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If I had to rank Cadillac's worst engines since 1980, they would go in this order (best to worst)
4.1L V6: Not a terrible engine, but probably not torque for the 5000 lb Devilles and Fleetwoods of the day.
4.1L V8 "HT4100": Cadillac's first attempt at an alumminum engine had lots of reliability issues. Shades of the early '70s Chevy Vegas.
5.7L V8 Diesel: These Oldsmobile engines were converted gasoline engines and were just plain awful. And they broke a lot too.
And the worst engine was....ta da!
6.0L V8-6-4 variable displacement engine. If the Porsche 911's rear engine design is "a terrible idea executed brilliantly", then the V8-6-4 is "a brilliant idea executed terribly". A concept 20 years ahead of its time, it was brought to market way too soon (only 10 months development) and had so many reliability problems in its first year that the engine was discontinued in Devilles and Fleetwoods after only the 1981 model year (it did manage to stick around in limos for another 4 years)
If it means anything, all these engines were products of the 1980's where Cadillac produced its worst products in the company's history.
3800, the 3800 is a good engine and despite it's "low tech" design and humble beginnings, it is really efficient despite it's size and power output. Pretty refined for an OHV engine as well, but this is an area where it's aging design shows. I don't think the 3800 would have been a good choice for the CTS, but as someone mentioned earlier, the Oldsmobile 3.5 liter DOHC engine would have been interesting. Mated to the CTS's 5 speed, I think it would not have the soft low end power problem the 3.2 does. And it certainly doesn't have the history of problems the Catera's 3.0 did. Nonetheless, this is all not worth debating because the CTS will be getting a totally new engine next yeat and that one will likely be far superior to the "shortstar.
As for the next generation Malibu starting life with the 3100, I haven't read this anywhere yet but if that is so, it is a little disappointing. But when you look at the base(and most common) engine in it's competitors, it's not that off the mark. They should however, use the 3400 rather than the 3100 for their stop gap.
For one, the Shortstar was based a little too closely on the 32V Northstar. What I mean is that the angle of the engine pistons was at 90 degress. That's perfect for a V8 engine, but a V6 engine will need balance shafts in order to make it run smoothly. And yes, the 3.2L engine has the same issue with a weird engine angle, but this engine is used in many more applications than the Shortstar.
Given the fact that the engine would need to see significant upgrades just to get it to pass emissions and its limited product use, it was an easy choice to kill.
The 6.0L V8 engine it was based on was a great engine. I had a 1980 Coupe Deville in college and you couldn't break that engine. But the variable displacement idea wouldn't be really practical until now. Cadillac probably could have gotten it working eventually, but they got so much bad press on this engine that they just abandonned the idea outright.
4 of the 8 cylinders will fire at cruising speed.
Should pull the trucks up to 23-25 mpg hwy.
This is a case of GM dropping the ball again.
The thought of cruising on the interstate at 70mph with 4 people in my Impala and getting 40-45 mpg boggles the imagination.
Thats a 700+ mile cruising range.
I think there is a pretty accurate rendering on cheersandgears.com.
http://www.cheersandgears.com/
Not sure if it would have worked with RWD, but it was mentioned in several articles a couple of years ago as the engine that would power the CTS so I'm guessing it would have been fine.
I got a jump from the parking lot attendant and the engine roared into life without a moment's hesitation. It had been SO DEAD the computer lost its memory, e.g., the fuel used started from zero after the jump. OnStar diagnostics revealed nothing out of the ordinary, and the battery voltage rose to about 13.6 by the time I finished my 25 mile commute. The clock had stopped running about four and a half hours after I parked the car in the morning, and, FYI, after the battery jump, the clock immediately reset to noon (or midnight, as the case may be).
So now I wait to see if the same thing will happen again tomorrow. Or at some future time. This is not a pleasant new-car experience.
To all... Has anyone tried out the Vogue Tyre dual exhaust or 18" rims? Please post your experience.
Thanks!
I saw the pic with the 18" Driv Mach5's on it... I'm now thinking 20's.
I had never raced before, so this was a completely new experience for me. I did a couple of ride-alongs to get a feel for it, one in a V8 Lincoln LS and one in a BMW 540i6. I must say, it feels A LOT faster when you're actually in the car than when you're watching the races from the sidelines.
