was under the impression that manual transmissions don’t break as often because they have fewer parts and are simpler, not because of any built-in safeties.

Torque steer is inherent in all FWD automobiles. But it is compensated for (supposedly) by other design aspects created to do so.

I’ve never owned a FWD vehicle, and I never will. Front wheels are for steering. Rear wheels are for propulsion. I once rented a FWD big caddy. It was so nose heavy it bottomed out going into my garage. That is the other problem with FWD cars: they are invariably nose heavy so the handling is not up to snuff.

So it is to Cadillac’s credit that the Blackwing is RWD. It’s what I call a “real car”.

I hear that story from H… 2010 Lexus mileage now is 46288, but it’s so old. :worried:.