2016 Cadillac ATS-V Vs BMW M3

This is the Cadillac ATS-V and its mission is simple: be better faster and more fun than the bmw m3 while we don't have one of those here we do have the opportunity to learn this new sports luxury car on the road and at the Circuit of the Americas. Attempting to topple the benchmark is a challenging task but it's one that benefits everybody even if you miss you're still on the end up with something fun like the m3 and 4 the ATS-V is available as a coupe or sedan with either choice if the six-speed manual or an eight-speed automatic. It looks sharp in all forms subtle but with a welcome end that hood is carbon fiber and under its it's a twin turbo 3.6 liter v6 that makes 464 force power and 445 pound-feet of torque. Yes that's more the M3 on top all the requisite chassis upgrades come the parts we already know and love from the Corvette an active differential driver adjustable magnetic fluid filled shocks and the very clever performance traction management.

Here we are behind the wheel the ATS-V this is an important car and interesting car because this is the car that Cadillac is entering the fray of the sports sedan. The small sport sedan class with and that's exciting thing because the sport sedan segment has been dominated by the m3 in the C 63-2 extremely fun cars. So we're gonna introduce a car into that mix it has to be equally fun if not more more fun that your goal is to make a fun car. I'm excited to drive it but for now on the road we can sort of access its luxury capabilities this is supposed to be a dual-purpose car car you can enjoy on the commute and a car you can take to the track and has hardware for that initial impressions were kinda strange because when I first hoped in this car fired it up I looked around and all I saw was normal ATS. The stuff this doesn't feel to different than the standard car doesn't seem like you're getting much at least on the initial first take sure the materials might be different there's a couple differences in trim for sure but there's not a lot different here course you that same complaint at M3 so maybe I'm making too much of it.

But then you start driving a car along then you realize the body feels extremely tight there's that seems to be a lot of virginity in this car you notice that the steering wheel feels not heavy not light but really nicely balanced then you find a few curvy a few sections of curves and you realize there is something serious underneath this car now for forward motivation we have a twin turbo 3.6 liter v6 that makes 464 horsepower and 444 pound-feet of torque and yes that is more than the m3 as for how it drives this current version that we're in now it's a coupe it has the eight-speed automatic it is the same 8 speed that you'll get in the Corvette it's the same one that you get in the upcoming Camaro it's a nice transmission for driving around town so you'll go into manual mode then you know what we're just gonna skip sport and go right to track forgive me for doing that on public road and then we're gonna dial up PTM which is going to give us a lot more leeway in the stability control and now we can start having some fun.

2016 Cadillac ATS-V Must Be Better Than BMW M3

Now I'm using the manual mode on the eight-speed and it's giving decent shifts and getting pretty good control over gear changes this car has very high levels of cornering grip its able to do a lot of lateral G but also the balance of the car and the composure of the car thru the corners when you're asking a lot of throttle is really really good this car feels immediately capable but also immediately friendly such that when I hop in the first thing I want to do is turn everything off and dail it in the most aggressive mode because it feels built for that it feels capable the chassis feels terrific so we are in track mode with the PTM in race and I don't really feel it intervening too much like there's a little bit nibbling when I'm really aggressive on the throttle on these rally tight second gear corners but like the cts-v Sport this car just has a wonderful wonderful balance that makes it feel like you don't really need stability control you know well set of cars tend to feel that way the front straight at circa the Americas has a incline that likely slow acceleration results but the automatic coupe I tested did sixty miles an hour four seconds in the quarter mile in 12.3 seconds at a 114 .6 miles an hour breaking performance was remarkably consistent in the ATS-V recorded a best stop at the 103 feet this skid pad surface was rough the the ATS-V easily manage a .98 G to A average matching the last m3 we tested.



Here we are at the Circuit of the Americas were finishing our first warm up lap with the ATS-V this is my first time at the track and of course that's why I'm wearing this really wonderful looking helmet. But this is a very very very cool track because of course it is an f1 track and that means a very interesting mix of corners high speed low speed altitude changes elevation change I should on-camera corners off camera corners and so and so forth, and when you have a track like this with this kind of demanding technicality you want a machine that let's you learn the track more and more.

I bring that up because the more I Drive this ATS around the track I've spent the morning in both automatic and manual cars were in a automatic car now the more I drive this car in the less I have to think about it unless I have to worry about its almost the automatic how it drives and that's a good thing because that means I don't have to think about what I want the car to do what I wish you would be doing it's just doing what I want to be doing that's a sign of a chassis that's extremely well developed than a chassis that works really well this car is stable when you want to be predictable when you want to be or you can induce over when you want to gives you a lot of options as a driver that's really nice these magnetic shocks do a great job soaking up the rumble strips the fact I'm having a lot of fun just sorta driving the car from corner to corner and bouncing off the strips because it sounds so good the car doesn't get upset mind to get upset then we can challenge those breaks in this really sharp 30 mph left handle get on the straight plant it and let the car take care of the rest.

2016 Cadillac ATS-V Horsepower

The power is there the engine is making enough umph, but the experiences not as exciting as you can imagine corvette v8 would be that's only real disappointment you really notice that on the long straight like this when you sort of plant your foot watch the speedometer climbing climbing and sort of look off enjoying the view in the distance makes decently quick up shifts as we break down from 140 leaving plenty of space on the table because you know you don't want to crash a car full of cameras and a videographer in the passenger seat but still even with that it's going quick.

Now as a whole the driving experience target here was definitely M3 that's been the target this entire time in driving the car and hows the experience rank up well it's in that realm certainly I'm hesitant to say this is without a doubt better but it certainly them they know should be in the conversation with that car this car is is fun and satisfying similar to that car and I love coming out of the fast corners on this thing ATS-V has the makings of a great drivers car its powerful fast and fun but also easy to approach is easier access allows you to push it harder on track but it doesn't lessen the reward for it's track capabilities the ATS-V doesn't seem to suffer on the road either does it hit the m3 target we can't wait to find out in an episode of head to head but right now it appears that Cadillac is very good.

He's following us who is that good now let them go by maybe they was just warming the thing up we're getting in the right mode something and I'll anyway side like you know and feel now all things in the video then here but said building a cts-v Sport just like dial crank it a lot more just thinking yeah reminds me a lot like I'm is built by the same dude cell like big big surprise but one really loud me I want to hear a V8