Bob Cosby

Concur, Guy.

And I'm one of those silly folks that would buy a BASE Vette with very few options.

CLEAN

Same here. I got the options that I wanted, but didn't go overboard.

I totally agree w/ your points Guy, and yours too Paul.

edit:the avatar pic isn't my car, just a perspective that I liked of a Z06

Sixer-Bird

So on this board we bitch about not being able to get a new V8 Camaro for $22k and we want the Vette to be more north of $50k... Seriously people?!

Big Als Z

Im not one of the people that wanted a V8 Camaro for 22k. I even said that the a 400+ Camaro should NOT go under 30k due to the power its possess for the dollar. And tada, it isnt.

Im not asking for Corvette go up to 60k, and I think a lot of you are losing sight. We are talking about a few thousand dollars on a car that already costs near 50k. Hell, the CTS went up 7 grand in a model year, and no one raised a fuss?

49,999 for the base Corvette. If you have such a prestiege vehicle, you dont make it "better" by lowering the price, which then lowers the content, you make it better by adding better stuff in the car.

Corvette brakes are great, Im sure. I dont drive one, but its about the image.
Does the Prius really save that much gas milage over a Corolla? No, not really. But the image is that the Prius is a hybrid, and it runs on hopes and dreams, and its only byproduct are baby bunnies and kittens.
Image is a big part when you get into cars north of 50k. It needs to be more then just performance per dollar.
I was at the CTS-V event on Monticello Motor Park, and man that CTS-V outpowerd every car on the track, including its target, the M5. But does the CTS-V even come close to the M5 in quality, fit, finish, materials and ammenities? No, it doesnt. But for good reason, its 30 grand less then the M5. But does it even come near the old STS-V, which was only 10 grand more? No, it doesnt.
Corvette, like the CTS-V, misses on other things outside of the performance realm.
By keeping its price at or below its current starting price is a poor move unless GM some how found the way to make cars ultra cheap, getting high end materials for 1/3 the price, and making a world class car for 1/2 the price they make the current. So unless any of that happens with the C7, I expect my price target is what will make the C7 a true, no doubt 911 fighter for half the price.
First off, it takes just as much money to design a ugly interior as it does to design a pretty interior. And that interior needs to be the best in GM. Design needs to be key, because the current design does not fit any of the new and upcoming vehicles.
Corvette has the performance, and I belive that GM couldnt possibly goof that up. The focus needs to go on interior now, and evolving the car.

The image of the Corvette being a red neck car is out there. People might not shop the 911 and Corvette all the time, but they would shop other 50k sports coupes out there. It needs to impress the non-Vette guy/gal, even if they dont buy it. It needs to garnish a bit more respect, such as some assclown blogger ripping it apart and saying how its no longer cool to own one.
It always needs to be cool to drive Vettes. Maybe they should debut the new Corvette with NASA's new Space Shuttle or something. Something that really is that high end. It wasnt 50 years ago that the Right Stuff guys were tooling around in brand new V8 powerd Corvettes, but tell me how many of them now own Corvettes?

There might be cars in GM that are more expensive, there might be cars that be more powerful, and there might be cars that sell more, but the Corvette is the flagship car of GM. It is the pinnical of GM's design, development, power and technology. It needs to take that again.

Bob Cosby

Maybe you'll convince somebody that currently does not hold your point of view - but I doubt it.

Thankfully.

SRFCTY

Camaro has the redneck rep...not Corvette. REAL car guys know what the Corvette is, and represents, as long as they keep selling and making money like they are now, GM must be doing something right.

formula79

With the Corvette pushing $40K and the Z28 not out yet...one would think the Corvette will go up in price next gen.

On the flip side you can walk in almost any Chevy dealer, and get nearly $10K off the MSRP of any Corvette without a ZR1 badge. To me that indicates the car is either over priced, or stale and having it's new sales cannibalized by the cheap low milage used Vettes out there. C6's can be had pretty cheap used...and C5's are attainable to most anyone who can afford a car payment.

IMO for the next Corvette to be a success it really has to be more than just a refreash of the C6 (which was a refresh of the C5).

Bob Cosby

Has any Corvette gone down in price at the beginning of a new model generation?

1fastdog

Not that I'm aware of. The base price between 1996 and the shift to C5 in 1997 was a bit over $200. For what improvements were included, it was not that big of a jump considering how much better the C5 was.

Big Als Z

Yes, I remember it was a big deal about the C6's base price being lower then the previous year's C5.

Big Als Z

Guess we will have to revisit this in a two years.
You want a presitege car, it needs to be priced like one. Corvette cannot sacrafice a more upscale image by appeasing the "value" shopper.

Anything with a Chevy badge has a red-neck image in most parts.
You could argue any REAL car guy knows that the Camaro is not a red neck car, but REAL car guys arent the ones saying it.
Its an image that Chevy needs to work on. First step would be to get rid of the country music songs or anyone with a southern accent announcing a Chevy commercial, but thats another story for another day.

Bob Cosby

I sit corrected - there was ~$100 difference.

I stand by the rest of my comments. Please Chevy....don't push the price higher than absolutely necessary.

Good Ph.D

I think Corvette should stay Corvette and somebody needs to put together an appropriate Cadillac sports car.

96_Camaro_B4C

As far as I can tell, magazine reviews I've seen of the new CTS / CTS-V begs to differ with your assessment of the interiors and fit / finish.

Especially when comparing against the STS. I never had a big problem with the STS interior except for a few small things, but most consider the new CTS interior to be much more appropriate for a luxury car.

JakeRobb

I remember this too. Memory tells me it was lower by a few grand, but a bit of research indicates otherwise:

2004: $43,835
2005: $43,710

Lower by just $125. Still, a decrease is a decrease.