Despite a love of larger cars, cheap gasoline, and terrain ranging from the twisty mountain roads of Appalachia to the wide open plains of Montana, America doesn’t have a particularly long lineage of homegrown premium sports sedans. You could make a solid argument that it didn’t kick off until the 2000s, by which point players like BMW had decades of experience, churning out heavy hitters like the E39 BMW M5. However, every so often, the big three show the world what they’re really capable of, and the second-generation Cadillac CTS-V is a landmark car that put Germany on notice.
With 556 rampaging supercharged horsepower, it third-partied the midsize performance sedan game with pushrod V8 might and Nürburgring-tuned handling, and was the closest thing you could get to a Corvette for the whole family. Best of all, you can still pick one up for the price of a new Honda Civic Si. Tantalizing, isn’t it?
What Are We Looking At?
Picture the scene: It’s early 2008, the great recession just kicked off a few months ago, fuel prices sit at meteoric heights, Bernie was still doing like is surname and making off, nobody has any money, and General Motors is about a year from standing in front of congress and turning its empty pockets inside-out. Over in Germany, the economy’s still shaky but a new era in the sports sedan war rages, with the naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8-powered Mercedes-Benz E 63 AMG locking horns with the V10-powered BMW M5. As these titans take America virtually unchecked, a giant wakes up. It’s Cadillac.
No longer content with simply being a muscle car in a suit, the second-generation CTS-V sized up the 500-horsepower M5 and the 507-horsepower E 63 AMG, then fired a 556-horsepower supercharged salvo across their foreheads. Dubbed LSA, this 6.2-liter V8 with a 1.9-liter supercharger made the second-generation CTS-V the most powerful midsize sports sedan in America, and gave the car a zero-to-60 mph time of 3.9 seconds when equipped with the six-speed automatic transmission and a top speed of 191 mph with the six-speed manual. We’re talking about truly explosive speed here. However, the Gen 2 CTS-V was about so much more than just going fast in a straight line. Magnetorheological dampers, Brembo brakes, Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires, and hours spent dialing in the chassis resulted in a Nürburging lap time of 7:59.32. That’s quicker than all of its competitors, quicker than a Bugatti EB110 SS, quicker than a V8-powered Audi R8, quicker than an Aston Martin DBS.
Plus, with a full brace of heat exchangers and a surprisingly plush street ride, the CTS-V was a family sedan you could pound out a day of hot laps in, then fuel up and drive home in with remarkable ease. No wonder Car And Driver loved it.
With so many U.S. buyers retreating from fuel-thirsty rides, the timing for this über Caddy isn’t great. But the car certainly is. Power galore, as you’re undoubtedly aware of by now. What you may not be aware of is the agility, grace, and refinement that go with the supercharged punch. The CTS-V will hold its own against any Euro sports sedan on twisty roads, and it makes its moves without occupant discomfort. Cadillac once called itself an “American Standard for the World.” We think the slogan merits revival.
America had finally built its homegrown M5, and like with the progenitor of the midsize super sedan, depreciation has moved some variants of the second-generation CTS-V within reach of people who aren’t investment bankers and tech founders.
How Much Are We Talking?
A second-generation CTS-V for new Honda money sounds crazy, but it’s more achievable than you might think. For context, a brand new 2025 Honda Civic Si with optional summer tires stickers for $31,700, and you can find a second-generation CTS-V for that money if you’re willing to travel. Take this stick-shift 2009 CTS-V that hammered on Cars & Bids last year for just $25,000. Sure, it might have 124,800 miles on the clock, but it’s spent most of its time in Florida, it sports a clean Carfax, and it’s equipped with Lingenfelter Performance Engineering’s 630-horsepower power package. Yep, this thing sounds like it hauls serious ass.
Are you afflicted with a two-door preference? This stick-shift 2012 CTS-V Coupe sold two months ago on Bring A Trailer for $29,250. With 77,000 miles on the clock, a clean Carfax, and the coveted Saffron interior, it looks mint and it likely goes like the devil. Given how easy it is to get extra power out of this platform, it shouldn’t be a huge surprise that this example sports a Weapon X Motorsports power pack and a dyno sheet showing 581 rear wheel horsepower. Huzzah!
If you don’t want to wait for the right auction and prefer an automatic transmission for the daily slog, there are plenty of examples out there that should fit the bill. Take this red 2009 sedan up for sale in Wisconsin, for example. Sure, it might have two minor hits on its Carfax, but with 64,621 miles on the clock and a price tag of $29,000, this seems to be a well-kept CTS-V to put guilt-free miles on.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong On A Gen 2 CTS-V?
Thankfully, the one big common failure on the second-generation CTS-V was overwhelmingly addressed under a special service program. The superchargers on pre-2014 models could fail, so GM offered a ten-year, 120,000-mile extended warranty on supercharger components, and as a result, this really isn’t a problem to worry about, especially on the driver-condition examples in this price bracket. If it’s needed doing, it’s already been done by this point.
