The BMW 5-Series F10 is still (probably) at the top of its class in many areas, including performance, handling and all the rest. However, it seems to have been far too easy for Cadillac to make an eerily comparable car, in the form of the CTS.

With the V-Sport, GM’s luxury arm directly targets the V8-powered BMW 550i, despite wading into battle slightly down on displacement and with two less cylinders – who would have thought that the American car would have the smaller engine capacity…

We were curious to see what this V-Sport version of the CTS was capable of ever since the car was first detailed, with its 420hp 3.6-liter turbo’d V6 being less powerful than the heavier 550i, though, as Edmunds found out, acceleration runs are done on tarmac, not paper, and results aren’t always predictable.

They found the car to be half a second slower than claimed to sixty, and the measured trap speed past the quarter-mile marker was also a few miles per hour slower too. Its lightweight construction paid off in the handling department where it achieved a maximum lateral g-reading of .95 on the skidpad, as well as reportedly lively and connected handling courtesy of a balanced chassis.

All the measurements were done with professional instruments, and the video record of all the tests carried out and conclusions drawn can be found after the jump.

By Andrei Nedelea

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