Warranty is almost up, I have a boxed up blower. Do I take the plunge?

Doctornick · #1 (**permalink**) 07-04-09, 04:04 PM

First off, I love my V. I have put close to 30k on it in the past 2 years. The car never skipped a beat. Besides a leaking radiator when I initially bought the car, 2 broken rear sail panels (after my first high speed highway blast with the windows down) and a dif replaced because it was a little loud. The car has been perfect.

Up until 2 months ago I kept it bone stock. I finally got around to installing a Katech short shifter, uuc bushings, trans mount and rear differential bushing. It really made me fall in love with the car all over again. A ton of the slop was removed from the drivetrain with very little compromise in that Cadillac feel.

Not to mention, with the stock rims wrapped in RE11s this car is a lot of fun around town.

So much fun that one of these big boxes showed up. Its a polished unit with a 90mm adapter. I thought that I would slap it on, add headers and uuc motor mounts (have, but need to return for the second revision UUC did on the mounts) and call it quits on power mods for a while.

Ready to go...I thought. Now it looks like I am going to be driving at least 75 miles a day for the next 9 months for work. I KNOW I can't live with the power level I am at for 9 more months

So I am thinking, I should sell my stuff, trade-in the car and pickup a new V.
I'll have a new full warranty and a ton more power/tech then our V but for a ton more money. With the amount of driving I am going to be doing, the car is going to take a huge depreciation hit due to the mileage. Life is short though, right?

I know plenty of people have pulled off Fi with the LS6 and the maggie kit is pretty proven but i'm thinking I should stick with the good luck I have had with GM and buy one that comes with the boost in power from the factory.

That or sell the blower, buy an LS7 and a madmen rear end and live with the buildup downtime

darkman · #2 (**permalink**) 07-04-09, 04:10 PM

What is the current mileage on your V?

bneal1022 · #3 (**permalink**) 07-04-09, 04:19 PM

Wished my closet floor looked like that. Mine just has socks and tears from wishing I had a maggie.

Doctornick · #4 (**permalink**) 07-04-09, 04:28 PM

Just hit 48k this week. Trust me, I wish I had a maggie...on the car just as much as you do

CTS-Voodoo · #5 (**permalink**) 07-04-09, 04:33 PM

So inquiring minds want to know, are you buying the V2 or sticking with the maggie...

darkman · #6 (**permalink**) 07-04-09, 04:39 PM

You probably should give more weight to the opinions of those that have maggied V1s rather than mine.

But, based on my accumulated reading of the postings in this forum, I cannot consider a maggied V1 with 48k miles a good daily driver if that 75-mile commute is mission-critical (i.e. to work). I think either a relatively stock V1 or V2 is up that task.

Thus, I would say that you should trade in V1 on a V2. You will have no trouble selling you uninstalled speed equipment.

I suppose another option would be to begin building the maggied V1 and get another, cheaper, boring car for the commute, but to me the option to both have and drive a performance car every day trumps driving an ordinary car daily and a performance car only occasionally.

Just my 2 cents.

rand49er · #7 (**permalink**) 07-04-09, 04:44 PM

In June '07, I still had about 19 months left on my warranty with 35k miles on it. I went to the dealer, got a new diff, brought it home, and did the maggie in early July. Last January, my warranty was up. Now, about 10.6k maggied-miles later and with nothing other than a leaky pinion seal that just showed up, I couldn't be happier!

I say, DO IT !!!

stuckey · #8 (**permalink**) 07-04-09, 04:52 PM

I say sell it to me for a huge loss on the purchase price

Twitch · #9 (**permalink**) 07-04-09, 05:44 PM

A Maggied V is just as driveable as a stock V. But if you have the $$$ for a new one....

FactoryFast · #10 (**permalink**) 07-04-09, 05:46 PM

Hey Doc, im in the same boat as you. My warranty is up and I have a 100 mile daily commute to work. I had a volkswagen with a V1/V2 Supercharger on it making a claimed 500hp/370tq before my V1 CTS V. I drove it like that (Stage IV) for about 30K with almost 87K on the engine before I traded in the car.
I had vortech superchagers on that volkswagen from 24K to 87K...not once did it leave me stranded....mostly becuase i knew the kit and was able to keep it running when issues arose. The vortech supercharger is a non positive displacement unit whereas the Maggie you have is positive displacement. Long story short, the maggie has to spin for the car to run. With the vortech blowers I was able to cut the belt and limp it home...becuase the air can still pass through the supercharger. I would not recommend doing a maggie to a long distnace daily driver...unless you have another car.

I went through mod hell with my volkswagen...it was so bad that when i went to lower the V and had problems with buying the springs I just gave up and sold the bushings...After having flashbacks with the lowering spring incident im now seriously looking to get in a V2. It might be a while because i need CPO this way its guarnateed while im making payments im still under the warranty. I need that 100K bumper to bumper piece of mind. Good luck with your decision, its a no brainer for me.

ctsv154 · #11 (**permalink**) 07-04-09, 06:02 PM

I had to limp my car home about 1 mile with no belt. Not wise considering the belt also drives the water pump but I was close so I just got up to speed and turned the key off and let it coast the rest of the way. You can start and drive the car without the maggie turning.

Anyway, back on subject. If you have the money to do a V2 and not get in a bind, I'd say this is pretty much an open and shut case. The V2 is so much more car than the V1 its not even funny. Granted the V1 is still an awesome car and I dont plan on getting rid of it any time soon, the V2 is just an awesome car.

MauiV · #12 (**permalink**) 07-04-09, 06:13 PM

If finances say OK I say V2.

Otherwise Maggie it up. I do about 50 miles round trip daily with the Maggie and my MPG is virtually the same as before the install plus I dont have to downshift now to make a pass on the interstate..