2009 Cadillac CTS / CTS-V

Last year, the redesigned CTS was the second Cadillac to win a 10Best Cars award (the first was the 1992 Seville), and this year, it’s the first Caddy to become a 10Best repeater. We were impressed with its dynamics, its upscale interior, the performance of its optional 304-hp, 3.6-liter direct-injection V-6, its slightly softened but still distinctively edgy styling, its overall refinement, and the fact that it offers manual as well as automatic transmissions.

We’re still impressed. But impressed is a tame descriptor for our response to the V  version of this car. Overwhelmed is more like it. Like the CTS, the CTS-V is far more refined in its second generation. But that’s not the first thing that grabs the driver’s attention, particularly if his right foot is flat to the fire wall and he’s rowing through the six forward speeds.