Thoughts on the New Corvette

[Creatre]

Attachment 39273

Pop your Viper hood and take a look.

Front mid engine and rear mid engine are totally different ballgames.

[Old School]

All Corvettes except for c1 are mid engine too.

[Vipes]

Front mid engine and rear mid engine are totally different ballgames.

I dont think anybody here is debating that point.

[IndyRon]

Some people including me felt that was one reason the Gen V didn't sell as well as it could have. Instead of a new daring cutting edge design they went back to the iconic Gen 2 look because they mistakenly listened to the loud voices of older generation Viper owners. The same older Viper owners who never bought a Gen V they couldn't afford.

Damn, Talk about a truth-bomb.

[Bryan Savage]

Damn, Talk about a truth-bomb.

Oh, I don't know about that. You can bet your buttocks there were some serious fights among the C8 team about whether or not a mid-engined car could still be a Corvette. Regardless of whether Zora wanted one or not, the car has been FR-layout for sixty years. Chevy knows dad gum well the first customers are the loyal ones, so that's the core group you don't want to upset. You can use any name you want on a car if you're chasing new customers. You stick to legacy to appease the purists. What if Chrysler had produced the ME412 anyway but called it a Viper? There'd have been OUTRAGE!!!

I think the Gen V didn't make it because there's just not enough of an existing customer base to keep a car afloat. It was too expensive and didn't have enough options. What's Corvette always offered, straight from the factory?? Hard top, targa, convertible, Manuel, and automatic gearboxes, in any trim or combination you want. Viper?? Oh, you want a targa? Send it to Prefix and that will be $10k, wait, $15k, wait, $20k... nevermind. Oh, you want a convertible? That'll be $30,000, we're only making ten, and you can't bring the car you already bought in for a conversion. You want an automatic? Get bent, noob.

The Viper program couldn't afford to offer all those options, as it's always been a loss-leader. Other Viper things would have come, but selling so few cars, it was doomed from the start.

The C8 will FLY off the shelves. Chevy won't be able to keep up production, and they'll be selling for 30% higher than MSRP. A bunch of people on these forums will buy them too. Wait and see.

[IndyRon]

Oh, I don't know about that. Chevy knows dad gum well the first customers are the loyal ones, so that's the core group you don't want to upset.

Yeah, but that only holds true for so long. Look at Harley. Eventually your core customer base dies/becomes senile/impotent...u get the idea. You must make more than small incremental advances from time to time. Of course I’m speaking about FCA. Regarding the Vette, they’ve definitely made a big leap. It’s cool and seems to perform well. IMHO, just isn’t pretty.

[Bryan Savage]

Yeah, but that only holds true for so long. Look at Harley. Eventually your core customer base dies/becomes senile/impotent...u get the idea. You must make more than small incremental advances from time to time. Of course I’m speaking about FCA. Regarding the Vette, they’ve definitely made a big leap. It’s cool and seems to perform well. IMHO, just isn’t pretty.

You make a good point too. Not that $60,000 is pocket change, but that's a somewhat attainable price. Corvettes have always been the "affordable" supercar. I've never been able to understand why the average age of their customer keeps going up.

Harley though, I can understand. Though their new electric Livewire looks awesome, it starts at $30,000. I don't think that's going to do much for their demographic...

[IndyRon]

You make a good point too. Not that $60,000 is pocket change, but that's a somewhat attainable price. Corvettes have always been the "affordable" supercar. I've never been able to understand why the average age of their customer keeps going up.

Harley though, I can understand. Though their new electric Livewire looks awesome, it starts at $30,000. I don't think that's going to do much for their demographic...

No doubt the Harleys price point are getting up there. That said, with millenials priorities differing from the rest of us (they don’t buy houses like previous generations, etc, etc) I think there are enough of them doing well that would spend handily on something they want. They aren’t all like the media portrays and Ben Shapiro stated of the Occupy Wall Street types “living in tents and pooping on themself”.

The car is cool. I hope it succeeds. I want a 720s but can’t afford one, LOL. Hopefully the C8Z will cut the resale on them, LOL.

[ViperNC]

Some people including me felt that was one reason the Gen V didn't sell as well as it could have. Instead of a new daring cutting edge design they went back to the iconic Gen 2 look because they mistakenly listened to the loud voices of older generation Viper owners. The same older Viper owners who never bought a Gen V they couldn't afford.

I must be one of those odd balls that came back to the Viper from a 1998 Gen 2 and had no interest in the Gen 3 & 4 cars, but fell in love when the Gen 5 was released and had to have one. Personally, I think the Gen 5 didn't sell well due to poor marketing and missed opportunities.

GM states this about the low entry price on the C8:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/auto...age=AAEKs5V|11
Guess they expect to sell a ton of them to obtain their economies of scale.

[efnfast]

I liked it until I saw there was no manual.

No manual no care (but yes, I acknowledge that won't inhibit its sales)

[Clutch2014]

I must be one of those odd balls that came back to the Viper from a 1998 Gen 2 and had no interest in the Gen 3 & 4 cars, but fell in love when the Gen 5 was released and had to have one. Personally, I think the Gen 5 didn't sell well due to poor marketing and missed opportunities.

GM states this about the low entry price on the C8:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/auto...age=AAEKs5V|11
Guess they expect to sell a ton of them to obtain their economies of scale.

