guionM

The guy who wrote it is a moronic flaming a**hole who doesn't have a clue.

Corvette has NEVER been about some kid graduating from college.

Corvette has NEVER been cheap.

Corvette has NEVER EVER been been one of the best assembled cars on the market.


The damn idiot who wrote this probabaly is some simpleton who has nary a clue of automotive history, yet has a platform from which to write is flat out clueless BS.

Corvette has always...and I repeat, ALWAYS been an aspirational car. It's the car that we wanted back in highschool, as well as our dads (even, as old as I am, my dad). It's the car we kept track of when we were in our 20s and 30s that we couldn't buy. First, because we couldn't afford the insurence on them (even if we were fortunate enough that we could afford them) and because we had the beginings of a family (again, even if we could finally afford them).

The guys who actually DID buy Corvettes were the same ones who buy Corvettes today the 90s, the 80s, the 70s, the 60s. Older guys whose kids have left home, and there's extra money in the homstead to buy something a little less practical than a stationwagon, or today, an SUV... and whose insurence rates are low enough to make it worthwhile.

Sure, there may be a few playboys, Wall Street 20-somethings, or fast up-and-comings who had Corvettes before 30. There were some successful young single women who had Corvettes. But Corvette's bread and butter, bulk of sales, and backbone of it's existence has always been those over 40.

Just like Mustang's Cobra/GT500.

Just like Dodge Vipers.

As for the dig against Corvette's quality, I'd like to meet him in a dark alley with a baseball bat because maybe I'd beat some sense into him.

Corvette has always left something to be desired as far as assembly quality. From leaking T-tops, to poor fit and finish, to rattles, to wavy fiberglass body and uneven paint, to cheap feeling interior materials. The 1st few Corvettes off the assembly line back in '53 didn't even start up when the key was turned. But yet, today's Corvette is in a different universe than those Corvettes of the past. It's screwed together well, it does far more for far less than anyone else. Sure, the interior is still cheap. But it's only recently that exotic "supercars" came up with better made interiors.

As for the whole flame against Corvette in general, I reach for the same type of challenge I send off to every person who brings up the weight of the Camaro...... Name someone who does it better, or shut the hell up.

Name any car company on the entire planet that has a 425+ horsepower V8 powered, 2 passenger sports car with the stuff that Corvette has, the performance Corvette has, at the price the Corvette has it at.

It's entertaining to hear people throw stones at something, yet can't offer alternatives. They hide behind some idea they have of what something should be without being burdened by the task of making it happen, or ignoring the fact that no one else has accomplished what a certain car has done.

But what crosses the line of entertainment, simple disagreement, and simple fun debate is when those same people have a platform of which to spread completely boneheaded and false information, and coats it in a veneer of smugness. If one has examples to support a position, lay them out. When you have to resort to sterotypes (bald guys and bimbos, for example) and fail to offer anything factual to back up assertions, you don't have anything really to say, and you're just vying for attention.

If you want to say that new Camaros interior pieces are cheap, new Challengers aren't great road carvers, or Mustangs are weak in upper range acceleration, you are dealing with things that are factual.

But when you use a juvenile generalization that the Corvette "sucks", and use examples like Corvette's price has gotten "out of hand" (with inflation, it's actually cheaper than it was in 1990), it's cheezy (compared to what?! a GT-R?!), and lost it's way (it's going the same direction it's always been), while throwing BS items ("barrel-chested baldy (sorry, retirees) and stripper (sorry, Bambi)") it shows that the writer is operating more in being pleased with his own cleverness than he is with writing a thought out point of view.

Reading things like this reminds me of the scene in the movie "Pulp Fiction" when Marsellus Wallice was just rescued by "Butch" and he talks about calling his boys with a plyers and a blowtorch, going "Mideval" on his surviving tormenter.

Does the Corvette need to be updated?

Sure.... The basic design dates back to the late 90s (the current C6 version is more of an creased and folded reskinning of the C5).

