If you’re still the sort who enjoys driving a conventional luxury car, not an SUV or EV, the 2025 Cadillac CT5 is your sole choice among American manufacturers. America’s love for what are little more than station wagons has killed enthusiasm for sedans and coupes — and given what manufacturers offer, it’s no wonder.

Consider Cadillac.

The brand’s longstanding reputation, one built over more than a century, is for manufacturing large, opulent, indulgently comfortable vehicles. Think Escalade or Fleetwood. But instead of working with an image built over more than a century, GM has spent billions of dollars and three decades losing market share and creating cars that went against Cadillac’s DNA. Only the Escalade succeeded as it plays to Cadillac’s historic strengths. The new Lyriq and Celestiq EVs are doing much the same.

Yet the reminder of Cadillac’s misguided product development folly lingers in the 2025 Cadillac CT5-V, a midsize luxury sedan that bravely tries to compete against such German stalwarts as the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW 5 Series.

The CT5's fastback silhouette is unchanged, but it has a larger, revised black mesh grille up front with revised LED front lighting. But the exterior’s perfunctory, derivative design features clichéd window detailing and a shape that looks much like that on the Honda Civic. It’s simply dreadful for a luxury car. And while the front half of the car certainly says Cadillac, but the back half speaks Asian. Certainly GM is capable of coming up with a more distinctive and elegant design statement, one that speaks to being a Cadillac. But this has always been the CT-5’s drawback. Need proof? Its sales slump 20 percent last year.

A more dramatic change comes inside, where a sizable 33-inch-diagonal LED color touchscreen sports 9K resolution and a customizable user interface. Interestingly, its horizontal design doesn’t overwhelm the interior, and being a single screen, rather than small ones under a sheet of glass, allows for some dramatic animation from Cadillac. Its user interface is exceptional, being both easy to use and offering refined graphics that are tastefully restrained. Truly, the CT-5’s tech is impressive. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, as is wireless phone charging and a Wi-Fi hotspot. A nine-speaker audio system is standard, but a premium AKG audio system is available. There’s also a Performance Data Recorder that records data and video during track-day runs.

The test vehicle, a CT5-V, was indulgently trimmed in leather and carbon fiber. But the quality of the rest of the interior paid the price for its big screen, leather and carbon fiber.

There is decent room up front, but the wide center console makes it very tight for larger folks. They might also object to the aggressive side bolsters on the front bucket seats or the low seating position. Headroom is average, but could be better. Back seat room is typical of midsize cars, not great, not awful. Trunk space is inexcusably meager at 12 cubic feet, 2.2 cubic feet less than a Hyundai Elantra.

The CT5 is offered in base Premium Luxury trim before ascending to Sport and CT5-V grades. It tops out with the ultra-high-performance CT5-V Blackwing, which is a different beast entirely. With its six-figure price tag, most CT5 buyers won’t be interested.

Unlike its German rivals, the Cadillac CT-5 comes solely with a choice of conventional drivelines, although that might not be so bad, given the changing nature of federal EV mandates under the current administration.

That said, the base engine is a feeble 237-horsepower 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, rather than the optional a 335-horsepower twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6. Why the V-6 isn’t standard is mystifying, although one suspects it has more to do with satisfying the EPA than satisfying customers. The CT5-V thankfully comes with a more-powerful 360-horsepower twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 and a 10-speed automatic transmission that can be shifted manually. Both rear-wheel and all-wheel drive are offered. GM’s semi-autonomous driving system, Super Cruise, is optional.

Despite the issues with interior quality and design, the engineers have certainly done their job. The 2025 Cadillac CT5-V is a very impressive performer. Power delivery is strong, smooth and linear, with a rumbling bark emanating from the exhaust. The steering is quick, fairly crisp and ideally weighted, although it lacks road feel. Ride quality is excellent thanks to the suspension’s magnetic dampers. And the cabin is extraordinarily quiet, as a Cadillac should be.

Yes, this is a satisfying car to drive; it would make a great Pontiac.

GM is once again recasting Cadillac as a performance luxury EV brand, concentrating all of its efforts on electric SUVs and their outlier hyper-luxury car, the Celestiq. Now experiencing some success, it would behoove GM to understand what most consumers think of when considering Cadillac — and it’s not something German.

There’s little doubt that the Cadillac CT5-V is fun-to-drive and boasts impressive technology. It’s a great car, it’s just not a great Cadillac.

When will GM understand what Cadillac is? The public sure does.

2025 Cadillac CT5-V

Base price: $56,995

Engine: 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-6

Horsepower/Torque: 360/405 pound-feet

EPA rating (combined city/highway): 21 mpg

Fuel required: Premium unleaded

Length/Width/Height: 195/74/57 inches

Ground clearance: 4 inches

Payload: Not rated

Cargo capacity: 12 cubic feet

Towing capacity: 1,000 pounds

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