RE: Chevrolet Corvette Stingray (C7): Review

[British Beef]

swerni said:

What's the issue with the dealer network? It's a Vette not a TVR.
For the first few years all it's going to need is an oil and a filter change.

Any work required under warranty on a car that most UK Chevrolet dealers cannot work on would be my concern if buying new or nearly new.

[jonnM]

Gixer said:

Wonder what they will sound like with an aftermarket pipe on

fking awesome, like all Chevy V8's do

[loveice]

swerni said:

I'll think I'll pass. To be honest from a Z06 it's more of a down grade.
The LS3 is a lovely engine but can't hold a candle to the LS7.

Is LT1 the same as LS3?

What options does the test car have to make it more than £8k over the base price?

[s6boy]

swerni said:

Cheap to run
Reliable

It's nothing like a TVR

No you're right nothing like a TVR and thank f**k for that. And not because it's cheap to run either.
I can't think of a car review that has depressed me more about the way cars are now being developed and how some people just lap it up. This was a sports car back in the day, hairy arsed and raw - drove one once on track and couldn't change out of third gear for a whole lap until I worked out the bite/release point on the clutch was actually half way up the travel. But that is the point, it had to be learnt not configured on a dash board screen using an I-drive like set of buttons scrolling through myriad options.
It might make you look good to the outside World as you eek out the extra seconds over a lap or a few extra yards out of a corner compared to that analogue TVR you're itching to get past - and you probably will, but what do you say when you get back to the pits? "Yup well I had the e-diff 20% open, throttle potentiometer at max attack and TC set up so any oppo action I couldn't handle was mopped up by the ecu.' Driving? No, piloting yes.
Don't get me wrong there is a very real place for a lot of this tech but 90% isn't in a drivers sports car. My humble commuting car has all the stability and breaking features listed here re calibrated to keep me safe when I need it most. However if you need all those safety nets and driver aids to help you enjoy a sports car then the only place for you is on a track not the road as the speed you'll need to be travelling to enjoy it all will put everyone else in danger as, eventually, the laws of physics take over, your electrics pop a fuse and you travel rapidly towards the scene of the accident.
Long live the likes of Caterham and Radical, Westfield and Noble, they make cars to be driven and mastered, not cars to be seen in going fast.

[Dan Trent]

s6boy said:

swerni said:

Cheap to run
Reliable

It's nothing like a TVR

No you're right nothing like a TVR and thank f**k for that. And not because it's cheap to run either.
I can't think of a car review that has depressed me more about the way cars are now being developed and how some people just lap it up.

Great post and I've a follow up blog brewing on just this topic. But in short when I was reading about all the tech and the configurable stuff on the Stingray I had just the same sense of dread. But actually driving it the technology is very much in the background and there if you want to play with it but not intrusive if you just want to plug and play. And it's a proper car, not a simulation thereof.

I take the point there is the hint of artificial flattery you don't get in the TVRs and others you mention where it really is you and the machine but for a modern day mainstream sports car the Corvette strikes a pretty good balance and is certainly more for 'us' than a lot of the European equivalents.

In short I agree with a lot of what you say (ref. 991 GT3) but many of the similar fears I had melted away in the first few miles.

Try one if you ever get the chance!

Cheers,

Dan

[hdrflow]

My current dream car . I want one just like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1nkLiG8w-o&fea.... And LHD too.

[burwoodman]

900T-R said:

Come again? One tyre will probably be more than a full set on my Chim, same for brakes, clutches - anything that wears when you drive the thing...

Where Les Edgar should pitch the relaunched TVR? Simple - roughly two thirds the weight, 80% of the power/torque, smaller footprint, more directness and intimacy without having to resort to 'race' settings, more curves and less of the Manga-style folds and slashes, handling over grip, a true roadster instead of a 'convertible' (whenever the C7 convertible comes).

Great car this C7 by the sounds of it, but still a bit overspecced and overstated for our roads.

nice car when it ran-my chimp was the biggest pile of st otherwise. fell apart and was very expensive to service-funny that, bing a 50 yr old v8. if tvr surface again they'll be 20k more than this vette, slower and more st

[Hitch78]

tannedstamina said:

If RHD is going to Australia, surely it can come to the UK?

http://www.carsguide.com.au/news-and-reviews/car-n...

