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Lol too funny with with your buddies Ats. I am sure he is much happier with the V. That LX is no slouch for sure, my buddy started driving it on the interstate pretty aggressively and it was pretty quick. It would have been great to get some drinks with you over in Dallas, maybe next time, or better yet bring your GT3 up here in the Dakotas and I can take you through some awesome roads through the black hills! d1rtyc4r the denali was a great truck! However I just was not using it to its potential and it was becoming a pain to daily drive it around town. I much prefer a fast fun car to daily if I can. I ended up buying a $4k TJ Wrangler and have a utility trailer to tow with it as my utility "truck" and deep snow driving. Its funny I just saw my truck on the dealer website and they lifted it and put huge wheels on it and now charging $75k lol. I'll post a picture below. As far as the ATS V, I took it into the dealer yesterday to get the screen fixed and they said the part should be here today so that is a plus!
Yeah, he loves the V much more than the 2.0T for obvious reasons. Let me know next time you're in DFW and I'll do the same if I head up to the Dakotas. It's on my bucket list actually.
Glad you're enjoying the V between the drag strip and taking it on trails, etc. haha! Nice looking truck, but I'm sure the V is a lot more enjoyable DD. Sometimes I want to get rid of the LX and get a more fun DD, but I use the LX too much towing the boat, dragging crap around, hauling the dogs, bad weather, etc. It's pretty versatile.
Yes the V has been a great dd thus far. My biggest complaint is it being black. I can't keep the thing clean for the life of me lol. I am thinking of getting some good wax to put on her maybe Zaino? Anyone have good recommendations on putting a good coating on a black car? I wonder how the V feels compared to the new SS camaro. The LX seems to be an awesome road warrior for my friend. Its certainly comfortable but man is it huge to drive around town, similar to the duramax I had. One good thing about the LX is they seem to be holding there value pretty well still so if you ever decide to sell it won't be too bad (Trade her in for a Trailhawk lol)
Yes the V has been a great dd thus far. My biggest complaint is it being black. I can't keep the thing clean for the life of me lol. I am thinking of getting some good wax to put on her maybe Zaino? Anyone have good recommendations on putting a good coating on a black car? I wonder how the V feels compared to the new SS camaro. The LX seems to be an awesome road warrior for my friend. Its certainly comfortable but man is it huge to drive around town, similar to the duramax I had. One good thing about the LX is they seem to be holding there value pretty well still so if you ever decide to sell it won't be too bad (Trade her in for a Trailhawk lol)
Black is a great color, but it is a huge pain to keep clean. I've only had a few black vehicles. LX is comfy, well-made, and very capable, but it's definitely a big boat. Love the Trackhawk, but definitely not going to get one. Too scared of the depreciation. haha.
Having some seat time in an ATS-V sedan automatic, the differences between it and the Camaro SS are obviously engine (similar acceleration though), interior visibility is way better in the V, but honestly the SS isn't that bad. Just a different bunker feel. haha. V has a real back seat, only small people can fit in the SS in the back. Interior quality is better in the V, but maybe more stylish in the SS. V is more practical.
We paid low 40's for our loaded SS. If we had a chance to get a new V sedan automatic for high 40's, we probably would have bought the V. We test drove one and my wife really liked it, but not enough to justify the $70k purchase price. I concurred as we had a lot of fun driving the SS and figured we'd save almost $30k for similar hardware but the LT1 engine (which I'm a sucker for that engine sound).
I concur with the engine note of the LT1, I rented a C7 last year and that engine just sounded nasty! Which makes me wonder if the ATS would be more popular if it had that motor in it over the LF4. Speaking of Camaro, apparently there is a Camaro rally going on here starting tomorrow, I may have to check it out.
Another funny short story. Went to the Cadillac V Performance Lab at COTA in Austin where I got to flog the ATS-V and CTS-V a few months back. One of the events was Q&A during lunch. They had Johnny O'Connell, another younger Caddy racing guy, some Brembo rep, and the V Chief Engineer (Tony Roma) up at the front to answer questions. So, I thought for a bit and raised my hand and they brought the microphone over to me when it was my turn. I asked a two part question, "Is there any plans for a small block variant of the ATS and secondly are there any plans to put the new 10-speed automatic that is going into the Camaro ZL1 into either the ATS-V or CTS-V?"
Tony Roma laughed and asked if I was a plant for one of the magazines. The whole crowd laughed too and then he answered. He said there was no plans for a small block ATS as they are happy with the LF4 engine. It was designed to meet the market criteria for a sophisticated sports sedan to compete with it's competitive set, blah, blah, blah... So, typical corporate speak. Then on the 10-speed he said there was no "current" plans for the 10-speed in the V models but admitted the new 10-speed is definitely a next-gen transmission over the 8-speed and he had a chance to test it in the Camaro, etc.
