2004 Cadillac CTS-V: The First V, Built by a Performance Division and Raced at Sebring

Cadillac's first V-Series car had a racing twin from the start. In March 2004 a two-car, factory-backed Cadillac team made its debut in the SCCA World Challenge race on the 12 Hours of Sebring weekend, with championship-winning sports car drivers Max Angelelli and Andy Pilgrim in CTS-V race cars. General Motors described the car as the first race car developed by GM Racing together with the new GM Performance Division. Its 5.7-liter V-8 made more than 500 hp, but GM stressed the family tie: by weight, 73 percent of the race car's components were stock-derived, and the engineers who developed the street CTS-V worked on the racer too.¹

The street car was the point, and it came from a new kind of group inside GM. GM's own specification overview says all engineering work for the CTS-V was done by the GM Performance Division, the in-house group GM described as existing to develop enthusiast versions of its production cars. The car was refined and validated at Germany's Nurburgring and built at GM's Lansing Grand River assembly center. General Motors' later history of the V-Series presents the 2004 CTS-V as the car that started the line, which makes this model year the first page of the V-Series story.^2,1,3

Its engine made the argument in one word. The CTS-V used the LS6, the 5.7-liter overhead-valve V-8 that MotorWeek identified as coming from the Corvette Z06. The GM Media specification transcribed by Cadillac V-Net rates it at 400 hp at 6,000 rpm and 395 lb-ft at 4,800 rpm, with 10.5:1 compression, though the transcription does not state the SAE basis. There was one power team and no automatic: a Tremec T56 six-speed manual, RPO MN6, geared 2.97 in first to an overdriven 0.56 in sixth, with a 3.73 final drive. A buyer who wanted a Cadillac with two pedals had to look at a different Cadillac.^4,2,5

The chassis was specified to match. GM listed Brembo brakes with 14-inch, 355 mm rotors in front and 14.4-inch, 365 mm rotors at the rear, clamped by aluminum four-piston calipers at all four corners, a rear rotor larger than the front. The wheels were seven-spoke 18 by 8.5-inch aluminum rims on six lugs, carrying Goodyear Eagle F1 P245/45WR18 run-flat EMT tires. The sedan rode a 113.4-inch wheelbase, measured 191.5 inches long, 70.6 wide and 57.3 high, and was listed at a curb weight of 3,850 pounds. It was hardware chosen for a car GM had developed on a racetrack.²

The price put it in unusual company. MotorWeek listed the CTS-V at $49,995, without saying how destination was treated, and judged it about $30,000 less than true European tuner sedans such as the Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG, while conceding it was not quite their equal. GM Media claimed 0-60 mph in 4.6 seconds and a top speed of 163 mph. Those are manufacturer figures under unstated conditions, and the independent tests that followed did not match the acceleration claim.^4,2

MotorWeek's six-speed test car ran 0-60 mph in 5.3 seconds and the quarter mile in 13.7 seconds at 108 mph, and stopped from 60 mph in 123 feet. Motor Trend's February 2004 test, as compiled by Cadillac V-Net rather than read in the original issue, gave 5.1 seconds, 13.8 at 105.33 mph and 121 feet. The two tests are close to each other and both slower to 60 than GM's 4.6 seconds. Each belongs to the car and the day that produced it, and since every 2004 CTS-V shared the same engine and gearbox, the differences come from cars, conditions and drivers rather than configuration.^4,2

MotorWeek's drivers described a car still learning to be a sports sedan. They praised its great balance and solid, predictable feel, and a suspension that soaked up rough pavement like a Cadillac should while staying responsive in corners. They also found notable understeer at track speeds and body roll they compared to an early-1990s BMW 7-Series. The shift linkage took real mental effort to go smoothly from fourth to fifth, and the huge Brembos delivered short, stable stops through a soft pedal with little feel. It was a first attempt, and the review reads like one.⁴

How many were built depends on which page of the same website you read. Cadillac V-Net's V-Series production list, which the site says it obtained from Cadillac, gives 2,509 for the 2004 CTS-V, model code 6DN69. The site's own 2004 tech-center page gives 2,461, split into 2,454 retail cars and 7 fleet cars. The two figures differ by 48 cars, neither page explains its method, and neither says whether it counts the United States alone or every market. Both deserve to be quoted with that caveat, and neither can be preferred. On the smaller figure's own terms, fleet sales were 7 of 2,461 cars, well under 1 percent.^6,2

Other numbers from the year carry their own small disputes. The V-Net specification transcription gives EPA fuel economy of 15 mpg city and 23 highway, while MotorWeek printed 16 and 25; neither source explains the difference. No count by paint color, interior or option has been published for the 2004 CTS-V; the color splits that do circulate come from owner forums, which cannot stand as production records. Even the first V leaves its collectors with a total that comes in two versions and a paint chart with no numbers on it.^2,4,6

The racing program delivered what the street car's reviews held back. In the 2005 Speed World Challenge, Andy Pilgrim won the GT drivers' championship and Cadillac the GT manufacturers' title, with CTS-V wins at rounds including Road Atlanta, Lime Rock Park and Mosport. That result belongs to the race cars, not to a showroom sedan, and it came a year after the program's debut at Sebring. The racers were built for sprints: GM gave them 25 gallons of fuel capacity, enough for a 50-minute race without a stop, and estimated their top speed at more than 165 mph, only a little beyond the 163 mph GM claimed for the street car. The V badge that began on 2,461 or 2,509 six-speed sedans became the name Cadillac kept on its fastest cars.^7,1,2,6,3