RHD is not coming to Australia - I believe it was under consideration but it has been confirmed as not happening. Unfortunately.

[Wills2]

Looks and sounds lovely, but 70k? How many would they sell in the US if they charged $110,000 for them?

They won't sell US cars in the UK until they start charging US pricing, they start over there for $51k, so they are asking us to pay £70k for a car they sell and make a profit from for the equivalent of £32k at home?

I'm only upset because I'd like one.

[confucuis]

This is the third or fourth article I've read in a row on pistonheads that the Nurburgring has been referred to as "a certain German track". Is there a reason for this?

Great looking car though!

[soxboy]

Looking at the instrument panel photo it seems to show the speedo going up to 330mph. Certainly does look like great performance per £!!

[USABRZ]

s6boy said:

No you're right nothing like a TVR and thank f**k for that. And not because it's cheap to run either.

You make good points, but I don't see the need for the whole "old-man on the porch waving his stick at the youngsters" tone.

There are a lot of cars in the marketplace, and a lot of people use them in a lot of different ways. The configurability of the Corvette is probably nice for those who use it as a DD and a track car. Why degrade those who want to have a lot of aids sometimes, and few other times?

[wjk_glynn]

I noticed the author mentioned the C7's large size. If you compare it to a 991 Carrera S, the C7 is approximately 160 lbs heavier. And it's wider and lower. But it's about the same length as the 991. Here's some data lifted from a recent C&D comparison test article:

Car Model: C7 Z51 / 991 S
Power (SAE): 460 hp / 400 hp
Weight: 3460 lbs / 3297 lbs
Length: 176.9" / 176.8"
Width: 73.9" / 71.2"
Height: 48.6" / 50.6"

So it's a bit heavier and bigger, but it's not gargantuanly sized either.

As regards pricing in the US home market, a C7 Z51 is about the same price as a 981 Cayman S (though the Porka can be optioned waaaaay higher if you're not careful). That's the more realistic price comparison for a 2-seat coupe. If you need rear seats like in the Carrera, then the C7 is out...

Edited by wjk_glynn on Friday 17th January 02:05

[900T-R]

I think the point is that the 991 is a big car these days, too...

[900T-R]

swerni said:

I ran the Camaro with the LS3 for 2 1/2 years, my service cost was £140 a year.
In the 25,000 miles I did in it, the only other money was spent removing the rear boxes.
The Z06 was £240 to service this year but that did include the MOT.

Admittedly, the tyres are expensive for the Z06 but nothing close servicing horror stories people post about their TVR's

These cars really are bomb proof.

I wouldn't expect anything else from running a NEW car for a scant 30 months. Beyond the point too - how much exactly did you lose in depreciation over that period? I guess I could run a fleet of TVRs from that alone...

But then again, as I'm looking for long term sustainability of running a car I'm probably not the type of person for new mass-produced ones... The level and integration of electronics of this one would scare me sh*tless and the fact that a 20 year old C4 is more or less bomb proof doesn't say this one will be.

[Ed Straker]

swerni said:

But my Vette is over 7 years old, hasn't depreciated in the 17 months I've owned it and as I said, the annual service was £240 including the MOT

Yeah, but he's a TVR Fan-boy - no point in presenting a rational argument......

[dxbtiger]

I want to love this but the rear is a bloody mess imho.

C6 looks so much better.

[Dr G]

car95 said:

Oh, are they LHD? I never noticed in 4 years of C6Z06 ownership, just got behind the wheel and go on with it Really, not relevant.

The new car is fab.

...but it's a nice easy, predictable, unimaginative and boring line repeated on and on and on and on and on from people that really need to wise up and say 'actually, that's f*****g cool'.

If you don't have the observational skills to cope with LHD get a Fiesta.

[dukebox9reg]

It just doesn't work for me. Always like the concepts of the american muscle car but this just looks well cheap and obviously in this country (UK) it's not.

The front doesn't look too bad and I like it for not looking to pedestrianised but the back end just looks a mess.

You sure that in track mode thats a C6 race car and not an updated Mk2 GTE dash?

[Gixer]

Not unless an Astra had TFT screens as a dash. Lol