CTS-V blog

[kevm14]

It's half sad and half amusing that when I typically let this car sit, when I finally do drive it, it's like I get to review it each time. That keeps it interesting.

Yesterday's activities:
In the morning, there's an onramp that goes pretty hard right, then left then right onto the highway. Yesterday I decided to enable Competitive Driving Mode to get some slip angle and rotate the car. In fact I'd say you can't pull over 1G without doing so, which seems acceptable. That was enough to get my right-turn G meter peak back up to 1.07. Remember, I accidentally reset it from the peaks I established at The Dragon in 2011, and it was at like 0.98 <-> 0.98 (both sides) before yesterday morning, which just won't do. So that was cool.

After work, I went to Shell to get gas. As I am filling, this car pulls up and this black dude was like "hey! Nice car!" He was driving a black CTS-V of my generation. He was like "fast, right?" Then he said there aren't too many of these around...so he said all the applicable things. Anyway, that was cool.

Today:
Same deal, turned on Competitive Driving Mode and attacked the ramp. This time, some Audi was behind me so I pushed it even harder. I got my G peaks up to 1.10 <-> 1.01 (1.10 to the right and 1.01 to the left), which is making progress. He continued to follow me until we connected with the next road. I never get this ramp to myself and it's a nice long one, where 55-60 mph is pushing it (I could probably touch 70 on exit but not sure). At the end of the ramp, you merge onto another road that actually starts right there, and the Audi had caught up to me. So I put it in 3rd and started to roll on the throttle to pass the stupid CR-V that ruined the ramp for me. He was still right there, so I just put it to the floor and wound out 3rd, and then hit 4th. I steadily put car lengths on him.

Later on when we got into town, I was able to scrutinize the car in my rear view. It was either an A5 or S5. I guess I wouldn't be surprised if the A5 was as fast as my CTS-V but I really don't know without looking things up. It may have been an S (had some grill emblem I think). But that has to be faster, no? To the internets!

Handling comment:
The suspension on this car continues to impress me. Damping is good, body control is good, and it keeps the tires on the ground even on crappy surfaces or bumps. I also like the progressive way in which the car rotates as you apply throttle in a corner. Traditional American cars known for "handling" don't typically have this kind of sophistication (the LX cars still don't). Unlike the Corvette (and in the European tradition), it does allow some body roll so you can feel what's going on.

Brakes:
Still excellent. Great pedal feel and modulation, especially with the stainless braided hoses. Get a little heat into the Hawk HPS pads and it is very impressive. Still don't know how this compares to stock, at least not in my personal experience.

Powertrain:
Obviously the LS6 is a great engine but I will never really get over the soggy throttle response (compared to expectations). This can be improved with mods of course. The general drivability, power and sound seems to keep me content enough. Hell the fuel economy isn't half bad, either.

General comment:
I've driven this car every single day this week, which is quite uncommon. I have noted that each day I get progressively more bold, and by the 4th I'm potentially getting into a bit of trouble. And then there's this morning, which was awesome. So that's something.

Oh, when I filled up yesterday I naturally reset my DIC before driving home from the gas station. When I pulled out this morning, the DIC said like 19.5 or something. When I pulled into my parking spot this morning (after the "activities") it still said like 19.2 which is impressive.