For those who don't know, Solo2 is a competition held in a wide-open space (in this case, a parking lot) with cones marking a course that twists, turns, and allows for some short bursts of speed. Handling is more important than raw power in a straight line. Top speeds for me were about 60 MPH, all of it in first or second gear.
The CTS performed great, although my times weren't good, being a rookie driver. The winner of my class ran just under 60 seconds (in a Dodge Neon, so less!)
My times:
81.121 for the first run;
73.378 for the second run; and
73.133 for the third, and final, run.
The car handled amazingly. My fiancee took pictures of me, and I checked them out earlier to see what was up. Although the back end slid all over the place (even with traction control engaged: I ran runs both ways), the car exhibited very little body roll. Some other cars were actually driving around turns on three wheels. Not only did no tires leave the pavement, the suspension, even fully loaded, kept the car surprisingly even through turns. It slaloms well, does hard turns well, and I even drifted it through a 180-degree turn at the mid-point of the course (this cost me time, so it's not recommended).
And let me tell you, no car attracted as much attention. With as many people who came up and asked me about it, checked out the engine during tech inspection, thought it was beautiful, etc., Cadillac should sponsor me. They got a lot of good PR today. One woman even said she would call her father tonight and tell him to go buy a CTS. One guy commented "it's good to see a Cadillac racing." Some other guys were crawling around on the ground underneath it to check out the suspension. A few other guys (including an SCCA national champion) came over to admire it.
The race announcers also seemed to get a kick out of it. From their inital comment of the car being something no one had ever seen in G Stock (my class) before, to the second and thrid runs, where there were giving commentary on the car's entire race, they seemed hooked. Normally, your car might get acknowledged at the end of your run, and maybe at the beginning, but they were actually following the car's progress through the whole course. They ended the day by agreeing that this car would be very interesting to watch in the future. They think it has a lot of potential.
My next trip out will be to ckeck out some race tires, and wheels to mount them on. They can, supposedly, make a 5-10 second difference in times. This was the last race of the summer series, but there's talk of a winter series, and there's next year. I'm definitely looking forward to more CTS racing.
Here's a couple of pics my fiancee took. If anyone's interested, I can post more.
http://home.attbi.com/~madones/carturn.jpg
http://home.attbi.com/~madones/cartime.jpg
(I'm way on the right side, in the middle distance; I've just crossed the finish line, and the time you see is the one for my first run)
Some people go even higher to 44psi.
And as for Cadillac sponsoring you, too bad that they've just gotten out of racing for the time being. But if sales continue to grow, hopefully Cadillac will return to racing soon.
Speaking of sales, Cadillac is looking to surpass Mercedes this year as the number #3 sales volume luxury make. Cadillac might have a hard time holding onto that with the new CLK and E class bowing, but it's good to see that Cadillac's sales are increasing, rather than decreasing.
Open the glove compartment. Push and hold the TC (traction control) button for five seconds. Voila, no traction control, and no stabilitrak
See pages 4-9 and 4-10 of your owners manual.
Good luck on the track Necros.
Now, if someone can explain to me, in simple terms that a kindergardener can understand, how to add a via to my navigation system route, I would be very grateful.
Bingoman
I did pump my tires up to 40psi. I don't think I would have wanted to run the course with 30psi tires. And I actually bought some ultra high performance tires from TireRack last night. Seems no one actually makes DOT race tires in our size, so I got some of these: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Yokohama&tireModel=AVS+ES100
As far as sponsorship goes, I was joking. Although I do have a call in to a Cadillac marketing guy about some other issues, so who knows.
1. the trunk
2. the rear seat
3. the rear floor (for wagons)
The fact they couldn't locate this is unbelievable. Makes me think I should be writing car reviews if it weren't for the fact that I can't fit in most fun and interesting automobiles. :-)
Those shifter karts look like fun, but I don't think there's enough coffee in the world to get my reaction time up to where I could drive one.
If you can stand to slum with us Bimmer folk, we're doing an Auto-x at Bandimere Oct. 20. At the last event we got 7 runs.
