Motor Trend Comparison: Lexus GS 350 F SPORT vs. Cadillac CTS V SPORT

Posted by Kevin on November 12th, 2013

In this latest Motor Trend video, host Jonny Lieberman puts the Lexus GS 350 F SPORT against the Cadillac CTS V SPORT:

With all of its performance upgrades and 100+ horsepower advantage, the CTS V SPORT was almost guaranteed to win this track-focused comparison. However, this didn’t stop Lieberman from being extremely positive about the GS F SPORT — in the end, it’s a fair comparison between two of the best sports sedans on the market today.

(Thanks Roman!)

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blkpantha
November 12, 2013

yes it was very positive however i found it to be a little bias: first thing first he stated that the 100+ horsepower would not come into play and the reason for this is simple the best vs the new challenger and the fact that the both are around the same price point! OK REMEMBER THAT! AT the end of the video some where around the ending he stated that he couldn't choose which one is the best but with the 100 more horsepower Cadillac wins so my take on this is that he simple pick the CTS because of that reason.. just like the pick the CTS for COY for that reason because its cadilic its amaerican and its the first/second good car that acually compete with the big boys Lexus BMW MB AUDI that was the reason why the CTS won! CTS is a great car however its not competitive with what GS/5Series/ECLASS/A6 and or strickly selling base on the twin turbo engine the car its not a luxury car and more of a a good performance car yes but the people who buy this car in bunch are for luxury which this car is not it has a back seat of the ATS just like it has the ATS Gauges the ATS like cockpit its an a upgrade to the ATS its rather an bigger ATS yes it has leather and swade which is a big improvement ( however GM quality is almost at the bottom of the league) but it doesn't off anything that the ATS doesn't offer and my take that twin turbo engine will probably be the ATS V engine! MT hates Lexus and thats a FACT in my mind the love it but they LOVE to hate it to the readers look at their facebook posing for Lexus half the time they only post recalls on Toyota and Lexus not for ford or GM they are plain BIAS and it shows with the whole car of the year thing why wasn't the GS car of the year when it killed everyone and it offers alot more better quility than the CTS... in my mind the S CLASS was this year COY it was both luxurious the AMG one going to offer killa performance the lighting all the new tech the S CLASS and the Germans got rob

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blkpantha
November 12, 2013

sorry for the long post MT just got to me hard with that whole car of the year thing and this video (this proved the BIAS around that magazine)

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whateverdude
November 12, 2013

Couldn't agree more.

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krew
November 13, 2013

Great comment. Given the price & power difference, I thought the review was balanced. Whether these two models should have been compared is another story altogether. The new S Class is easily car of the year, though, fully agree.

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carman
November 14, 2013

MT is being controversial just because they are desperate for views and page clicks. There is no point wasting time trying to explain their bias or strange comparisons.

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justin
November 12, 2013

let's not forget motor trend also gave a pt cruiser car of the year award and a volt along with a passat...

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Tragic Bronson
November 17, 2013

And the 2007 Camry, considered the king of appliances. Yup, MT is out of their minds.

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RAL
November 12, 2013

I wish the GS combined the aggressive look with classic styling the way the front of the CTS does . . .

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SAABSTANCE
November 12, 2013

I reckon it is a decently fair comparison test. Indeed the CTS might have trumped this test but this test is begging a GS-F to be released to fully exploit this chassis to its fullest of potential. With a GS-F, this will then be a proper leveled test. Even with its deficit in power, it is holding its ground well against a much more powerful and torque laden Caddy. MT has gotten a lot more objective over time and i am sure that Lexus will continue churning out excellent cars that will be at the top of its class. Do recall that Caddy has more than sufficient time to do their homework and buying every competitor in its class and ripping apart every component to study. I must commend Cadillac on the result of the CTS that has been garnering great reviews of late. Definitely a competitive car in its segment and it has quite a good powertrain combination. Saabstance

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tinhinnh
November 13, 2013

GS-F would compete with CTS-V, not the cts-Vsport

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F1orce
November 12, 2013

The GS F-sports desperately need more power. Why does it take so long for Lexus to respond. They're shooting themselves on the foot.

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go
November 12, 2013

the amber tail-lights need to go

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RAL
November 12, 2013

Amber tail-lights? . . . where

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BlackDynamiteOnline
November 12, 2013

I missed the "Fair comparison" part. MT has bend over backwards to butter the CTS' biscuit, with the totally unjustified Car of the Year award, and this comparison, which is not fair, and between two cars that will never be cross-shopped. Pretty disappointing attempt at automotive journalism, really.... BD

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PG
November 13, 2013

What makes you think the GS and the CTS will not be cross-shopped? The previous iterations of the CTS were somewhat in between the IS and GS, coming close to the GS in terms of size but costing about as much as the IS. This generation, however, is aimed squarely at the GS/A6/5/E. Cadillac now has the ATS to compete with the 3/A4/C. And why is the comparo not fair? The Cadillac just offers V8-like power, like every proper midsize sedan should. Heck, even the Infiniti M56 has a V8. It's just Lexus that doesn't have an appropriate V8 or V6 turbo with 400+ HP to play with the big boys. And, the Cadillac in the test even costs about the same as the GS.

