Jay Leno has one thing to say about the 2012 Cadillac CTS-V and that it may make you feel or seem like a responsible adult when in reality it has some incredible performance.

YouTube channel Jay Leno’s Garage just posted a new episode of the eponymous show where Leno shows why he calls the Cadillac CTS-V a future performance collectible. Here’s the scoop.

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Leno Still Loves His 2012 Cadillac CTS-V

First off, Leno tells us why he bought the car. It’s because this car featured a six-speed manual and Jay is extremely pleased that Cadillac offers a manual gearbox in these times when many performance cars no longer do. Leno has owned this car for a decade now and despite the passing years, his love for this “four-seater Corvette” remains strong.

This is the car that GM made to battle the BMW M5, and it came both with a surplus of power and all the luxuries you could dream of. It packs a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 that yields 556 horsepower and 551 lb-ft of torque. You could also get a six-speed automatic transmission at no extra cost, but Leno opted to row his own gears.

As Leno says, “Amazingly, Cadillac had the guts to go ahead and do this. Because Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, all these, even Lamborghini pretty much abandoned the manual transmission. But Cadillac decided to change its image, and they did it."

The coolest thing next to the manual transmission was that despite the large dimensions of the car, the 2012 Cadillac CTS-V had a front-to-rear weight distribution of 51 to 49. This gave it a handling edge even at high speeds.

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Leno Compares The Cadillac CTS-V To Mercedes AMG

Second-Gen 2012 Cadillac CTS-V 2-Door Coupe
Via: YouTube channel Jay Leno's Garage

The Cadillac CTS-V coupe was an all-new model for 2011 and helped to change Cadillac's image. As Leno recalls as a kid, the Cadillac was already an old man’s car.

“They made themselves lean, and fast, and a good-handling sports sedan,” and this is why Leno has one of these in his garage. Leno also notices the comfortable interior despite the Recaro seats. While he admits that the automatic transmission may be quicker, he still loves the stick shift.

Leno is sure that this is one of the coolest rides ever and despite being cheaper, is almost as good as his 2002 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG. We’ll leave that open to discussion.

Source: YouTube channel Jay Leno’s Garage