[s-cars] Quattro - What Don't I get?

[Theodore Chen]

--- mlp <mlped at qwest.net> wrote:
> Having recently spent 3 days at a track with a new C6 Corvette, if the CTS-v
> handles anything like the Corvette, IMO you wouldn't want to kick a CTS out
> of bed just for having RWD and a "old-tech" push rod motor in it.

the pushrod LS6 may lack the sophisticated aura of the S62 used in the
E39 M5 with its 8 individual throttle bodies, but the LS6 is more compact,
lighter, simpler, much cheaper, and quite likely more reliable long-term.

overhead cams are bulky and heavy.  you need four of them for a multivalve vee
engine, and you need the hardware to drive them.  the heads have to get bigger
and be very rigid to keep the cams from moving, which means more mass.  in 
a pushrod engine, you have one cam, buried in the vee of the block (which 
is already very rigid).  with the mass and space you saved, you can raise 
the deck height and get more displacement.  that's the approach that GM 
has taken.  the LS2 and LS7 are more of the same (more displacement, more
power).

now that you can buy an LS6 crate motor cheaply, i wonder if somebody here
will swap one into an s-car.

the CTS-V lacks AWD, but the new STS is already available with AWD and a
320 hp DOHC 4.6.  the AWD has a 40/60 torque split though i don't know
what kind of limited slip it has (if any).  the STS-V gets a supercharged
4.6 and is rumored to make 430-500 hp.  with AWD, this car is aimed squarely
at audi's S-cars.  the STS-V will supposedly be available with a 6-speed
manual, which you couldn't get on the recent big S-cars.

the CTS could get AWD if cadillac wanted, because its platform sibling 
is the SRX (a crossover SUV with AWD).

so, what's the neu-S6 going to have?  hopefully, the increased competition
will spur audi to turn away from its recent trend toward building softer 
cars.

-teddy



		
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