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BlackDynamiteOnline
November 13, 2013

I said the F-Sport and V-Sport won't be cross shopped. Who is cross-shopping $60-70k cars with a $52k car with 100 less HP? The CTS 3.6 (0-60 in 6.3 according to MT) and GS350 (0-60 in 5.4 according to MT) probably will, but Motor Trend didn't have the guts to compare those two, because they knew what would happen. MT got their desired result..... BD

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carman
November 14, 2013

Exactly. The CTS 3.6L would have been the proper comparison, as it has a starting MSRP of 54K, roughly similar to the GS F-Sport. MT obviously didn't do that comparison because then the GS would win.

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carman
November 14, 2013

Sorry, he's right. Don't want to spend much time on this, but MT desperately went out of their way to make the CTS look good. The GS F-Sport starts at 53K MSRP. The Cadillac V-Sport starts at 60K MSRP. That's quite a large difference. So no, they won't be automatically cross-shopped. In addition, the V-Sport lacks several luxury options and features that comes standard on the Lexus. Now yes the V-Sport has a few extra performance features that the Lexus does not, however in real world track conditions and regular driving those don't make a noticeable difference, aside from the engine and the magnetic ride control in rare situations. Now that aside, more importantly, several luxury features and options are NOT available at all on the V-Sport, features that are standard on the GS F-Sport. You have to move up to the "V-Sport Premium" in order to get those features, and the V-Sport Premium starts at 70K! Now these are pretty fundamental features such as luxury many way power-adjustable front seats, power rear window sunshade, aluminum sport pedals and full leather seats. Yes you read that correctly, the regular V-Sport does not even have full leather seats or sport pedals, even though it is a "sport version". Cadillac forces you to get the V-Sport Premium if you want FULL leather seats, aluminum sport pedals, a rear window sunshade, but that's not all. There is an available 12" media screen just like the GS, but you CANNOT get it in the regular V-Sport. It is ONLY available in the 70K V Sport Premium. So very quickly one can see how silly the MT comparison was, but I suggest to everyone here not to view the video and not to give MT any more page views or clicks.

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carman
November 14, 2013

I forgot to add, the GS F-Sport they had in the video was nicely loaded with several options for 60K, while the CTS V-Sport was a base model. Not only was it lacking some features that are standard on the GS F-Sport, it was lacking numerous optional features that the loaded GS F-Sport had.

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krew
November 14, 2013

Thanks for such a detailed comment -- I didn't spend much time researching the CTS V SPORT options and watched the video strictly from a performance perspective. I also felt the price difference was clearly stated, but rewatching the video I can see your point. Still, I found this video to be very positive about the GS -- anyone cross-shopping these two models will no doubt look at pricing and available options and make the decision right for them.

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krew
November 13, 2013

Well, here's the thing -- Lieberman considered the GS as the best sedan in the segment, and that's why it went head to head with the new CTS V SPORT. It was a fair comparison because the price difference was clearly stated and the dude was extremely positive about the GS. Like I said in the post, a 100+ horsepower advantage is going to win a track-based comparison every time. To be honest, I don't think anything in the segment is going to be able to compete with this CTS V SPORT.

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carman
November 14, 2013

The price difference was not clearly and explicitly stated, it was very casually mentioned. Furthermore, the prices stated were misleading, as one can obviously look up the MSRPs on the manufacturer websites and see for themselves the REAL price gap between the two models. It is clear to anyone with common sense that the GS F-Sport was nicely loaded with several optional packages, while the CTS V-Sport was base. That was the ONLY way for them to have both be at "the same price" as the video claims. Again, it is best to ignore trash publications like MT and let them wither away and die without page views and clicks. No point in giving them the attention they're desperately crying for.

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tinhinnh
November 14, 2013

Audi S6 says "Hi" :)

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Bobby
November 13, 2013

I'm really not a fan of this guy, I've found that I hardly ever agree with his reviews or criticism. That being said, he didn't tick me off as much as he usually does. I can appreciate the positives that he did give lexus. Well see how Lexus plays the next decade out

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krew
November 13, 2013

That's my feeling as well -- usually, he irritates me and has this crazy anti-Lexus stance in everything he says. This time, I thought he was being fair given the price difference.

