GM has a history with these sorts of things, skunkworks products developed by a team of talented engineers chasing track-day heroics, taking already excellent performance cars and making them more special. There’s the fifth-generation Camaro Z/28, for example, or the C7 Corvette Grand Sport. Add the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Precision Package to that club.
There are new, sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires, stiffer springs and bushings, new rear toe links for additional rear camber, a thicker front anti-roll bar, and standard carbon-ceramic brakes. The 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 remains unchanged, as does the standard six-speed manual and optional 10-speed automatic.
| Quick Specs | 2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Precision Package |
| Engine | Supercharged 6.2-Liter V-8 |
| Output | 668 Horsepower / 659 Pound-Feet |
| Transmission | 6-Speed Manual or 10-Speed Automatic |
| Base Price | $114,995 |
GM worked on a package for the CT4-V Blackwing for SCCA T2 class racing, helping out legendary engineer John Heinriciy, a racer with countless national championships and a man who helped establish GM’s modern high-performance bonafides. Everyone loved the way the CT4-V Blackwing drove on Hoosier slicks, so the thought turned to how to replicate that sort of feeling on a street-legal CT5-V Blackwing. And if it helps Cadillac claim some gas-powered sedan lap records, all the better.
The tire is critical. Cup 2 Rs provide a ton more grip, and the front increases by 10 millimeters over stock. Owing to time and cost constraints, Cadillac used off-the-shelf rather than custom-developed Michelins. Hilariously, the front tire comes from the Mercedes-AMG One—it even has a line drawing of that car on the sidewall. The rear is a Porsche spec.
Longtime Corvette engineer Alex MacDonald recently moved over to Cadillac and helmed this project. The idea was to up the track capability of the Blackwing without much, if any, compromise on daily usability. He and his team were told explicitly not to make a four-door Camaro ZL1 1LE. They’ve cracked it.
Thank the shocks. MagneRide 4.0 dampers are little miracle workers that give engineers huge control of what the car is doing at all times. Hardware-wise, they’re not anything different than what’s been on the 5-V Blackwing since 2021, but the software was reworked to deal with the Precision Package’s newfound capabilities.
Pros: Improved Performance Without Compromised Usability, Monster Engine, Superb Six-Speed Manual
We first encounter the car on the North Georgia mountain roads just outside the gates of Atlanta Motorsports Park. It’s a crisp fall morning, trees midway through their annual thing, and with mist in the air. We drive the standard Blackwing first just to remind ourselves how good it is—it’s still brilliant—then jump into a Precision Package on its more road-oriented Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires. (Precision Package buyers get a choice of tire from the dealer.)
You notice the difference instantly, even at 5 miles per hour in a parking lot. It’s all in the steering, just a little lighter, a little more immediate. Get some pace going and it’s more evident. If you told me this car got a quicker steering ratio, I’d believe you, but it doesn’t. Even on PS4S tires, it flits into corners. You actually need to slow your hands down a bit because the car turns so quickly. And there’s a lot more nuance to the steering, too. The regular Blackwing has good steering, but the Precision Package brings a lot more texture.
Heading up into the mountains we encounter fog, then rain, then fog and rain. These are not heavily trafficked roads, so the surface is capital-W Wet, yet I’m never less than fully confident. Obviously I slow my pace to deal with the almost complete lack of visibility, yet I’m not dawdling either. This car makes 668 horsepower feel like a non-event.
There’s something Ferrari-esque about the Blackwing. GM and the folks from Maranello have a similar approach to vehicle dynamics, integrating adaptive dampers, active limited-slip differential, engine controls, and ABS into a system where each aids each other, to provide supreme control over traction and balance. Get on power a bit too judiciously, and there’s nothing obvious clamping you down, but you can feel the car yaw just a little bit and gracefully bring you back in line. The only other car that lets the rear move so much, but in such a controlled manner, is a Ferrari.
And had I not driven standard Blackwing and Precision Package back-to-back, you’d have no idea the latter has all those stiffer suspension components. This car has always been taut—it’s not a light car and you have to control the weight somehow—yet it smooths off rough edges beautifully. Maybe the Precision Package feels a bit stiffer on the road, but we’re talking fine margins here. If I were going purely on memory of previous Blackwing models, I’d have said the Precision Package was no stiffer whatsoever.
MacDonald tells me that the C8 Z06, his last Corvette project, helped GM a lot with figuring out how to use MagneRide to compensate for high spring rates. On the road, the Precision Package helps liven up the car without the expense of, really anything. (Except cost. More on that.) And you still get so much of the fundamental goodness of the 5-V Blackwing. Its balance, excellent brakes, and perhaps best of all, the supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 under the hood and a delightful six-speed manual gearbox. The 10-speed automatic remains an option, and a viable one at that.
