After 3 years with my V6, up to a SS: Upgrade Review

[suzook]

Originally Posted by DRKS1D3

That is quite the conspiracy theory.

Uhh...no its not. You would be surprised at how OFTEN it happens. And I didn't want a camaro with a v6....my v8 with regular makes me smile every time I step on the gas

[suzook]

Originally Posted by DRKS1D3

So all the talk of the fuse pull on here is just a myth? Unlikely. I'm not causing a fight or anything , I just don't understand why you'd buy an SS and run 87 in it all the time. If you're trying to save money, there are better alternatives. Why not just buy the V6 and save yourself a Hell of a lot more money there? Anyone else want to chime in here?

Nope...not a myth...just over exaggerated as far as the power is concerned. Its NOT 40 OR 50 HP.

[E.T.]

Not sure about the power losses, but I know that the engine will run better and make more power on 93, so that's what I use. Why risk harming the engine for an extra 30 cents/gallon? To each their own, I guess.

[AKA-22]

5

[Rocky1974]

Originally Posted by suzook

Uhh...no its not. You would be surprised at how OFTEN it happens. And I didn't want a camaro with a v6....my v8 with regular makes me smile every time I step on the gas

I have no idea just how often it happens, but it does happen. There's a guy in my area that owns a chain of convenience stores who is famous for putting 87 in all three tanks. His logic was that very few cars actually needed high octane, most driver will never know the difference anyway and it maximized his profits. He did this for years and every time the state spot-checked one of his stations, he got fined. He didn't care about the fines because the higher profits more than paid the fines. He finally had to clean his act up after the state threatened to shut him down. Like I said in another post, If you're hung up on a particular brand or octane, you'd better make friends with the fuel truck driver, because only he knows what he actually loaded on the truck and what he dumped in each tank.

[E.T.]

That's why you don't get gas from 7-eleven

[Mach]

I love my v6. I couldn't justify paying 10k more for under a 2 second difference 0-60.

Flame suit on.

[strych9]

Good review!

[65TIMM]

Originally Posted by E.T.

That's why you don't get gas from 7-eleven

Not just 7 Eleven, Around 20+ yrs ago I was a general manager of several gas stations that sold a national brand. And our truck driver would always try to estimate how much 87 he could get in the underground tanks. Quite often he would over estimate and dump the extra 87 in the Premium tank (it would be in the hundreds of gallons). The owner didn't mind because of extra profits. In the end it ended up coming back on the owner when the driver dumped some extra diesel fuel in one of our out of town stations 87 octane tanks. Wow I will never forget all the calls we got from car owners on that one. Not to mention how much of a loss it was to the owner for customer car repairs but mostly the cost of getting rid of 10,000 + gallons of contaminated fuel.

[suzook]

Just to throw "fuel on the fire"....I worked in the gasoline business for years...so I'm a bit of an expert....

[Cyber Gray]

Originally Posted by oachalon

The throttle response is from the torque management that gm has in the tune for the v8s. If you get a tune that "lack" of low end torque disappears. The factory tune limits the amount of torque at lower rpms.

Night and day difference before and after a tune.

It is that (dead zone) that I hate the most in this car. Going through the Dyno sheets posted of L99 pre 2013, I see many owners paying a lot of money on bolt ons that doesnt really make a big difference compared to the LS3.

So sad

[Cyber Gray]

Originally Posted by suzook

Just to throw "fuel on the fire"....I worked in the gasoline business for years...so I'm a bit of an expert....

[SeriouslySinning]

Originally Posted by DarkneSS

I had my V6 for 3 years and 50,000 miles (49,345) and yesterday I traded up to a 2SS/RS. I figured I'd post my honest review as it might be helpful to someone.

As far as the exterior goes, the cars looked comically identical when I arrived at the dealer. My signature is actually my V6 so you can see what I'm talking about. I was unwilling to give up my beautiful Euro meshs so I offered the dealer a deal, they could swap the SS's stock rims to my 6, and put my rims on the SS.

The real visual differences happened getting into the car. My 6 was a 1LT with just the RS package and a spare tire. So going to what appears to be a nearly fully loaded 2SS is a giant leap. My 1LT interior now seems quite incomplete in comparison. Leather seats, heated seats, leather wrapped steering wheel and shifter, bluetooth with steering wheel controls, door lighting, Boston sound, what a massive difference. I never needed any of these things, and was happy without them, but this is one of those once you try it you can't go back scenarios.

The SS handles the same, as it should. It does seem tighter than the stock V6 suspension but it is not a night and day difference. I had BMR springs on the V6 that will go on my SS when I get the chance, I imagine it will still handle the same.

The V6 brakes much shorter than the 8, I could tell that immediately. However the pedal feel is softer and mushy making it difficult to achieve precision without a lot of seat time. The SS brakes are more precise and the pedal feels stiff and thus more sporty.

Interestingly there is also a big difference in gas pedal feel, not necessarily power related. The SS requires you press the pedal slightly more to achieve more than about 5-10% throttle. The 6 doesn't have this sort of "deadzone." I'm assuming it must be a sort of safety feature on the SS because once you press that pedal far enough, the kraken is released.

This thing PULLS. The V6 LLT legitimately pulls you and your passenger into your seats. The V8 LS3 however smashes you in. The difference will put a huge smile on an enthusiast's face, no doubt. It really scares you at higher MPH because you really start to feel it pulling your body into the seat and you realize how insanely fast it can go. The 6 creeps up to higher MPH and gives you a chance to think about what you are doing, the SS DOES NOT.

So all in all, if you can afford it and you are a person who likes to go fast, the SS is your car.

I must say though, if you don't drive like you're in the fast and the furious and speed isn't too big a deal for you, the V6 is probably actually the better car overall. A loaded up 2LT RS should be just fine for the average driver. The SS is really for the person who tinkers with their car every weekend, who doesn't know how many times they've been to the track, or how many tickets they have gotten...

Did you happen to keep the BMR springs from the v6? If they dont fit on the SS ill make you an offer

[beany323]

Originally Posted by Mach

I love my v6. I couldn't justify paying 10k more for under a 2 second difference 0-60.

Flame suit on.

i dont see it being only 2 secs.

http://www.zeroto60times.com/Chevrol...mph-Times.html


2010 times: v6 - 6.0
v8 - 4.7

2013 1le v8 - 4.2

not sure if your using metric time. maybe.