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daiT
November 13, 2013

those 60 to 0 braking tests are pointless really, and so are the slalom & finding out the g number in a circle. yeah the 0-60 in whatever seconds & the 1/4 mile ok, but really, why over in North America, every car tester from every car mags wants to do that braking test?

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carman
November 14, 2013

It is because it is a biased and narrow-minded test, and because most journalists and reviews are clueless. How about brake fade? Why was that not mentioned at all? How about repeated 60-0 spots? More reputable publications do extreme and repeated braking tests, to push the cars to the limit and to TRULY see how the performance stacks up. A more reputable publication also would have done several hard laps at the track with extreme braking and then a detailed comparison on how the brakes compared after several hard laps.

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F1orce
November 13, 2013

While i'm a Lexus fan I must give credit to Cadillac. They've cleaned up their act and are coming up with class leading products. I would choose the CTS over the GS any day. Akio and Lexus have got far too 'overwhelmed' with the design language of their brand. But they gotta remember that there's more to it than design & image.

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lexusman europe
November 13, 2013

Come on, F1orce! You are GM-biased! I am from Europe, there, GM/OPEL/Chevy has not any chance in terms of quality like BMW/AUDI/Mercedes and so on. Lexus is on a fine way...! Keep on. PS: Cadillac is GM's Lincoln! ';)

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Tragic Bronson
November 15, 2013

And how's Lexus doing in Europe? Pot and kettle, both brands are still niche because of the way Europeans are, they still love their BMW/Audi/Mercedes much more than anything "foreign".

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krew
November 13, 2013

Absolutely have to give credit to Cadillac, their transformation is exceptional. That said, I would never buy a GM product. Ever.

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F1orce
November 13, 2013

All lexus needs to respond with is adding twin turbochargers to the 3.5L and call it GS-F The 3.5L 2GR-FSE is already the best of its kind. Just needs turbo to become a true beast.

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Tragic Bronson
November 15, 2013

Agreeable, Cadillac's efforts are great stride for the American luxury brand, because Lincoln ain't going nowhere, even with old Lexus boss Jim Farley at the helm. But they have products that people do want, just not from Lexus buyers.

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Roman Pogoretskiy
November 13, 2013

I hate how MT forget about the reliability and refinement factor when choosing cars of the year, winner of comparisons, etc. Lexus would win every time. I think it's funny like Lieberman said who knew that the two best drivers cars would be Cadillac and Lexus? It's so weird... But awesome! Anytime Krew!

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krew
November 13, 2013

:-) It's a funny world!

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Tragic Bronson
November 15, 2013

MT doesn't give a crap about reliability because that isn't what sells subscriptions...that's CR's job. Honestly, most luxury buyers care more about the badge than reliability. Perhaps Lexus owners (more like lessees) are more biased to "reliability" than drivers of the other luxury brands. Lexus owners will keep buying Lexus, and the other brands have their fans.

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leopard08
November 13, 2013

lolz from the begining the tester couldnt tell which of the two cars was better. Infact on the road the GS seemed to match the Cadilac. After race track, tester now talk about how the Cadilac just walked away with it. little bit bias there.

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leopard08
November 13, 2013

Lexus must not worry about Cadilac because GM here has seemed to have thrown all their budget on perfomance. very soon they will have to come down from their sofisticated suspensions for cost savings.

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Tragic Bronson
November 15, 2013

Because both are trying to catch the Germans in the race.

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leopard08
November 16, 2013

Often the media praizes what the Germans do forcing the intire industry to do what the Germans do. now the media is on about turbos, whilest toyota dont believe in this current force of induction formula. With the media, it all about what the Germans do. but the result is, toyota is always kinda right

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Tragic Bronson
November 16, 2013

I wouldn't say they're always right because we're human, but they are very calculated in what they do. Japanese companies are more risk adverse due to culture.

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tinhinnh
November 13, 2013

New CTS looks like land yachts of old Cadillacs.

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Tragic Bronson
November 15, 2013

And the market disagrees with you.

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tinhinnh
November 16, 2013

Bigger is not better.

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Tragic Bronson
November 16, 2013

Of course, but that isn't the point. What you don't like isn't doesn't necessarily dictate the market. This is America we're talking about, not Europe.

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tinhinnh
November 17, 2013

That was just *my opinion* that the new CTS looks too big to be a proper midsize sports sedan. Looks like they're trying to kill 2 birds with 1 stone again: It competes in the midsize segment but from the specs its more of a fullsize car, just as the previous CTS was a 'tweener car - both compact and midsize.

Motor Trend Comparison: Lexus GS 350 F SPORT vs. Cadillac CTS V SPORT

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