Platinum Collection 4.6 V8 Northstar Nav/navigation/gps 18" Chrome Whls Moonroof on 2040-cars

Auto blog

GM extending warranties on Cadillac CTS-V and Chevy Camaro ZL1 for supercharger issue

Okay General Motors, we've sat by and watched you recall the compact cars, crossovers and pickup trucks, and aside from reporting on it, we've been fairly quiet. This, though, this will not do. We can almost tolerate the recalls on the bread-and-butter cars, but leave the performance vehicles alone.
According to a report from The Car Connection, GM has discovered a problem with the superchargers of the 6.2-liter V8s found in the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and the Cadillac CTS-V. Apparently, the issue rests around the internal bearing shaft grease, which can become contaminated (we aren't sure with what). If left unchecked, it'll first lead to a rattle at idle, which goes away under slight throttle. The real warning stage is when a high-pitched squeal develops, signaling that the bearing shaft has failed. Naturally, severe engine damage is the next step (although it's possible that the engine will also just refuse to turnover, although neither case is desirable).
According to TCC, GM will replace the superchargers on vehicles that have exhibited symptoms of bearing shaft failure free of charge. It will also, allegedly, be extending the warranty on all supercharged ZL1s and CTS-Vs to 10 years or 120,000 miles (whichever comes first), from the date of purchase. Officially, only 2009 to 2013 CTS-Vs and 2012 to 2013 ZL1s are suffering from this issue.

Is Cadillac working on an ELR-V? [w/video]

Could it be? Could Cadillac be working on an even higher-end version of its ELR plug-in hybrid? Well, General Motors' Executive Vice President Mark Reuss has gone on record as... well, not saying much. The exec was more than a bit coy on video (which you can view below) when asked about the idea of an ELR-V, although he did say that Cadillac was looking at "expanding the tuning envelope" for its plug-in coupe. What that means could be hinted at in these spy photos.
Cadillac is certainly up to something with this little red ELR. As is often the case, it's the car's enhanced brakes that give it away. Bigger binders are a telltale sign of sportier aspirations, and it's safe to say that rule applies with the ELR. The larger rotors and four-piston Brembo calipers are sourced from the Buick Regal GS, which we imagine would be plenty to bring the high-priced hybrid to a halt.
Obscuring those rotors and calipers are larger, double-armed five-spoke wheels. And, according to our spies, hiding behind that camouflage is a new grille. Outside of those two items, though, there's not much aesthetic change.

Here are a few of our automotive guilty pleasures

It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. The world is full of cars, and just about as many of them are bad as are good. It's pretty easy to pick which fall into each category after giving them a thorough walkaround and, more important, driving them. But every once in a while, an automobile straddles the line somehow between good and bad — it may be hideously overpriced and therefore a marketplace failure, it may be stupid quick in a straight line but handles like a drunken noodle, or it may have an interior that looks like it was made of a mess of injection-molded Legos. Heck, maybe all three. Yet there's something special about some bad cars that actually makes them likable. The idea for this list came to me while I was browsing classified ads for cars within a few hundred miles of my house. I ran across a few oddballs and shared them with the rest of the team in our online chat room. It turns out several of us have a few automotive guilty pleasures that we're willing to admit to. We'll call a few of 'em out here. Feel free to share some of your own in the comments below. Dodge Neon SRT4 and Caliber SRT4: The Neon was a passably good and plucky little city car when it debuted for the 1995 model year. The Caliber, which replaced the aging Neon and sought to replace its friendly marketing campaign with something more sinister, was panned from the very outset for its cheap interior furnishings, but at least offered some decent utility with its hatchback shape. What the two little front-wheel-drive Dodge models have in common are their rip-roarin' SRT variants, each powered by turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engines. Known for their propensity to light up their front tires under hard acceleration, the duo were legitimately quick and fun to drive with a fantastic turbo whoosh that called to mind the early days of turbo technology. — Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski  Chevrolet HHR SS: Chevy's HHR SS came out early in my automotive journalism career, and I have fond memories of the press launch (and having dinner with Bob Lutz) that included plenty of tire-smoking hard launches and demonstrations of the manual transmission's no-lift shift feature. The 260-horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder was and still is a spunky little engine that makes the retro-inspired HHR a fun little hot rod that works quite well as a fun little daily driver.