Better Than A BMW M3 Cadillac ATS-V Review

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is the ats-v Cadillacs attempt at dethroning the king of four-door sports cars the bmw m3 now during this beast development General Motors engineers directly benchmark one car you guessed it the m3 now at the time that was the e90 chassis of the m3 but as the f80 was released little tweaks were made to make sure that this car can keep up with modern day twin-turbo saloons this beast looks just as aggressive as the m3 and c63 so let's see what it's all about tony romo Cadillacs chief engineer actually admits that the LT 4 v8 would have fit under the hood of the ats-v that makes me a little sad because a 640 horsepower m3 competitor would have been fantastically interesting unfortunately a little thing called the laws of physics and weight distribution as well as fuel economy means that's not the case instead we've got a reworked version of the twin-turbo v6 found in the CTSV sport boost is upped from 12 to 18 psi thanks to new turbos and a few more bits in the internals bump the power up a bit as well four hundred and sixty-four horsepower and four hundred and forty-four pound-feet of torque means this has more power than an m3 however the car also weighs a good 200 pounds more than the m3 and does not offer a fancy dual clutch automated manual transmission your transmission options are either a standard 6-speed manual or GM's 8-speed automatic designed in-house now honestly the manual is the route to go reason being paddle response is too slow on this car despite faster shift times when an automatic mode if you click the paddle a downshift just takes a little bit too long and compared to stuff like the DCT in the m3 and something like Porsches PDK it just feels like antiquated technology up for the manual however and you get some fancy additions such as active rev matching endo lift shift apparently this no lip shift technology can allow you to shift point four seconds faster than normal imagine that take a little bit to get used to without bringing the clutch out every shift but pretty cool have no fear the ats-v is fast as hell zero to sixty happens in just 3.8 seconds in the quarter mile this is impressive in 12.1 that's actually a tenth of a sec quicker than the c63 or the BMW m3 it's got an electronic limited slip differential magnetic ride and is equipped with Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires that means its lateral grip is actually higher than that of its German rivals so it's got the straight-line power it's got the grip this is a recipe for success the crazy part is it's not just numbers the ats-v is actually more fun to drive than a BMW m3 that's right I just said that this might be the best handling sedan that I have ever driven the magnetic ride suspension is monitoring the road over a thousand times per second to give you the most comfortable and highest performing ride at once and it really does work the steering is perfectly weighted and provides an excellent amount of feedback it's wrapped in Alcantara and is just the right diameter to keep you confident on the road and really really make turns a hell of a lot of fun sound is obviously a large component when buying a sports car unfortunately nowadays with six cylinders and turbos they don't sound all that great this isn't a bad sounding engine by any means it's probably about on par with the bmw m3 but it is no match for something like the c63 AMG ah the performance data recorder is one of the coolest parts of the ats-v interior the frontal camera is recording the world around you so whether you're on the drag strip a racetrack or you put the car in valet mode you can watch it on the multimedia system there's a slew of overlays that allow you to see speed gear lateral G's and more really really a cool feature there's a host of other technologies as well you've got an awesome color heads-up display that shows you your speed your gear and even turn-by-turn directions you've also got wireless charging for your phone the seats are sixteen way adjustable Recaros they've got excellent lumbar support can squeeze your size to keep you in place around turns and really are comfortable even over long distances stylistically the ats-v fall short of its competition in the interior the new c63 is absolutely gorgeous and I'm not really a huge fan of the design language here a lot of the ergonomics are not very good as well everything is touchscreen and it makes it somewhat difficult to use the seat controls are also in a terrible location if you wear a watch you cannot reach your hand down to the side of the seat and do any sort of adjustment without opening the door there's also a compartment to the side that perfectly fits an iPhone 6 however it fits it so well that if it gets pushed down a little bit too tight you can't get the phone back out without sliding a credit card and popping it back up ask me how I know that the exterior of the ats-v is undeniably sexy it's got a perfect balance of functionality and the fact that it's aesthetically pleasing the carbon-fiber hood helps with weight savings the aggressive front splitter helps with aerodynamics it comes together in a way that I think is just as good-looking if not better than the m3 and c63 so would I actually buy this car over its German rivals the crazy part is is that's not out of the realm of possibilities whatsoever I love the way this car looks it handles better than either of them the sound is somewhere in between the m3 and the c63 well the interior isn't quite as good it feels so good to drive it's so fun in the turn and that this is absolutely a competitor to those cars as a summary here are some of the things I love and hate about it first off of course the handling it is incredible in a very strange way it almost feels like a stretch sedan version of a z28 in a way it's like a z28 combined with a Chevy SS second up the exterior appearance there's no doubting the car is gorgeous third is the price point this car starts at around $60,000 and lease deals are in the 500s per month that's scat pack charger territory compared to its German rivals that's one heck of a deal things I dislike about the car the ergonomics and the interior are terrible this touchscreen not very good the fact that I can't adjust the seat controls with the watch on is absolutely garbage and the fact that my phone got stuck in that cup holder area is not good either second from the slide it looks rather boring unlike the BMW m3 with that awesome side blade and the cool aggressive features on the c63 looks basically like a stock 80s well I hope you enjoyed this review it was an absolute blast driving the new ats-v sedan it is an absolute competitor to its German rivals and potentially I'd actually take won over a bmw m3 and that's about as big of a praise as I could give a car special thanks to Jacob Ruka of Les Stanford Cadillac and Chevy for hooking us up with this car make sure to check them out like always please browse our Channel and