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 don’t 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 halo’d 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-V’s 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?
Can’t remember. Think it did. That was a terror either way. Absolute giantkiller. The 400 that never made it here was brutal as well. the Canucks got a few but they were unregisterable here. And the v4 500. God take me now...
Thats the variable valve timing/VTEC stuff. It’s like a cam swap basically when it comes in.
“Some of these 4’s are breathing better than big block V8 engines when they are at full boost.”
A few years ago (may still be true)the most powerful crate engine you could buy was a twin turbo 4cyl that developed 1050 hp. (I can’t imagine the sound.)
Mine is about 390 hp and it will flat go.. love it.
Exactly, and I love it. I love the new turbo motors everybody is shipping too, but I love the simplicity of the VTECH (funny, cam phasing is simplicity nowadays, it used to be rocket science to do it at Honda reliability levels).
The VTECH tech also allows better gas mileage if I don’t have the need, the need for speed.
Most turbos transition to boost so smoothly now, most people can’t tell they are driving a turbo. Unlike my old 2.2L Turbo I, my second car ever. It was like someone lit off rocket engines at about 1800RPM :)
I think the tweaks you are referring to are for fuel ecojomy not to keep it from breaking
Heh... I test drove the Omni GLHS Turbo when it came out.
Websters really needs a pic of that car next to the word “Abrupt.”
Awesome little ‘econobox’ though. RIP Carrol.
I love your tag line. I have an 03 Mach1 Mustang. It ain’t a Cobra but I like it a lot.
The RZ350 was a better bike in almost every way that the RZ500. We got those here in Canada, and while they were cool as heck in theory, they weren’t really all that fast, and didn’t handle all that well.
Apparently the RD350LC became the RZ350 in north America when they added the YPVS.
Love me a two-stroke, just for the sound, the smell, the powerband. Modern 4-stroke bike are better in almost every way (although relatively heavy), but they just don’t excite in quite the same way.
You know what GLH stands for, right? “Goes like hell”, and “GLHS”? “Goes like hell somemore”, LOL.
Yup. A 2 stroke is just a whole different ‘thing’.
Canuck? You had a crack at that 400 and didn’t!!! ARGH!!! I hate you ;) I remember reading back then that the 500 was supposedly a bit of a pig, but I just can’t figure how. That engine should have been good for stupid power with a few tweaks/pipes/carb. The handling though I dunno. But it was Star Trek lookingdesign for the era. The FZ later took some of the style ques but it was a whole different bike.
And it did! Scared me at first. Couldn’t believe it was a 4!
Wait a sec...Stupid memory fault. The 400 I’m thinking of wasnt one of the D\RD/RZ bikes. It was that era but it was a 4 stroke. It had the look of the RZ500 though. does that ring a bell? Same years...84/5 IIRC.
and the banana seat and inflexable frame,the RD350
Was perfect
FZR 400, maybe? It looked quite similar to the FZR 600, but had an aluminum frame, and nearly as much power as the 600. Very popular for club racing and such.
I roomed with a guy on a co-op work term who saved his money and bought a nice used RZ500 for his first bike (I was too much of a spendthrift at that age to save enough for a bike). Needless to say, he dumped it with cold tires on some sand in his neighbourhood within a week of getting it.
OK, the FZR didn’t come out until ‘86, but before that was the FZ400. I don’t know much about it, though.
Exactly, and I love it. I love the new turbo motors everybody is shipping too, but I love the simplicity of the VTECH (funny, cam phasing is simplicity nowadays, it used to be rocket science to do it at Honda reliability levels).
The VTECH tech also allows better gas mileage if I don’t have the need, the need for speed.
Most turbos transition to boost so smoothly now, most people can’t tell they are driving a turbo. Unlike my old 2.2L Turbo I, my second car ever. It was like someone lit off rocket engines at about 1800RPM :)
Interesting double post. I thought I hadn’t posted it, but it had posted, and sent me to the editor, go figure. Or maybe it was a cat on the keyboard whilst I was dining.
Ah yes. I dreamed of having a GLHS :) Still I have this wicked idea of grabbing one out of a junkyard and turning it into one...
There were kits in the early 90’s where supposedly you get could squeeze 500hp out of the 2.2L. Never saw one myself, but I have since read about that drag car, “Relentless”. A reliant-K with its interior stripped out, and gobs of turbocharging. The guy would just run one motor till it blew, then go junkyard shopping for a “new” 2.2L to drop in... car was seriously fast, and intimidating too. It can be seen on youtube, I think. And some of those videos showed it running 8’s, killing serious supras :)
Which part was tricky
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