2020 Corvette Stingray (C8)
#451
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If the strike doesn't excessively impact C8 production at the Bowling Green plant much longer, RNM GS3 just might be correct on the sales numbers. Demand for the C8 is probably going to be huge, with the hype it has been getting in the auto press. Plus, it is an honest Chevrolet/GM product...the fact that the Supra is a hybrid Toyota/BMW mix has a lot of potential customers turned off.
#452
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big article about how the 650 hp dyno isnt possible, the specific torque number is not possible for an N/A engine and approaches that of a turbocharged engine
https://www.motor1.com/news/378121/2...est-exclusive/
https://www.motor1.com/news/378121/2...est-exclusive/
#453
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big article about how the 650 hp dyno isnt possible, the specific torque number is not possible for an N/A engine and approaches that of a turbocharged engine
https://www.motor1.com/news/378121/2...est-exclusive/
https://www.motor1.com/news/378121/2...est-exclusive/
Does anyone know when the hell we can get an official road test from Car and Driver or MT?
#454
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https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-car...st-drive-test/
Interesting they seem to prefer the C7's chassis tuning/feel.
Was impressed when they gave GM its credit for best chassis tuning in the world.
With all due respect to the Youtubers, they're not Road and Track or Car and Driver.
Last edited by AJT123; 10-23-19 at 03:41 PM.
#456
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N/m....
https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-car...st-drive-test/
Interesting they seem to prefer the C7's chassis tuning/feel.
Was impressed when they gave GM its credit for best chassis tuning in the world.
With all due respect to the Youtubers, they're not Road and Track or Car and Driver.
https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-car...st-drive-test/
Interesting they seem to prefer the C7's chassis tuning/feel.
Was impressed when they gave GM its credit for best chassis tuning in the world.
With all due respect to the Youtubers, they're not Road and Track or Car and Driver.
Wow
#457
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Agree, that's pure insanity.
I think GM engineered C8 to understeer (per the complaint in the R&T article) on purpose, because let's be real....my guess is 80% of Corvettes will never see the track, and GM doesn't want amateurs wrapping the car around a tree when they get frisky. I mean, come on, count to three lol. Boom you're at 60.
I'm very confident they will iron that out on higher performance versions.
I think GM engineered C8 to understeer (per the complaint in the R&T article) on purpose, because let's be real....my guess is 80% of Corvettes will never see the track, and GM doesn't want amateurs wrapping the car around a tree when they get frisky. I mean, come on, count to three lol. Boom you're at 60.
I'm very confident they will iron that out on higher performance versions.
#458
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Agree, that's pure insanity.
I think GM engineered C8 to understeer (per the complaint in the R&T article) on purpose, because let's be real....my guess is 80% of Corvettes will never see the track, and GM doesn't want amateurs wrapping the car around a tree when they get frisky. I mean, come on, count to three lol. Boom you're at 60.
I'm very confident they will iron that out on higher performance versions.
I think GM engineered C8 to understeer (per the complaint in the R&T article) on purpose, because let's be real....my guess is 80% of Corvettes will never see the track, and GM doesn't want amateurs wrapping the car around a tree when they get frisky. I mean, come on, count to three lol. Boom you're at 60.
I'm very confident they will iron that out on higher performance versions.
What it does have is the ability to show Rolls-Royce how to tune a chassis: the new Vette genuinely rides like full-size luxury car. No car with sporting intention this side of McLaren’s Super Series of cars with trick hydraulic suspension even comes close to the suppleness of the Corvette.
Pretty impressive accolades here ^^^
#459
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What it does have is the ability to show Rolls-Royce how to tune a chassis: the new Vette genuinely rides like full-size luxury car. No car with sporting intention this side of McLaren’s Super Series of cars with trick hydraulic suspension even comes close to the suppleness of the Corvette.
Pretty impressive accolades here ^^^
Pretty impressive accolades here ^^^
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#460
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For sure.. Stupid dumb publications.
What it does have is the ability to show Rolls-Royce how to tune a chassis: the new Vette genuinely rides like full-size luxury car. No car with sporting intention this side of McLaren’s Super Series of cars with trick hydraulic suspension even comes close to the suppleness of the Corvette.
Pretty impressive accolades here ^^^
What it does have is the ability to show Rolls-Royce how to tune a chassis: the new Vette genuinely rides like full-size luxury car. No car with sporting intention this side of McLaren’s Super Series of cars with trick hydraulic suspension even comes close to the suppleness of the Corvette.
Pretty impressive accolades here ^^^
#461
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Agree, that's pure insanity.
I think GM engineered C8 to understeer (per the complaint in the R&T article) on purpose, because let's be real....my guess is 80% of Corvettes will never see the track, and GM doesn't want amateurs wrapping the car around a tree when they get frisky. I mean, come on, count to three lol. Boom you're at 60.
