User24

iTrader: (1)

Being cheap is not a knock on Corvette. It is supposed to be cheap, it exists because it is cheap. Nobody makes a v8 sports car, with a usable trunk, with that acceleration, for that little money. Low cost of ownership too, other than tires.

You could upgrade the interior with quality, full leather by some companies, but they charge around $20,000 which could otherwise be spent on new engine, repairs, and upgrades.

Plenty of people prefer to spend their money on refinement, brand, and higher maintenance cost. It would be naïve to consider either approach morally superior to the other.

Flashpoint

Perhaps, but if that's the case, then Chevy has missed the point of it's own car. For years, Corvettes have been criticized for their cheap interiors and questionable build quality. Since it's positioned as the flagship Chevy, fit and finish should be of a higher priority. Yes, you could upgrade to the Z06 and get a better interior, but the point is that ANY version of the 'Vette should feel like something special.
It seems GM has forgotten (or maybe has never known?) that a car in the 'Vette's position needs to feel special inside and out, not just when you put your foot down.

Just my two cents

JeRKy 8 Owner

In my quest to replace my 8 and move onto a brand new car after spending a decade in the RX-8 world, I shopped the Stingray.

It is an awesome car. I would take one in a heartbeat.

Problem is the demand for the C7 is so huge that you can't even lease one. And that is a problem for someone like myself that is seeking to lease their next vehicle.

In fact, because of the ridiculously high demand, the price of the Stingray has actually been increased by $2,000 in all trims starting the first of this month.

Despite what some of you may think about vettes and especially this new one...please tell when was the last time you heard of a vehicle's price being hiked up by the manufacturer during the same model year because of explosive demand?

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Easy. The FR-S/BRZ. Dealers were asking $10k over MSRP and getting it from schmucks willing to pay it.

JeRKy 8 Owner

On the BRZ/FRS...that was specific to dealerships though. Plenty of dealerships markup cars everywhere all the time.

In this case though the price of the vehicle itself was actually raised by Chevrolet effective March 1st

TALAN7

What idiot payed 10k more for an FRS/BRZ? Whomever that was sure feels stupid now.

TALAN7

Cars have souls. The vette does have pedigree but in the last decade especially it has been tacked with the image of cheap performance, and that image hurts its soul. Chevy is doing exactly what it ought to be doing and that's improving the vette. No one can argue if it blows away the competition, despite the competitions huge cost or the vettes lack of cost. Conversely, bargain basement image doesn't get you too much respect. Chevy has done an excellent job performance wise with the vette. Now they need to work on the little things. It's the little things that add up to make a car feel special. I haven't sat in one, maybe it has it. It also doesn't help that the vette is a chevy. Chevy has always had the image as bargain basement. It's like if Kia made the 911. How serious would it be taken.

JeRKy 8 Owner

LOL don't forget you and I drive a Mazda so we're nobody to be talking about bargain basement brands

TALAN7

It's easier for Mazda to rebrand itself than Chevy. Most people don't know much about Mazda. Actually, most people when I told them the 8 had a rotary engine would ask, is it a v6. They know nothing of the rotary. Mazda could reinvent itself pretty easily.

Chevy, on the other hand, is apple pie American, trucks, country music and all of that. To many people, particularly foreigners, that means unsophisticated. If pontiac was around the vette would've worked better as that brand. At least it was considered sporty. When you think of Porsche you think of snooty businessmen on wall street who make a lot of money. It's perception that helps the Porsche and hurts the vette. The vette can be the best performing car in the world and you will get people, like some of the people here, who call it a piece of junk without ever having owned, lived, or even driven one. What those people really are doing is thumbing their nose at America. It doesn't help that american car companies did just that to american consumers for decades.

Ber1n

Strange this piece of junk outperforms many Ferraris, Porsches, and Lambos on the Nuremburg circuit. Must be some bizarre anomaly.

blazenblue63

yes.... because the quality of the interior determines performance...
sit down before you hurt yourself. Nobody said anything about it not performing. and what Ferrari and porsche and lambo did it out perform exactly at the nuremburg ring? give some numbers with your claim.

