OT: Talking Cars Tuesday - the new 'Vette
There was a thread a few days ago, but now that we've had some time to chew on all the info, what do you think of the new Corvette? Do you have a Corvette story? The new platform seems exciting and polarizing all at once with folks in the "Booo it changed" camp and the "It should be awesome" camp. I guess you could be in both camps.
As far as I see it - the cons: No manual transmission, less usable trunk space, it just looks like every mid-engine car out there, the passenger seat seems a bit useless, and the tradition has been a bit destroyed. The Corvette already had a 50/50 weight balance, so will moving the engine really matter?
The pros: The DCT will be faster than any driver with a manual, it has two trunks, it still looks like a Corvette, it's super driver focused, 0-60 in 3 seconds, under $60K it blows arguments for a lot of other vehicles out of the water. It continues the tradition of being the best performance bargain and should dominate a $65K car shootout.
Thoughts? Corvette story? Was there a better advertising campaign than giving all the astronauts Corvettes?
Whilst in undergrad, one of my older buddies had a Corvette with the license plate "BCH PLZ" and would let me drive it whenever he got too drunk to drive home from the bar. I'd specifically stay sober just for the thrill of driving that thing like I stole it for the 10-20 minutes it took us to get back from wherever we were.
/coolstorybro
EDIT: owning a Corvette is a dream of mine - I think it would almost be worth it to drive a cheap old car (ie a later model Honda Accord) year round and have a Corvette as a "play car" for the summer months. I'm sure there are thousands of reasons why this is a bad idea but a guy can dream.
Driving stick has lead me to DD multiple times, but never in anything that fun.
Actually this still happens to me a lot. Often we'll go to a winery or something in my car, which my wife can't drive. She plans this well.
Beautiful car, but not in limeade color. Reminds of an American version of the old Honda nsx. I drove one of those once when I had a badge. Way, way fun.
I was going for a maize and blue color scheme, but it didn't quite work.
Also re: NSX - that's one of the complaints. All mid-engined cars kinda look the same from a body standpoint if they have an angular motif.
As a super aside - I think the old NSX somewhat ruined supercars. It was comfortable! Super cars used to be hard to drive and impossible to sit in, now anyone can buy a Lambo and cruise. A countach would murder your back and left leg. No posers allowed.
The NSX didn't so much ruin supercars as really show that old supercars actually kind of suck to drive. They aren't fast (at least by present standards), they don't handle very well, and they're incredibly uncomfortable to be in for long periods of time. Plus, now that all of the kids who had those cars on their wall have money, and they were never produced in significant numbers in the first place, prices are insane for many of them.
Old supercars are only worth owning for the novelty factor. I'd take a 3-4 year old Cayman S, which can be found easily under $60k with a manual ($50k if you're cool with the PDK), over any road-going Ferrari/Lamborghini/etc. built before the NSX showed up, except maybe the F40. Probably not even the 288 GTO, since I'd bet the Cayman would beat it in a strictly fun-to-drive competition. I'm not a collector, just someone who wants to drive the cars I have and have fun while doing so.
I think it's ugly. And not having a manual transmission available is madness, even if most of them are sold with automatics.
Development dollars. Unique platform would have required a unique transmission. Probably not worth the cash to them.
Yeah I get it. Just seems like madness to me. Like Ferrari not offering manual transmissions anymore.
I read yesterday that the Corvette C7 manual take rate was.....
15%!! Including the Z06! Meaning that Eighty Five Percent of buyers were getting automatics anyway.
I don't understand how this vehicle can sell for $60,000. It looks and performs like a car $90,000+. This car is affordable for much of the upper middle class, and that is awesome !
The Corvette's been the best performance-per-dollar buy for a long time. The "rivalry" has been the 911, but the 911 costs a whole lot more.