Dodge has never marketed the Viper well. The absolute pinnacle of this neglect came with their partnership with Universal for the Fast & Furious series, though. That kind of exposure, and the best they could manage was shoehorning it into a couple of scenes as background noise.

The Pennzoil short film where they drifted the tar out of it was probably the best and closest the Viper's ever been to being shown for the performance monster it is, and it's a damn shame that it only happened because third parties got together and made it happen. Without those guys, people would still be pointing to that godawful late-90s commercial of the GTS in the canal, pretending it's a stripper.

[J TNT]

I Just heard the New NSX has dropped their price by $20,000 in light of the New C8 pricing !

[kriskyk]

Front mid engine and rear mid engine are totally different ballgames.

Dumb question, but what material performance benefits will your everyday car or track enthusiast benefit from with having a rear mount mid engine vs a front mount mid engine?

[RCVIPER]

Dumb question, but what material performance benefits will your everyday car or track enthusiast benefit from with having a rear mount mid engine vs a front mount mid engine?

https://youtu.be/E_SH4c-oLUQ

[ACR-ISH]

https://youtu.be/E_SH4c-oLUQ

Very interesting. Shit's gonna break though... for sure...

It's a shame they're gonna whore these things out. The more I see, the more I wish it was a limited production, twin turbo, V8, not-Vette, supercar from GM... Damn.

[J TNT]

https://youtu.be/E_SH4c-oLUQ

Jason does some great comparison's , Love how the New Base $60,000 Corvette is as Fast or Faster 0-60 , than the current $120,000 Corvette at double the money ........lol !
That must have a big impact on resale Value of the outgoing C 6 , C 7 Cars.............

[ACR-ISH]

That must have a big impact on resale Value of the outgoing C 6 , C 7 Cars.............

Definitely cool to watch. Haven't had to keep up with math like that since college!

That said... with C7 getting ass-raped on resale... Maybe it's time to get a C7 commuter!

[commandomatt]

Jason does some great comparison's , Love how the New Base $60,000 Corvette is as Fast or Faster 0-60 , than the current $120,000 Corvette at double the money ........lol !
That must have a big impact on resale Value of the outgoing C 6 , C 7 Cars.............

So many people are only looking at a number or two, thinking it will make all the difference.

That said, here's a question. If there is a new Viper. Rear engine, V6 or V8. Totally different look and feel. Would that make you feel any less about the Gen V car (or your favorite earlier generation) ? Sure, some would want the latest and the greatest but there is also a strong following with what many considers 'the Viper'. Same with the Vette guys. Many don't care that the C8 may be faster. They have the last of the front engine breed and are happy about that

If it was all about 0-60 times, we would all be driving Teslas........

Resale....well, that's a different story

[RCVIPER]

Jason does some great comparison's , Love how the New Base $60,000 Corvette is as Fast or Faster 0-60 , than the current $120,000 Corvette at double the money ........lol !
That must have a big impact on resale Value of the outgoing C 6 , C 7 Cars.............

To me he just shows how GM came up with the 0 - 60 numbers. What I found curious was that the balance was 40/60 obvious good for a straight line run... but with aero set up on a car that's closer to 50/50, wouldn't that make for a better track car? Hence why the Gen 5 Viper did so well with all that aero? If the mid engine chassis was so great wouldn't all mid engine car's that are already out there be cleaning house at all tracks everywhere?

[kriskyk]

Double post

[kriskyk]

https://youtu.be/E_SH4c-oLUQ

Ummmmit's 0-60 speed is attributed to the sum of it's parts and not just because it's has a mid rear mount engine and mostly due to the DCT transmission.....

[J TNT]

Ummmmit's 0-60 speed is attributed to the sum of it's parts and not just because it's has a mid rear mount engine and mostly due to the DCT transmission.....

Bingo, winner........lol !

The platform looks to be strong on paper and I'm cautiously optimistic it will get better in the next 3-4 years ....
It may also inspire other manufacturers to up there game and compete with it .....

[RCVIPER]

Ummmmit's 0-60 speed is attributed to the sum of it's parts and not just because it's has a mid rear mount engine and mostly due to the DCT transmission.....

I get that the sum of it's parts is what helps it get a great 0-60 time.... and obviously the 40/60 weight distribution helps get it there. But how does that equate to better times around the track? I always thought that auto makers were after a 50/50 weight distribution?

[J TNT]

I get that the sum of it's parts is what helps it get a great 0-60 time.... and obviously the 40/60 weight distribution helps get it there. But how does that equate to better times around the track? I always thought that auto makers were after a 50/50 weight distribution?

Take a look at F1 cars and their weight distribution.....

[AZTVR]

I get that the sum of it's parts is what helps it get a great 0-60 time.... and obviously the 40/60 weight distribution helps get it there. But how does that equate to better times around the track? I always thought that auto makers were after a 50/50 weight distribution?

I was reading a discussion on another forum about 50-50 versus 40-60 and the advantages of the rear mid-engine for racing. It got way too technical for me to follow without doing some heavy research. I did not do all that well in the one mechanical engineering class that I had to take in college, which was Statics and Dynamics. My head starts to spin when they start talking vectors and polar moment of inertia, etc.

The Engineering Explained guy does have a good cursory look at the weight distribution question, here: https://youtu.be/vJhhUQ4OpLA