In fact GM is hiding the lap time of the C7 after a little Internet search. so how do you know the stingray is beating "many" Ferrari Porsche and Lamborghini cars on the nurburgring?

Posted From RX8Club.com Android App

djgiron

I find it particular funny when people from this forum state that it is "only 450hp" . . . and what forums is this exactly? Next they will claim it is low on torque haha.

TALAN7

Yeah, how many base model cars come with 450 hp. The Z06 has over 625 hp. What does that leave the ZR1 to have? 800 hp? The 8 doesn't even get a solid 232 hp. Even if the 8 got a real 225 hp that's half of what the vette puts down. Hey, but hp isn't everything.

Ber1n

I'll just leave it at this...
If you sat in the Hennesay GT, you would probably call it a piece of junk because it does not have the best interior, which by the way, I seriously doubt vette's interior is as bad as ypu describe it. Ive seen plenty of reviews on YT, and the only complaint i can remember is the center console being too high. But Back to the GT. If you were to judge the GT a " a piece of junk for fat hill billies," based on the interior, as silly, childish, and illogical it is, people would think you're a lunatic, and are missing the point of the car all together. I think the same applies to the corvette, and you dubbing it a "piece of junk" just shows you're negatively bias towards the car especially if you objectively think about how much you're getting for 50k.

As for Nuremburg, look it up. There's an official lap time chart if you're interested.

blazenblue63

yup there is a chart and if YOU looked it up you'd see the C7 isn't on it.

and 54k buys a ton of luxury. boxster Mercedes BMW audi need I go on?

The purpose of the car is simple. it's trickery. look here at the shiny engine, don't look there at the cheap plastic dash. For 54k you should get more than just a car with 450 horses and nothing else. look where the STI is on that list for 36k. Exactly.

I am not biased I am honest. The Corvette doesn't deserve the term super car. there's nothing super about it. It's performance might be the only reason why it does get that tag. but barely. The exterior and interior are severely lacking. cheap chrome wheels? seriously? terrible seats. Barely any room. cheap plastic roof.... but it has 450 horses....
that's low for a super car these days.
You buy a C7. I'll buy a more comfortable better looking and maybe even a better performing car for the same or less (STI just to name 1) money. If Americans would get over this murica crap Chevy would have to step up their game. they'd research Instead of blindly buying a Chevy badge. because if it had a German badge people would be appauled at this junk.

Posted From RX8Club.com Android App

77mjd

A lot of dealerships are still barely budging from MSRP which is ridiculous. I see a lot of them sitting on lots everywhere. I'd say the hype over this car has already completely vanished. Most people who initially wanted one probably have one by now. I don't think Subaru did themselves any favors with the pricing either. There's no way I'd pay 28-29k for one of those things.

Razz1

The new Vette is a fantastic car.

I've driven one. The interior is fantastic and you get a leather dash.

don't listen to crap here, go see one for yourself.

Roidz

I honestly don't think I've read one negative review in a magazine yet on the c7. I've seen one in person, sat in one, and driven one and couldn't be more amazed at how great the car is given its price point.

The fact that it constantly gets compared to all of these $100k plus cars says a lot in itself.

blazenblue63

that's because American magazines are usually biased for American cars.
they compared the ZR1 to the Nissan GT-R. not the standard C6 or the Z06 which are a much closer price comparison because the GT-R would blow them away.
another example is the infamous motor trend video circulating around here. an APEXING Mustang is keeping up with a DRIFTING BMW M3 and then they say it's just as fast. uh huh... until the M3 starts trying of course but that doesn't get mentioned. and then you have dumbasses saying but lap times are lap times. ok so if I lap the track quicker on my bicycle because the car is doing 5 mph is my bicycle always considered faster?

magazine writers are biased and car companies pamper them to get good reviews.

of course they compare the Crap7 against a 100k car! That'll make it look great! compare it to a 54k Mercedes and the lack of everything but horsepower will make it look like ****. It's trickery.

