All You Need To Know About The M3-Fighting Cadillac ATS-V

Want a super-hot mid-sized saloon or coupe that’s a bit less German? Give Cadillac a ring, as it’s got something right up your street: the ATS-V that Road & Track scooped last week. Now the car’s had its official unveiling at the LA motor show, we have a fresh batch of pics to oggle over, plus all the juicy details.

Under the bonnet is a 3.6-litre twin-turbo V6, making this the first time a Cadillac ‘V’ model has been powered by a six-pot engine. It’s good for 455bhp and 445lb ft of torque - about the figures we’d been expecting - but we now know the 0-60mph time: just 3.9 seconds. Top speed? 185mph. No 155mph limiter nonsense going on here.

The V6 features titanium connecting rods, plus a special high-performance lubrication system, to make sure oil pressure is maintained during the sort of high lateral-G manoeuvres you might experience while lobbing the ATS around on a track.

The car is 25 per cent stiffer than the standard ATS, and boasts a wider track at the front and rear. The front suspension is a multi-link MacPherson setup, while the rear is a five-link system. The dampers are clever magnetorheological jobbies, the stiffness of which can be controlled via five different selectable driving modes.

Further aiding handling is a set of sticky Michelin Pilot Super Sport tyres, plus an electronic limited-slip differential at the rear. Power is sent through that diff via either a six-speed manual gearbox which allows for no-lift-shifts, or an eight-speed automatic that comes with a launch control feature.

Bringing things to a stop is a set of Brembo brakes, comprising of 370mm discs at the front, and 339mm at the rear.

It looks rather handsome and butch on the outside, but should you want to up the aggression a wee bit, the ‘Carbon Fiber package’ includes a meaner front splitter, a new bonnet vent trim and rear diffuser, plus composite rocker extensions and a taller rear spoiler. Go for the Track package, and you get all of that garb, plus a data recorder to play around with while you sit in the hip-hugging Recaro driver’s seat. Oh, and a lightweight battery.

Pricing hasn’t been revealed just yet, but when production kicks off in Spring 2015, it’s fair to say that we probably won’t be seeing any rolling out of the factory and heading over to the UK, at least not through official channels. Boo.