With a pair of engines to choose from and Cadillac's latest suite of luxury features, the brand is hoping to capture the North American market's imagination with the new, svelte CT5 sedan.

Making use of a 2.0-liter or a 3.0-liter turbo, the CT5 makes either 237 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque or 335 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque. Either way, though, power gets funneled through a 10-speed automatic transmission and gets cylinder deactivation technology to make things more efficient when the situation calls for it.

Both engines have also been designed to deliver torque low down in the rev range. The 2.0-liter's torque curve, says Cadillac, peaks at just 1,500 rpm while the 3.0-liter will give you 90% of torque at 1,800 rpm.


That ought to make the car feel powerful off the line, and is something that Cadillac will be advertising on the back of the CT5, albeit in Newton-meters. The cars come with either a 550T or a 350T on their trunks which designate the number of Newton-meter they can produce.

The CT5 should also get around corners reasonably well, thanks to MacPherson struts with dual lower ball joints in the front, and a 5-link independent suspension in the back. Passive dampers mean that Cadillac isn't playing around with fancy electronic damping, but should still get you around fast corners with confidence.

Cadillac has fitted a fancy Bosch electronic steering rack to make things feel sporty when they need to and comfy when that's more important. Which could be often, because this is still a Cadillac.

Despite trying to make the CT5 sporty, Caddy hasn't forgotten that it's a luxury brand and has opted for acoustic glass and a special underbody treatment to keep things as quiet as possible in the cabin. That does mean that they have to pump in some engine noise through the (Bose or Harmon Kardon) speakers, though, which could annoy some drivers, but which Cadillac argues is necessary if you want quiet comfort and engine noise simultaneously.



Inside meanwhile, the CT5 comes with a standard 10-inch infotainment system that Cadillac has taken pains to make as accessible as possible. You can control the system through the steering wheel, through buttons on the dash, by touching the screen, or through a rotary dial just in front of the armrest.

It remains to be seen how this wealth of control options will work on the road, but the reasoning behind-that you should be able to control the screen however is most comfortable-does at least seem sound.

If you prefer not to use Cadillac's infotainment UX, you can also use Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. And to keep things tidy in the ****pit, the brand has even fitted the car with a "phone shrine." It's a silly name, but a good idea. Basically, it's a seat for your phone that has a pass-through for charging wires. So you can plug your phone into the underarm storage bin without having wires all around the interior.



If you prefer not to use wires to charge your phone at all, though, you can place it on the inductive charging pad in the dash.

For rear seat passengers, meanwhile, there are USB ports as well as a bunch of leg room. Cadillac is confident that when all the measurements come in, it will be the highest-or at least among the highest-in its class. Headroom meanwhile, leaves a little to be desired in the back seats thanks to CT5's sloping, coupe-like roofline.

As with the rest of the Cadillac lineup, the CT5 will get Cadillac Super Cruise technology, which allows the car to help with steering on many American highways.

Cadillac will start building the CT5 in Lansing later this year and order books are set to open in the fall. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until then to find out exactly how much the CT5 will cost.