aussie jimmy

i don't know whether to laugh or cry...

TRAKCAR

100 pages of Corvette posts.

Here's the mini manual of the car.
http://www.corvetteconti.com/blog/wp...ng-2-know1.pdf

911GT3

If you go through Louisville, you have a second secret admirer. And, if you go anywhere near Indy, if I am off I will get you on the track at Putnam Park (1.8 mi, 10 turns, extremely safe) if that helps.

Carrera GT

Sat in one and had a play with everything that opens and shuts.
The C7 captures the ineffable feel, the texture and the ambience of a truly awesome Hertz rental car at the airport.

FullThrottle64

ROTFLMAO....just spit coffee all over my keyboard

TRAKCAR

To bad, was it one with full leather, alcantara A and B pillars etc?
I'm trying to figure out if the 3LT option over the already loaded with every option 2LT option will make it a bit nicer inside, or just putting lipstick on a pig..

Its basically a 5K option to cover everything in leather / alcantara and CF..

Carrera GT

I find the 991 cabin with full leather to be low rent, and that's not to compare it to a customized Ferrari or a 430 Scuderia with legit carbon fibre cabin and body, but say to a nice Aston. The Corvette is down market from the 991 and nowhere near the appeal of the 997 with full leather.

I saw a dozen C7's, I think there were mostly 3LT and some had optional carbon bits, which are called "real" but turn out to be real carbon fibre fabric laid over a plastic form, just like Porsche and completely unlike the 430 Scuderia.

The transparent roof was cool, and the naked carbon fibre roof looked flawless. Not worth it to me in that car, but properly done. The whole of the exterior of the C7 looks very good. With plain silver wheels (the polished wheels are awful) it's handsome looking, low slung muscle car. Only around the exhaust is there some exposed undercarriage that looks cheap.

The C7 cabin is still weak. I like the feel behind the wheel in ergonomics, reach to the shifter, pedal position, forward and rearward view, but it's too short on headroom (about one inch above my noggin when sitting a normal-ish driving position for the track ... not enough for a helmet with any margin for spine compression in a roll over ... there's ample height floor to roof, but the "competition" seats simply aren't; they're just nice(ish) seats with a design that has openings for harness shoulder belts.

A factory sales person noted that the cabin gets "very" (his word) hot. Not just hot, but very hot because you're surrounded on three sides with heat sources -- engine, transmission tunnel and exhausts, and the rearward transaxle and muffler boxes. I think he has a point and the heat reflectors appeared to be a token measure ... this car would well do with some further effort, maybe something affordable like a composite waffle or something ... short of the McLaren gold sheet? Something. Anyway, expect the cabin to be a cooker on the track.

I'll wait to see what the aftermarket does for harness anchors. The normal seat goes into the aluminum tub and looks like it wouldn't pass scrutineering from 20 feet, much less close inspection. The car will need an aftermarket shell seat and some thought into drill-through reinforcement for anchors. The good news is the cabin itself looks sturdy and the bulk of the car, the crumple zone structures and the beefy door and pillar engineering all looks more like an NSX (in the nude cutaway on display at Laguna Seca) than any preceding Corvette.

Bottom line, I'm disappointed by the cabin, but I think the overall car, the look of the suspension geometry, the look of the car in white (usually telling of a car with good exterior lines) and quality of the construction and materials (at least for the most part) is at Porsche standards. That could not be said of the C6 or any prior Vette in any stretch of the imagination.

I think if they'd gone the extra yard and used (far) better seats and somehow replaced their OEMs for cabin materials, the C7 could have been a modest man's F12 inside and out. In some ways, though the F12 is not a photogenic car, once you see it in the metal, hell it's an Italian muscle car without equal, but when it's driven, it sits on the road in an ugly high-but strut like a prize poodle at the pedigree puppy parade. Not what I expect from a Ferrari. Far too much like the gawd awful and appropriately named Ferrari California.

I wish the C7 had a (much) higher redline and a light flywheel. It still doesn't have the attack and decay of the RS engines. I wonder if the auto-blipper would be unsettled by a lightweight flywheel.

On the road, touring along beside a couple of F12's, their best efforts to "give it blat" and later, following along, winding through the hills with light traffic resulted in sounds that could be mistaken for any of the programmed and synthesized exhaust notes emanating from all the marques these days. The new Jag sounded like a cliche of V8 exhaust noises, so did the 918 for that matter. A guy in a Spyker was driving like a homicidal farkwit and sounding like a hoon in a cheap Mustang. The Veyron sounded subdued, almost muted. But when the show workers moved the Corvettes, to arrange them on the grass at Laguna, they weren't showing off or abusing cold engines, but just their club foot control of the throttle and that quirky "pedal on the left, near the foot rest" brought about some truly "holy fark ..." noises, which in turn quickly drew a gathering of motorheads, all mouthing the words "h o l y f a r k . . . " and just naturally reacting with smiles and child-like excitement -- you see exactly the same reaction from the people gathering around when someone starts any air-cooled 911, it's just the natural reaction and people start saying "that sounds like a lot of fun."

