Z06 not enough gears
Discussion
From the letters page,
"In February's Road and Track features on the new 2005 Corvette and the new Cadillac CTS-V, I was surprised to find no mention that both cars are saddled with GM's annoying 'skip shift' feature that, under normal driving conditions, blocks the 1-2 shift gate and does not allow the driver to shift his/her manual transmission as driving conditions warrant. I am particularly sensitive about this 'feature' as I inadvertently purchased a brand new new car that has it, a 2004 Corvette Z06. Had I known about the skip shift I would not have purchased the car."
Kraig McGann
Norwalk, Connecticut
So this guy presumably bought a Z06 without knowing anything about Vettes and without taking a test drive. It's hard to believe.
"In February's Road and Track features on the new 2005 Corvette and the new Cadillac CTS-V, I was surprised to find no mention that both cars are saddled with GM's annoying 'skip shift' feature that, under normal driving conditions, blocks the 1-2 shift gate and does not allow the driver to shift his/her manual transmission as driving conditions warrant. I am particularly sensitive about this 'feature' as I inadvertently purchased a brand new new car that has it, a 2004 Corvette Z06. Had I known about the skip shift I would not have purchased the car."
Kraig McGann
Norwalk, Connecticut
So this guy presumably bought a Z06 without knowing anything about Vettes and without taking a test drive. It's hard to believe.
And presumably without knowing that although annoying, should note that if you stay in 1st to above about 15mph, it's disabled for that shift... i.e. under anything other than town-like driving, it doesn't bother you.
I had the 1-4 CAGS on my previous LT-1, barely bothered me; it's disabled on my current ZR1, although the light still comes on...
Not a good enough reason, I'm afraid, to not buy a Z06 though (and as was said - it's a 5 min procedure to disable it anyway!)
I had the 1-4 CAGS on my previous LT-1, barely bothered me; it's disabled on my current ZR1, although the light still comes on...
Not a good enough reason, I'm afraid, to not buy a Z06 though (and as was said - it's a 5 min procedure to disable it anyway!)
Don't know if it's the smae on a C5 but I later found on my C4 (after buying the CAGS eliminator kit that you don't really need) that you can achieve the same end by disconnecting the CAGS relay under the computer by the clutch cylinder - not only do you not have to climb under the car but you have a spare horn relay in case you ever need it!
I don't think CAGS is there to meet emissions laws as such, rather to make sure the corvette can avoid the "gas guzzler" tax premium, which I understand kicks in if (at some particular point, I think, e.g. urban or highway or whatever) the mileage is lower than 23mpg.
Something like that anyway; but as I said, I don't think it's related to emissions (apart from the obvious link between fuel used and emissions, but that's not the point of it)
Something like that anyway; but as I said, I don't think it's related to emissions (apart from the obvious link between fuel used and emissions, but that's not the point of it)
You need to buy a CAGS eliminator (or at least a small resistor or two) in order to fool the computer into thinking that CAGS is still connected. If you just pull out the relay on a C5 it'll throw up a distracting warning code.
If your dealer has the Tech 2 diagnostic tool they can disable CAGS with that too.
If your dealer has the Tech 2 diagnostic tool they can disable CAGS with that too.
It does seem staggering that this guy bought a relatively specialist car without knowing the first thing about it. Maybe that's just an indicator of the power of the "Corvette" brand in USA as opposed to Europe. I can't imagine any European (let alone RHD Brit) ever bought a Vette by accident.
Like all cars the Vette is a compromise and I'm still enjoying mine after 5 years so will not be changing unless someone (including GM) comes up with something better for what I want.
Yes, I know the M3's a "better car" but at the end of the day it's just a high performance 316i. At least there's no stripper version of the Vette.
A Vette's a "Vette". Period. Love 'em all!
Like all cars the Vette is a compromise and I'm still enjoying mine after 5 years so will not be changing unless someone (including GM) comes up with something better for what I want.
Yes, I know the M3's a "better car" but at the end of the day it's just a high performance 316i. At least there's no stripper version of the Vette.
A Vette's a "Vette". Period. Love 'em all!
5USA said:
I can't imagine any European (let alone RHD Brit) ever bought a Vette by accident.
""yeah, but Yanks can't handle"... "yeah, but it must be difficult with the steering wheel on the wrong side"... "yeah, but the Elise is a real racing car"...
"yeah, but the M3 is a much more refined all-round car"... "yeah, but it's is precision engineering"..."
No, Europeans do buy without putting to much thought into things, I'm afraid!
My favourites, however, are the t*ts who think their 330d is gonna give me some trouble... "yeah, but it's got loads of torque, give you a run for your money"....
YAWN!!
>> Edited by c4koh on Tuesday 27th April 09:11
CAGS what’s that then. 
never experienced it on the C5 or the Snake. Drive it like you stole it and its will never be a problem 
Don’t really see the need to disable it. If you are ragging it, it will never bother you. the only conditions it is likely to activate seems to be if you are driving Miss Daisy so what’s the problem, its not like you are loosing a bit of GO as you didn’t seem to be bothering with acceleration in the first place if your changing out of first at 15-19 MPH that’s barely above idle.
