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Trifecta CTS Vsport tune review

204K views 395 replies 80 participants last post by  CADI_JAQ 
#1 ·
I recently traded in my ISF and replaced it with a new Vsport CTS:

http://www.cadillacforums.com/forum...3673-new-cts-vsport-premium-phantom-gray.html


This car as many others have said is not only comfortable but its also fast. It doesn't really feel that fast, but looking at the speedometer it always reminds me otherwise.


I own a few other cars that are modded, and I was curious what the Vsport CTS can do. After shopping around for a bit for power adders, I decided on buying a tune from Trifecta. They were the only place that as far as I can tell has their own CTS Vsport that they did their development work on instead of discovering or figuring out their stuff on my car. I felt pretty comfortable buying what will work right out of the box. I also liked how Trifecta writes their tunes and tests for all kinds of driving conditions, like changes in altitude or if the weather changes for warmer or colder the tune already has the adaptation built in. Having their own validation and testing stuff on their own cars also helps.

So after exchanging out a few emails I took them up on their introductory pricing on a CTS Vsport tune purchase.

Also, after shopping around some more, it doesn't appear that anyone else out there has a transmission tune for the CTS Vsports, and that was a major factor for me as well. If I had any complaints about the stock car, I think the transmission causes quite a few of them. The CTS Vsport transmission seems like its constantly hunting for gears and is somewhat indecisive at that. When you roll into the gas, there is some sort of a pause as the transmission downshifts or some sort of a torque management cutting power. I wanted to try a transmission tune and Trifecta was the only place that had one.





I did the install at a dyno shop that actually recommended Trifecta over their own tuning because of what they described as "incomplete support" for the Vsport CTS from the other dyno tuning software out there.

I did two baseline dyno pulls stock and then proceeded to install the engine and transmission tune. I then did another two pulls with the tune installed:





Driving on the street, the car feels stronger across the board, and that throttle tip in hesitation is now gone as well. On the stock tune, it almost feels like that there was some sort of a barrier to acceleration when you give it gas that is now gone. With the tune installed, it feels like it just wants to go, almost like a completely new car. The car now actually feels fast and where before the tune there was some hesitation and vagueness, its now attentive and focused.

From what the dyno shows, with the Trifecta tune installed, the car picked up 90 Ft-Lbs under the curve and 67 WHP peak. At 4300 RPM, it picks up about 80 WHP or so. Not bad for the price I guess.







 

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#37 ·
Hi John,

Yes, this is something you can most certainly do yourself. It is a fairly straightforward process that only takes about 20 minutes to complete. We provide instructions on how to flash the calibration via email, and the necessary files can be downloaded from your Client Area at wot-tuning.com.

When you flash the tune, you will be prompted to enable "Transparency Mode". Enabling Transparency Mode will make the ECM appear to be 100% stock to all other modules in the vehicle, and no flash counters will be affected.

The introductory pricing of $888 is still active, but may not be for much longer.
 
#41 ·
The TRIFECTA Transparency featureset:



So enabling transparency mode allows u to keep the tune on and not worry about uninstalling when going to dealer or do u still have to re flash to stock before visiting dealer?
With the current generation of TRIFECTA's flash loader solutions and corresponding Transparency featureset (included in all CTS V-Sport MY2014+ and E92 ECM TRIFECTA flash loaders), we do not increment the write counter or increment entries in the flash history.

While the TRIFECTA powertrain recalibration for the Cadillac CTS V-Sport will not increment the write counter or the reflash history entries in the E92 ECM, TRIFECTA does not condone warranty abuse or fraud of any kind. We champion a "pay to play" approach when it comes to GM's powertrain warranties. However with that said, at any time should you wish to return to stock with ANY of our powertrain products, the included flash loader device will return your car 100 percent to stock. ->TRIFECTA's "Transparency" featureset.





With the TRIFECTA CTS V-Sport MY2014+ performance recalibration, even if your dealer could not physically find evidence of a reflash, just driving your car will give away the fact that it is making far more power than stock.

We provide this functionality as so that our customers will not be wronged by an aggressive dealership. With this being said, this is a choice that in our opinion belongs solely to our customers.



Thanks, just placed my order. Once the cable arrives I will be set. The car only has 300 miles so far. Should I wait awhile before installing the software to allow the engine to break in fully?

TRIFECTA's quality assurance and validation process calls for a minimum of 100,000 miles and 100hrs of full throttle accumulated as a prerequisite in order for the calibration to qualify for what we would consider release candidate retail worthy.

With any TRIFECTA powertrain calibration, the knock detection mechanisms and OE engine knock detection sensitivity is retained. We also test for adverse operating conditions including but not limited to different elevations, variations in temperature, a complete load and duty cycle test battery, poor fuel quality; so that with any of our powertrain recalibrations, the car will be as dependable as stock.
 
#43 · (Edited)
Mitchell called me on Saturday and answered all my questions and took the time to explain how the software works in the various suspension settings, what to expect, etc. I was very impressed with his taking the time on a weekend to call. Very knowledgable and he obviously takes pride in their product. Looking forward to installing it next weekend.
 