Does it need better interior materials?

You bet... the materials are still not appriciably better than the '98 C5.

Does it suck?

No worse than his maternal member.

Truth is, Corvette is what it has always been. A 2 passenger, sports car that offers the best bang for the buck on the planet that's priced quite a bit more than some of the cheaper Japaneese rivals, yet offers more power and either matches or exceeds those Japaneese cars in sales.

Hardly irrelevent.

Only a crackpipe smoking moron would even think the Infinity G35 coupe and a BMW M3 is in the same class as the Corvette (he actually thinks that).

Anyone have Marsellus Wallace's number?

2lane69

I bought a '90 Vette in '96, 2 weeks after I graduated from college, it was relatively cheap at the time! LOL. Thing is, when I had it, it was awesome, and I sure pissed off my friends with their VR4's, RX7 R1's, and whatnot because the car out-performed all of them and we just thought they were cheezy...didn't really grasp that they actually did the job. I sold that car and moved onto more European offerings. Fast forward to my Dad buying a Vette, and once again, the car is an old man's car in my eye's. Even though I KNOW it will spank damn near anything at double the price...I just can't get past the stigma of the Vette and the gold chain crowd. So, in that respect, the cars does leave something on the table. I hate that I have ZERO interest in owning one, because I know how much I liked it when I had it, and how well it performs. I wish GM would entice me, but maybe it's the styling, it's just too passe....like every Lamborghini I see. Yeah, a 2009 isn't the same as a 1984, but it's not that different either if you step back and take a glance. Yeah, it's a killer ride, but I've seen it for 30 years. Gimme something really fresh. Hell, I had to go back 40 years to find a car that was 'fresh' and started over on my own terms.

jg95z28

I feel the same way. A few years back I tested a C6 Z51 at GM's Autoshow In Motion. IMHO it was the best street car I had ever the chance to drive... ever. I'm going to have a hard time justifying buying a new Z/28 if I can purchase a clean LS3 C6 for less money.

irocbsa

@ Marcello.

Wikipedia:
Ving Rhames as Marsellus Wallace: Before Rhames was cast, the part was offered to Sid Haig, who had appeared in many classic exploitation movies of the 1970s. Haig passed on the role. According to Bender, Rhames gave "one of the best auditions I've ever seen." His acclaimed performance led to his being cast in big-budget features such as Mission Impossible, Con Air, and Out of Sight.

Northwest94Z

The Corvette is an "icon". What's wonderful about a Corvette is the fact that you could debadge it and it is still recognizable as a Corvette. The design of the car evolves over time and while the shape continues to be modernized it maintains styling elements that stand out as Corvette and are timeless. If you go to a completely new radical design the car will immediately suffer lost sales and a negative image perception imo. Why do you think the 911 has hardly changed over the years. That design is iconic also. If you don't like the design of the Corvette now in the past or tomorrow it probably isn't the car for you. Nissan makes a car you could consider modern, groundbraking from a design standpoint but frankly imo it still looks like a turd no matter how much you polish it.

guionM

I agree with you that Corvette's styling is weak and not very enticing. The current design never has done it for me. I'm not a fan of it's interior. But the point is that we can actually point to the things that need to be fixed with the Corvette. A all new, Camaro-excitement-level design, and a better Mustang-quality-level-and-design interior is likely all that stands in the way of Corvette being as desirable as it ever has been.

You can bring up all the GranSports and ZR1s you want. However, it's the entry level Corvettes that's imporant. I can't help but wondering what Team Corvette could have done with money used for a good restyling and inproved interior than in making a ZR1 that will be as plentyful as actual Elvis sightings and about as easy to obtain as Plutonium.

You also bring up a point that every idealistic writer about some non-existant bygone era ignores. That person who was young that bought a Corvette (or a muscle car back in the 80s or 70s) bought a used one, not a new one. That in itself is bad enough, because most people are (as a group) either too lazy, or too time compressed to actually take the time to research anything anymore.

