JJS04

I'm trying to pick up an '09 V. Found one near home and went today to check it out. Long story short it runs like a raped ape. I still cannot believe how that car pulls. Unbelievable.
As far as the condition of this particular car I wasn't impressed. All four wheels were curbed, change engine oil light was on and the oil was filthy, and the previous owner enjoyed his cigarettes, and definitely wasn't a clean freak as myself.
The numbers that we came up with weren't good enough to convince me to bring it home.

derekguzz

sucks ! some people are just filthy monkeys !

JJS04

NYC6

About 2 months ago the wife and I were shopping a new car for her. Went to the dealer to test drive the CTS. We had it out running through the paces for about 20-30 minutes. Got back and told him we didnt like the rock hard seats in the car. Worse than the Vettes I thought. He had a new CTS-V there and was trying to convince me to takes it for long drive. It has Recaros hes saying over and over. We didnt have the time that day to drive it. Maybe we'll go back to take it out for a blast.

JJS04

I highly suggest it!
This particular V did not have the Recaros so I cannot vouch for them. The base seats felts fine though. My test drive was only about 10 minutes. I think that the salesman thought that I'd walk in, smash the gas, and sign on the dotted line. Not gonna happen when the seller (dealership) has taken no pride in their product (see my above post concerning vehicle's condition).

03clyde

Much less the obvious clues as to the lack of pride demonstrated by the previous owner.

JJS04

Yes, very good point. And by the dealer not detailing and servicing this vehicle properly the lack of pride stood out.

EVIL_C5

I drove one today, which was a huge mistake.....I wanted one before, but now im trying to figure out how to sell blood, plasma, and organs to get one....

took 68ragto69's 09 V to the track for the 1st time...bone stock.
I made a pass, and wow. from 80-120, the car pulls hard!
Wayne managed a 12.33@118 for his 1st pass ever down the 1/4....very impressive!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXAgK29pUHU

Dave68

This is why I recommend buying used from a private seller UNLESS the dealership has full maintenance records for the vehicle you are interested in. Chances are that the original owner of the car you drove never changed the oil, oil filter or any other maintenance item. Most dealerships will change all fluids and detail a used car before putting it up for sale but that won't fix years of maintenance neglect.

If I am interested in a private car, I quiz the owner by email, first. If his or her answers are what I am looking for and pictures are clear and numerous, I arrange a test drive. I weed out many "maintenance neglectors" by email so that my time is not wasted.

If everything checks out with a test drive, I may have the car thoroughly inspected, depending upon the price, age and mileage of the vehicle.

And don't toss out a salvage vehicle, automatically. This is especially good advice if the price is low and you would pay cash. (insurance companies may not insure for full coverage if a loan is used to purchase the vehicle.) Many had minimal damage and were partially-painted, so have the repair work inspected by a good auto body shop.

It is very important to have a salvage title vehicle inspected meticulously, as there may be some flood-damaged ones out there.

Bucknut2006

Just got a 2011 coupe and love it. The base seats are OK but the ones in a C6 are better. However I think the Recaros, which I have, are the best ever in a GM car.

RUGBY

All things considered (don't care about number of seats, etc...) looking at a weekend warrior, no track days. Would you go from a C6Z to a CTS-V?

JerriVette

I enjoyed the CTS V coupe and sedan at monticello raceway. ....Great vehicle and even more comfortable on the street than the vette...

for a weekend toy? I believe the corvette and corvette Z06 would be the better choice...but for a daily driver? no question the CTS V sedan or my preference..the stunning new CTS V coupe would be the better choice...

A little more comfortable...A little easier to get in and out... nice growl and a great way to get around all week....


that said...as a weekend toy? The vette still is in my opinion the better choice..

just more of a race car like driving experience..

JJS04

Yeah, I'm itching for one big time as well.

Great pass! The car is a monster. Never stops pulling!


This was one of the least expensive CTS Vs around but now I know why. You definitely get what you pay for.

If I can find one with the Recaros in my price range I would definitely like to have them.

I've never driven a C6Z so I can't comment. A sedan is a must for me due to me hauling my offspring around with me.

If I didn't have kids most likely I too would choose a C6Z over the V. But still it would be a toss up for me. I really enjoyed climbing into a comfortable sedan with an auto tranny and then just mashing the go pedal and holding on for dear life.

