Insanity & Madness at Hennessey: An 800-bhp Cadillac

Those madcap wanker tuners at Hennessy Performance in Houston are at it again. Just what the world needs now, an 800-bhp Cadillac CTS-V, right? If you go to their website, you’ll find they’ve got four tuned versions available, starting at 610 bhp. And, my Gawd, they look to be fantastic cars.

The off-the-shelf CTS-V has 556 bhp and will perform, says Edmunds, at the BMW M5 level, with a 12.4-second quarter-mile. The car is smooth, quiet, with good manual or automatic transmissions, and beats both the M5 and the Benz C63 AMG in the slalom at 71.1 mph and .92g on the skid pad. Add to this its amazing braking performance, stopping from 60 mph in 104 feet. At $65-68,000 with Recaro seats, gas guzzler tax (13 mpg city), etc., this car beats the pants off its competitors pricewise: the M5 starts at around $89,000, the Audi S6 at $78,000, and the Benz E63 AMG at $88,500.

For the Hennessey versions, you’ll have to add a minimum of $40-50,000 to these prices. The 700-bhp upgrade, for instance, will give you:

• 0-60 mph in 3.1 seconds*
• 1/4 mile in 10.9 seconds at 129 mph*
• top speed: 211 mph, with six-speed transmission
  (* with optional 20-inch HRE wheel upgrade & 305/45-20 Nitto drag radial tires)

Hennessey started with Vipers, but is now into everything from Challengers and Taurus SHOs to 911s, GT40s and a 3.4-second (0-60) Jeep. Only in Texas. Here’s a corny but interesting video about what it takes to go super-fast in a straight line:

I still want one of those Caddies. It’s probably the best performance car for the street that GM has ever built. And now, like the Pontiac G8, it will most likely disappear forever. Still, buying one is no gamble, as the government will hold your warranty. Hah!

Why couldn’t GM produce a car like this when the company was still viable? Write us a short dissertation on that subject.

—jgoods

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