carmudgeons.com  

Go Back   carmudgeons.com > Automotive Forums > Car Talk

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-15-2019, 11:48 AM   #1
JST
195
 
JST's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 24,593
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.
JST is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2019, 12:08 PM   #2
clyde
Chief title editor
 
clyde's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 26,599
Quote:
Originally Posted by JST View Post
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.
__________________
OH NOES!!!!!1 MY CAR HAS T3H UND3R5T33R5555!!!!!!1oneone!!!!11

Team WTF?!
What are you gonna do?
clyde is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2019, 02:54 PM   #3
Nick M3
Relic
 
Nick M3's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Bethesda, MD
Posts: 12,438
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.
__________________
2011 M3
2006 Sierra 2500HD 4WD LBZ/Allison
2004 X5 3.0i 6MT
1995 M3 S50B32
1990 325is
1989 M3 S54B32

Hers:
1989 325iX
1996 911 Turbo


Nick M3 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2019, 03:52 PM   #4
nate
Oh, are they?
 
nate's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Carmudgeonly Ride: S4
Location: H-town
Posts: 10,268
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick M3 View Post
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.
__________________
"People keep saying I'm crazy as hell, but sooner or later they're going to realize I know what I'm talking about." - Charles Barkley
nate is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2019, 04:29 PM   #5
Nick M3
Relic
 
Nick M3's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Bethesda, MD
Posts: 12,438
Quote:
Originally Posted by nate View Post
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.
__________________
2011 M3
2006 Sierra 2500HD 4WD LBZ/Allison
2004 X5 3.0i 6MT
1995 M3 S50B32
1990 325is
1989 M3 S54B32

Hers:
1989 325iX
1996 911 Turbo


Nick M3 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2019, 05:04 PM   #6
JST
195
 
JST's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 24,593
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick M3 View Post
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.
JST is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2019, 05:04 PM   #7
John V
No more BMWs
 
John V's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Carmudgeonly Ride: Ram, MS3, CX-5, RX-8
Location: Glenwood, MD
Posts: 14,753
Suspect the typical Corvette alignment tricks and different front bar will wake it up tremendously.
John V is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-2019, 10:38 AM   #8
lemming
Western Anomaly
 
lemming's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Carmudgeonly Ride: White Orca
Posts: 16,583
Quote:
Originally Posted by JST View Post
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.


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.
__________________


lemming is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-2019, 08:29 PM   #9
kognito
older fart than ZBB
 
kognito's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: On the road again
Posts: 8,887
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
__________________
2017 GMC Sierra 1500 SLE
2020 Fusion Titanium
kognito is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-14-2020, 12:49 PM   #10
kognito
older fart than ZBB
 
kognito's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: On the road again
Posts: 8,887
https://www.thedrive.com/news/34767/...Gnnr7C6CyhPSjQ
__________________
2017 GMC Sierra 1500 SLE
2020 Fusion Titanium
kognito is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:34 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Forums © 2003-2008, 'Mudgeon Enterprises - Site hosting by AYN & Associates, LLC