J "CaddyLac"
I have seen quite a few G35s cruising around the near-west side/west loop of the city in recent days. I see at least one CTS every morning driving to the METRA train station in Hinsdale every morning. I have seen far more CTSs around, in the suburbs and city, but still not as many CTSs as one might expect. And yes, there are a LOT of CTS bilboards around...
Well, either Friday or Saturday I'm gonna have a hell of a grin on my face. In the meantime, my car awaits patiently for its owner at the dealership.
sweetjeldorado: I'll post some more tonight. They're all on my home computer, and I'm at work. I have some pretty decent ones of the CTS cornering, so you can see how it performs.
pmdriver2: Thanks for the advice. I'll drive without it, since the advice is coming straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak.
sevenfeet0: Congratulations! The wait is unbearable, but completely worth it.
http://home.attbi.com/~madones/cargrid.jpg (I'm the guy in the middle)
http://home.attbi.com/~madones/carstart.jpg
http://home.attbi.com/~madones/carturn2.jpg
http://home.attbi.com/~madones/carturn3.jpg
http://home.attbi.com/~madones/carturn4.jpg
Remember that even though it looks like the car isn't moving, I'm going 40-50 MPH in most of these shots (except the grid one, of course.
At any rate, at some point over the next few years, I hope to really have built-up a solid Cadillac owner's/enthusiast's global network type of thing. So yes, I hope to launch it in a few months, and realistically won't have it operating at "full steam" for an additional few months. Realistically, it's pretty far back in my to-do list, nevertheless, it is there.
No CTS sightings today...arghh...haha. No G35s either, quite a surprise.
(and i must say, one of the motivations for the website to begin with, was that "running my own company" would be an absolutely fantastic thing to put on college apps. sad to say that, but it's a pretty cut-throat world out there, and just having good/excellent ACT/SAT scores and an A- GPA isn't going to cut it for most highly-selective colleges.)
Brian
The main help I will need once it is operating is: someone in charge of the technical/design aspect (me), an administrative team (including advertising sales, and other finance aspects), writers/editorial team, legal counsel, and graphics people. As you can see, I am talking about a fairly large staff here. This is why, the full vision cannot be realized for a few years, and will have to begin as a one-man show as more volunteers pitch-in, until revenue reaches a point where salaried positions become an option....
And for those of you who don't think you can, for the beginning at least, pull a professional, all volunteer editorial team out of thin air, you definitely can (we did it at C&G, and I'm sure it can be duplicated).
In all actuality, I tend not to think of this as a "web only" thing, though. In my true vision it will be a supplementary thing to GM and the normal Cadillac dealer network. I can't go into specifics, or mention any more than that without violating the TH rules.
Any questions, suggestions, offers of help, whatever: continue the conversation via e-mail.
And that's all I am allowed to say, and will say for the time being...
You took action to prove what I believe most of us know, the CTS is a drivers car. It was fun, wasn't it? I have no doubt, all of the regulars on the board are proud of your accomplishment and wish they were there to see it (or to drive it). Your pic's are great, be sure to take more at your next event.
Dindak -
Saw my first "Red CTS" about two weeks ago. Since I had four Red Caddy's in a row, I must say Red Rules. Just don't tell my wife that I like any color other than her Diamond White.
Sevenfeet0 -
Necros is right, the wait is worth it. We'll all be waiting to hear from you next week.
Took the CTS out to the country one night this week. I got caught behind a Camry driver driving 5 to 10 mph below the limit. First time I hit a passing zone, I kicked it down and went around him like he was standing still. It seemed to tick him off and he came after me. Needless to say, when I hit 95, the Camry was left in the dust.
The CTS doesn't have the horsepower that my Corvette had, but there is a feeling I can't explain. It's a feeling of being in control, driving a car that was engineered for speed, handing and fun. Now if someone could tell me how to get the navigation system to work properly, I'd really be happy.
Rich
Also, what do you and others think about this here?
http://media.gm.com/news/releases/021002_bondurant.html
J "CaddyLac"
J "CaddyLac"
http://www.rmcbmwcca.org/autocross.htm
They lump all the non-BMW's into either a "street" or "race" class, so you'd be classed with a rather interesting spectrum of vehicles - everything from a Civic to an IS00.
Necros - Sorry for the misspelling of your ID. Sometimes I type faster than I think.
Rich