CT5-V Blackwing vs Tesla Model S Plaid vs M5 CS Review

[pauldun170]

Always interesting when they review cars that don't compete in the same price bracket. Tossing this up since I didn't see any discussions on the Blackwing (a car that is the reason why I don't really give a shit about C8 vettes)
CT5-V Blackwing (84K)
Tesla Plaid (124K)
M5 CS (142K)

 

[herm0016]

i'm guessing the blacking absolutely tromps the 80k version of the BMW and the tesla also.

GM has quite a record of building the most dollar efficient performance.

 

[pauldun170]

i'm guessing the blacking absolutely tromps the 80k version of the BMW and the tesla also.

GM has quite a record of building the most dollar efficient performance.

What's your definition of "Tromp"?
Blackwing is going to lose a spreadsheet war with a few cars in its price bracket.

For me personally, it ticks off all the right boxes for me since its offered in a manual and I could care less about dragstrips or penis contests on the street with other cars.
Even if it were a slower car, I'd still head to the dealership because it's got the 6spd .

 

[repoman0]

83 mph in second gear though .. it might as well not have a manual. Same problem as the Cayman 6-speeds these days.

… I’d still own one in a heartbeat, but I’m out of garage space for now. Looks like a blast. I’ve driven the regular M5C on track and agree with the video that while the straight line speed is cool at first, it quickly gets old and the rest of the experience is pretty muted. Much prefer the more playful M2C in BMW’s current lineup, and I’ve chosen to keep my E46 and E39 in any case.

 

[herm0016]

beat on a track.

Gale Banks agrees, and daily's a blackwing. haha.

should have been 88, "changes the space time continuum when you shift from 2nd to 3rd"

also: how do you solve that issue with a monster that revs high? even with closer ratios, you get huge top speeds in every gear, and you can only go so low of a ratio for 1st before it becomes totally useless.

 

[repoman0]

It really only revs to 6500rpm! That’s not so much the problem as the massive amount of torque at all RPMs, making a short first gear completely useless as you pointed out. BMW has been making 8000+ RPM F1-inspired engines for two decades that have sane 60-65mph second gear limits .. but they have less torque overall and make all their power by holding the torque curve flat until redline. The solution is to drive a slower car on the street, which is why I drive a Miata most of the time.

 

[ponyo]

Really slick video. Great editing and production. I would still take the Plaid but I wouldn't mind having any of the 3 cars. Can you even buy CT5-V Blackwing for MSRP?

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

I lost interest in the Blackwing when we learned it wouldn't have the Blackwing engine. Real big disappoint.

 

[Aharami]

That video was epic!!

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Thanks for sharing. I haven't seen a good car vid like that in a while.

It's amazing how blasé we are (I am) about high powered sports cars. It was such a big deal when a new M/V/AMG was released. Now it's just another 600+HP monster.

 

[zinfamous]

Really slick video. Great editing and production. I would still take the Plaid but I wouldn't mind having any of the 3 cars. Can you even buy CT5-V Blackwing for MSRP?

Not sure you can buy most vehicles at MSRP right now, but that's rarely been the case for limited halo cars like this, in normal times.

Anyway, this looks like the last-gen ICE, 6 speed example of a car that you wanted to put in your garage museum, yeah?

 

[BarkingGhostar]

"Ten year old car with a mild update" LOL

 

[ponyo]

Not sure you can buy most vehicles at MSRP right now, but that's rarely been the case for limited halo cars like this, in normal times.

Anyway, this looks like the last-gen ICE, 6 speed example of a car that you wanted to put in your garage museum, yeah?

Idea probably appeals to me more than reality. This car will probably rot in my garage from lack of use and maintenance if I buy it. So I will daydream about it just like I dream about buying Model S Plaid.

 

[pauldun170]

Follow up

 

[darkswordsman17]

I can't help but feel like Cadillac has itself to blame for a missed opportunity that I think would've really made this the most legendary RWD sports sedan ever. Wasted development with the Blackwing engine, should have just kept on planning to use the Z06 Vette engine, and no, not the one it ended up using. If it had the new Z06 flat plane crank V-8, this would go down as the most legendary of RWD sports sedan. Plus, intent to make that and offer a manual possibly would've helped push for a manual on the C8. And on the flipside, using the Z06 Vette engine and transmission would've probably put it closer to the M5, so they could've offered that performance, whilst also offering an even better version of why the car mags are going bananas over this car. Which that in of itself is the problem. The car mag dudebros are so eager to jerk their manuals off but basically no one actually interested in most of the cars cares, and a lot of that is because of the a-hole behavior of the "purist" car guys over an overbuilt switch. Just like with the Viper, almost no one buying this stuff actually cares about that. If they'd not bothered with the pointless Blackwing engine, we could've probably had the manual flat plane crank V8 for the purists, whilst also having the dual clutch powertrain which would have gotten other people to buy it.

 

[rstrohkirch]

I can't help but feel like Cadillac has itself to blame for a missed opportunity that I think would've really made this the most legendary RWD sports sedan ever. Wasted development with the Blackwing engine, should have just kept on planning to use the Z06 Vette engine, and no, not the one it ended up using. If it had the new Z06 flat plane crank V-8, this would go down as the most legendary of RWD sports sedan. Plus, intent to make that and offer a manual possibly would've helped push for a manual on the C8. And on the flipside, using the Z06 Vette engine and transmission would've probably put it closer to the M5, so they could've offered that performance, whilst also offering an even better version of why the car mags are going bananas over this car. Which that in of itself is the problem. The car mag dudebros are so eager to jerk their manuals off but basically no one actually interested in most of the cars cares, and a lot of that is because of the a-hole behavior of the "purist" car guys over an overbuilt switch. Just like with the Viper, almost no one buying this stuff actually cares about that. If they'd not bothered with the pointless Blackwing engine, we could've probably had the manual flat plane crank V8 for the purists, whilst also having the dual clutch powertrain which would have gotten other people to buy it.

I'm not sure how they'd be able to use an engine that isn't even in production yet for a car that's been shipping for over 3 months now. They talked about using the LT5 from the C7 ZR1 but they couldn't fit without creating a hood line they weren't comfortable with. Also, the new C8 engine isn't going to get them anything over the supercharged LT4 engine in the CT5 BW. Power output won't be any more at the wheels. Both the M5 and the CT5BW produce similar WHP numbers. You simply can't compare a RWD vehicle to that of an AWD if you're only benchmark is going to be 0-60 and Quarter mile times.

In regards to the manual vs auto, as of today(11-17-21) there have been 444 total produced/ordered CT5 BW. Of that number 127 are autos and 317 are manuals. For the CT4 BW, the split is nearly 50/50. I'd say that the people looking at these vehicles obviously want a manual. I know I fall into that category and it's the reason I own a CT4 BW with a manual.


On a side note, I find it difficult when electric vehicles are talked about in track terms like it is at the end of this video. I don't have issues with the fact that an electric vehicle can excel at the track. It's the problem that there is no way to actually use this vehicle at the track because there is no way to actually charge it. Information I've read show full discharge in less than 40min for something like a performance Y.

 

[ultimatebob]

"Ten year old car with a mild update" LOL

I'd love to see how fast that Tesla Model S Plaid would go around the track if it had a modern sport suspension!

 

[Heartbreaker]

I'd love to see how fast that Tesla Model S Plaid would go around the track if it had a modern sport suspension!

More important and easier to fix, is better brakes.

 

[rstrohkirch]

If you watch the recent Throttle House drag races with the Plaid they give a very good visual reaction to how under braked the car is.