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OT - New C8 Corvette reveal

Milland

Diamond
Joined
Jul 6, 2006
Location
Hillsboro, New Hampshire
Hi all,
I know we have some car guys here, and since this is an iconic American sports car that's just gone through it's biggest transformation, I think it's a legit topic to talk about. Especially the manufacturing/pricing aspects.

The C8 means that the Corvette is now mid-engined, with an astounding entry price of under $60K. For that, you're getting an aluminum intensive chassis and engine, along with almost 500hp stock. Along with that, there's a eight speed "manual-automatic" transmission, a pretty fancy interior, and a sub-three second 0-60mph time.

I am stunned, literally, that they can make this "clean sheet" car, with Ferrari performance, at a price under sixty thousand. It's a low production vehicle that shares little with their other products, how the hell did they bring the price in so low?

Any insight from our Detroit or auto-savvy members is welcome! I'm just impressed as heck, this is the performance bargain of the century (no exaggeration!).
 
May be respectable performance and price.

Just a couple of thoughts, a lot of aluminum? Wasn't Chevy razzing Ford about aluminum in their trucks last year?

Did the Dodge Vipers sell at about the same price and performance?

If you want a Corvette it maybe the best deal going. I worked with another machinist that had 2 Corvettes one for him and one for the wife. He sure worked a lot of hours though.
 
May be respectable performance and price.

Just a couple of thoughts, a lot of aluminum? Wasn't Chevy razing Ford about aluminum in their trucks last year?

Did the Dodge Vipers sell at about the same price and performance?

If you want a Corvette it maybe the best deal going. I worked with another machinist that had 2 Corvettes one for him and one for the wife. He sure worked a lot of hours though.

The "sub 3 second" GM is quoting is supercar territory, and given the video of the car on the Nurburgring it's no slouch in the corners either. I'd say it's more than respectable, I wasn't comparing it to a Ferrari as hyperbole.

It makes the new Mustang GT350's and 500's look well overpriced, and will easily outperform them, except perhaps be even with the 500 on the drag strip.
 
Just a couple of thoughts, a lot of aluminum? Wasn't Chevy razing Ford about aluminum in their trucks last year?

Yes they were razzing aluminum use in a truck bed. I feel the same way. Would WAY rather have a steel bed. In a car, aluminum is a plus.

The C8 looks pretty darn sharp, I'll say that much. Better than I expected from all the spy shots. The (relatively) low price may well be because GM is selling the car at a very low margin. These types of cars from the "common car" manufacturers often do I think.
 
The Al aspect is fine with me, treated correctly it'll be fine from a corrosion standpoint, and they've been using aluminum for frame elements without an issue for the previous two generations of Corvette.

Oh, and a sad farewell to the transverse leave springs that used to be a Corvette signature - they've been replaced with coilovers at all four corners. With the higher end suspension options you'll be able to corner weight the car right off the showroom floor.

On the Viper - yes, it was a pretty good bargain, but nowhere near a real road racer until the very end of production. Most of them were really drag oriented unless a lot of work was put into the suspension and tuning, otherwise they were optimized to find telephone poles...

Price adjusted, the new 'Vette is about 2/3rds or less the relative cost of the Vipers. And faster in pretty much all conditions.
 
The 0-6- time is not for the stock model but for the future high/higher performance model. Not that it makes that much difference. Below is quoted from the article I read on the new corvette.

"With 465 lb-ft of torque, plenty of weight on the rear tires and the latest traction and launch control systems, Chevrolet says it can accelerate to 60 mph in under 3.0 seconds when equipped with the optional Z51 package and performance exhaust that bumps power and torque up by 5 hp and 5 lb-ft. That puts it squarely in exotic car territory. Keep in mind that the Stingray is the entry-level Corvette model and much more powerful iterations are still to come."

Paul
 
Not long ago they auctioned the final production C7 at Barrett Jackson.

Probably that last front engine corvette to be built, it went for $2.7 million.
 
Yes they were razzing aluminum use in a truck bed. I feel the same way. Would WAY rather have a steel bed.

Thanks for the catch on the spelling, I fixed that. 1/2 ton truck is not much of a work truck anyway and bed liners are common place, if you are going to work with it. I had a spray in liner done on my 3/4 ton.
With the Ford, if the chassis is the same that several hundred pounds saved will equal fuel saving or extra load capacity. Since Ford is the most stolen by coyotes around here that means more illegals that can be safely transported.

Just seemed ironic after all the razzing.
 
The 0-6- time is not for the stock model but for the future high/higher performance model. Not that it makes that much difference. Below is quoted from the article I read on the new corvette.

Paul

Paul, unless I've been reading multiple websites incorrectly, the sub-three is for the model that was shown yesterday, not the future Z06 or ZR1/Zora (or whatever they'll be named). So the base (or available at launch Z51 option pack which is not too expensive) will do under three seconds, at $60-65K - that's crazy fast, and means the proposed AWD Zora will do about two seconds. Good grief...
 
Just thinking out loud here...

The motor technology has just gotten insane.. when I was growing up a 6 second 0-60
was stupid fast.. Now its common place in crappy sedans that are used to get grocerys.

Sub 3 second 0-60.. That's just stupid fast..

No point in even building a motor anymore, you can just go buy one. Even all the car
shows on MotorTrend TV (formerly Velocity) all they use is factory crate motors..

Its just boggles my mind.. And its reliable power that starts and doesn't need to be
played with constantly to keep it running. And it goes for 100's of thousands of miles.


As for the new Corvette.. I don't like it. If it was named something else, I'd think
it was really cool... It just doesn't say "Corvette" to me..
 
