Started with '04 BR V, moved on to '09 Slvr V, now '13 CRT coupe
Joined
·
1,958 Posts
. . . how about a 'Trial by Ice and Sleet'?
What a day of major happiness and major stress!
Today I finally got all my ducks in a row and pulled the trigger, moving out of my CTS 3.6 and buying that long lusted after "V". Left home with the wife to scrutinize one more low mileage '04 V at a dealership about 90 miles away. It's cold, but sunny . . the roads are dry with a little snow well off to the sides. The trip there was uneventful until the last 20 miles when the roads turned wet & slushie. At this point I am pissed because my sanitized garage queen was getting totally grunged up from salt, slush & spray. Arrive at the dealer, start checking out an immaculate black '04 V in the showroom. I didn't really want black, bu-ut . . . this car is spotless - even underneath. Turns out I know more than the sales staff about CTS-V's (thanks to reading every thread here in the forum for the past year).
Anyway, we do the usual price haggling dance. It helped that the sales guy pulls a beer out of his desk for my wife to drink [very relaxed atmosphere], since she wasn't as enthusiastic about the purchase. (Visualize your own wife/GF standing off to the side with her arms crossed tightly across her her chest . . staring blankly at nothing) So, during the negotiations it begins to sleet and the temperature is dropping. We are at 2000 ft elevation in northern PA. The trip back requires going to a higher elevation before descending on a 2 lane mountain road for 15 miles, before getting into just 'wet & slushy conditions' instead of an actual icy surface.
I tell the salesman what my final offer is, knowing (but not 'really' knowing) how bad the F1's are supposed to be in snow, and saying "if we don't finish this up quick I outa here!" So we reach an agreement, do all the paperwork, shake hands and I'm on my way in my new "V".
Well . . . "The weather outside is frightful" goes the song.
Like - 26 degrees, sleet coming down, roads are frozen and the StabilTrak & T/C are already kicking in while leaving the dealership's driveway sideways. Holy Schitt!!
For the next 20 miles I feel like I'm on a tightrope! I've got traffic backed up for a mile behind me. Nowhere to pull off, because, when there are shoulders, they are covered with 4" of snow and hungry guardrails. The sun has now gone down . . and I'm trying to see what's going on around me through the one 'special option' I did not want on this car . . the super dark, add-on tinted windows. So I've got an old pickup truck riding my ass down the mountain, I'm going 15mph tops, and I'm making steering corrections one second as if I'm deactivating a bomb and the next second my arms and hands are moving the wheel faster than the speed of light. StabilTrak was working overtime and my wife was holding on to her seat with a death grip, making little gasping sounds every few seconds. Did I mention the doe that ran across the road in front of me? Only two days until deer season!
Well . . you're reading this, which should tell you that we made it home intact. A few cold Pacifico cervezas and some enchiladas verde helped mellowed me out.
But . . . I can't emphasize strongly enough to any other prospective V buyers 'living in the snowbelt' . . . the Goodyear F1's are less than worthless on ice/snow/rain or highway dept salt & sand. They have a coefficient of friction around .00001! Too bad the previous owner just put a new set of F-1's on mine.
But, now . . I've got the V tucked away in the garage until spring.
And the first mod will be the !CAGS Eliminator . . pronto!
Final comments on my first day in the new ride . . . . . .
Damn I love this car !!!!!
Gotta go pop open anuther brewski :alchi::alchi:
"Old" Road Dawg out . .
What a day of major happiness and major stress!
Today I finally got all my ducks in a row and pulled the trigger, moving out of my CTS 3.6 and buying that long lusted after "V". Left home with the wife to scrutinize one more low mileage '04 V at a dealership about 90 miles away. It's cold, but sunny . . the roads are dry with a little snow well off to the sides. The trip there was uneventful until the last 20 miles when the roads turned wet & slushie. At this point I am pissed because my sanitized garage queen was getting totally grunged up from salt, slush & spray. Arrive at the dealer, start checking out an immaculate black '04 V in the showroom. I didn't really want black, bu-ut . . . this car is spotless - even underneath. Turns out I know more than the sales staff about CTS-V's (thanks to reading every thread here in the forum for the past year).
Anyway, we do the usual price haggling dance. It helped that the sales guy pulls a beer out of his desk for my wife to drink [very relaxed atmosphere], since she wasn't as enthusiastic about the purchase. (Visualize your own wife/GF standing off to the side with her arms crossed tightly across her her chest . . staring blankly at nothing) So, during the negotiations it begins to sleet and the temperature is dropping. We are at 2000 ft elevation in northern PA. The trip back requires going to a higher elevation before descending on a 2 lane mountain road for 15 miles, before getting into just 'wet & slushy conditions' instead of an actual icy surface.
I tell the salesman what my final offer is, knowing (but not 'really' knowing) how bad the F1's are supposed to be in snow, and saying "if we don't finish this up quick I outa here!" So we reach an agreement, do all the paperwork, shake hands and I'm on my way in my new "V".
Well . . . "The weather outside is frightful" goes the song.
Like - 26 degrees, sleet coming down, roads are frozen and the StabilTrak & T/C are already kicking in while leaving the dealership's driveway sideways. Holy Schitt!!
For the next 20 miles I feel like I'm on a tightrope! I've got traffic backed up for a mile behind me. Nowhere to pull off, because, when there are shoulders, they are covered with 4" of snow and hungry guardrails. The sun has now gone down . . and I'm trying to see what's going on around me through the one 'special option' I did not want on this car . . the super dark, add-on tinted windows. So I've got an old pickup truck riding my ass down the mountain, I'm going 15mph tops, and I'm making steering corrections one second as if I'm deactivating a bomb and the next second my arms and hands are moving the wheel faster than the speed of light. StabilTrak was working overtime and my wife was holding on to her seat with a death grip, making little gasping sounds every few seconds. Did I mention the doe that ran across the road in front of me? Only two days until deer season!
Well . . you're reading this, which should tell you that we made it home intact. A few cold Pacifico cervezas and some enchiladas verde helped mellowed me out.
But . . . I can't emphasize strongly enough to any other prospective V buyers 'living in the snowbelt' . . . the Goodyear F1's are less than worthless on ice/snow/rain or highway dept salt & sand. They have a coefficient of friction around .00001! Too bad the previous owner just put a new set of F-1's on mine.
But, now . . I've got the V tucked away in the garage until spring.
And the first mod will be the !CAGS Eliminator . . pronto!
Final comments on my first day in the new ride . . . . . .
Damn I love this car !!!!!
Gotta go pop open anuther brewski :alchi::alchi:
"Old" Road Dawg out . .
