Does the CTS-V have the razor-sharp, fine-tuned European flavor of BMW and Benz?

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Even the Audi S8, which looks relatively conservative despite that grinning front grill and LED beams, comes off more elegantly aggressive than the CTS-V.

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Car buying is a matter of personal taste and style, and the CTS-V has washed the bad taste of Cimmarons and Cateras from our mouth.

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That brings us to Two: Despite its tonnage, the Panamera is still the best-handling, most accessible huge sedan out there (in my book, next come the Cadillac CTS-V and the Maserati Quattroporte).

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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.

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It killed entire brands, Pontiac included, and axed high-performance cars like the G8, a full-size, V8-powered sedan very similar to the new Chevy SS. It even went so far as to completely disband its long-standing High Performance Vehicle Operations unit, which had developed such fast, gas-guzzling cars as the Cadillac CTS-V and Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1.

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There's also a new CTS performance model, the Vsport, with a twin-turbo V-6 engine that can go from zero to 60 mph in an estimated 4.6 seconds.

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To keep the momentum going, GM will soon be launching a remodeled CTS sedan, which will be powered by a solid 420 horsepower V-6 engine.

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So we see boring names like CTS, EXT, LS, XLR and 3.2TL. It's an effort to copy Mercedes with its C and CLK and SLK. Letters are also big for super high-powered jobs, like M (on BMWs) or V (on the Cadillac CTS) or R (on Volvo).

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