The Vette IS A LUXURY CAR!! 50k is not chump change. Just cause it doesnt have a wreath and crest doesnt mean it should be saddled with a crappy interior. Look at the Malibu's interior, and the design of the interior, and now look at a car that is 2x the price! The Corvette has always had a sub par interior, but so has all of GM. The current interior is pre-Lutz, so I hope that he had his hands in this one.
The Malibu's interior looks great, the CTS's interior is outstanding, both cars are cheaper then the Corvette. The bar has been raised high since the introduction of C6, and its time to update the interior.

 

Huh? Is there something different about the exhaust on the car pictured? It could be aftermarket I guess. I don't really know.

 

I will say I agree with everything you said. The major complaint from Vette owners about the C5, and what they were looking for in the C6, was a major upgrade in the interior. While the C6 interior is improved, it was not the quantum leap that we're seeing in the CTS and Malibu.

 

I don't think so. Your right about 50k not being chump change. But, would you consider an Tahoe or Suburban a luxury vehicle? Those can easily get to 50k. I think brand has to do more with luxury than price.

The Vette is a performance car. Want a 50k luxury car, go get an STS or DTS.

 

Maybe 'premium' is better terminology, then. Not a luxury car, but a premium automobile.

I'm actually halfway OK with the Vette's current interior. It's not good, but it's not absolutely horrible. My only comment was my hopeful misread of a change to the center stack, which I feel is the most unsightly part of the current Vette and something that obviously can be dramatically improved without too much added cost, if they can make the CTS interior look that good (a car that starts out at a much lower price)

 

The thing with the Corvette is that for 50k or less, you are getting a car that can outperform cars costing 3x that much or more. You're getting a world class performance bargain, agreed?. Ok, so the interior is a little bland in some people's eyes, especially when compared against those 3x as costly euro sports cars that it can trounce. If they do increase the interior quality, perhaps the price will increase even more than it has lately, getting away from what a Corvette is supposed to be. If they have to skimp on one area to make the Corvette the bargain that it is, interior is probably the best place (though it still does have lots of high tech features). A vastly improved interior would still never stack up against the Lambos/Ferraris/Porches the Corvette is up against but I'm sure it would add more to the already great bargain that the car is. I'm pretty sure a lot of exotics have interior options that are 5 digits, kind of hard to compete with that and keep the pricetag under 50,000.

 

I know that Corsa went to a lot of effort when the DOD Hemi cars came out to make a catback exhaust system that didn't sound terrible in 4cyl mode. I haven't heard the result except for the sound clips on their website, which don't let you hear it in 4cyl mode.

I have a friend at Corsa -- I'll try to find out what he thinks.

 

I don't think GMs have ever had sub par interiors. They were never best in class but they were always nicer than a lot of Chryslers, Koreans, and many Japanese models. 90's Honda's are no better than 90's GMs.

I think the problem with GM is they put out an interior that is good enough for the year it came out, but they they leave that interior in the car for 7 years with little to no updates while the competition passes them by. Then 7 years latter the they make a huge improvement but then let that sit for 5-7 years.

A great example of this is the C5. That was a great interior in 1997. Compare it to other cars like the Supra, 3000GT, Cobra, ext.. But then come 2004 it still has the same interior which is not up to 2004 standards. Trail Blazer is another perfect example of this.

CTS 1.0 to CTS 2.0 is a very dramatic change. Cadillacs should be updated ever 2-3 years. What they did with the SRX and SLS is good.

 

There is a reson why the Caddy is so expensive and yet SLOWER in the sports car market, and the reason is marketing. What else do you think Caddy is for? Its just a plush (and thus heavy) Vette...

 

Well, when you start an interior out from the get-go as "barely acceptable compared to the competitor's product which has been out for 4-5 years already and will receive a complete refresh in another 1-2 years", then you put out a sub-par product. It's not realistic to say "well on this one year GM had just put the vehicle out and Honda still hadn't updated and I think they were almost kind of comparable to each other". The fact is if you put out an interior in 1997, it should be a 1997 interior, not a 1992 interior just because the competition hasn't quite redesigned their models.

 

Will Cooksey brought that car, he said it was an '08. I think I would belive him.

 

And just how in the hell do you buy a car that hasn't even been publically released? Let alone production hasn't been started!

 

The pics are real as is the car. Production gets going around June 18th.

 

So how does a car that hasn't entered production end up with dealer plates and an owner?

 

OEM's sometimes use dealer plates on test cars. Hyundai/Kia cars can often been seen with New York dealer plates. I'm sure this group of Corvettes is just a pilot build going through some final shakedown.