I will be the last person to say Corvette sucks. I have a massive apprication for the Corvette, it's history, and the mechanical and engineering side of the Vette that has kept it far ahead of the competition. However, while the machanics are near perfect, it needs to redo the visual side, and the parts that the customer actually interacts with each time they get in the car.

IMO, that's Corvettes only issues, and outside from maintaining it's engineering edge, that's the only things that need fixing.

A far cry from Edmunds "The Mechanic" blanket condemnation of the car.

Corrected.

97QuasarBlue3.8

Yes. I'm an interior man too...thank goodness there's still a VW in the household so I can get my dashboard stroke on.

These things really do matter. Harder plastics squeak and rattle. They don't appear to fit as well. They absorb less noise and vibration. They reflect more light, they often have nibs from the molding process, they break easier. Resting arms, etc on hard plastic is less comfortable than padded cloth, leather, or vinyl/synthetic surfaces.

When you're spending $30k or even $60k, you want an attention to detail that is commesurate with the overall status and worth of the vehicle. After all, you worked hard to get this car, and 100% of the time you spend driving it will be done from the interior of the car.

If you're interviewing for a $3 million/year CEO position of a fortune 100 company, do you wear a $100 suit off the shelf from Sears, or do you drop $5,000 for a tailored-to-fit suit that has no loose threads or poorly sewn buttons? After all, they're both suits and they are sending the same message, right? Wrong...

Derek M

How's that the Corvette's fault that our economy sucks? With our jobs leaving the country, with our wealth and financial power leaving the middle class, the result of decades of refusal to address real issues both social and political in this country. Thus what we're left with is $8 an hour, no career, no health care, no retirement, and no ability to buy a $50k vehicle. It's not the vehicles fault.

monstertodd

Personally, I feel that a used C6 corvette is one of the best bargains out there right now! Even C5 Z06's are a fantastic bargain. Take the C6 Z06 corvette for example; You just can't that level of performance, in that package, at that price, anywhere, period! The best part, there are used ones on Ebay right now priced in the mid 40's with less than 10,000 miles on them!

And as far as the interior goes, I really like the C6 Corvette interior. Sure it might not be all carbon fiber/alcantara/and brushed aluminum. But so what? That's not the point of the Corvette. I like how simple it is. It's high performance, and good looks, wrapped in a simple package. What more could any gear head ask for?

The guy who wrote this article is so far off base.

96_Camaro_B4C

I didn't say they don't matter. But they are blown out of proportion a bit these days, IMHO.

I wonder how much money could go toward making cars lighter / safer / more efficient if it weren't being spent trying to make every car into a Bentley on the inside to please the reviewers. The C5 and C6 interior pieces are not, for the most part thin, hollow, hard plastics (like a good chunk of my Z28's dash is).

And sorry, the $3M CEO analogy is a bit extreme. Obviously both suits aren't sending the same message, but your analogy reads like it has to be one extreme or the other. My Z28 interior is way cheap in most aspects, but it isn't like the only alternative is to make it like a Cadillac CTS. It could be more like the new Malibu and it would be more than nice enough.

Why is it that the Vette gets shat on for having interior deficiencies (relative to, say, a Porsche 911 or Cayman), but the Porsche Cayman (or similar) doesn't get blasted for having major performance deficiencies relative to the Vette? Yes, attention to detail matters. But again, you can look at it as a tradeoff. Obviously team Corvette has sweat the details when it comes to making a world-beating performance car package, with some compromises in the interior. Say I can have a hand stitched leather dash and a 300 hp six, or a nice, soft (but not leather) dash and a 430 hp V8. I'll take the latter. Obviously some would choose the former.

