C8 Corvette
 

Here's a first drive:

https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-car..._Wn1L_WYDJK1eU

For 30 years at least, GM has been building cars that are good but not great on launch, only to make them great, and then cancel them. Is that the path the C8 is on? Hard to imagine the answer is yes, but the driving impressions here sure are disappointing.

Ouch.

I want to believe that more is attributable to pre-production and not-final-tune things than they are attributing, but that's probably wishing thinking.

OTOH, for most of the people that will buy this car, I'm not sure those things would matter in reality if they weren't put into writing by mainstream automotive media.

So it handles OK, and rides like a Cadillac, and takes off like a scalded rat at stop lights? Yeah. I think that most buyers will be delighted by that.

Seems more like they nailed it.

Agree.

And even if you need to spend $10k on the suspension to make it handle really well, it’s still a screaming deal for what it is.

Eh. Not really.

I mean, what is it? A really fast car in a straight line that isn't fun to drive? That doesn't sound too awesome. Even assuming you've spent 85K on the car and blow another 10K on the suspension and now it's fun to take around corners, the transmission kind of sounds like garbage. And you can't fix that. Or, IDK, maybe you can with some more money.

It doesn't sound like a particularly good way to spend 100K to me, when you can get a Cayman GTS for less money and actually have fun driving it.

Suspect the typical Corvette alignment tricks and different front bar will wake it up tremendously.

They sure dialed in a lot of understeer it sounds like. Which is okay to a point. Then it’s annoying because I doubt the car communicates at the limit very well.

The base model is fast. This should help GM separate the Corvette from the Camaro now. The C8 is damn heavy for a car that doesn’t have all wheel drive.

Possible that GM left a left a large canvas in the C8 so that the tuners and aftermarket folks would have something to draw on?

Big metaphor, but I think I made my point

Yikes! That's never fun.

saw an open top one yesterday. It is an eye catching car in the flesh. The trunk was closed the whole time it drove by me.

oh, my!

That was never much of a problem with the clamshells or rear opening hoods before this mid engine nonsense.

From the description in the article and the included video, it sounds (both in words and the audio) like it's opening because it's being released rather than coming loose or being forced open.

Article says the car is supposed to prevent accidental presses on the fob while in gear from allowing release. My first guess is that there's some kind of bug and accidental release is not being prevented.

I saw that. Might be an EMI issue.

Seeing more on the road, I think this car is hideous.

And the lack of a manual guarantees my 100% lack of interest. Forever.

:lol: Tell us how you really feel, lem. ;)

But I agree with no stick=no sale. While I can still get some good sports cars with a stick, yeah, no thanks.

I know I’m biased. Totally get it.

I think the McLarens are funny looking too. I prefer German styling. I think the latest Cayman and the AMG GTs are probably my fave cars right now for looks.

The corvette rear end looks stupid to me. Like a Camaro rear end. And why?

I have seen a few youtube videos with owners having issues with water entering and accumulating into the engine compartment. Not that I would do it (or most of us here) but going thru a car wash adds greatly to this water issue

I saw a C8 in person the other day, it was black with the rear spoiler option ... in person it really blows way the way the car looks in pictures ...

All I could say is WOW !! They did a really good job and for the price it is incredible !!

That feeling when you scroll past an ad and your brain registers surprise that someone traded a C8 in at a Ferrari dealer already, and then you go back to look...

It is pretty amazing GM did such a nice job on it ... I still can't tell the difference when a C8 is coming at me ... it is a Ferrari or some type of other exotic only to find out it is indeed a C8.

I had heard they are having some bad quality issues though which is not surprising but kinda sad ...

First-year Corvettes have always been pretty rough from a quality standpoint.

Also, wow, the Ferrari California is not a pretty car.

The first few times I saw C7s on the street, I thought they were very Ferrari-looking. I wouldn't say that today, but at the time I definitely would have.

Absolutely, do you remember back in 1984 when they introduced the C4 ... it was horrible but this is 2021 ... GM really needs to step up.

Pretty sure I am going to order a white coupe … might be lucky and grab a April allocation …

I am trying to put my order together but it is such a pain in the ass trying to order a car you know nothing about, no clue to what are the must have options and I am just way too lazy to start reading the forums.

I think I'll attempt to learn some of them but I might just throw together one and hope for the best. Since when did Chevrolet become like Porsche with all the individual choices.

Good luck. Here is the ordering guide so you can at least see what's available.

And somewhere on the board I guessed you would be the first here to get one. I win.

I assume not Z06 based on your expected delivery. if so, why not?

Thanks for the link, i’m going to check it out. Let’s see if this actually happens.

Base model is already too fast, I remember driving my friends C7 Z06 and you couldn’t even floor the car, even in third gear the tires would start to spin.

It's worth noting that by all reports, the C8 is a completely different animal when it comes to traction. I'd bet that the Z06 is very grippy.

That said, everything I've heard about the base C8 suggests that it's amazing in the real world. All of the ways that it's notionally "worse" than its competition are ways that make it nicer to live with for people who don't live on the race track.

I would think so as well. For the same reason that most people would be faster and happier in a vanilla 911 Turbo vs a GT3 RS.

Z06 just seems like a better car to buy and re-sell a few years later. :dunno:

True on both accounts, BUT… I bet one cannot get one delivered within the next 12 to 18 months and most certain not without paying a hefty addendum over MSRP.

Good points on both accounts ...

All those C8's that were built, and (I assume) waiting for chips . . . I wonder how many were ordered sold, and how many were for stock. It has to effect delivery of something ordered today.

https://www.motor1.com/news/555489/c...ornado-damage/

That's why I assumed Alan wasn't getting the Z, delivery is waaaay out on those. I have a couple friends who track their base C8s and they claim it's amazing on the street and the track.

There appears to be an awful lot of this (see attachment) pertaining to the C8 Z06 and truthfully expected from Chevrolet dealers regardless of supply constraints and limited production.

Edit: There were quite a bit of C8s on the assembly line that are now going to be destroyed due to fire suppression damage due to the fire that occurred after the tornado. Seriously sucks for the pending owners that were waiting on their car. Article and pics: https://www.corvetteblogger.com/2021...jq45Gwn-8uvZGg

Quick update, Corvettes are a 12+ month wait, I have a hook up and should be getting an allocation later this month or possibly February. Being this is a public forum I do not want to go into it but if anyone is interested feel free to pm me.

I know no one here is interested in this car but I have researched the h*ll out of it and GM is doing something very similar to Porsche where everything is ala cart plus the nicest wheels available for the car must be purchased as a second set of wheels (just wheels no tires). Such a weird way to make money plus the second optional set must be mounted by the dealer so basically the dealer needs to remove the tires from the first set and put them on the second set, then they give you the non optional wheels in boxes which to me sucks because who wants a dealer messing around with your wheels, how can they not get scratched.

Also quite a few options are dealer installed which again I find very odd :dunno: