RE: Mid-engined Corvette spied testing

RE: Mid-engined Corvette spied testing

Author
Discussion

tim milne

344 posts

232 months

Tuesday 11th September 2018
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I bet the conversations inside GM and the Corvette division have been fascinating — the mid-engined Corvette idea is almost as old as the car itself. So, I wonder whether they see this is as their original idea that far less performance-orientated competitors — specifically Audi and Honda — have grabbed and made successful?

Certainly there's been a clear cycle of perception of every new Corvette since the C3 — each new iteration claims to be a huge leap forward over its predecessor, which after its been out a year or so, everyone acknowledges as being primitive and agricultural.

I wonder whether there's a bit of corporate insecurity at work here.

Modern Corvettes have always been at the top of horsepower charts and pioneered a lot of technology — adaptive dampers, carbon brakes, carbon chassis, aggressive aero and more — that isn't found in any of their competitors. Indeed for the price in the US, the Corvette doesn't have any real competition. So, is this move to mid-engine layout just another way of them shouting "We're a legitimate sports car as good as the Europeans" when nobody actually said they weren't?

3795mpower

484 posts

129 months

Tuesday 11th September 2018
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We saw this in the flesh over the weekend on track and around the
Roads near the Ring.
It looked fantastic in the flesh and the proportions are great.

Good on GM for being bold.

Matt Harper

6,613 posts

200 months

Ocho

604 posts

236 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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Off topic, but why are all the comments on this thread dated September 2018???

gazza285

9,779 posts

207 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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Ocho said:
Off topic, but why are all the comments on this thread dated September 2018???
Because they were posted in September 2018, the main story has been updated though.

Ocho

604 posts

236 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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Ahhh - thought I was going nuts...

glasso

23 posts

81 months

Saturday 13th April 2019
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setting up to be a proper machine

C.MW

472 posts

68 months

Saturday 13th April 2019
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I find it difficult to get my head around a mid-engined Corvette. There are certain advantages/characteristics with its current FR layout and the switch to MR means it will be a completely different car in every aspect but the name. The Z06 and ZR1 versions are expected to come with a DOHC and even a hybrid powertrain is being considered for the Zora, so power will probably be delivered in an un-corvette fashion too. The reason behind the radical change, Chevrolet says, is that the chassis of the current gen car has reached its limit but I suspect a completely new FR chassis developed from the scratch will solve that. Front engined machines in Japan's Super GT have been doing well against their mid-engined rivals for decades.

RumbleOfThunder

3,546 posts

202 months

Monday 15th April 2019
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Still not a Corvette is it. Also it looks more and more ugly the more I see. Hopefully those horrible proportions are flattered when the camo comes off.

mikeg15

286 posts

199 months

Sunday 21st April 2019
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RumbleOfThunder said:
Also it looks more and more ugly the more I see. Hopefully those horrible proportions are flattered when the camo comes off.
I really don't want to agree with you, but I have to agree with you. It's just so generic and kit-carish. Chevrolet styling which used to be leader of the pack, has definitely lost its' way recently. I had a similar feeling about one of the recent Camaros when I saw one from behind. I thought it was one of those really gross GRP kit coupes from the '80s.

Nerdherder

1,773 posts

96 months

Monday 1st July 2019
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Agent XXX said:
Looks more interesting than the 'new' 911
Interesting is right word indeed. Some very ungainly shapes on this new Corvette generation to my eyes.

kambites

67,460 posts

220 months

Monday 1st July 2019
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As nonPH as this comment is, the fascinating thing is going to be how much luggage space they can squeeze in. A large part of the Corvette's appeal has always been its usability; if this can't take a suitcase or a week's shopping there's going to be an awful lot of existing C7 owners who end up looking elsewhere.

Not that a Corvette priced mid-engined super sports car type thing wont be a fabulous addition to the market, but I can't help but feel there was room for both formulae.

Edited by kambites on Monday 1st July 15:35

unsprung

5,467 posts

123 months

Monday 1st July 2019
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kambites said:
As nonPH as this comment is, the fascinating thing is going to be how much luggage space they can squeeze in. A large part of the Corvette's appeal has always been its usability...
+1

a core brand insight

and whilst one hopes for the (somewhat celebrated) utility of the daily driver, most of us are resigned to seeing less of it in this newest Corvette


je777

341 posts

103 months

Monday 1st July 2019
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I'm not sure it could look any more generic.

RDMcG

19,093 posts

206 months

Monday 1st July 2019
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Not a huge Corvette fan in the least, but I think the front engined car has pretty much gone as far as it could given the ever increasing performance of other sports cars. Very hard to see yet if it will be attractive, but I will wait and see. One of the true weaknesses of the Vette for me was the cheap and plasticky interior. If they want to supply a premium-priced car they will need to fix this.

As an aside, it is strange right now that we are seeing so many new ultra performance cars as the regulators everywhere tighten every possible standard, lower speed limits, ban cars in cities, add cameras ,that there are endless protests about climate change, Germany's most popular political party is now the greens. The Vette is mainly an American domestic product and it will take a long time before the US changes its regulations, but even there the speed limits are low; Keeping a car like this nowadays is like having a pet tiger...you basically have to keep it caged.

Still, glad to see it arrive.


anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 1st July 2019
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kambites said:
Not that a Corvette priced mid-engined super sports car type thing wont be a fabulous addition to the market....
I think that's going to be the fundamental question - price in UK. If they get fancy with the pricing it'll be trying to sell against a carbon, twin-turbo McLaren.

Roll on 18th July!

unsprung

5,467 posts

123 months

Monday 1st July 2019
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RDMcG said:
it will take a long time before the US changes its regulations,
if you're speaking of emissions controls, you may be mis-speaking

the US was first with catalytic converters... beating many European countries by a decade

for most of the last 40 years, the US generally led on emissions controls -- thus the requirement for European cars to be de-tuned when exported to the US

and California -- a state with 40 million people and a GDP that is both fourth in the world and greater than that of the UK -- leading in both emissions controls as well as adoption of alternative powertrains

a dozen other US states have abandoned US federal emissions standards to join California -- embracing and enforcing California standards within their own borders

sorry... not sorry


DooM_II

95 posts

131 months

Monday 1st July 2019
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it's a mix between a Gen-1 NSX and a Vector

sidesauce

2,456 posts

217 months

Monday 1st July 2019
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
LaFerrari is mid-engined.

RDMcG

19,093 posts

206 months

Monday 1st July 2019
quotequote all
unsprung said:
if you're speaking of emissions controls, you may be mis-speaking

the US was first with catalytic converters... beating many European countries by a decade

for most of the last 40 years, the US generally led on emissions controls -- thus the requirement for European cars to be de-tuned when exported to the US

and California -- a state with 40 million people and a GDP that is both fourth in the world and greater than that of the UK -- leading in both emissions controls as well as adoption of alternative powertrains

a dozen other US states have abandoned US federal emissions standards to join California -- embracing and enforcing California standards within their own borders

sorry... not sorry
I understand that - my point is that the current environment if anything appears to be moving backwards, and further , there is very little evidence of the London-type congestion charges for instance. I do think that the new car will be safe domestically for its design life. Yes, there is certainly work one alternative power and I see the Tesla superchargers stations in many places;

I no longer think that the US will lead in emission standards. Many of the engines dropped in from production in the least few years are because of Euro and not US standards. For in stance, the current top end Camaro is being dropped from importation for this reason as I recall.

No big deal, just an opinion.