subscribe look forward to seeing you next videothis is the ats-v Cadillacs attempt at dethroning the king of four-door sports cars the bmw m3 now during this beast development General Motors engineers directly benchmark one car you guessed it the m3 now at the time that was the e90 chassis of the m3 but as the f80 was released little tweaks were made to make sure that this car can keep up with modern day twin-turbo saloons this beast looks just as aggressive as the m3 and c63 so let's see what it's all about tony romo Cadillacs chief engineer actually admits that the LT 4 v8 would have fit under the hood of the ats-v that makes me a little sad because a 640 horsepower m3 competitor would have been fantastically interesting unfortunately a little thing called the laws of physics and weight distribution as well as fuel economy means that's not the case instead we've got a reworked version of the twin-turbo v6 found in the CTSV sport boost is upped from 12 to 18 psi thanks to new turbos and a few more bits in the internals bump the power up a bit as well four hundred and sixty-four horsepower and four hundred and forty-four pound-feet of torque means this has more power than an m3 however the car also weighs a good 200 pounds more than the m3 and does not offer a fancy dual clutch automated manual transmission your transmission options are either a standard 6-speed manual or GM's 8-speed automatic designed in-house now honestly the manual is the route to go reason being paddle response is too slow on this car despite faster shift times when an automatic mode if you click the paddle a downshift just takes a little bit too long and compared to stuff like the DCT in the m3 and something like Porsches PDK it just feels like antiquated technology up for the manual however and you get some fancy additions such as active rev matching endo lift shift apparently this no lip shift technology can allow you to shift point four seconds faster than normal imagine that take a little bit to get used to without bringing the clutch out every shift but pretty cool have no fear the ats-v is fast as hell zero to sixty happens in just 3.8 seconds in the quarter mile this is impressive in 12.1 that's actually a tenth of a sec quicker than the c63 or the BMW m3 it's got an electronic limited slip differential magnetic ride and is equipped with Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires that means its lateral grip is actually higher than that of its German rivals so it's got the straight-line power it's got the grip this is a recipe for success the crazy part is it's not just numbers the ats-v is actually more fun to drive than a BMW m3 that's right I just said that this might be the best handling sedan that I have ever driven the magnetic ride suspension is monitoring the road over a thousand times per second to give you the most comfortable and highest performing ride at once and it really does work the steering is perfectly weighted and provides an excellent amount of feedback it's wrapped in Alcantara and is just the right diameter to keep you confident on the road and really really make turns a hell of a lot of fun sound is obviously a large component when buying a sports car unfortunately nowadays with six cylinders and turbos they don't sound all that great this isn't a bad sounding engine by any means it's probably about on par with the bmw m3 but it is no match for something like the c63 AMG ah the performance data recorder is one of the coolest parts of the ats-v interior the frontal camera is recording the world around you so whether you're on the drag strip a racetrack or you put the car in valet mode you can watch it on the multimedia system there's a slew of overlays that allow you to see speed gear lateral G's and more really really a cool feature there's a host of other technologies as well you've got an awesome color heads-up display that shows you your speed your gear and even turn-by-turn directions you've also got wireless charging for your phone the seats are sixteen way adjustable Recaros they've got excellent lumbar support can squeeze your size to keep you in place around turns and really are comfortable even over long distances stylistically the ats-v fall short of its competition in the interior the new c63 is absolutely gorgeous and I'm not really a huge fan of the design language here a lot of the ergonomics are not very good as well everything is touchscreen and it makes it somewhat difficult to use the seat controls are also in a terrible location if you wear a watch you cannot reach your hand down to the side of the seat and do any sort of adjustment without opening the door there's also a compartment to the side that perfectly fits an iPhone 6 however it fits it so well that if it gets pushed down a little bit too tight you can't get the phone back out without sliding a credit card and popping it back up ask me how I know that the exterior of the ats-v is undeniably sexy it's got a perfect balance of functionality and the fact that it's aesthetically pleasing the carbon-fiber hood helps with weight savings the aggressive front splitter helps with aerodynamics it comes together in a way that I think is just as good-looking if not better than the m3 and c63 so would I actually buy this car over its German rivals the crazy part is is that's not out of the realm of possibilities whatsoever I love the way this car looks it handles better than either of them the sound is somewhere in between the m3 and the c63 well the interior isn't quite as good it feels so good to drive it's so fun in the turn and that this is absolutely a competitor to those cars as a summary here are some of the things I love and hate about it first off of course the handling it is incredible in a very strange way it almost feels like a stretch sedan version of a z28 in a way it's like a z28 combined with a Chevy SS second up the exterior appearance there's no doubting the car is gorgeous third is the price point this car starts at around $60,000 and lease deals are in the 500s per month that's scat pack charger territory compared to its German rivals that's one heck of a deal things I dislike about the car the ergonomics and the interior are terrible this touchscreen not very good the fact that I can't adjust the seat controls with the watch on is absolutely garbage and the fact that my phone got stuck in that cup holder area is not good either second from the slide it looks rather boring unlike the BMW m3 with that awesome side blade and the cool aggressive features on the c63 looks basically like a stock 80s well I hope you enjoyed this review it was an absolute blast driving the new ats-v sedan it is an absolute competitor to its German rivals and potentially I'd actually take won over a bmw m3 and that's about as big of a praise as I could give a car special thanks to Jacob Ruka of Les Stanford Cadillac and Chevy for hooking us up with this car make sure to check them out like always please browse our Channel and subscribe look forward to seeing you next video\n"