Leave the eight-speed automatic in Drive. In Track mode, it accurately anticipates and executes downshifts in braking zones and smoothly performs shifts mid-corner. Manual transmission ATS-Vs offer automatic rev matching (you can turn it off) and no-lift shifting, which means you can go full High School mode on the upshifts. Beyond adjusting the dampers, differential, steering, throttle response, and engine sound, Track mode also gives access to the very clever Performance Traction Management. Its five modes of increasing aggressiveness provide a good means of learning the car's limits. The system works so smoothly that you have to slide big to prompt intervention.

With an empty track at noon, I headed onto the front straight with a VBox hooked up to an automatic coupe. Launch control requires you to plant both pedals and release the brake when revs settle under 2,000 rpm. The ATS-V scurried away with slight wheelspin and, after a few tries, logged 0-60 mph in 4.0 seconds and the quarter mile in 12.3 seconds at 114.6 mph. We expect quicker acceleration on level ground.

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A few halts from 60 mph netted a best of 103 feet, and the performance was consistent. The standard Brembo front 14.6-inch rotor and six-piston caliper and rear 13.3-inch rotor and four-piston caliper setup is effective enough that Cadillac deemed optional carbon-ceramic brakes unnecessary. The engineers challenged us to fade them on the track. I wasn't able to.

The skidpad in the parking lot has a rough surface and sits on a slope, yet the ATS-V easily managed a 0.98g average, matching the last M4 we tested. It drifted beautifully around the circle, too, holding slides until I got tired of them. An engineer later told me that once the car knows it's drifting, the diff automatically adjusts pre-load to keep it drifting. It's invisible to the driver. He or she just feels like a hero.

The same engineer asks me about steering feel. I realized I hadn't noticed it. I wasn't focusing on learning the car but instead on enjoying it and the track. This doesn't help the engineer, but it does bode well for the ATS-V as a good driver's car, one that translates your inputs without misinterpreting them.

Could there be any doubt that the ATS-V would be anything less? When your target is a great driver's car, you have to make a better one. Rest assured the full comparison with the M3 is forthcoming. Until then, here's the second thing I realized while driving the ATS-V: Cadillac has good aim.

2016 Cadillac ATS-V Coupe
BASE PRICE	$63,660
PRICE AS TESTED	$78,995
VEHICLE LAYOUT	Front-engine, RWD, 4-pass, 2-door coupe
ENGINE	3.6L/464-hp/445-lb-ft twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6
TRANSMISSION	8-speed automatic
WHEELBASE	109.3 in
L x W x H	184.7 x 72.5 x 54.5 in
0-60 MPH	4.0 sec
QUARTER MILE	12.3 sec @ 114.6 mph
BRAKING, 60-0 MPH	103 ft
LATERAL ACCELERATION	0.98 g (avg)
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON	16/24/18 mpg
ENERGY CONS., CITY/HWY	211/140 kW-hrs/100 miles
CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB	1.03 lb/mile