Posted From RX8Club.com Android App

pdxhak

iTrader: (2)

I do not get why all the bitching about the Corvette. It is what it is. It has world class performance for not a lot money compared to many of the other cars with similar performance. It is the little kid whooping on the bully. The underdog beating the established champ. There is no denying the engine or the car has kicked serious *** on the track all over the world.

IMO the only area it fails a bit is they try to make it a GT car and a sports car. If it were marketed just a sports car then I think people would not complain as much.

Roidz

Isn't the zr1 closer in price to a gt-r than the $50k base corvette? Why wouldn't they compare those two?

And most car magazines pick a Porsche or bmw just about every time, most of the time it's warranted but I would disagree they're biased towards American made cars.

But hey, everyone has their opinion. You think the c7 is crap, and I think you couldn't be more wrong. To each their own I guess.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Wasn't the C5 and C6 "just a sports car" and to hell with anything like comfort and interior? Isn't that what generated so many complaints?


Things like that are always subjective. Pick a car, any car, and you can find people that hate it for what it is, and people that like some stuff but hate other stuff. Like I don't care how "comfortable" of a car you pick, I'm going to hate that aspect of it. Soft comfortably riding suspensions make me car sick. Be it American boat, German luxury, whatever. My head and stomach need a firm communicative ride. Plastic quality is also something I've never really understood. The touch and feel of the dashboard plastic means nothing to me, and never has. Rattles do mean something, as do ergonomics, but "soft touch plastic" or whatever.... i could care less.

TALAN7

blazenblue63 while i agree with some (very little) of what you keep spouting. Your'e starting to sound ridiculous. You have to acknowledge that Chevy has finally added some finesse to the vette. That's what it really was lacking. You can even say up the C6 it lacked finesse and sophistication. It was like it was made just for Americans. The new vette I can see selling well in Europe. Now, the viper on the other hand, is a piece of junk, made just with american sensibilities in mind, all muscle.

The Camaro...crap! I went to look at one and you can't even see out of it. It's an engine bay on wheels. It's bigger than the 8 but has much less room. It's all grip but once you loose it, it's all over the place. No finesse, all muscle. And why are the seats so thick? They had to put 25 grand in it to get it to finally handle (Z28). Who's gonna pay 65 grand for a Z28? Now, finally they say the next one is going to be smaller and lighter. We'll see. The current Mustang is not much better. We'll see about the next one.

Back to the vette. I do believe that the vette is too much of a race car. But I don't believe it's chevy's fault. Cadillac needs to make their version. They tried before with the XLR. The XLR was really nice, but cost too much and didn't have the performance. If Cadillac was to do one now they have to position it not just price wise above the vette but performance as well. The problem with GM is that they can't think higher than the vette. The vette is a chevy so there will always be a problem there. Does the vette need a ZR1? That should be a Caddy. I would also do a Buick version. The Buick version could be slower and more of a luxury cruiser. Give it a base turbo 4 with 310 hp and a twin turbo 6 with at least 420 hp or make it a 4 seater version, but make it handle. If they finally get the next camaro right, then that might be the better way to go for Buick.

pdxhak

iTrader: (2)

I do not recall the Vette being marketed strictly as a sports car but I could be mistaken. For me personally I really did not consider it a real sports car (street version) until the last two models (c6 and c7).

Is anyone doubting a gutted and raced prep Vette can compete with any other brand? The car is legit.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

The "muscle car" is fading and the "sports car" has been taking over, with each of the C5/6/7 generations having more sports car and less muscle car only image. Not that they aren't still fast in a straight line, they are, but "muscle car" is generally a definition of what is missing when you have lots of power. Chevy has been adding what was missing, so the C5 is the last of what might be referred to as muscle, though it had plenty of sports for track guys to be extremely dominate with them.

As far as marketing, the only commercials I can ever recall seeing about the Corvette have been during the 24hrs of LeMans, and have been very much "sports car" focused for years.