Besides, I never said these things don't matter. I said that the car is about perfect, and all it really needs to get there is to have the interior shortcomings addressed (even though, for many people, the interior is more than enough). I hope it gets it, for the sake of staying competitive. Hell, I'd be fine with leaving the chassis and body alone for a few more years and simply redoing the interior. But I sure as hell hope they don't compromise elsewhere (like by adding weight) to get it. 'Cause whatever you want to say about the Vette's "subpar" interior, at least it hasn't bloated up like just about every other car on the market (the car is a little bigger / roomier, yet lighter and FAR stiffer and more powerful, than the C4 was). Now Look at the size and weight of the 911 compared to the Vette. Look at the 911s size and weight relative to the C4-era 911. The 911's claim to fame used to be its diminutive size and weight and its big performance in a tidy package. Now the Vette is smaller and lighter than the 911, and STILL packs more power and performance.



You are right in that the details do matter, that the interior is where you spend time. But not everyone puts the same weight on every little piece of the interior being made out of unicorn hide and pixie dust.

El Duce

Because those writers/magazine guys understand that although the Vette may win by .3 to 60 or .4 in the 1/4, that most people can't really tell the difference in those numbers. Nor will most likely ever run their car full throttle from a standstill through a 1/4 mile. However, every time one gets in the car, you will notice cheaper materials, a lack of fit and finish and options missing like a back up cam, cooled seats, decent speakers and how nice the steering wheel is. To be honest, for 90% of the population out there, anything sub 5 seconds to 60 is enough. After that it's really a matter of bragging rights. When you start to pull out .2 seconds here and .4 seconds there, it's really cutting hairs at that point. However, when your seat doesn't even have a power recline option in a $70k car, that's quite a different matter all together.

Silverado C-10

The C1 and C2 Vette's are beautiful cars. I was never really fond of the shark C3 and the C4's were really bland looking to me, even when they were new. The C5 and current C6 look dead sexy to me. I'm almost 29 and would LOVE to one. If I get a used 05-06-ish vette I could pretty easily afford one, on my old salary (if I ever go back to work ) Like others have said, it's just not practical for me. A V6 camaro is actually a pretty practical car for me. Then again, I'm also a guy that enjoys driving a 42 year old truck more than a new one. In another 15-20 years, I might be looking for an old C6 vette to restore

Interior? Never sat in one, but it looks OK to me in pics.

I'm flabergasted by this guys article. Just wow.

bkpliskin

This dude is insane. While I will always be a Camaro guy, I love Corvettes too. My buddy who didn't even go to college, went to vo-tech and got a decent job in our little town bought himself an LS3 Vette and was even able to do full bolt ons and is thinking about doing a heads/cam package this coming year. If you want it bad enough, you can make sacrifices to get one. Plus, if you wait for a used one, they are very affordable for what you get. Not as affordable as a pony car, but then again, they are in a different class.

bkpliskin

When a base vette at 48k lays waste to a bare bones 911 priced 30 THOUSAND DOLLARS MORE, what is there to complain about? a half a second in the quarter mile is not splitting hairs. That is very significant. The vette is a peformance based car, not a luxury coupe! Adding power and heated seats and all the other gadgets would easily add 100lbs to the car, thus taking away from what the car was meant to be. And if you haven't noticed, vettes hang around for a while. I own 2 chevy's, one's a daily driver, the other is in my sig. And truthfully, I don't want power options, nor do a lot of the people I know. Both of my cars have manual locks and windows. Neither of which will likely ever fail or cost me one penny to fix for the rest of my lifetime. And in the case of my camaro, save considerable weight thus increasing performance.

MarcR94v6

Some of you guys are just as insane! "The current corvette styling is weak and not enticing", get some glasses! And I don't know what it is with you people about a fresh design. I don't knoe about you, but I like a Corvette to look like a Corvette.

"corvette has an old man car stigma"? I hate it when people use excuses like this to influence their decisions. If you can't enjoy a car for what it is because you either feel old for being in it or you're afraid people will think old of you, then what's the ****ing point? People like this.... might as well already be in a rocking chair because they're afraid to get what they really want.