C8 corvette

[ShawnZR-1]

Seems like GM should make this a whole different car and keep the corvette affordable

The problem with that is the Corvette has become GM's flagship supercar. The name carries the connotations of what has put them on top and kept them there. I would have liked to have seen the F/R configuration continue and the midship engine car carry a special RPO code (not unlike the ZR-1 or ZR1 codes of the past). The problem is, it really is an entirely different car, and a drastic departure from everything up to now.

I'm a member of the Corvette Forum and there are a lot of people who will be buying the C8 but the number of people who are going to be sticking with the C7 is quite noteworthy. I have a feeling the sales numbers are going to plummet. Chrysler ran into the same problem with the Viper, they lost quite a bit of money on that car, ultimately putting it into the history books. Shame since the latest was very refined and actually almost a pleasure to drive. But, they lost money on every Viper they sold.

 

[roundhouse]

Yeah there’s a glass ceiling price that normal people are willing to pay for toys

And any two seat car is a toy

 

[blazedawg87]

I'm not sure what limits you are talking about. The C7 will pull 1.4G on the skidpad, 0-60 in 3.2 seconds with only 2 wheel drive. They've had a near perfect 50/50 weight split since the C6, and the Z06 crosses 200MPH off the factory floor. I wish IMSA would let them race unrestricted to show off exactly what a F/R Corvette can do.

They said themselves that they have pushed the production front engine rear drive car to the limit with the C7. Unless they make the entire car from carbon fiber and raise the price to GT territory there isnt much left they can achieve with that configuration and still keep they name giant killer.

 

[Blyco]

I've been keeping up with this one for a couple of years. It was supposed to be introduced last Dec/Jan, but had significant electrical concerns. Part was electric door openers. The bigger concern now, according to "insiders," is the highest HP of the 3 engines they are testing (1,000hp +/-) is causing the body to flex enough to blow out the glass rear windows in the test mules. Adding more support this late in development adds weight and skews tons of already collected data...

 

[roundhouse]

They said themselves that they have pushed the production front engine rear drive car to the limit with the C7. Unless they make the entire car from carbon fiber and raise the price to GT territory there isnt much left they can achieve with that configuration and still keep they name giant killer.

The part I don’t understand is why they have to keep pushing

It’s already the best sports car value you can buy

Sure , there are faster cars
But they all cost four times as much and aren’t very driveable on the street

And people don’t drive em in the street because they cost too much

I think it’s a mistake

But hey, GM is good at that

They killed the fiero because it was threatening the corvette performance


All the old firebirds and Camaros flexed a lot but it didn’t break windows

All the pickups flex
We have one with the half doors that flexes so bad turning in driveways that you can hear the weatherstripping squeaking

 

[ShawnZR-1]

They said themselves that they have pushed the production front engine rear drive car to the limit with the C7. Unless they make the entire car from carbon fiber and raise the price to GT territory there isnt much left they can achieve with that configuration and still keep they name giant killer.

Again, what limit? Vengeance racing has built some absolutely incredible C7 monsters that compete the 1/2 and 1 mile open challenges. They hold the world record for the 1/2 mile: 177.7MPH. Again, what limit are we talking here, horsepower, handling? The C7 Z06 holds a very respectable 'ring time of 7:13.9 seconds! Sure, it's not the fastest but ironically, the Viper has a couple that are quicker! Front engine - Rear drive anyone? Other cars that are quicker around the 'ring have active all wheel drive with computer assist traction control. The mid/rear engine Corvette will not have AWD, so it will still contend with the traction issues that it currently has. Hell, it may wind up where Porsche ran into trouble: snap oversteer! The only way the could overcome that was some pretty serious traction control that initially killed performance. It took a while to get that tuned.

What I'm saying is the talk about hitting limits is BS. I think it's more of a case of "We wanna be like them!". Well, if being like them means shelling out a quarter mil for a car, they're in some deep do-do.

 

[JDG.]

Trying to sell an exotic level corvette is prob not a good business model. If a person has the means to buy a Ferrari, they most likely will way before they entertain the idea of a corvette for the same amount of money.

There are rumors of the base model being 5k more, not 100k+.

 

[blazedawg87]

Again, what limit? Vengeance racing has built some absolutely incredible C7 monsters that compete the 1/2 and 1 mile open challenges. They hold the world record for the 1/2 mile: 177.7MPH. Again, what limit are we talking here, horsepower, handling? The C7 Z06 holds a very respectable 'ring time of 7:13.9 seconds! Sure, it's not the fastest but ironically, the Viper has a couple that are quicker! Front engine - Rear drive anyone? Other cars that are quicker around the 'ring have active all wheel drive with computer assist traction control. The mid/rear engine Corvette will not have AWD, so it will still contend with the traction issues that it currently has. Hell, it may wind up where Porsche ran into trouble: snap oversteer! The only way the could overcome that was some pretty serious traction control that initially killed performance. It took a while to get that tuned.

What I'm saying is the talk about hitting limits is BS. I think it's more of a case of "We wanna be like them!". Well, if being like them means shelling out a quarter mil for a car, they're in some deep do-do.

Physics. Even though the C7 Corvette has a balanced, front mid-engine design, GM engineers determined the limits of a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout in a production car have been reached.

With that in mind, Chevrolet moved to a mid-engine layout for the C8 to unlock more performance and better driving dynamics.

https://www.motorauthority.com/news...int-of-the-mid-engine-2020-chevrolet-corvette

How much would it cost to produce cars identical to those of custom cars that shops build? The Viper also died because they were dumping huge amounts of money into it and no one was buying it because it cost to much and its a dodge. Also it has been said that the C8 would only be i think 6-8k more than the C7 and there is talks of different engine configurations including the base 6.2, a SC or TT 5.5 flat plane crank, and a hybrid AWD version pushing close to 1000hp

 

[Omega]

I bet it has launch control.

 

[roundhouse]

I predict The new one will top $100k within three years of its introduction and sales will drop off a lot


Most of the people who can afford a vette are old geezers who are never going to put it on a race track

And the late model vettes have performance way past useable on the street

They don’t care about ring times or any of that
Most just want the snob appeal of saying they own a new corvette

Look at what I bought that you can’t afford kind of thing

Biggest problem is the camaro is getting very close to corvette performance for a lot less $$

So Like they did with the fiero
GM has to make sure that doesn’t happen