2020 Cadillac CT4-V First Look

cadillac taketh away and cadillac giveth. with the shift toward suvs, cadillac put its entire sedan lineup on the chopping block without having announced replacements. but it turns out that was all a head fake, and now not only do we have new sedans coming, we have sporty sedans.

the new 2020 cadillac ct4-v gets a truck engine and a sports car (ok, and truck) transmission, and it comes standard with rear-wheel drive. it has all the makings of another smile-inducing performance variant from the company that zigs. it's also our first look at the upcoming plain-jane ct4 sedan, a new small-luxury competitor for the likes of the mercedes-benz a-class or genesis g70.

v exciting?

here's the headline: under the hood, the 2020 ct4-v gets a turbocharged 2.7-liter four-cylinder engine cranking out a claimed 320 horsepower. cadillac has confirmed this is the same engine you'll find under the hood of a much, much larger general motors product, the chevy silverado, but it's been specially tuned for this application and will apparently deliver maximum torque (369 lb-ft, for those keeping score) from just 1,800 rpm. that's 10 more horsepower and 21 more lb-ft of torque than it makes in the truck.

attached to that engine is gm's 10-speed automatic transmission, a sharp unit that we've enjoyed in the chevy camaro and corvette (and, yes, fine, the suburban and silverado). the ct4-v will be available with either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive and will come standard with a limited-slip differential.

the ct4-v will also come with brembo brakes and 18-inch wheels (hooray for sidewall!). rear-wheel-drive models will have cadillac's magnetic ride control adaptive dampers, while all-wheel-drive models will come with passive dampers.

now for the disappointing news: powerwise, the ct4-v is down more than a 100 horsepower from the ats-v it replaces, which churned out a bonkers 464 horsepower from its v6. some fans will doubtless be disappointed, and the ct4-v clearly won't have the brain-bending acceleration of its forebearer. in terms of power, it slots in between mercedes' 302-horsepower amg a 35 and the genesis g70 3.3t's 365 horsepower.

all in all, the ct4-v seems likely to be an entertaining car to drive, but will it be enough to sate v fans accustomed to crazypants power?

v cautious?

it's great news for sport sedan enthusiasts that cadillac's chosen to launch the ct4 with the v variant, as it shows a commitment to putting fun cars on the road. but v cars are definitely niche products, asking relatively high dollars for performance that most buyers don't need. the vanilla ct4 will be the volume model, and so far we don't really know anything about it. the only extra piece of information cadillac's released is that the ct4-v will be available with its newest generation of super cruise automation, so we can assume the regular ct4 will feature that as well.

in the past, cadillac's sedans have struggled to match competitors in terms of material and ride quality as well as user interface design. one piece of good news at least is that interior photos of the 2020 ct4 show a lack of capacitive touch buttons, and a rather friendly-looking physical button layout, so ease of use looks to have improved from the outgoing cts and ats. as for the rest? well, we won't know until we can get our hands on an example in the real world.

pricing and release date

cadillac says the ct4 will go on sale early in 2020, but there's no word yet on pricing. based on the vehicles it's replacing, the ct4-v could start in the $70,000 range. will the smaller engine mean a smaller price tag? we'll have to wait and see.

we'll have more news about the 2020 cadillac ct4 and ct4-v as the on-sale date draws closer, so stay tuned to edmunds.