RE: New Corvette revealed at last!
Discussion
I've owned two C4's, three C5's and a C6. I just got back from the Chevy dealer and put down a deposit on a new C7. I got there about an hour after the dealership opened and three people had already put down a deposit before me. Chevy is going to sell a ton of these things.
My deposit covered my place in line. I'll be able to order the color and options in may when the dealers can start placing orders. I plan on getting the blue one with the Z51 and manual transmission.
Two things to comment on having read most of this thread. If you rented one while here, do not judge the quality of the car based on that experience. People flog the s
t out of those rental cars. The Hertz rentals regularly showed up on the drag strips on Saturday nights. People would run the crap out of them and then return them filled up with cheap 87 octane fuel instead of the REQUIRED 93. Imagine fifty of your fellow piston heads with a week in a 911 before you sat in it for the first time. You might find yourself questing the build quality of that car too.
Also, I never took any of my C5's or C6's in for warranty work other than one of my C5's had some paint damage that was probably caused in shipping. The only services any of them ever had was oil changes. I put at least 150,000 miles on the 3 C5's and 40,000 miles on the C6. My rotors did warp on the C6 but I found out that was because after running the car hard on 100 degree days, I would then drive it into my air conditioned garage with the e brake clamped down. It never happened again after I stopped engaging the e brake in the garage.
The car will cost us Americans about 30,000 pounds. About what you pay for an SLK 250 diesel. Just thought I'd rub that in a bit...
My deposit covered my place in line. I'll be able to order the color and options in may when the dealers can start placing orders. I plan on getting the blue one with the Z51 and manual transmission.
Two things to comment on having read most of this thread. If you rented one while here, do not judge the quality of the car based on that experience. People flog the s
t out of those rental cars. The Hertz rentals regularly showed up on the drag strips on Saturday nights. People would run the crap out of them and then return them filled up with cheap 87 octane fuel instead of the REQUIRED 93. Imagine fifty of your fellow piston heads with a week in a 911 before you sat in it for the first time. You might find yourself questing the build quality of that car too. Also, I never took any of my C5's or C6's in for warranty work other than one of my C5's had some paint damage that was probably caused in shipping. The only services any of them ever had was oil changes. I put at least 150,000 miles on the 3 C5's and 40,000 miles on the C6. My rotors did warp on the C6 but I found out that was because after running the car hard on 100 degree days, I would then drive it into my air conditioned garage with the e brake clamped down. It never happened again after I stopped engaging the e brake in the garage.
The car will cost us Americans about 30,000 pounds. About what you pay for an SLK 250 diesel. Just thought I'd rub that in a bit...
have you every had that thing, where someone is telling a joke, but before the punchline there is a 20 minute story to set the scene and then when they do tell the punchline it's st?
well this is what Chevrolet did in automotive design terms..... Its not bad, but its a bit of a letdown....
t?well this is what Chevrolet did in automotive design terms..... Its not bad, but its a bit of a letdown....
benzpassion said:
RacerMike said:
So Mr Ingenieur/C.Eng. Care to detail quite what it is you do that makes you so above working at a modern, forward thinking engineering company that is one of the largest employers of engineers in the UK and has invested millions in the development of new technologies? Or is it actually that you do have some kind of personal issue with JLR? I would have thought someone capable of acheiving a degree in engineering would have the intelligence/interest to have noticed all the recent engineering achievements and genuine investment the company has managed in the last 24-36 months.
Yours sincerly,
Racer Mike
MEng(Hons) AMIMechE
Mike, no offence, but in another life I've been an academic supervisor in a Russell group UK uni. where MEngs were handed out to 'students' who literally couldn't write a single coherent sentence, but had funds enough to pay course fees. Prior to the 1980s education 'reforms', they wouldn't have made UK O-Level grade.Yours sincerly,
Racer Mike
MEng(Hons) AMIMechE
As to JLR being a large employer/large employer of engineers, again this illustrates my point how parochial and insignificant in global terms JLR and its daily trumpeted success by the UK's media actually is. JLR employs what, 20,000 tops? VW group employs over half a million directs. BMW and Daimler around 200k each. Even poor GM Europe at its engineering HQ in Ruesselsheim Germany employs around 10-15k engineers alone.
And let's not forget JLR is wholly foreign owned. I don't see why the UK and its people are so inordinately proud of JLR as they are, when, at base, it doesn't belong to them, and secondly, it is still just terribly small beer, in engineering terms and R&D spend, which is regularly disguised by redressing old platforms, a la Freelander begetting Evoque, XJ(2002) begetting XK, XK begetting F-type, even the new R/R/RRS being heavily reliant on Ford's original aluminium XJ(X350) platform, and still heavy use of Ford/PSA designed/manufactured engines.
