Tag Archives: cts

Planning for new Cadillacs

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Still enjoying my 2005 Cadillac CTS at roughly 60K miles, but also musing about what type of Cadillac will be the right replacement next year or year after. The CTS has met all my requirements, in that it gets good mpg and meets my performance goals of around 6sec 0-60 time and handles well.

My default choice for the next Cadillac has been a lightly used STS-V. The STS-V is a bit larger than the CTS, and has a supercharged 4.4L Northstar V8. The main advantage the STS-V would bring is a terrific 469hp, sport tuned suspension, and performance brakes. It would be heavier however, and would get lower mpg.

I have toyed with the idea of picking up a used Cadillac XLR convertible, but still need 3 seats often enough, and 4 seats rarely.

Finally, I have been looking at the new CTS, or a new STS model. The CTS is the looker, but the STS has better standard features and in the V8 model more hp. Neither of these cars however would get much under 6 sec 0-60 mph, so would have performance similar to my 05 CTS. I really would like to get a ‘under 5 sec’ Cadillac next.

The Alpha Cadillac, a smaller-than-a-CTS model, appears to have been delayed a bit. The new SRX with the 2.8L Turbo would be interesting, but I really like the sports sedan as a better fit for my needs than an SUV.

So, either a 2008 STS-V (first year with heads-up display) or a current-year STS seem the likely choices this week.

PerformanceBox vs AP-22 results

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Recently I began testing with the RaceLogic Performancebox gps data logger.  Previously I had been testing with the Race Technology AP-22 accelerometer-based performance meter.  This test is intended as a side-by-side comparison of the two meters on simultaneous runs.  I ran both meters at the same time, on the same runs, then have attempted below to put like-results side by side for comparison.

Related video

The Performancebox is a gps based data logger.  It takes 10 position readings a second and calculates performance data based on GPS satellites.  The AP-22 uses accelerometers and ‘dead reckons’ the position of the vehicle based on acceleration and time.  Both are valid approaches.  The results one might expect to be somewhat different because the meters begin the run based on different rules, and measure the result in different ways.  However, my test results below seem fairly consistent between the two meters.

Summary Results:

PB AP-22
0-60 6.60 6.63
0-60 6.88 6.62
0-60 6.42 6.12
0-60 6.10 6.03
0-60 7.07 6.72

Detailed Results:

PerformanceBox Test Data AP-22 Test Data
MPH Time(s) Dist(f) mph s g ft hp
10 0.90 6.56 10 0.9 0.5 6 55
20 1.85 27.49 20 1.83 0.48 26 107
30 2.73 59.43 30 2.68 0.59 57 198
40 3.78 113.93 40 3.76 0.35 113 160
50 5.12 202.33 50 5.08 0.32 201 189
60 6.60 322.09 60 6.63 0.26 326 193
Pk Pwr: 58.5mph 6.37s 304ft 209hp
Peak G: 30.3mph 2.70s 58ft 0.60g
PerformanceBox Test Data AP-22 Test Data
MPH Time(s) Dist(f) mph s g ft hp
10 1.09 6.97 10 0.92 0.53 6 57
20 1.95 25.87 20 1.76 0.55 24 122
30 2.89 60.62 30 2.69 0.46 59 156
40 3.95 115.38 40 3.74 0.40 113 180
50 5.30 204.91 50 5.08 0.32 202 185
60 6.88 332.43 60 6.62 0.27 326 195
70 8.76 512.24 70 8.49 0.22 505 194
Pk Pwr: 66.2mph 7.71s 427ft 209hp
Peak G: 20.2mph 1.77s 25ft 0.56g
PerformanceBox Test Data AP-22 Test Data
MPH Time(s) Dist(f) mph s g ft hp
10 0.91 5.56 10 0.74 0.62 5 67
20 1.67 22.23 20 1.48 0.56 21 124
30 2.61 56.86 30 2.41 0.47 55 158
40 3.65 110.42 40 3.42 0.42 108 189
50 4.95 196.19 50 4.70 0.32 192 189
60 6.42 315.16 60 6.12 0.30 307 215
Pk Pwr: 64.7mph 6.86s 375ft 228hp
Peak G: 16.3mph 1.19s 13ft 0.66g
PerformanceBox Test Data AP-22 Test Data
MPH Time(s) Dist(f) mph s g ft hp
10 0.65 5.54 10 0.75 0.58 5 64
20 1.42 22.38 20 1.49 0.61 21 134
30 2.36 56.86 30 2.41 0.5 55 166
40 3.37 109.27 40 3.41 0.44 107 198
50 4.64 193.37 50 4.64 0.35 189 201
60 6.10 311.02 60 6.03 0.3 301 215
70 7.77 471.17 70 7.67 0.24 458 211
Pk Pwr: 65.8mph 6.93s 384ft 233hp
Peak G: 19.4mph 1.44s 20ft 0.62g
PerformanceBox Test Data AP-22 Test Data
MPH Time(s) Dist(f) mph s g ft hp
10 1.19 7.48 10 0.93 0.49 6 54
20 2.09 27 20 1.79 0.54 25 120
30 2.99 60.43 30 2.68 0.46 58 155
40 4.07 116.39 40 3.76 0.39 114 177
50 5.44 206.73 50 5.14 0.3 205 178
60 7.07 338.1 60 6.72 0.27 333 195
70 9.04 527.18 70 8.70 0.19 523 171
Pk Pwr: 64.4mph 7.51s 405ft 203hp
Peak G: 25.1mph 14.01s 970ft 0.65g

Conclusion:

The meters tend to read similarly.  The AP-22 results on average for the runs shown were 0.19sec lower at 60 mph.

The AP-22 results appear to be similar to the PB results if rollout is considered.

Skidpad testing methodology

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I am thinking something similar to the Pedder’s Suspension test of the G8 here:

wherein they show both lean angle of the vehicle while cornering and measure g-force attained on a constant radius skidpad. Those seem to be ideal ways to measure performance of the current suspension setup on the Cadillac CTS, then apply mods, and then retest to determine effect.

Also using a tire temperature gauge seems interesting, although only in test consistency.