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Cadillac has always built luxurious cars throughout its history, and has the honor of being one of the oldest automotive marques in America. Cadillac was bought by General Motors all the way back in 1909, and has served as GM’s more premium brand ever since – just like Lexus is to Toyota, or Infiniti is to Nissan.Cadillac was the first company to introduce the automobile as we know it today – bringing the engine to life with the turn of a key, activating the electric starter motor. Cadillac was also the first company to utilize the V8 engine configuration for use in mass production with the L-Head V8. Along with these prestigious achievements, Cadillac brought the automatic transmission to the masses in 1941.Keeping these rather large accomplishments in mind, here are 10 of the greatest Cadillacs ever made, from the beautiful and elegant to the cool and downright awesome.
10 1930-1940 Cadillac V-16
The Cadillac V-16 was the absolute peak of luxury in the 1930s. Back then, more cylinders meant more luxury, so whilst most of its competitors had to get away with only 12, the Sixteen had, well, 16. It was – and still is – a beautiful car to behold.
The top-of-the-line model was the V-16 Dual Cowl Sports Phaeton, which featured a 7.4-liter V16 and produced around 183 hp – not a lot for today, however back then, normal cars barely made 50 hp. Cadillac created a concept car in 2003, called the Sixteen, to possibly bring back the impossible opulence of the 1930s. The concept featured a 13.6-liter naturally aspirated V16, producing in excess of 1000 hp. Sadly, the 2008 recession hit and Cadillac decided against a production model.
9 1953 Cadillac Eldorado
The original Eldorado was the top-specification in Cadillac’s line of luxury convertibles. It came with the classic wraparound windshield many cars of the era had, and featured front bumper ‘bullets’, guarding the rest of the bumper against any damages. The Eldorado got its name from a contraction of two Spanish words, meaning ‘the gilded one’. Eldorado is also a reference to the Columbian mythological city of El Dorado, the famed ‘City of Gold.’
The first generation Eldorado featured a 5.4-liter V8 and a 4-speed Hydra-Matic transmission. It was originally built as a limited production car to serve as the ultimate version of the Series 62, but ended up in production for 12 generations.
8 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz
The Eldorado Biarritz is probably the car that comes to mind when thinking of a Cadillac. Immortalized by a certain Mr Elvis Presley and spawning a whole following of pink Cadillacs, the Biarritz is an automotive icon all on its own.
While the first generation Eldorado was only available as a 2-door convertible, the 4th generation had morphed into three body styles – a 2-door convertible, a 2-door coupé, and a four-door saloon. As with most cars of this era, the 4th generation Eldorado was inspired mainly by the jet-age, resulting in huge fins protruding from the rear fenders – undoubtedly the defining feature of this car.
7 1971-1976 Cadillac De Ville
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the ‘personal luxury car’ segment exploded. Keen to get in on the sales action, Cadillac created the 1971-1976 Coupe de Ville. It was similar to many of its rivals, but unlike its main rivals – the Lincoln Continental Mark V and Buick Riviera, which only had 6.6-liter and 7.5-liter engines respectively, the Coupe de Ville featured a massive 8.2-liter V8 engine – the largest production V8 ever put into a road car.
While it is the largest V8 engine ever used, it only produced 190 hp and 359 lb-ft of torque, but then again, it was built for cruising in extravagance, not setting lap records around the Nurburgring. Regardless, whatever Cadillac did worked, as they sold a record 194,811 by 1972.
6 1992 Cadillac Seville
The Seville was amongst the smaller of the Cadillacs and the 4th generation from 1992 won the Motor Trend Car of the Year award, as well as made the Car and Driver Ten Best-list for the 1992 model year.
The success has been attributed to the Northstar System, which featured a 4.6-liter V8, producing 300 hp, going to the front wheels only via a 4-speed automatic transmission. The chassis was modernized with suspension from the Chevrolet Corvette. The Seville can be considered as the typical American suburban sedan, regularly shown parked in the driveways of houses in many films.
5 2001 Cadillac Escalade
The original Cadillac Escalade was a rush job to compete against the newly released Lincoln Navigator. The Escalade was essentially a rebadged GMC Yukon Denali, for around $5,000 more. Initial sales were slow, as the GMC was the cheaper car and offered all the same options.
For the second generation, the Escalade gained an image of its own, resulting in excellent sales for the 2004, 2005 and 2006 model years. Much of the optional equipment on the Yukon was standard on the Escalade, and it featured more options than the Yukon ever had. Cadillac also sold the Escalade EXT, which was a luxury pickup truck based on the Chevrolet Avalanche, but it did not sell well.
4 2003 Cadillac CTS
The CTS was introduced in 2002 for the 2003 model year and was Cadillac’ first manual transmission car since the Cimarron was discontinued in 1988. It was originally powered by a 3.2-liter V6, but the line-up was updated in 2004 with the new 3.6-liter V6, producing 255 hp. The 3.2-liter was replaced entirely with a new 2.8-liter V6 for the entry-level CTS sold in Europe.
In 2005, GM introduced the CTS-V, a high-performance version aimed at the likes of the BMW M3/M5, Audi S4/S6, and Mercedes C55/E55 AMGs. It produced 400 hp and 395 lb-ft from the LS6 5.7-liter V8, which was upgraded to the LS2 6.0-liter V8 from the Corvette. The CTS-V was only available with a manual transmission.
3 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Sport Wagon
The second generation CTS built upon the success of the first and became even better. The car featured the 3.6-liter as standard and was available in sedan, coupé and wagon body styles. The cars came standard with rear-wheel-drive, however could be optioned with all-wheel-drive.
The highlight of this generation was the CTS-V, specifically the CTS-V Sports Wagon. Each CTS-V (sedan, coupé, and wagon) was fitted with the LSA 6.2-liter supercharged V8, producing 556 hp and 551 lb-ft of torque – a huge improvement over the previous model. The CTS-V Sports Wagon came standard with a 6-speed manual transmission, but a 6-speed automatic was also available.
2 2021 Cadillac Escalade
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The current generation of Cadillac Escalade has so far been the best yet. The fifth-generation Escalade comes standard with a 6.2-liter naturally aspirated V8, and, for the first time ever on an Escalade, a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-6 diesel. The diesel gets in excess of 20 mpg for either the rear-wheel or all-wheel-drive models and has an average range of over 550 miles – not bad for a large, luxury SUV.
The current Escalade will also receive the Cadillac-V treatment for the first time ever, most likely being called the Escalade-V – and will probably be fitted with a slightly tuned version of the supercharged 6.2-liter V8, found in the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
1 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing
The Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is a luxurious saloon with the supercharged 6.2-liter V8 from the Chevy Camaro ZL1, albeit tuned a bit to produce 668 hp and 659 lb.ft of torque – all going to the rear wheels via a 6-speed manual gearbox. It is an awesome car!
The CT5-V Blackwing harks back to the CTS-Vs from the past two decades, and it will probably be the last of the mid-size saloons to feature a massively powerful engine and a manual gearbox. Seeing as Dodge is discontinuing the Hellcat engine and Ford is focusing on electric vehicles, the V8 is rapidly becoming a legend of the past. As such, the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is an apt way of bidding farewell to the era of ridiculous American V8 power – all in a giant cloud of smoke and the smell of melting tires. Who would’ve thought that Cadillac would be the ones to see it off?