2013 Cadillac CTS-V Wagon 6-Speed
The CTS showed the world Cadillac could build cars to compete with the German luxury automakers. But the CTS-V wagon beat them on their home court.
6-speed CTS-V Wagons are Rarer than Rare
Second generation Cadillac CTS-V wagons are extremely rare. But finding a CTS-V wagon with a 6-speed manual transmission? That's like finding a golden ticket to the Willy Wonka candy factory! This car is 1 of 416 CTS-V wagons produced in 2013. Less than half of those cars were equipped with a manual transmission, and even fewer are painted Glacier Blue Metallic. The one in this picture was listed on Bring A Trailer recently and is located in Alberta, Canada.
Photo: Bring A Trailer
Thank You, Bob Lutz
Bob Lutz is a true blue car guy and the ultimate auto-industry insider. He worked at BMW, Ford, Chrysler, and twice at GM. As General Motors' Vice-Chairman of Product Development, he was responsible for cars like the Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky, Holden sourced Pontiac GTO, and the Cadillac CTS-V. After Chrysler launched the Dodge Magnum wagon, Lutz was asked about a CTS-V wagon. He replied, "... should sufficient demand materialize, there is no reason why we couldn't do a V-Series wagon, and I would be standing in line for one, just ahead of you."
Photo: Bring A Trailer
The Cult of the Brown Manual Transmission Wagon
Not only is Bob Lutz a car guy, but he's also apparently a manual-transmission wagon guy. And he may even be the Grand High Priest of the Cult of the Brown Manual Transmission Wagon. A secret society made up of car enthusiasts and auto-journalists who say they will only buy a car if it's a station wagon, with a manual transmission, available in a shade of brown. This Cadillac CTS-V wagon checks all of those boxes, except for the brown part. But to Cadillac's credit, they did offer a couple of colors that looked brown-ish in the right light.
Photo: Bring A Trailer
The Four Door Corvette
If you ever wanted a four-door Corvette, or a Corvette wagon, this is it! The 2nd Gen Cadillac CTS-V, made from 2009 to 2014, featured a supercharged variant of the LS9 motor found in the C6 Corvette Z06. Displacing 6.2 liters, this engine makes 556 horsepower and 551 lb. feet of torque. That translates into 12-second quarter miles and 0-60 times of 4.0 seconds! The only thing faster than this grocery-getter is Instacart.
Photo: Bring A Trailer
The CTS-V Wagon Goes Fast, Steers Fast, and Stops Fast
556 horsepower demands respect, plus good handling and stopping power. The Cadillac CTS-V wagon delivers the goods. Like the CTS-V sedan and coupe, the wagon comes standard with 19-inch aluminum wheels, Brembo brakes, and Magnetic Ride Control. In 2013 the CTS-V was faster than all but a handful of supercars. It offered world-class brake and suspension hardware comparable to the best offered by Porsche and Ferrari. In fact, GM licensed its Magnetic Ride Control to Ferrari so their cars would handle as well as a Corvette.
Photo: Bring A Trailer
At Home at the Hardware Store or the Nurburgring
The Cadillac CTS-V wagon has a trunk capacity of 25.4 cubic feet with the seats up or 58 cubic feet with the rear seats down. That's enough space to haul a lot of things home from the hardware store. But its impressive performance specs also make it great at hauling "you know what" around the racetrack. In May 2008, Cadillac took a stock CTS-V to the Nurburgring. It broke the magic 8-minute barrier with a lap of 7:59.32. That sub-eight minute time put it in the company of the Porsche 911 and Ferrari F360. It also bested the Porsche Boxster S and Audi R8 4.2 by 4.5 seconds!
Photo: Bring A Trailer
More Than a Mercedes Wannabe
Cadillac was on the ropes by the 1990s. Once considered "the Standard of the World" they saw their sales drop. BMW, Mercedes, and upstarts like Lexus took huge chunks of their market share. And they got a reputation as a stogy old man's car. That all changed with the CTS-V. Cadillac knew it needed to lure younger buyers and the way to do that was to compete head to head with Mercedes and BMW. The CTS-V succeeded in that mission, but it's more than an imitation of a German performance sedan. It's an old-school American muscle car with modern braking and handling. Think of it as a four-door Corvette that leaves German cars in the dust.
Photo: Bring A Trailer
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