Cadillac STS-V – Thom Blackett’s Opinion:
Positioned as the middle man of the Cadillac V series, the STS-V sedan is an extremely powerful sedan that seems unsure of its purpose in this world. With a price eclipsing the smaller CTS-V’s by roughly $25,000 it would be safe to assume improvements across the board from the STS-V, yet that’s not the case. The supercharged, 469-horsepower V8 is mighty hungry for speed, though the transmission needs to be set to sport mode and manually shifted if the STS-V’s driver wants to realize the full potential of the engine. That’s what I was forced to do in an effort to keep up with the CTS-V and XLR-V on a winding mountain road. The result was improved performance – for a few miles. However, soon the STS-V was alerting me to its hot-under-the-collar radiator, desperately requesting an idle stop for a few minutes of cool down. This was on a 90-degree day. Interestingly, when we flogged four $20,000 sport compact cars on a 100-degree test track a few weeks prior to the Cadillac drive, this kind of unscheduled trip to the pits was not required. With this little hiccup behind me, I continued on with the transmission taking care of gear changes, albeit in a delayed fashion. While waiting for the shift and accompanying lower revs, the STS-V offers up plenty of supercharger whine but not enough V8 growl.

Similarly, the Cadillac STS-V's handling was a bit spotty. In most cases, the front pushed in the corners unless the driver downshifted, forcing a jump in revs and allowing for some fun throttle steer (until the evil electronic stability police show up). On smooth roads, the ride was stiff, while bumps forced the STS-V to become unsettled as it was jostled from side to side. Braking was excellent, offering more response, or at least less pedal travel than the XLR-V. Steering, on the other hand, was too light at slow speeds with a subtle grinding noise emitted when the wheel was turned at idle; the steering provided desired heft in corners.

Cadillac STS-V – Brian Chee’s Opinion:
There we were, screaming down California’s Interstate 15 in a supercharged Cadillac STS – the “V”, don’t you know – and one shiny, simple moment put the car into perspective. A regular STS of similar vintage, cruising down the same road up ahead, came into view. It was dirty. It looked old, and not well-loved. And there was a Rascal motorized wheelchair on the back. The relevance of the car we were driving hit me between the eyes: there, tooting along in that old maroon STS, clogging the left lane, was an old guy who secretly wanted the most powerful production Cadillac ever assembled.

Okay, maybe not. But after driving the STS-V, it’s hard to imagine Euro-sedan enthusiasts moving over to the STS-V. Who, then, will want all that supercharged power? That’s 469 horsepower, bubba, mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, a revised and sporty (maybe too sporty) interior, bigger wheels, and tuned-up brakes and suspension. The STS-V has StabiliTrak, which is a great way to keep those old hot roddin’ geezers on the road and out of the ditch. Which would be possible, given the STS-V’s size and power, though unlikely. The vehicle, while no match for its V-Series brothers on canyon roads, nonetheless comports itself with dignity – and speed – around turns, if not stick it to the ground and howl like a wolf. As with all the Vs, the powertrain is impressive. This one suffers through red leather inserts, however, so it’s a bit garish on the inside, and handling manners that would tip a Rascal in no time flat.

Cadillac STS-V – Christian Wardlaw’s Opinion:
Cadillac’s STS-V strikes me as half-baked, especially since it is ostensibly gunning for the Audi S6, BMW M5 and Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG, and our week-long driving experience did little to convince me that it should be taken seriously as a world-class luxury sport sedan. The modified Northstar V8 certainly produces plenty of power, but you’ve really gotta get on it to extract maximum juice, which is accompanied by the signature whine of a supercharger. When pushing it hard on a mountain road in 90-degree temperatures, however, it began to run hot and had to be parked for a spell to cool down – this despite a “Performance Cooling Package” that comes standard. The transmission in the STS-V was better sorted than the schizophrenic unit in our sample XLR-V, but why would Cadillac put the manual shift gate on the right side in this car and on the left side in the roadster? I didn’t like the suspension, which managed bob and float about as well as Andrew Fastow did Enron’s finances. I didn’t like the brake pedal, which felt too stiff and offered a limited range of travel, characteristics than made it difficult to modulate. I didn’t like the steering, which required too much effort off-center and which continually adjusted between heavy and light effort in high-speed sweepers.

Had the STS-V’s interior been more pleasing, perhaps some of the mechanical flaws could be overlooked. The car feels smaller from the driver’s seat than the CTS-V, and though the materials are a huge improvement over Cadillac’s entry-level sedan and I found the combination of Olive Ash wood and Tango Red trim compelling, the STS-V didn’t make me want to spend a day driving it. The stereo is the same as the one in the Escalade, complete with cheap-looking buttons all squashed together. The headliner was attached to the roof with magnets, and was easy to pull down. The center armrest was higher than the one on the door panel. The gauges didn’t match those found in the CTS and the XLR. I dunno, maybe it’s me, but I expected to see some continuity from one V-Series vehicle to the next, something more than a checkered-flag badge. At least the CTS and STS look the same on the outside – almost indistinguishable to the untrained eye.

This would be a great car at $60,000, but not at $77,000 and change. If you like the Cadillac STS-V, consider waiting a year or two for someone else to take the hit on depreciation. Or just buy the CTS-V.