Let me tell you, I've had a good run with German cars in my roughly 22 years of driving.
First was a 1993 Merc 190E, the baby Benz, great little car - floaty but fun, got it for about $3k from my grandparents neighbor (basically stolen).
Then I fell in love with BMW, specifically the e46 M3 and had to have one, probably sooner than I should have financially so I stretched myself and picked up a 2002 M3 coupe, carbon black with cinnamon leather (yes it was SMG...shhh).
After a rocky ride and a few expensive M3 fixes out of warranty, I sold it and ordered a 135i in 2008 (year 1 of the One). Alpine white over coral red - this time a manual and I taught myself how to drive it on the way home from the dealership. Car was a blast and I did just about ever bolt on and tune. But it wasn't an M car...
Then I found a clean manual 2008 Z4M coupe - loved the lines great little car, pure drivers car. Sold that and bounced around a few more semi practical cars (GTI, Mini cooper S) and eventually made my way to Porsche.
Picked up a 2018 Carrera T manual at the start of the pandemic for a song, $85k w/5k miles. Hell of a deal. Carbon buckets were very uncomfortable and I blew out my knee training and decided to sell during the crazy free money times of 2021.
Eventually picked up a Taycan as a do everything DD, but it was missing soul, and the charging nonsense was not fun to deal with. The current market for high end luxury EV's is crashing by the day. So I made my mind and decided it has to go for another fun DD preferably with manual.
I love the Porsche community but right now everything worthwhile is overpriced, I was not going to overpay for a 911 so I put money down on another Carrera T at sticker. But based on the allocations and my number at the dealer, the prospect of getting one of them was almost nil.
I considered the M2, but those won't be available until April and I felt I needed to dump the Taycan before then and so after much consternation, I landed on a CT4 V Blackwing.
I pondered the CT5 Blackwing, but dealers are asking upwards of $25k over sticker (yes, even today) they are very hard to get right now, with over a year waitlist.
So after much deliberation, I decided that the CT4 V Blackwing would be the right size, and give me everything I wanted:
- great manual (Tremac TR6060)
- enough power (472hp twin turbo v6)
- great features (HUD, heated/cooled/massage seats, multiple drive modes and traction modes)
- SMOOTH leather seats (looking at you M2)
- just enough interior tech (I don't need much more than car play and decent stereo)
- incredible handling and magnetic ride dampers (touring mode ride quality is on par with my Taycan with air suspension, it's that good)
- Mature looking (very under the radar)
- Extremely rare (only about 1,600 total made in 2022, 675 in manual, and Caddy has already said this will be the last generation of manual cars - going full EV) - cars are all numbered - I am #625 of the manual CT4's made in 2022.
I found a 2022 leftover (late 2022 production) that a close-ish dealer was actually willing to deal on, they had 3 other CT4 BW's but all had $5k ADM (no thanks) and a used 2022 with 13k miles for over sticker. So I was able to get a couple grand off sticker, and they gave me more for my Taycan than Porsche was offering. Black wasn't my first choice but it was $10k cheaper than the other manual car available, no brainer.
I feel like I made the right call, this car is everything I could ever need and I am not left wanting for anything (except maybe a bit more noise, but I am still in break-in). There is not one squeak or rattle and everything seems very solid, I had rattles on day 1 with my Taycan and 911 that I could never completely fix.
We still have a Porsche in the garage so I'm not completely abandoning the Germans, wife drives a Panamera eHybrid that no one will ever be able to pry from her hands. But for the value (I paid $70k OTD) I don't see much else with 4 doors that can compete. Will update later with further impressions.