Budget Ferrari you can fix with parts from Autozone... besides being a midlife crisis mobile and not being able to turn your nose up at the world because you own an exotic, I call it a massive win.
 
And here's Autoweek's take, with the C8 Chief Engineer's comments:

why the new midengine C8 behaves much differently
Well jeeze, it's midengine, stoopid. What do you expect ? Never drove an MR2 ? And talk about a retarded marketspeak explanation .... even Kevin Cameron does better.

The Ford GT was a tiny bit over $100,000, maybe an even better bargain .... and a speedway bike will go 0 to 60 in 2 seconds, for about $55,000 less than this corvette :D

It's cool but I dunno ... still a corvette. Not exactly a sports car.
 
Now its common place in crappy sedans that are used to get grocerys.

Sub 3 second 0-60.. That's just stupid fast..

No point in even building a motor anymore, you can just go buy one. Even all the car


Its just boggles my mind.. And its reliable power that starts and doesn't need to be
played with constantly to keep it running.
..
You said that well, there were a few cars in the 60s that would do that kind of 0 to 60 but they were unruly BEASTS, that would not even idle in cold weather. The one I had for a little while had a comment in the owners manual, wide open throttle burst must be limited to 15 secs duration. Spent more time tuning and messing with it than driving.
 
The motor technology has just gotten insane.. when I was growing up a 6 second 0-60
was stupid fast.. Now its common place in crappy sedans that are used to get grocerys.

I don't know how people drive where you are, but around here it seems like they all want to test their 0-60 at every traffic light and stop sign.

I cruise around in a 25 year old truck. It's anything but fast. People on the road treat me like I have "registered sex offender" stenciled on the tail gate.

The speed limit on two lane state highways here is 55mph. If you aren't doing 75mph you get passed like it's the Indy 500.
 
Well jeeze, it's midengine, stoopid. What do you expect ? Never drove an MR2 ? And talk about a retarded marketspeak explanation .... even Kevin Cameron does better.

The Ford GT was a tiny bit over $100,000, maybe an even better bargain .... and a speedway bike will go 0 to 60 in 2 seconds, for about $55,000 less than this corvette :D

It's cool but I dunno ... still a corvette. Not exactly a sports car.

In this part of FL we call a corvette and mustang gt's the poor man's sports car. :scratchchin:

Of course still too rich for my blood! :cryin:
 
Well jeeze, it's midengine, stoopid. What do you expect ? Never drove an MR2 ? And talk about a retarded marketspeak explanation .... even Kevin Cameron does better.

Previous generation 'Vettes were "front mid-engine", this one is "rear mid-engine". And the descriptions are adequate for those who haven't done any driving schools or track days.

The Ford GT was a tiny bit over $100,000, maybe an even better bargain .... and a speedway bike will go 0 to 60 in 2 seconds, for about $55,000 less than this corvette :D

The 2nd gen FGT was a very nice car, but in mid-2000's dollars was much more than the C8, let alone inflation adjusted. What the C8 has done is also show up the 3rd gen FGT in a big way, although price set aside I'd go for the GT.

It's cool but I dunno ... still a corvette. Not exactly a sports car.

It's a sports car, unless your definition is limited to MX-5's and TR-6's. More like a true supercar with it's new capabilities.
 
As for the new Corvette.. I don't like it. If it was named something else, I'd think
it was really cool... It just doesn't say "Corvette" to me..

You're showing your "old fart-hood" there, Bob. Actually, a real old fart (like me) would know that the impetus for a Mid-Vette has been around since ZA-D, so almost from the beginning. I admit to preferring the C6 generation styling over the C7, and wish the C8 was a little less edgy, but I can overlook that when I'm in the cabin.

I just need to get a lottery ticket win first...
 
I don't know how people drive where you are, but around here it seems like they all want to test their 0-60 at every traffic light and stop sign.

I cruise around in a 25 year old truck. It's anything but fast.

Do you really want to know how people drive down here in the Land of Manana..

Most are normal, but then we have the SLOW drivers.. This is a common occurance.
25mph through the center of town here. Most people are between 20 and 25 because
it can get tight when there are a lot of cars parked.. Get behind somebody doing
20 in the 35 heading into town, they get to the 25 sign, and totally let off the
gas. Cruising through town now at a constant 12mph... And then they turn off
and I'm SOOO happy, I can go 20mph now, and then come up on somebody doing
8mph, and then they turn off, and once again I am SOOOO Happy that I can go
20mph again, just to come up on somebody DRIVING.. Not Walking through town
at 4mph...

3rd car in line at a light.. Light turns green, and they accelerate SO SLOW
that by the time I get to the stop line, the light is already yellow.


20 year old truck here also, so its not a rocket ship.. But compared to a pickup from
the mid to late 70's and early 80's, it is a rocket ship. And considering how much
a new truck costs, I'm going to drive that sucker for a long long long time.. I even
have a spare motor and tranny sitting here for when *that* day eventually comes.
 
You said that well, there were a few cars in the 60s that would do that kind of 0 to 60 but they were unruly BEASTS, that would not even idle in cold weather. The one I had for a little while had a comment in the owners manual, wide open throttle burst must be limited to 15 secs duration. Spent more time tuning and messing with it than driving.



I don't think anything in the 60's did such a 0-60

Tire tech, lack of launch control, lack of computerized fuel injection[meaning you open 4 or 6 barrels and wait a second for the air velocity to catch up again]



And that Ford GT was a great car, but they never ever sold for list, dealer markup and then collector inflation
 








 
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