Detroit Shooter

Are you serious? Porsche is certainly watching and concerned. Did you consider the cars Porsche sells at the same price point? A Corvette is a significant machine, you may not want to admit it but they will sell quite a few and take Porsche sales for sure.

325 Hp Cayman S or 450 Hp Corvette? There is certainly something to be considered. I'll bet the Vett will be a party and the Cayman would always leave you wanting more power.

The rub on the Vett was the seats and the quality of the interior, I am pretty sure they got that message.

Someone who ignores the competition is not in business long.

chuckbdc

Porsches and Corvettes have been around and competing (sort of) for how long?

Manifold

I've ridden in a few Vettes on the track (passenger, not driver) and found their handling behavior to be surprisingly similar to the Cayman. So way more power and raw performance for about the same price ... yes, the next Vette is a possible replacement for our Cayman, and a rival to the 991 as well.

fast1

I have no data to support this, but I just don't see any 991 buyers cross shop Corvettes. If you want lots of HP and torque at a very reasonable price, than you can't beat the Corvette. And you know what, that statement has been true for the last 50 years+, but somehow Porsches have survived.
These sports cars appeal to two distinct markets.

DrJay

here is my take on the vette...

It is hideous. Inside and out. Hideous and no doubt bolted together in such a way that it will fall apart in two years. Furthermore, how much does the gold chains and chest hair option cost? Do they throw that in for free when you buy the car?

I have never once considered a vette as competition for the 911.

Manifold

Affluent/rich guys who don't track their sports cars may not cross-shop the 991 with the Vette, but I suspect it's a different story with track guys.

fast1

Hideous and no doubt bolted together in such a way that it will fall apart in two years. Furthermore, how much does the gold chains and chest hair option cost?

LOL You captured a lot of stereotypes in just two sentences.

yemenmocha

I'm considering a lot of non-Porsche alternatives for my next car. Too much performance in other vehicles out there, including ones that aren't even dedicated sports cars. Compare the M5 to a similarly priced non-turbo Panamera. Look at the performance gap. Or even more sad, compare that Panamera performance to the old/outgoing M3 that is $20-30k cheaper depending on specs. Looking forward to the next M3 out soon. This is just one example where Porsche is necessarily depending on non-performance aspects to attract buyers over other cars out there. And honestly in the Panamera example I don't think they're relying on aesthetics either.

Corvette & Viper have impressive performance and the interiors are improving.

The other factor not mentioned so far is the ever increasing price of new Porsches. If I bought the current model with same specs as my 997 it would be nearly 3 times the value of my current car. No chance I'm trading up for that.

DrJay

Based on who I see driving Vettes, it has more truth than not in it. Also, I would want to associate with none of them.

carrerapete

I'm beating a dead horse, but once again: I recently traded my ZO6 (purchased new and slightly modded) for my 2013 C2S and I'll never look back.

And don't think for a minute that quality isn't suffering because of Chevrolet trying to keep the cost reasonable. Visit the Corvette forum and check out the numerous threads regarding dropped valves.

GM is just now fessing up to a design flaw with the 427 heads. And let's not forget about the other problems stemming from Sub Vendors who bid low for contracts and are supplying shoddy workmanship on the parts they're supplying.

GM is also playing warranty games with many of the people who lost their motor due to a dropped valve; some of the cars have low miles and have never been raced (garage queens).

Also keep in mind that some ZO6's with certain options are close to 90K.

Here's just one of the many threads regarding the bad geometry of the valve train:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-z...ear-found.html

So go ahead and buy a Corvette. I've made that mistake three times in the recent past, but I'm a stubborn Chevy guy from way back: my first Chevy was a 1968 L88-427 Baldwin Motion Camaro. Sure, it came with a 90-day limited warranty, but at least they were up front about the limited coverage.

carrerapete

Well, I do remember killing 1986 Vettes with my 1986 944-Turbo.

chuckbdc

Oh yeah? Well I remember being beat by 944 Turbo Ss in my ol 911, too. So there.

kosmo

very true.
the P tracks guys I know respect the vette's capabilities.

kosmo

great post and pic. However Im afraid your comments will fall upon many deaf ears here.

fast1

Originally Posted by Z356
Well, I used to think that too! Then we got to race against Corvettes in the 1985-1986 SCCA/Escort (formerly Playboy) Endurance Championship and had our asses handed to us! We were running factory supplied brand new 944 Turbos set up for racing! We had more hp than them on the straights...but they ran around us on the turns! Their tire set up was superior to ours too. We kept telling Weissach that the Corvettes were beating us and they couldn't believe it. But the Germans gave us nothing that was able to make up for the difference! On the other hand, GM was supplying all the Corvette teams (Rippie Anderson, Baker Racing, Morrison-Cook) with 'special' parts for each race. Interestingly, they were able to pass Tech Scrutineering with them, although I doubt you could have found these parts on any of your local dealer's stock Corvettes! One of the teams even had John Heinricy as a driver! He was the assistant chief engineer for the Corvette and later a Director of the GM Performance Division! Bottom line - GM wanted to win and Porsche engineers thought they were entitled to win! Big difference. Guess who at the end turned out to be successful?

Saludos,
Eduardo
great post and pic. However Im afraid your comments will fall upon many deaf ears here.

Not from those who know Eduardo. I certainly pay close attention to his posts.