Family Wagon for Greg

[SRQ]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703555804576102202985268590.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Cadillac's Insane, Unnecessary, Awesome Wagon

excerpts:

Let's say you bought this car, a Cadillac CTS-V Sport Wagon, with a 6.2-liter, 556-horsepower Corvette V8, six-speed manual transmission, magnetorheological dampers (I'll get to that), Michelin SP2 gumballs, 15-inch front Brembo brakes with six-pot calipers, and microsuede wrapping on the steering wheel and shifter. Well, first of all, you'd be one strange cat, which is to say, unusual. Notwithstanding any nitro-burning ice-cream trucks or flying boattail Rollses in your neighborhood, this wagon is about as esoteric an automobile as you're likely to find.

And the V-Wagon is, above all, interesting. Where to begin? With the "World of Warcraft" mesh grille; the fractal insanity of the styling? What about the fact that, in addition to a six-speed automatic, this wagon can be had with a six-speed manual transmission, a device that's quickly becoming a drivers-only shibboleth? No ladies' clutch nor vague shift gates here. The clutch throw is heavy, the uptake sweet and progressive. The gearbox has the momentous, latch-in-place action of a switch for an electric chair. Slot it into first, ramp up the revs to 4,000 and slip the clutch. The lights in your brain dim like it's midnight on the Green Mile and wherever you were, you ain't anymore.

Like the Corvette ZR1 and the CTS-V Coupe, the wagon is set up on magnetorheological dampers, which use micro-metallic particles in the dampers to vary viscosity according to the car's dynamic sensors. The result is an easy and composed ride in daily driving, and the ease and composure doesn't diminish as you start to throw the car around. The front tires take a huge bite on turn-in, the car barely rolls and then it burrows into a corner like a tick. This car has no bad habits, particularly as you approach the limits of tire adhesion. Like the V-Coupe's, the V-Wagon's stability-control system has a sport map, and once engaged, it makes it hilariously easy to rotate the car under power. This thing is the drifting king of your kid's preschool porte cochere.

From the tuft of its excellent Recaro seats to the melty rubber bits under the tires, the V-Wagon is illicit, overpowering, sexy and a touch scary. If it were boxing gloves it would be banned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. I recognize to love it is to be played a bit by GM's marketing guys, but I don't even care. The V-Wagon is never boring. That's all I ask.