I have had both 911s and vettes. My vette was a long time ago 1972. The body was a piece of crap leaked water all over the place. 4 ply nylon tires metal bushings between body and frame harsh ride you bet. o.k. performance. Had a Porsche targa in the late 80s wonderful car. bought a cabriolet in 1999 my forever car. special paint carbon fiber special leather over 100k. best braking cornering car i ever drove. first year for wather cooled , the block cracked in two places at 48,000 miles. could not be repaired Porsche would do nothing had to dump it. I love the new corvette and would love to have one
My friend who is more knowledgeable said that with dealer markups and demand the price will be much higher. Maybe he is just talking out of his ass, but he said he expects them to be in the 90-100 range.
While they ramp up production some dealers will try to cash out, but Corvettes sell in decent volume, so it won't be as bad as other vehicles. Now, how many will be ordered from dealers for $59,995? Probably very few. Most will probably have about $10K worth of options at least. This is still a steal at $70-80K compared to the best competition
My wife always wanted a Vette so I bought her a 2003 50th anniversary edition a few years ago as a Christmas gift. There's nothing "special" about it except it has a kind of rare color (spiral grey) but it was reasonably priced (20K out the door) and had relatively low miles (48K) at the time I bought it.
The C5s are a fun car to drive that's for sure. Nothing fancy vette-wise but fun to take the top off and just go for a drive someplace, grab a beer and drive home.
Looking for stick figure driver. Not shown. Must be a stock photo with model.
otherwise I'd say he outkicked his coverage!
What an incredibly beautiful car. I've never seen that color before.
She's been a blonde in every picture I've ever seen MGrowOld post...
;-)
I know the DCT is basically a super-fast manual and that it still has paddle shifters for those wanting to use them, but not having actual manual transmission makes it a definite no-go for me.
Same, not that I'm buying one either way, but I like the mechanical connection when I drive, even if my hypothetical lap time or 0-60 time is slower.
With paddles it is not always possible to shift while turning the wheel, which is a huge issue to me.
No physical shifter to hit either, it's all paddles in this design.
I love it! I have always been a mild corvette fan and have wanted to own one. I'll take one of these new ones in blue or black please and thanks.
My uncle was a GM engineer and for several years had a brand new corvette every year. He had a buyer lined up, would get the the color and all the features the buyer wanted, use his GM discount then sell the car a year later at or close to the amount he paid for it.
All the guys I work with at Milford absolutely love the "weekend study" where they just take whatever mule they're working on home for the weekend. This time of year, a Camaro convertible? Why not!
My dad owned a red ‘77 corvette when I was a kid. My brother “borrowed” it to take a girl out and wrecked it when he was 16 and that’s a story that still gets told every once in a while.
I would tell that story every time there's a fresh set of ears.
My dad owned a '78 Anniversary Special. It was light gray on top, dark gray on the bottom. He worked at the GM Proving Grounds and got some kind of deal (a balloon?) where he didn't have to make payments for a few months and then was able to sell it for (a little) more than he paid for it. He could have gotten more.....but didn't want to hold out. Anyway, there was NO WAY that one of the kids would be driving it! I remember he took me to baseball practice in it. Maybe a few trips to the DQ....that was about it.
I remember that model, it was the bomb when it came out.
I owned a 1986 Vette that was gun metal grey over black. High performance chip with racing exhaust ( no catalytic converter on manifold pipes). That car was fast as hell.
I got to drive an '81 'vette on my 16th birthday...of course I slammed on the accelerator and spun it around the restaurant parking lot. Scared me straight.
All of these years later and he’s still talking about the girl.
I'm a Mopar guy, but the new Vette looks pretty cool to me. Still amazed by the price compared to what you get. Seems like a hell of a value.
I'm a Mopar guy as well. I love my Challenger Scat Pack but this Corvette is definitely appealing at that price point. I think Dodge has really been very strong in the performance per dollar market in the last decade and it's why they have passed the Camaro and put pressure on the Mustang. This does seem like a shot across the bow from Chevy and we will see how Dodge responds. It only be good for performance fans.
Mid-engine Viper for $50,000 coming soon.
That's what the Viper cost when it came out. One of the dads in my neighborhood was on the development team and he brought home the 12th one produced and spent the day taking every kid for a ride (and there was a lot of us back then). Pretty sure that was before they were available for sale.