LDB

I had three Vettes as daily drivers for nearly 20 years, and have now evolved into a CTSV coupe for my daily driver role. Vette and CTSV both give blistering performance and American made pride. The choice ultimately depends on what you are after. The CTSV wins on comfort, while the Vettes win on hard core sports car looks/performance. I have to be careful with this next statement, so don’t start screaming “no way” at least until you read the whole post. I think that in any realistic measure of absolute scores, the difference in comfort is much, much larger than the difference in looks/performance. CTSV is very close in looks/performance, and even wins in some performance categories against some versions of the Vette. But in comfort, the CTSV wins by a blow-away landslide. Having said that, it does not necessarily mean the CTSV is better. If you put a high weighting factor on ultimate looks/performance, and are ok with the mediocre level of comfort that the Vette provides, then the Vette is the right choice for you, just as it was for me for nearly 20 years.

The specific aspect of Vette performance that finally got to me after those 20 years was tire noise. I was ok with the stiff ride, difficult entry/exit, and mediocre quality of interior fittings. After all, those are part of the sports car experience. But I just got tired of the drone of road noise interfering with sound system and/or conversation. By comparison, the CTSV is super quiet. Oddly enough, it has a bit more engine noise under hard acceleration, but that’s ok. There is dramatically less cruising road noise. And as bonus comfort factors, the ride is much less harsh, entry/exit are easier, and interior fittings are top notch. To gain those advantages, I gave up some ground on the hard core sports car experience. Could a Z06 beat me on a race track? Probably. But the difference is so small that a somewhat better CTSV driver could easily take a somewhat poorer Z06 driver. I can live with that in return for the comfort advantages. You may or may not feel that’s a good trade off. That’s what’s nice about a free country. You can make your own assessments and choices.

Dave68

A note about tire noise:

Not only are there are fairly significant differences among the many tire brands and models, but also among the same models as they age. Some people don't care for Consumer Reports but they are one of the few publications that actually measure tire noise. They and I have found that the Goodyear GSD3s, for example are quieter than most other ultra high performance tires and last longer as well. The BF Goodrich KD2s are noisier than most. However, as mentioned, a quieter tire may become noisier over time and with infrequent tire rotation schedules (if all tires are the same size, of course).

I just thought I'd throw this out because often it's the road noise that is so different between luxyry and sports cars. Then again, that 4400 lb CTS-V cannot come close to the fuel mileage a 3100 lb vehicle like a Z06 will achieve during qual driving conditions and speeds. Having both vehicles is best, IMO, along with an economical and super-light vehicle for having fun in the city.

LDB

In my 20 years of Vettes, I had a variety of Goodyear and Michelin, normal and run flat tires, though I admit that I never had GSD3 Goodyears. In general, all of them were tolerable (not good, mind you, but at least tolerable) on noise when new. But most of the time, I replaced tires for getting too noisy as they aged, not for lack of tread depth. Michelins tended to be better on noise, especially the non run flats. I ran most of those sets to about 3 or 4 mm tread remaining. I replaced most Goodyears with at least 5 mm remaining. As I aged and my hearing loss worsened (the hearing loss was from industrial causes, not Vette tire noise, the Vettes aren’t that noisy) it got to the point that conversations were nearly impossible for me at freeway speed unless on brand new, quiet, asphalt pavement with reasonably new tires. With so many potential Vette owners in the 50+ year old range in order to afford them, and with many people in that age range suffering from at least some hearing loss, the road noise issue is one that in my opinion, the C7 design engineers should pay a lot of attention to. Orrrrrrr, perhaps the GM strategy is to hope that such people, like I did, will stay in the GM fold by switching to CTSV when the Vette road noise problem finally gets to them.

Dave68

I'm in the same boat, age and hearing loss-wise but have gone through one and a half sets of GSD3s without any getting the least bit noisy. It's a shame Goodyear discontinued C5 sizes. Yokohamas seem to stay quiet but I've had Bridgestones and Sumitomos get very noisy after 10K-15K miles.

Most of the noise that I hear is road noise and that is a direct result of having less insulation built into the car.

LDB

If I still had my C6, I’d try a set of GSD3’s basis this thread. Oddly enough, I did consider them when getting my last set of Vette tires prior to the CTSV. I’m in Houston downpour country, and figured they might be more resistant to hydroplane in heavy rain. But the tread pattern eyeballed to be odd and aggressive, so I figured they’d be noisy. All goes to show that you can’t always trust your eyeball. But it probably wouldn’t have changed my CTSV decision. My Vettes had two noise problems: the tires, and grousing from the spouse in the passenger seat about boys and their toys. The CTSV noise reduction has been even more dramatic in the latter area than the former. While realistically, the CTSV is mostly a boy toy too, it’s a whole lot better than the Vette at pretending to be civilized when the situation calls for it.