Yesterday evening, my Wife, the Fairest Sandra the Red, took delivery of our ATS-V at Bunnin Cadillac. I "was allowed"
: to drive it only if I took her out to dinner. Can't argue with that.
The run down to Brophy Brothers Resturant and Clam Bar, an iconic eatery at Santa Barbara Harbor, was easy driving on the freeway so I didn't have a chance to so any sporting driving, besides, I drive these cars sort of easy for the first 500 miles. But, just crusing on the freeway, I can tell this car has the really excellent chassis worthy of all the rave reviews it's been getting from the mainstream road test media. The car's steering is precise and super responsive. The car's structure feels solid like it was machined from a billet. The ride is comfortable but I could, also, feel just a little of the high-frequency "almost-harshness" I'd expect from a stiff suspension damped with MagneRide shocks. I've felt the same thing from my '12 Corvette Z06.
Sticking with my 500-easy-miles rule, I didn't really get my foot into the 3.6L TTV6, but even at part throttle, I can tell, the engine wants to run hard. At 500-miles, I'll change the oil filter then, take it out onto US101 headed towards Gaviota and hammer that sumbitch.
ocker:
The car's exterior...I really like Cadillac's current exterior design theme. The car has a look of "sophisticated-bad-assedness". The car's CF hood has a vent in it like the C7 Vette and the Camaro ZL-1. I like that the vent is painted body color–ours is Crystal White Tricoat–rather than being gray or black. For 2016 Cadillac changed its front grille badge and the new design looks really cool. The quad-exhaust out the back is very cool. The stock wheels and red brake calipers are quite the eye candy.
As for the interior, the car is super quiet inside–perhaps, too quiet, sometimes, but I'll get used to that–maybe.
As for the Cadillac User Experience (CUE) system, Cadillac's telematics suite which has become somewhat controversial amongst the automotive press, looking at the 117-page manual for just the CUE system, alone, I think I have some "homework":frown: to do. My Wife, who's, for the most part, not a technogeeky type, received an orientation session about the system at Bunnin Cadillac. She came home saying all the capabilities and operational instructions are a bit overwhelming. My hope is, once she gets a bit more seat time and reads the manual a bit more, it won't be so overwhelming.
Last week, I had a 2015 Corvette on a media loan. It's interesting to compare Chevrolet and Cadillac's view of what telematics systems should be. The two cars were priced about the same. They are both oriented to performance-street or track driving. Both are marketed to similar age groups. Both have "edgy" exterior designs.
The Corvette's telematics system still has knobs for audio volume, station selection and HVAC temperature. Cadillac chooses to have everything controlled by the touch screen in the centerstack. At this point, I think I prefer Corvette's approach but, I'll make a final judgement once I better understand what CUE can do and how it works. It would be interesting to get the people in Chevrolet and Cadillac who make decisions about interior design and interview them as to how they arrived at the form of the Vette's and the ATS-V's user interfaces.
How was the Cadillac purchase experience?
Well, I can't say enough good things about the people at Bunnin Chevrolet/Cadillac. My initial contact there was Juan Miller who handles all the special-ordered cars. Juan did a fantastic job on helping me get the car ordered and keeping me up-to-date on the car's very long delivery time. Val Hurt, Bunnin's Finance Manager made getting our financing and insurance issues squared-away quickly and easily. I already have an excellent relationship with Bunnin's Service Department, though my work with them on our 12 Corvette Z06. If I need service help, I know I'll get the best. I'm looking forward to my continued relationship with the folks at Bunnin Chevrolet/Cadillac.
As for Cadillac's role in getting the car odered, built and delivered, well...I'm not so pleased. For one thing, I wish Cadillac had less option packages and more stand-alone RPOs. I'd have liked to be able to order the uplevel headlamps and the security package as separate items. As it was, I passed on both as they were part of larger and much more expensive option packages.
The other problem was the car sat for two months before it was shipped. It was at the assembly plant in Lansing from 21 July, when it was built, until 18 August when it was hauled over to a nearby rail terminal in Charlotte MI. Then, it sat in Charlotte for nearly another month until it shipped out by rail on 15 September.