He didn't drive it fast though, which was pretty lame, although the engine sounded like nothing I had ever heard before.
Hello Chally Scat Pack brother!
It's not quite "Mopar", but look at this compared to the Alfa Romeo 4C. Mid engined, DCT... 495HP vs. 237. Granted, the 'vette will be much heavier, but it's also cheaper!
The 'vette will also be much more reliable.
It looks nice, but there is something about Chevy's designs that look dated quickly. I think there are too many angles and too much going on. The last few generations of Corvettes and Camaros end up looking very dated. They just don't have a timeless look. However, there isn't a car that delivers more performance per dollar.
All that said, the biggest issue for me is the lack of a third pedal. I would get tired of kicking the floor with my left leg all the time. All true sports cars should offer a manual, end of story.
Yet the vast majority of sports cars no longer offer a manual. I figure it's because in order for someone to afford to buy one of these (new), they are probably about my age, and rowing the gears got old for me about 5-10 years ago.
Only so many times you can go 1st 2nd, brake repeat next block, in traffic before the wife's auto starts to look more appealing.
Two main reasons
- Automatics have gotten much, much better. They're faster and (on the EPA cycle at least, which is a mini-explanation I could get into) more efficient.
- Dollars. Every powertrain combination has to be crash tested to be sold in the US. This costs millions of dollars. Audi did the math on the new A4. For 2019 A4s, 6% of them in the US were sold as manuals. Audi figured that if they discontinued the manual, half the manual buyers would buy a new A4 automatic, and they'd lose half. For 3% of their sales it wasn't worth the money to crash test it. (other mini-explanation - why don't we just share emissions & crash test standards with the EU? It'd lower everyone's costs (manufacturers, customers, regulators) and let us get lots of other car options available state-side).
I mentioned this thread to my wife and she reminded me of the time we were in grad school that she set up a blind date with one of her friends from home and a classmate (my wife was into match-making at that time--I don't think it ever worked out). She asked her classmate how the date went, and she replied it all went down hill after he showed up in his penis-mobile. It made me wonder what kind of car would be satisfactory to her, since a corvette set her off. Maybe an AMC pacer? That same classmate later refused to allow her students to use of say the word pencil because it came from the same root as the word penis.
I had a couple of dates with women like that...they never got a callback even though I 'lost' my favorite going out shirt once.
I've had seven vettes over the years along with a bunch of other interesting performance cars. This new vette is the first time in quite some time that Corvette has piqued my interest. This new car, for the money, is a major accomplishment that might finally open in a serious way the worldwide markets for sports cars that often exclude Corvette.
I participate in corvetteforum.com, a serious corvette blog, and while there are some naysayers, the overall feel for the C8 is overwhelmingly positive.
As for no manual transmission, once you drive a performance vehicle with a DCT, at least for me, it may negate the desire to have a manual. I drove performance cars with manual transmissions to work for quite some time and sitting in DC traffic was not fun unless a large left calf is your thing.
Modern transmissions mated to efficient, high performance power plants has allowed for tremendous performance and good gas mileage. On top of that, about 80 percent of C7's were sold with automatic transmissions and certain car makers, like Ferrari, no longer sell manual transmission vehicles.
I want one but my wife says we don’t need it, sad
A guy I used to work out with at my gym, quite some time ago, showed up one day driving a new NSX. This is when the NSX was first released. I was admiring his car and we got to talking. I asked him if his wife liked it, and he said in all seriousness that when he proposed buying the car she gave him an ultimatum: "Me or the car."
He took the car.
I asked him if the regretted his decision and with a smile he indicated he didn't, not for a second.
So, Khaleke the Freak.....ball's in your court.
This makes all the 2019 vettes out there worth $12,543 less. Bet I could get one with four tailpipes for $35K.
I wonder about that. I assume there are just enough people out there who are upset the Vette is going mid-engine to vacuum up the remaining C7s. I know the original plan was to sell both side-by-side for awhile.
If I were a dealer I'd be in no hurry to sell off the C7 stock, at least not yet.