A Little-V Blog: The ATS-V purchase and ownership experience

[Tuna]

When I test drove a CTS Vsport a while back, I noticed the exhaust noise inside the car when I switched to the performance setting and that made me wonder if the Vsport exhaust was like that all the time outside the car and whether the car was sound proofed enough to hide the noise inside.

I need to follow a Vsport or an ATS V in my vert and listen to see if the exhaust is always there or a "Memorex" version for the inside.

 

[~tc~]

The VSport uses the Bose audio pilot to play ACTUAL engine sounds through the speakers depending on the mode selected. In Tour, it actually works as noise cancellation, Sport is slightly enhanced, and Track is significantly enhanced.

This is much different than the BMW system that plays RECORDINGS through the speakers.

 

[Hib Halverson]

:frown:
Still no word from Cadillac on my ATS-V order. According to my dealer, Bunnin Cadillac in Santa Barbara CA, the car is still only listed as having been produced, but there has been no word from Cadillac as to it being shipped.

I read in Automotive News back in the Spring that car companies were having trouble shipping cars by rail because of a shortage of rail cars.

Where, or where, can my ATS-V be?

 

[Tuna]

Should have checked the Museum delivery box - Oh wait a minute, they don't do museum delivery of Cadillacs. They should.

I hope they don't have it strapped to an oil tanker somewhere.

 

[Hib Halverson]

With my luck, they're shipping it to California via Shanghai.
:

Seriously...there must be others who place early orders for CTS-Vs who are in the same boat. I'd sure like to know why the plant is building cars but they are not being shipped.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Finally heard something. Actually, I got news 10 days ago that the car was moved to GM Charlotte, Michigan rail yard. Obviously, it wouldn't go there if GM's intent was not to ship it.

Today, the dealer gave us the car's window sticker.

Tomorrow I contact them to see if the car has shipped.

 

[Hib Halverson]

I'm a little slow to get this posted, but five days ago I emailed Dave Caldwell, the Communications Manager for Cadillac.
I asked him...

I'm posting to two different forum sites which have ATS-V enthusiasts as members. In reading some of the forum posts in the two sites' ATS-V areas, there is a growing frustration about cars which have been ordered for some time, have been built but not shipped. Some of these cars were built as long ago as mid-July but have not been shipped. Most of these concerns are expressed by owners-to-be who've either been in contact with their dealers or with Customer Service and have learned the status of their orders.

Do you have any comment on why ATS-Vs have been built but are not being shipped?

Dave replied...

(As of 20 August) We are shipping the ATS-V.

There is a period of time following the start of production in which we thoroughly analyze every aspect before we start shipments. That does take some time. This can require some patience...patience which we appreciate from our enthusiastic buyers. Everyone would agree that this analysis prior to the start of shipping is prudent to assure that everything we deliver meets all standards. We are past that point, and shipments are taking place now.

What we do is verify that all aspects of the process are optimal. Only then does the system kick-off. Quality assurance is part of that...but also things like suppliers, the flow and inventory of materials into the system, the trucking and distribution away from the plant, service readiness and a hundred other things that must all be synched.

On the V-Series, we have some specialty components built in low volumes which can make for some precise refinement. But this is all rather normal–it's what we do. The only difference: For certain very exciting cars, there's a cadre of informed, enthusiastic potential owners counting the days! And that's something we much appreciate.

So, there's nothing really going on here, beyond the fact that producing cars is a symphony of hundreds (thousands?) of coordinated actions. We appreciate everyone's anticipation. We're working hard to give Cadillac dealers the best info so they can set buyer's expectations properly on timing.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Found out the other day that my car is still sitting in the rail yard at Charlotte MI.

 

[Tuna]

Found out the other day that my car is still sitting in the rail yard at Charlotte MI.

That sucks!
Is there still a shortage of rail cars to transport them?

I've had good luck getting my special order cars. It's a real shame that you are having so much trouble.

 

[Hib Halverson]

That sucks!
Is there still a shortage of rail cars to transport them?

I've had good luck getting my special order cars. It's a real shame that you are having so much trouble.

There has been a nationwide sort age of rail cars for months. It's been widely covered in the business press and the shortage of cars for transporting cars has been covered in "Automotive News" a couple of times recently.

That's the only reason I can think that cars are sitting in the rail yard at Charlotte MI.

 

[Hib Halverson]

:sleeping::sleeping::sleeping::sleeping::sleeping:

(snork, sigh)
Holy crap. What a dream.
Danica Patrick in a bikini was driving my ATS-V around Road America while I road shotgun and shot it on video.:

What....wait. My car...is still at the rail yard?

Rats!

