Posted on 10/24/2014 12:13:24 PM PDT by all the best
Mourn with me.
Cadillac Cadillac! no longer sells a single car powered by a V-8 engine. Or such will be the case in about two months, when 2014 fades to 2015. Come Jan. 1, all new Cadillac cars will be powered by fours or sixes. Some will be turbocharged. But none will larger than 3.6 liters.
The last of the V-8 Caddys the (very) limited production CTS-V sedan/wagon is being retired. There appears to be a replacement on deck for 2016, but the continued politically viability of V-8 engines within the system (so to speak) is shaky. Not because people dont want the power. But because government demands economy creating an impossible Catch 22 situation.
The 6.2 liter V-8 in the current (2014) CTS-V produces 556 magnificent horsepower more horsepower than any 60s-era muscle car (including the halod Chrysler 426 Street Hemi). But its Achilles Heel in this misbegotten age in which government bureaucrats and political hacks decree car design via regulatory edicts as opposed to the freely expressed wishes of the people who buy the cars is its hunger for fuel. The CTS-Vs EPA mileage stats are the modern-day equivalent of a racist joke caught on mike: 14 city, 19 highway.conan pic
Hear the lamentations of the women.
And so, GM like every other automaker is scrambling to apologize for its sins atonement coming in the form of much smaller (but ironically only slightly more economical) not-V-8s such as the 3.6 liter V-6 that will be the mainstay powerplant in future Cadillac V (high-performance) vehicles.
Instead of 556 hp, 420 hp. But hey, 21 city and 31 highway will be your reward. Is it a fair exchange? The loss of 136 hp, two cylinders and 2.6 liters worth of engine in exchange for a 7 MPG uptick in city driving and 12 on the highway?
The “bail out” clause.
It’s in there.
Atomic transmissions. Guaranteed to blow up eventually.
Pretty much. I will give the big ones credit though (C6/TH400/747) they can handle fairly big power stock and are pretty rugged when built, but they will go poof before the equiv. crashbox even when built.
That said...They are actually preferred in off-road racing because the driveline shock is constant with the constantly spinning tires and jumps. It actually feels like a hammer in the back with the Pro/Trophy trucks (450-750HP depending) as they lose/grab traction and its like that for hundreds of miles. But they are -totally- maxed trannies with all the exotic stuff inside and at the end of a 500 mile race or especially the Baja 1000, there’s nothing inside them salvagable. You can smell them coming. Just fried.
IF they make it. Tranny swaps mid race are common.
Edit 727 Torque-Flite
“CE”?
Christ’s Era. Did I get that correct?
I've said this before, but one thing that has always impressed my about the "hybrid technology" is not the total hybrid vehicle itself, but rather the fact that they have replaced the transmission with an electric drive motor.
Why wouldn't a performance vehicle benefit from the massive torque and indestructibility of powerful electric motors driving the wheels with the power being delivered by the high-output engine?
“Christs Era. Did I get that correct?”
Nope.
BC = BCE (Before Common Era)
AD = CE (Common Era)
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