ChrisF

Nominee for post of the week. Spit out my coffee too.

SeriousB

As if I were Chris Harris? I'm not quite at that level of easy money and free cars.

SeriousB

See below.

Cheers!

SeriousB

Yeah, I'm guessing Fort Ord's old barracks.

jackb911

I'm not in the market for a C7 but I've had several Corvettes in the past, from a '62 solid axle to a '01 Z06. I do have a couple of observations. Just my humble opinion as a past, fairly loyal customer.

Aside from the unfortunate rear styling, the rest of the exterior looks "OK" in a Nissan GTR-meets-Ferrari manner. I think the front fender side vent could have been done differently, it makes me think of Chris Bangle's early BMW Z4 side slash.

The ride height is probably set at some sort of silly DOT standard. Some of the photos of the pre-production cars that are actually out on the road and not on a show turntable make the car look like a 4x4 that is ready to run the Baja 1000. Case in point, and this is a Z51! (Hopefully this one has transport spacers installed and is not the actual stance)...



The interior...Ugh. Here's a pic of a C7 dash compared to one of a 1993 C4. Notice any similarities?



My impression that the C7 has plenty of speed but in its present form will need a lot of work to make track-worthy, it is larger and heavier than it should but is decent value for money from a functional standpoint as a street car assuming the buyer likes the styling. It's a "you get what you pay for" car.

And for the track guys it will be obsolete the day the Z06 version arrives.

RacingJunkie

At least the C4 had seats that supported you all the way around. Just a shame the fat old people couldn't fit in them. Plus the leather wore better.

SWO

After several months of reviews and comments on both Rennlist and Corvette Forums I am still surprised at the unrealistic expectations vis-a-vis potential competitors.

The C7 for some reason is “all things to all men.” I am flummoxed by the comparison to Ferraris and other boutique marques. This is a $51-60K base car that will top into the $125k range (ZR1) versus a 991 that will range from $81k to $225k (GT2 RS guess). The question comes down to this - does the performance value and lower price point overcome minor issues (huge C6 gap appears to have dwindled) with “feel” (and still in need of more testing vs. a 991 vice 997.2 due to EPS) and somewhat more significant to some lower levels of perceived quality/luxury compared to German cars? Everything is a compromise.

The base/Z51 is still on the GT vs. Sports Cars line competing with (wide net here) the GT-R (more C7 Z06) , M3, M4, Cayman S, Carrera, Carrera S, RS5, C63, Jaguar F-Type, and even HiPo Mustangs and the new Z/28 for some. For many folks, the German marques aren't really competitors. Even when the top end ZR1 has (or near) supercar performance we’re still talking only about moderately optioned Carrera S prices, used GT3 RSs, Black/Tack Edition GT-Rs. No Ferraris, no Lambos, no Audi R8, no 991 GT3 or Turbo etc. The Corvette forums have the same mis-market approach – they want the C7 Z51 to outperform the C6 Z06 Z07 while having 991 or F-type interiors but never to exceed base C6 Corvette prices. Even amongst the Corvette faithful there appears to be a lot of Z06 and ZR1 envy hence the Grand Sport wide body being the largest seller the last few years. Z06 looks with base performance is considered a win.

Here (GT3 subforum) the focus is sharper – can the C7 be an effective track car - and the jury is still out. If a 100k C7 Z06 gives 100% of the objective performance (lap times, benchmark data) and 95% of the subjective feel of a 991 GT3 for 70% of the price with equal or better reliability what then?

Maybe it is perspective. Many of those that can afford the GT3, GT3 RS at new car prices have to look down market to get to C7 price ranges. I am on the other side – in the M3/M4, Cayman S side of the coin (who really loves the GT3 and the track focused discussions here) that puts the C7 in a positive position for an occasional DD/HPDE/Autocross car. Pure sports car vs. luxury sedan based sports coupe. Let alone the ties to racing in ALMS. I would never have seriously considered Corvette ownership until now and can’t wait to see/sit in one at the Baltimore Grands Prix in a few weeks (while rooting on the Pcars!)

orthojoe

I saw and sat in one in person as well. Unfortunately, I would have to agree with this assessment. :-(

I'm surprised the journalists are giving the car such high marks for the interior. It's better than the old one, but still not good