Ok. I'm going back to bed.
:sleeping::sleeping::sleeping::sleeping::sleeping:

 

[Hib Halverson]

Talked to my dealer yesterday.

My car?

Still sitting in Michigan.
:frown:

 

[Tuna]

You need your 'beauty rest!'

The delay is shipping your V to you is ridiculous. But, what can you do about it?

Go back to sleep and dream of Danica driving your car naked.

 

[Hib Halverson]

FINALLY!
Almost two months after it was built, my ATS-V shipped out of the rail yard in Charlotte MI on the 15th and arrived at Bunnin Cadillac at 4:30 this morning. It's gotta go though PDI and then I have to get my financing worked out. We pick it up on Thursday.ocker:

Here are some pics:

 

[Hib Halverson]

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!

 

[Tuna]

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!

CASPER comes to mind - that was Susan's suggestions.

Ghost V hits me a little.

My first V was black and I called it DARTH-V but your ATS is white. Can't come up with anything else at the moment.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Still thinkin' 'bout a name...

Today is my first day getting to drive the ATS-V any distance. Up to now, my Wife has been driving it work and back. First thing I had to do is get the "easy exit" feature set properly. Seems the default is for someone who must weight about 300 and is about 6'6". After I RFM, I got that set. So much better! The rest of the seat/mirror setting was just like other GM cars with the "memory option".

My first longer road test is a trip to nearby Ventura to visit Lowes and Daltile looking for materials for an upcoming kitchen tile job I'm going to have done.

 

[Hib Halverson]

The leading name candidate right now is "Bimmer Buster".
:biggrin:

 

[Tuna]

The leading name candidate right now is "Bimmer Buster".
:biggrin:

That doesn't fit on the license plate!
And it ignores the C63 AMG and the Audi Sx cars.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Actually, I wasn't thinking about a vanity plate. I was just trying to name the car. I'm not even sure the Duchess of Goleta wants a vanity plate on the car. But if we did, maybe it could say "BMWBUSTR" or maybe "ANTIBMW" or maybe...: "PHUCBMWS".

I got a chance to drive the my new ATS-V on a longer run. I had to go south into Ventura to visit Lowes to buy some tile and a tool for the shop. It's about a 40-min run down there from where I live.

Man, am I lovin' that car. The trip down to Ventura is on your typcal California freeway with areas bad surfaces, especially tilt slabs and broken concrete. I tell you what, MagnaRide really works well on a car like this with pretty stiff springs and a fair amount of roll stiffness. The car is just a bit harsh on the highest frequecy wheel movements, but everything else, low-frequency body movement, medium/high frquency impact harshness the car is very nice to ride in. The combination of stiff structure, stiff suspension with MR's damping and non-run-flat tires and the Recaro seats gives the ATS-V just the high-performance, sports sedan ride quality I expected to get from this car.

I like the steering response, but I'd actually like a bit higher effort sometimes.

I'm totally liking the 8-spd. auto for downshifting with the left paddle shifter .

Audio system sounds good but I'm still developing an opinion about CUE. I decided not to pass judgement until I get the hang of all its features. I will say one thing, getting my old dumb phone to pair-up with the car's bluetooth was a simple process. I was surprised the car supported my ancient Casio Gz-One. The bluetooth handsfree feature works very well. Sound quality is very good–much better than that of a Ford product in which I've ridden recently.

The Recaro seats were well-worth the extra bucks. They are comfortable, supportive and have lots of adjustablility. Once I figured-out how to program the easy exit feature, I was a happy guy.

My Wife, the Fairest Sandra the Red, is going to drive the car to San Francisco this weekend to take in the Packers-49ers game with her Son and his GF. By the time she gets back, we'll have about 1000 miles on the car and it will be time to make the first oil filter change and cut open the filter to see how clean GM's engine plants builds those motors.

By then the "early-break-in" period will be over and I can beat on the LF4 a bit. I also can try out PTM with an automatic. That ought to be fun.

I was talking to my paint protection film guy at Transhine Auto Detailing in Whittier which is outside L.A. He says one of his vendors, "Xpel", is going to release an ATS-V PPF kit next week. I want to get a "clear bra" on the car fairly soon so I'm looking into that.

And now my first road kill story:
Yesterday, I'm on the way back home. Comin' north on US101 out of Ventura, runnin' about 78, I'm in the #1 lane and come up behind a BMW 335 and a couple of other cars. They were doing 70, so I whipped over two lanes into the #3 and passed all of the slowpokes. A second or so later, I see the Bimmer do the same thing and, then, he's closing in the draft. But, suddenly, he drops way back. I'm still roling about 78 and thinking that he saw the "V" on the decklid and chickened-out.