No reasons were given as to why the car was held up for two months. I think Cadillac can do better–at least communicate with the owner's better than just telling thier dealers' the car's "event description". In cases were there's some kind of hold up due to quality control, recalls or shortages of rail cars, people who've plucked down big deposits for special order cars need to be better served by Cadillac.
I'm a big one to personalize my cars so, expectedly, I have some aftermarket stuff I'm going to install. First are some interior pieces from the good folks at MacNeil Automotive Products Limited's WeatherTech brand. I've used their products for many years. All WeatherTech productds are well-designed and durable.
We're going to install a set of WeatherTech "Floorliners" in the front and rear floors of the car. Floorliners have been around for over a decade. In fact, I have a set of them in my 1999 Blazer which have been in service for a dozen years. The WeatherTech[SUP]®[/SUP] FloorLiner[SUP]™[/SUP] DigitalFit[SUP]®[/SUP] accurately and completely lines the carpet in a car's footwells giving absolute protection. A FloorLiner lines the interior carpet up the front, back and even up the sides of the footwell. Digital laser measurement of interior surfaces during productd development ensure a perfect fit.
FloorLiners are made from a high-density "Tri-Extruded" material with allows for a rigid core for strength while offering surface friction to the carpet, as well as tactile feel to the surface. An advanced surface design has channels which carry fluids and debris to a lower reservoir with further channeling to help minimize fluid movement while driving. Once fluids become trapped in the reservoir, away from shoes and clothing, they are easily removed from the FloorLiner over the door sill. When it needs a full cleaning, you simply remove it, hose it off and reinstall. No muss-no fuss!
We are, also, going to put a WeatherTech "Cargo Liner" in the trunk. Cargo Liners provide complete trunk protection. Like the FloorLiner, they are digitally designed to fit each applciation specifically and feature a raised lip to keep spills, dirt and grease off the trunk floow. Made from a proprietary TPE material, which is not only wear resistant, but remains flexible under temperature extremes, Cargo Liners feature a textured finish which helps to keep cargo from shifting. Perfect for hauling just about anything from gardening supplies to construction materials, even the family pet. Cargo Liners meet FMVSS302 standards.
FloorLiners and Cargo Liners are designed, engineered and manufactured with American made tooling in the USA. They are Available for ATS-Vs in Black, Tan or Grey.
Finally, we'll add WeatherTech "LampGard" headlight protection fllm on both the ATS-V's headlamps. LampGards are designed to fit vehicle headlamps, fog lamps and turn indicators. LampGard is an durable, 40 mil. thick, polished urethane material which is optically-clear and adhesive-backed and is applied directly to the headlamp surface. This product has ultraviolet inhibitors that help prevent the material from drying, hardening or discoloring. LampGards are specific to each vehicle for a precise, perfect fit with no cutting or trimming required.
At the first oil change, I'm going to begin using a premium, synthetic oil from Driven Racing Oil. LS30 is an mPAO-based, 5W30 synthetic which was developed by the oil and lubricants division of Joe Gibbs Racing. We used Driven LS30 in the engine of my Wife's last car, a Chevy HHR with a modified 2.4L DOHC four-cylinder engine. We did spectrographic oil analysis at every oil filter change and every oil change for a couple of years and Driven LS30, which uses an mPAO base-stock developed by Exxon-Mobil several years ago, has proven to be an outstanding choice for perfomance, protection and durablity.
The other items I may add in the near future, once they become available, are a Green Filter and a set of colder Denso Iridium Power spark plugs.
For now, it's back to my iPad to read a .pdf of the car's three manuals, the ATS-V Owner's Manual, the CUE Manual and the Personalization Manual.
Tomorrow I get to drive that sucker some more.
I'm trying to think of a name for it....
Little-V
Little Turbo V
V-Little
Mini-V
White-Hot
V-White
White-V
...are ideas I had.
Let me know what you think!