On automatic examples, a transmission leak may appear due to a tailshaft bolt backing out. This can be fixed by dropping the driveshaft, removing the tailshaft coupler bolt, spreading on some threadlocker, and torquing it back down to 77 ft.-lbs. Not a big deal. Otherwise, Recaro seats can be a little wobbly, and sunroof maintenance is critical for avoiding leaks, but when you realize this is a 16-year-old 556-horsepower super sedan, it’s actually bulletproof for its segment.
Should You Buy A Gen 2 CTS-V For The Price Of A New Civic Si?
Absolutely. Alright, so fuel bills and replacement tires are expensive, but come on. A reliable 500-plus horsepower stick-shift used super sedan is something that just wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the second-generation Cadillac CTS-V, and it really seems like a car worth enjoying while we still can.
(Photo credits: Cars & Bids, Bring A Trailer, Autotrader seller)
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A Bugatti EB110 shoutout was extremely unexpected.
Or 1975.
I always found these too ugly to want to own, but objectively the performance for a used one is absolutely worth the price.
Ab-so-fucking-lutely!!!!!
YES YES YES
PLEEEEASE
I WANT ONE
(breathes into paper bag to recover)
It’s apples to a different breed of apples, but once you start getting into the 30k range it, to me, stops being a lark and becomes “I really should have just finished saving up for a Blackwing.” There’s a big price delta, no question. Just that personally, in the realm of performance cars, 60k new makes more sense to me than 30k used and older than my kid.
The shining star of the CTS-V is, and will always be, the 6MT Wagon.
I’m not interested in the sedan or coupe whatsoever.
Civic money, for a good clean one? Ha, that won’t happen.
I find even the sedans are roached out I saw a decent wagon with 200000km for 53000 CDN and it was gone in a day
One of my favorite memories of a dearly departed friend is when my Lemons team was racing at Sonoma Raceway years ago and he came to watch us race and brought his modified 600+ HP CTS-V manual wagon to the track.
Our team has a bunch of beer nerds who decided they all wanted cases of Pliny the Elder from nearby Russian River Brewing, so we went on a beer run and he let me drive. That beer run involved reaching triple digit speeds faster than my brain could process, leading me to giggle like a schoolgirl, then driving back to the track in stop and go traffic on the freeway where I’m pretty sure I could see the gas gauge moving every time I looked. Good times.
https://tinyurl.com/3afdvcfc
This is yet another example of why wagons (and hatches) are vastly superior to sedans.
NSFNW – not suitable for non-wagons. Good stuff! I bet that thing was a gem and a riot.
“ … the closest thing you could get to a Corvette for the whole family.”
Why the heck would I want that? The whole point of buying a Corvette is that you can’t take along the whole family. If I have to lug around the relatives I’d much rather have a new Civic Si and the extra money I won’t be spending on gas for the Caddy than a 17-year old narco cruiser that reeks of South Beach and burnt weed.
Agree to disagree
You, sir, are a wet paper bag.
Yeah, I’m in a bad mood today.
lol. All good. I’m sitting around waiting for Comcast, so it ain’t all peaches and roses here in Florida, either.
Ironic that Comcast almost rhymes with come fast.
It rhymes with a lot of things, and none of them are good.
I had a 2009 that looked exactly like the one in the header picture. It was white with black interior and automatic, it would run 12.1s @ 115 run after run after run in the 1/4.
It handled better than any car that size had any right to and I used scare my friends when turning a left turning lane without hitting the brakes. It just stuck to the road!
I’d consider getting one again but ONLY as a wagon. I always LOVED the wagon.
Funny enough, I traded the V in on a Chevy Volt because I was sick of spending $400 per month in gas back in 2012. The Sales Manager at the Chevy dealer thought I was kidding. LOL
I’ve been driving electric vehicles ever since!
One of these was sat abandoned in my office parking garage for 6 months until they had it towed away. After a few months, the thought of bringing tools and an engine crane to work with me was so tempting. That driveline would fit so nicely in my e39.
I still think it’s criminal that this generation didn’t offer an N/A LS option to fit between the quick-but-not-fast V6 and the whoops-I’m-in-jail motor.
3.0 V6 = 270HP
3.6 V6 = 305HP
6.2 SC V8 =556HP
That does seem like a missed opportunity. There are people on the sanity spectrum between my nan and Ted Bundy
THIS!!!! Make that 400hp LS2 CTS with a bit more sidewall on the tire and some smoother riding suspension. Maybe some puffier, softer seats. Some of us like the old boaty Cadillacs but still want to haul some ass down the interstate or on that road trip thru west texas.
The same size as a CTS but costs more $$$ for no reason 2000s STS should have had the n/a LS motor instead of the hot trash Northstar. Or maybe they should have given the big Deville a proper RWD chassis with a 400hp ls and some sharp styling like the CTS had. Then nobody wants an XLR cause its basically a corvette with the trash northstar V8
I’ve always wanted one of these. Stick shift V8 sedans are always awesome.
I like the specs. But the body and interior styling…. reminds me of a Cobalt.