PS. I'm not an engineer.
Back on topic, I'm not at all keen on the look of it. I think the design is too fussy and the back end has been forgotten about.
Rather than four round exhausts, two long thin oval or flat ones side by side might have looked better. Four round ones looks cartoonish.
Not that opinion matters, I'll never own one. I can see a case for owning the previous incarnation though, when prices come down a bit.
Rather than four round exhausts, two long thin oval or flat ones side by side might have looked better. Four round ones looks cartoonish.
Not that opinion matters, I'll never own one. I can see a case for owning the previous incarnation though, when prices come down a bit.
benzpassion said:
Mike, no offence, but in another life I've been an academic supervisor in a Russell group UK uni. where MEngs were handed out to 'students' who literally couldn't write a single coherent sentence, but had funds enough to pay course fees. Prior to the 1980s education 'reforms', they wouldn't have made UK O-Level grade.
None taken...my degree was tough, comprehensive and valued. However, as I'm sure you know, a little bit of writing on a peice of paper or a few letters next to ones name, does not make a good engineer. In reality, the world of Academic Engineering is as far removed from the reality of a profit making, business based engineering company as an English Degree is from Astro Physics. It takes a lot more experience in industry (not in the classroom) to become a competant engineer.As Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design states:
Atkin said:
Half of everything you hear in a classroom is crap. Education is figuring out which half is which.
Great respect to GM who have put together a great looking, well specced vehicle that will be appreciably cheaper than the competition. Really hope it drives as well as it looks and builds on the C6's success. It has the potential to be a great car. Looks like the future of manual transmission / NA performance cars may be coming from a surprising source!
Joecooool said:
The car will cost us Americans about 30,000 pounds. About what you pay for an SLK 250 diesel. Just thought I'd rub that in a bit...
Anyway, what this car really needs is a ZF box with a big, torquey diesel engine.
Hellbound said:
Joecooool said:
The car will cost us Americans about 30,000 pounds. About what you pay for an SLK 250 diesel. Just thought I'd rub that in a bit...
Anyway, what this car really needs is a ZF box with a big, torquey diesel engine.
In Venezuela they pay around 8c for a Gallon of petrol.... Horses for courses.
Gorbyrev said:
Great respect to GM who have put together a great looking, well specced vehicle that will be appreciably cheaper than the competition. Really hope it drives as well as it looks and builds on the C6's success. It has the potential to be a great car. Looks like the future of manual transmission / NA performance cars may be coming from a surprising source!
I'm glad you approve. However manual/na has always been a mainstay of US performance cars, not just something recent.e.g.
C4 Covette in the late 80's - n/a 375-405hp and manual only
Mustang Cobra's - mostly na (some supercharged) and manual only
Zo6 Vettes manual only and na (C5 and C6)
Vipers manual only and large na
Basically as a trend most of their top performance cars through the 80's to today have only ever been available with a manual and usually n/a.
Indeed even looking at the 70's and 60's this is true to the greater extent. While it's more British makers like Jaguar and Aston Martin along with Euro ones like Merc and BMW that have tended to favour automatics and flappy paddle gearboxes.
300bhp/ton said:
Gorbyrev said:
Great respect to GM who have put together a great looking, well specced vehicle that will be appreciably cheaper than the competition. Really hope it drives as well as it looks and builds on the C6's success. It has the potential to be a great car. Looks like the future of manual transmission / NA performance cars may be coming from a surprising source!
I'm glad you approve. However manual/na has always been a mainstay of US performance cars, not just something recent.e.g.
C4 Covette in the late 80's - n/a 375-405hp and manual only
Mustang Cobra's - mostly na (some supercharged) and manual only
Zo6 Vettes manual only and na (C5 and C6)
Vipers manual only and large na
Basically as a trend most of their top performance cars through the 80's to today have only ever been available with a manual and usually n/a.
Indeed even looking at the 70's and 60's this is true to the greater extent. While it's more British makers like Jaguar and Aston Martin along with Euro ones like Merc and BMW that have tended to favour automatics and flappy paddle gearboxes.
CrispyMK said:
Not keen on the quad exhaust, just looks a bit silly. I love design of the interior though. It looks like its been designed to fit around the driver. Get ready for cheap plastic comments in 3....2......1.....
Agreed, the exhausts just look odd.If they had a space like the last vette it would look better. Also whats up with the square light. Rear looks like a camaro.
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