#45 · (Edited)
Re: The TRIFECTA Transparency featureset:

Installed the Trifecta tune today (at 1,200 miles on the odometer). The difference in performance is astounding. Throttle tip in lag is gone. In fact, in Sport mode I find the throttle tip in very abrupt although I am still getting used to it. Very difficult for me to be smooth from a stop. I switched to Tour mode and it is much easier, but still takes off with very little throttle. Don't think I ever got above 4,000 rpm and the car was at 60-70 in no time. Definitely have to be careful with the throttle in traffic. The car's performance is totally different. Compared to my 2013 Corvette the Vsport feels more responsive and powerful. The power is immediate, eager, and intoxicating. For the money this is the best bang for the buck I've ever seen.
 
#46 ·
Re: The TRIFECTA Transparency featureset:

Installed the Trifecta tune today (at 1,200 miles on the odometer). The difference in performance is astounding. Throttle tip in lag is gone. In fact, in Sport mode I find the throttle tip in very abrupt although I am still getting used to it. Very difficult for me to be smooth from a stop. I switched to Tour mode and it is much easier, but still takes off with very little throttle. Don't think I ever got above 4,000 rpm and the car was at 60-70 in no time. Definitely have to be careful with the throttle in traffic. The car's performance is totally different. Compared to my 2013 Corvette the Vsport feels more responsive and powerful. The power is immediate, eager, and intoxicating. For the money this is the best bang for the buck I've ever seen.
Throttle modulation from stop gets easier with practice. I have about 1K miles on mine and its great. Let a friend who I used to race with drive my car and he was laughing with glee at how much power it has. Now if someone would make a stiffer rear bar to dial out some understeer.... <tapping foot>
 
#125 ·
Eleven's are easily within reach. Very impressive.

After looking at the LF3 turbo-intake I can see where the heat soak come in. My AMG had an engine off heater button that would continue to pump coolant through the heater core. It was great for reducing coolant heat between runs.
 
#58 ·
with the dynojet i am getting 397whp and 420wtq with 91 fuel here in Cali.
with track mode selected and of course traction and comp mode off.
is this what some of you are getting also,
i am far from 457whp and 512wtq with 93 fuel advertise by Trifecta,
i under stand its cali and known for bad fuel,
but should my numbers be this low?
sent them a support request thru WOT and hopefully they will help me with this,
also some things arise where there was ticking noise during the dyno test hopefully that can get fixed also.
 
#59 ·
lo_o1zero said:
with the dynojet i am getting 397whp and 420wtq with 91 fuel here in Cali. with track mode selected and of course traction and comp mode off. is this what some of you are getting also, i am far from 457whp and 512wtq with 93 fuel advertise by Trifecta, i under stand its cali and known for bad fuel, but should my numbers be this low? sent them a support request thru WOT and hopefully they will help me with this, also some things arise where there was ticking noise during the dyno test hopefully that can get fixed also.
What shop did you dyno your car at and what were your rwhp and rwtq before adding the tune?? Also what type brand of gas do you use?
 
#62 ·
[/COLOR]

Dyno at Superior Automotive-761
in Placentia, Ca
using Shell gas 91 fuel
thats one thing i didn't do to get a baseline before the tune,
was too excited to see how the tune would perform.
Very knowledgeable person from Trifecta Mitchell is helping me with this i will update once figured out

----------

I made 461whp 507tq on 93 octane
damn once things are sorted out hopefully my numbers come out close to that.
 
#63 ·
FWIW, I spoke with a rep from Hennessey yesterday about their progress on our platform. He told me that they are working on finalizing their tune. He mentioned that similar to to trifecta dynos, they are having drastic torque drop off throughout the mid to upper rpm range. They are working with the best to figure that out.
Also, they have essentially finalized some hardware designs for intake, inter cooler, and piping(which pipes, idk).
Good things may be on the horizon for these cars.
 
#65 ·
Having only owned my car for 5 days, I'm happy to leave it be at least for now. The difference is that I came from a Subaru WRX, where the aftermarket is constantly surging with new developments and offerings. It's always nice to know that there are at least sound companies pursuing the performance end of the car that you drive--just in case.
As someone else put it, things move kinda slow around here in that regard.
 
#68 ·
While I have not done any data-logging and I have not been on the Dyno, I can say that at the track my vsport is experiencing a loss of power in the upper rpm range with the Trifecta Tune. My performance numbers at the track were much less than desirable, and although I have contacted Trifecta a few times about my mid-to-high 13 second time slips, they seem to not have any interest with getting back to me on this.

There is a noticeable drop off in power at the top of every gear, and after seeing the very low 12 second runs from a specific member on this forum it sickens me to think that I paid $888 for a tune that only increased throttle sensitivity.....
 
#69 ·
I think the power drop off is a known issue with all tuners, I can only assume they are working on a solution AND that they got your message. These are small aftermarket companies, not giant OEM's so give them a break if they don't have a 'call center' ready to answer your questions. I'd return to stock for now. If you're going to mod your car I think you need to be willing to take some risks, be patient with support, and be prepared to write some giant checks in the unlikely event something breaks.
 
#70 ·
Once again, I've only owned my car for about ten days, and am happy for now. It may be somewhat of a "layover" until the ats-v arrives.
It appears the Cadillac aftermarket is even smaller than I expected as compared to the subaru. I'm just trying to establish/ build helpful discussion here, which may hopefully demonstrate desire to the aftermarket vendors to focus a bit more on our platform.
 
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