From the November 2023 issue of Car and Driver.
A road trip that puts tires in all 48 contiguous states and hits 50 major U.S. landmarks was the perfect exclamation point to put at the end of our time with our long-term 2022 CT5-V Blackwing. Our route followed the framework of a 13,699-mile itinerary designed by a data scientist in 2015.
We figured we could get it done in about 30 days if we kept a steady supply of fresh drivers, so we sliced it into seven chunks, with keys handed off from one pilot to the next about every four days at various points around the country. Some staffers brought a spouse, a child, or a friend along for the ride, and all reveled in the cathartic healing of a road trip exploring the vastness of our country.
We introduced the CT5-V Blackwing to both natural and manufactured beauty. We drove past the Grand Canyon and through Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon, and Glacier National Parks and posed in front of the White House, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin house in Wisconsin, and the Breakers, the Vanderbilts’ dramatic summer home in Rhode Island. The Mall of America was not on the route, but we stopped there anyway. It is decidedly not beautiful.
No one would expect such a high-performance sedan to be so adept at the long haul, but the CT5’s ride quality is luxury-car fantastic, although many found the firm seat bolstering and armrest padding a little tiresome after hours in the saddle.
The vast amount of soak time means nothing escaped our watchful eyes. For example, the seat’s lateral elements are black—black wings, get it? Also, as the temperature drifts upward from a cool morning, the air conditioning often doesn’t keep up. Following a restart, it seems to reset itself and comes on full force.
If you keep the speeds modest, fuel economy can be quite good (23 to 24 mpg), on par with boring midsize crossovers. A small-block V-8 turning slowly is a time-tested fuel-saving strategy. But from the Blackwing’s CTS-V origins, Cadillac’s megasedan has always had a relatively small tank, with none of us able to stretch it to even 400 miles between fill-ups.
Even though some drivers reported hitting the brakes no more than a couple of times a day, somehow, late in our time with the Blackwing, its rotors became curiously warped. This is quite surprising, considering that a few spirited laps at Virginia International Raceway months prior had no ill effects.
We also had plenty of time to ponder some of life’s big questions. Like, considering the wide-open spaces we drove through in Texas, Oklahoma, Montana, the Dakotas, and Nebraska, what percentage of the cows in this country have now seen a CT5-V Blackwing? Also, why do some historical landmarks attract so much kitsch? The biggest eye-roll goes to the vendor outside Mount Rushmore whose billboard dangled the loftiest of promises: “Be President, Next Right.”
Leg 1: From Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Washington, D.C.
- Fox Theatre, Michigan
- Shelburne Farms, Vermont
- Mount Washington Hotel, New Hampshire
- Acadia National Park, Maine
- USS Constitution, Massachusetts
- The Breakers, Rhode Island
- The Mark Twain House and Museum, Connecticut
- Statue of Liberty, New York
- Liberty Bell, Pennsylvania
- Cape May Historic District, New Jersey
- New Castle Historic District, Delaware
- Colonial Annapolis Historic District, Maryland
- White House, Washington, D.C.
Leg 2: Washington, D.C., to Mobile, Alabama
- Mount Vernon, Virginia
- Wright Brothers National Memorial, North Carolina
- Lost World Caverns, West Virginia
- Fort Sumter National Monument, South Carolina
- Okefenokee Swamp Park, Georgia
- Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
- USS Alabama, Alabama
Leg 3: Mobile, Alabama, to Carlsbad, New Mexico
- French Quarter, Louisiana
- Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi
- Elvis Presley’s Graceland, Tennessee
- Toltec Mounds, Arkansas
- The Platt Historic District, Oklahoma
- The Alamo, Texas
- Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico
Leg 4: Carlsbad, New Mexico, to St. George, Utah
- Pikes Peak, Colorado
- Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
- Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho
- Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
Leg 5: St. George, Utah, to Seattle, Washington
- Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
- Hoover Dam, Nevada
- San Andreas Fault, California
- San Francisco Cable Car Museum, California
- Columbia River Highway, Oregon
Leg 6: Seattle, Washington, to Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Hanford Site, Washington
- Glacier National Park, Montana
- Fort Union Trading Post, North Dakota
- Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota
- Ashfall Fossil Beds, Nebraska
- Fort Snelling, Minnesota
Leg 7: Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin, Wisconsin
- Terrace Hill Governor’s Mansion, Iowa
- C.W. Parker Carousel Museum, Kansas
- Gateway Arch, Missouri
- Abraham Lincoln’s Home, Illinois
- West Baden Springs Hotel, Indiana
- Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
- Spring Grove Cemetery, Ohio
Director, Vehicle Testing
Dave VanderWerp has spent more than 20 years in the automotive industry, in varied roles from engineering to product consulting, and now leading Car and Driver‘s vehicle-testing efforts. Dave got his very lucky start at C/D by happening to submit an unsolicited resume at just the right time to land a part-time road warrior job when he was a student at the University of Michigan, where he immediately became enthralled with the world of automotive journalism.