Tony seemed like a nice guy. I even helped defend him after the Q&A when he was just standing around in a small group and a guy came up and asked why they only put a slushbox 8-speed in the CTS-V when the BMW M5 had a dual clutch. Tony said they did it for low-speed driveability and the actual full throttle upshift speed was a touch faster than the dual clutch in the M5. I chimed in and said I had driven an F10 M5 and definitely agreed on the low-speed driveabillity through a parking lot. The dual-clutch was a bit lurchy and you can feel the clutch coupling and decoupling. It's a bit annoying. Tony nodded and said that was one of their reasons (of course, one of the unspoken reasons was money and development costs obviously on GM doing their own dual-clutch...)
The whole event was awesome and they even had a timed autocross course event in the ATS-V and out of the 100 participants, I set the fastest timed lap, even beating the instructor reference laps. I was proud about that and they said the overall winner would win something really nice. You know what it was? A Cadillac water bottle. haha. Oh well, I was hoping it was a $10k gift certificate towards a V or something. They did give every participant cool swag including a really nice Cadillac racing helmet which was awesome. Since I already had a CF Simpson racing helmet, I asked if they could switch the size to my wife so she could get a helmet of her own. They gladly did that. Definitely recommend attending for anyone interested.
Another funny short story. Went to the Cadillac V Performance Lab at COTA in Austin where I got to flog the ATS-V and CTS-V a few months back. One of the events was Q&A during lunch. They had Johnny O'Connell, another younger Caddy racing guy, some Brembo rep, and the V Chief Engineer (Tony Roma) up at the front to answer questions. So, I thought for a bit and raised my hand and they brought the microphone over to me when it was my turn. I asked a two part question, "Is there any plans for a small block variant of the ATS and secondly are there any plans to put the new 10-speed automatic that is going into the Camaro ZL1 into either the ATS-V or CTS-V?"
Tony Roma laughed and asked if I was a plant for one of the magazines. The whole crowd laughed too and then he answered. He said there was no plans for a small block ATS as they are happy with the LF4 engine. It was designed to meet the market criteria for a sophisticated sports sedan to compete with it's competitive set, blah, blah, blah... So, typical corporate speak. Then on the 10-speed he said there was no "current" plans for the 10-speed in the V models but admitted the new 10-speed is definitely a next-gen transmission over the 8-speed and he had a chance to test it in the Camaro, etc.
Tony seemed like a nice guy. I even helped defend him after the Q&A when he was just standing around in a small group and a guy came up and asked why they only put a slushbox 8-speed in the CTS-V when the BMW M5 had a dual clutch. Tony said they did it for low-speed driveability and the actual full throttle upshift speed was a touch faster than the dual clutch in the M5. I chimed in and said I had driven an F10 M5 and definitely agreed on the low-speed driveabillity through a parking lot. The dual-clutch was a bit lurchy and you can feel the clutch coupling and decoupling. It's a bit annoying. Tony nodded and said that was one of their reasons (of course, one of the unspoken reasons was money and development costs obviously on GM doing their own dual-clutch...)
The whole event was awesome and they even had a timed autocross course event in the ATS-V and out of the 100 participants, I set the fastest timed lap, even beating the instructor reference laps. I was proud about that and they said the overall winner would win something really nice. You know what it was? A Cadillac water bottle. haha. Oh well, I was hoping it was a $10k gift certificate towards a V or something. They did give every participant cool swag including a really nice Cadillac racing helmet which was awesome. Since I already had a CF Simpson racing helmet, I asked if they could switch the size to my wife so she could get a helmet of her own. They gladly did that. Definitely recommend attending for anyone interested.
Definitely very cool, and the helmet is a nice add! I also feels like this gives you leverage for getting warranty issues approved if you ever track it. Hard for the manufacturer to say tracking is unauthorized abuse if every owner gets a free track event with purchase.
Ya I wish I had time to go to one of those events. Sounds like a blast. If Gm backs up there cars even during racing breakdowns that would be pretty awesome.
GM has been good with covering warranty repairs for stock cars that are tracked (but not actual real racing obviously). I've had zero issues with all of my Corvettes. The big dealer I go to actually loves that I track the ZR1. They like me a lot more than the waxer guys who bring in their Vettes and complain about a microscopic paint chip, etc.
Well I went on a another road trip with the car this time To Las Vegas. So far I have over 4000 miles on her and I still love her. I went with my friends and we rented a 458 Italia for the day and ran both cars through red rock canyon and mt Charleston. Both were excellent in the setting. Having both cars at our disposal and being dumb makes we did do s couple of pulls against each other and I am happy to say that the Atsv was pulling on the Ferrari up until 100mph and The Ferrari gained ever so slightly.. Mighty impressed by this car! Well here are some more pictures of our trip as we are still in Vegas. I did see three awesome s2ks driving around, one being white with green volks I think.
06-20-2017, 12:13 PM
Let me know next time you're in DFW and I'll do the same if I head up to the Dakotas. It's on my bucket list actually.