Cons: Precision Package is Limited In Appeal, Fussy Front Fascia, Pricey
The Precision Package comes as part of a facelift for the CT5, which externally, consists of just a new front fascia. I think it looks fussier. Inside, there’s also a curved 33.0-inch display that encompasses both the gauge cluster and infotainment. It’s definitely a lot slicker than the previous Blackwing setup, and the infotainment system is easy to use. And unlike so many other luxury cars today, there are lovely physical controls for climate and other vehicle functions. Still, I wouldn’t consider these updates essential.
One upgrade is extremely welcome. The optional Performance Data Recorder, developed by Cosworth, has always been a wonderful addition to GM’s performance cars. It allows you to record video and data of your track sessions—very useful in the pursuit of speed. Here, you can now use it to show a lap timer on the 33.0-inch screen while you’re driving, and when you’re stopped, you can use it to compare multiple laps to see where you’re faster. An incredibly useful piece of tech that I wish all track-day cars had.
Speaking of the track—big gulp. Atlanta Motorsports Park does not seem to be natural territory for a CT5-V Blackwing. That’s not to say it isn’t a great road-course car, it is, but this is an extremely tight, technical track with all sorts of weird camber and bumps to upset the car, slower corners where it’ll be hard to get 668 hp to the ground.
There’s a super-fast, super-long carousel where there’s a ton of lap time to be found, but one that also feels like a crash waiting to happen if you’re not ultra careful. And there’s not even a long straight to let you take a breath. You cross the start-finish and get on the brakes immediately into a downhill hairpin, the slowest corner on the course.
But, Brandon Vivian, Cadillac’s chief engineer and an extremely fast driver himself, wants to prove that the Precision Package broadens the scope of the 5-V Blackwing. It’s one thing to show off the car at a big speed track, a VIR, a Road America, a Watkins Glen; It’s another thing to come here.
The Precision Package works here, but it’s a wild ride. For starters, you definitely notice the additional grip of the Cup 2 Rs, same as on the road. The turn in is that much sharper, and the rear follows faithfully. The PS4S is by no means a bad track tire, and you’ll have a ton of fun with it too, Precision Package or not, but there’s no question that the gummy Michelins go quicker.
They’re more confidence-inspiring, too, which is good because I’m finding it a bit hard to muster up the courage to balance the Blackwing right on the edge of grip in the fast Turn 14-15 carousel, and firing it in for the blind, uphill Turn 16 at close to 100 mph.
I’m thankful for a lot in life, and today, it’s GM’s Performance Traction Management (PTM) system, which uses all the car’s clever hardware to work wonders. I sit right seat with an engineer explaining how the differential is constantly locking and unlocking based on how you’re braking, what sort of steering inputs you’re putting in, and how you’re getting back to power. And how the dampers provide pitch and roll control, and work with the clever diff, the ABS, and the engine and transmission. And how the brake balance constantly adjusts on the fly. In my hands, it often feels like the car is cradling you, holding you exactly where it thinks you should be, and making micro adjustments as the situation evolves.
You notice it most out of slow corners where you can bury the throttle and let the car figure it out. There you can hear the engine stuttering as it cuts ignition and spark, just like the fancy systems in modern race cars.
But a lot of times, you simply have the sense that the car is doing something, but not exactly what. It is digital, but it feels largely analog. Still, on this track, you’re constantly reminded that the CT5-V Blackwing is a powerful, heavy car. You have to put a ton of faith into the systems. If you turn traction and stability control off, tread very, very lightly.
Even though you can lug the car around in a higher gear and let the supercharged torque pull you out of slow corners, it's better to grab second a couple of times around this lap. And trying to shift while managing AMP’s constant barrage of challenges is extremely difficult.
How can you shift when you’re almost never going straight? Here, the automatic shines. Leave it in Drive, it figures out you’re on a track and it selects the right gear every single time, and its shifts never upset the balance. I hardly bothered using the paddles.
Still, I struggled. Not just with my driving, but with the Precision Package itself. It’s undoubtedly brilliant, and ultra cool, but it also costs $18,000. That includes $9,000 in mandatory carbon-ceramic brakes, sure, but it’s still a ton of money. And while it makes for a better Blackwing—there aren’t many better dual-purpose street and road-course cars out there—it’s only so much better than the standard car. Which is still superb in every way.
Plus, the Cup 2 Rs are a tricky tire. Fresh, they’ll give you a couple of really fast lap times, but when they fall off, they fall off pretty hard. I wonder how much faster they are on their third or fourth heat cycle compared to similarly used PS4Ses. The difference surely gets smaller and smaller with each track session. Perhaps the regular Cup 2 would’ve been a better choice here, trading a bit of lap time for longevity.
Really though, the biggest problem with the Precision Package is, paradoxically, the standard car. There is no doubt this car improves on the base model in so many ways, but the base car is still so good. It’s hard to justify the $18,000 upcharge unless you’re planning on tracking the car often and have a big tire budget.
But for fun, let’s cast rationality aside for a moment. The CT5-V Blackwing Precision Package is cool. This is one by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts. Something for those in the know. The best version of one of the finest performance cars on sale today. That it’s not for everyone is precisely what makes it so special.
Competitors
2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Precision Package