If you have it activate on a C5 or Viper enough to bother you then STEP AWAY FROM THE SPORTS CAR, you need to buy a micra.
never experienced it on the C5 or the Snake. Drive it like you stole it and its will never be a problem Don’t really see the need to disable it. If you are ragging it, it will never bother you. the only conditions it is likely to activate seems to be if you are driving Miss Daisy so what’s the problem, its not like you are loosing a bit of GO as you didn’t seem to be bothering with acceleration in the first place if your changing out of first at 15-19 MPH that’s barely above idle.
If you have it activate on a C5 or Viper enough to bother you then STEP AWAY FROM THE SPORTS CAR, you need to buy a micra.
viperdave said:
CAGS what’s that then.
You're almost right Dave! Trouble is, round the corner there's a left turn at the traffic lights that you just can't get right if you have CAGS. There's not enough time to rev it hard and get the car into second before turning so I used to find I either screamed the thing round the corner in first or changed gear mid-corner, sometimes getting second, sometimes 4th, whilst swearing to put a hit out on the guy that invented CAGS.
CAGS sucks and just shows the lengths US engineers have to go to to avoid the dreaded gas guzzler tax. Or they just could be a bunch of nutters with nothing better to do...
Ok Malc I can relate to that, there are times that the road design is too daft for the technology in the car so I’ll let you off on that corner 
Exiting our estate is a series of three increasing radius left right bends coupled with a change to a downhill gradient and the obvious acceleration, quite often results in “active handling warming up” message on the C5. Not as invasive as CAGS but just goes to show some road conditions can result in the technology getting confused and becoming annoying. Guess I am lucky it doesn’t cause CAGS to trip also.
They would be a great series of bends if it wasn’t for it being a typical modern estate road 1.5 lanes wide and often meeting a numpty in a 4x4 coming the other way in the middle.
>> Edited by viperdave on Tuesday 27th April 00:40
Exiting our estate is a series of three increasing radius left right bends coupled with a change to a downhill gradient and the obvious acceleration, quite often results in “active handling warming up” message on the C5. Not as invasive as CAGS but just goes to show some road conditions can result in the technology getting confused and becoming annoying. Guess I am lucky it doesn’t cause CAGS to trip also.
They would be a great series of bends if it wasn’t for it being a typical modern estate road 1.5 lanes wide and often meeting a numpty in a 4x4 coming the other way in the middle.
>> Edited by viperdave on Tuesday 27th April 00:40
On the gas guzzler stuff, I know the CAGS can be pain etc.
But just look at it all from "another" angle: flicking through the back pages of Autocar gives some interesing info:
550 Maranello - 14mpg Touring (4.6L engine)
Lambo Gallardo - 13mpg Touring (4.1L engine)
This compares with probably 23mpg Touring for a 5.7L "Yank"!!
OK, in the Ferrari's and Lambo's case there is a greater hp/litre than an American, but really... if they're so great as engineers, they could probably make it [the engine] a little bit more efficient...
Note, Porsche get 26mpg Touring from their 4.6L Carrera... so it's not impossible.
I suppose 14mpg - and probably only 200 miles on a tank - isn't too much of a problem for the Ferraris, as they'd probably need a trip to the garage about then anyway
But just look at it all from "another" angle: flicking through the back pages of Autocar gives some interesing info:
550 Maranello - 14mpg Touring (4.6L engine)
Lambo Gallardo - 13mpg Touring (4.1L engine)
This compares with probably 23mpg Touring for a 5.7L "Yank"!!
OK, in the Ferrari's and Lambo's case there is a greater hp/litre than an American, but really... if they're so great as engineers, they could probably make it [the engine] a little bit more efficient...
Note, Porsche get 26mpg Touring from their 4.6L Carrera... so it's not impossible.
I suppose 14mpg - and probably only 200 miles on a tank - isn't too much of a problem for the Ferraris, as they'd probably need a trip to the garage about then anyway
You're right: people look at our cars and just reckon it'll do 4mpg.... (I saw 1mpg being read-out the other day on mine while accelerating, but never mind )
What I tell 'em, and they don't really believe me, is that depreciation is a much bigger cost than petrol. You spend (and loadsa people do) 20grand on (e.g.) a Toyota MR2. Less practical than a Corvette, and how much will it be worth in 5 years time???
Put it this way: for every £1000 "gained" by less depreciation, this allows for 20 tanks (at 50 quid a pop!) of petrol... so even at 100 miles a tank, that's 2000 miles...
So, look at it that way and you really see that petrol is a "pay as you go" expense, whereas depreciation you pay as you go (or not!)
) What I tell 'em, and they don't really believe me, is that depreciation is a much bigger cost than petrol. You spend (and loadsa people do) 20grand on (e.g.) a Toyota MR2. Less practical than a Corvette, and how much will it be worth in 5 years time???
Put it this way: for every £1000 "gained" by less depreciation, this allows for 20 tanks (at 50 quid a pop!) of petrol... so even at 100 miles a tank, that's 2000 miles...
So, look at it that way and you really see that petrol is a "pay as you go" expense, whereas depreciation you pay as you go (or not!)
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