I'm very confident they will iron that out on higher performance versions.
I think GM engineered C8 to understeer (per the complaint in the R&T article) on purpose, because let's be real....my guess is 80% of Corvettes will never see the track, and GM doesn't want amateurs wrapping the car around a tree when they get frisky. I mean, come on, count to three lol. Boom you're at 60.
I'm very confident they will iron that out on higher performance versions.
As for the understeer/oversteer issue, mid-engined and rear-engined cars have a tendency to have darty steering and overly-quick response because so little weight is over the front wheels, which steer the car. They also have a tendency to wander left and right, in crosswinds, because of this.......more or less similiar to an aircraft. This can require a lot of very small and/or constant steering corrections say, when trying to stay in one's lane while driving straight down a long straight piece of road. For these, and other obvious reasons, mid and rear-engined cars at at their best on winding roads with sharp curves...particularly with today's stability systems that make it much harder to do a classic Porsche 911 snap-oversteer spin-out when pushing it too hard.
#462
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#463
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Try not to take things so seriously. These Corvette figures are stunning. It is fun to talk about this stuff.
#464
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I understand with you're saying, but 0-60 in less than 3 seconds, in the ends of an unskilled, careless, inattentive, or over-zealous driver, can be bad news in many ways. The AWD Tesla Model 3 I recently sampled was almost as quick, and, IMO, ran up against the limits of common sense.
#465
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Only because of the DCT and super short gear ratios. The car gained 200#, and yet it doesnt seem to wow elsewhere. There are numerous complaints from the Road and Track article.
This harsh judgment comes not from a cynical reaction to the buzz surrounding the Corvette, but instead as a function of GM’s past performance. Like that unfair high-school teacher who rounds down your grade because he thinks you can do better, we’re reducing the C8’s verdict from “great” to merely “good.”
But we don’t just think Chevrolet can do better, we know it can. GM’s chassis tuning is, typically, among the best in the business. It’s sometimes even the best, showing companies like Porsche and Ferrari how a car should feel and how it should respond. The last-generation, C7 Corvette Stingray was nothing short of magnificent.
The C8 isn’t quite there. It has neither the limit-handling grace of a 718 Cayman or the ESP-assisted Stealth-Fighter moves of a Ferrari 488 Pista.
...
Alas by then, the race has been won. Thanks to gearing, grunt, and grip, the C8 is an astonishing straight-line performer. But the Corvette isn’t just about straight-line performance, and here’s where the mid-engine layout should pay huge dividends. And doesn’t.
Pulling 1.03 g of skidpad grip seems fine—until you realize that the base C7 Z51 managed 1.08 g six years ago. And in that car, the tester’s notes didn’t complain of plowing understeer.
Since understeer can be interpreted as “stability,” several of our editors suspected that this handling characteristic may have been engineered in on purpose by GM to ensure that C8 buyers who have never driven a mid-engine car won’t immediately wrap it around a tree. I doubt this. The violent lifts, spazzy steering flicks, and brake-stabs required to make the Corvette rotate are at odds with the new car’s delicate feel.
The steering doesn’t communicate the handling limits either, neither changing in effort as the front tires fall into understeer nor, more disappointingly, coming alive if the rear end does starts to rotate.
GM’s chassis-tuning track record is coloring our impressions here, but the previous Corvette—as well as the Alpha-platform Camaro, ATS, and CTS—seem to defy the laws of physics at their handling limits. Even if they understeer mildly, those cars’ chassis respond to miniscule additional steering inputs or slight changes in throttle position even at the absolute handling limit, making them continually adjustable. The C8 Corvette doesn’t perform this same magic trick.
Yet. Maybe it’s just a matter of tuning, or tire selection. One GM insider hinted to us that future variants of the Corvette might be less one-dimensional at their handling limits. That will be a welcome upgrade for master-level drivers trained on exotic mid-engine cars. What’s also disappointing is that the 149-foot 70-to-0-mph braking performance stopped short of matching that first C7 Stingray’s 146-foot stop—to say nothing of the several later Stingrays we tested, which stopped as many as 13 feet sooner than that.
When not at the test track, the Corvette’s interior is a quiet and smooth—but somewhat cramped—place to be. The big, dramatic waterfall of buttons is pretty to look at, but the glossy finish on the black buttons renders them unreadable in sunlight. More importantly, that design feature seriously impinges on occupant space—broad passengers on the right side have nowhere to put their arm. They’ll wind up using the driver’s armrest.
Passengers will also hate the positioning of the center-stack touchscreen, which is angled directly at the driver. Forget about asking the Corvette’s passenger to change the radio station or enter a nav destination—even if they could see the screen, they can’t reach it.
Drivers will appreciate the thoughtful layout of information on the screen, and especially the Stealth Mode, which turns off all displays and instrument panel lighting for use on dark roads, leaving only a clear digital speed readout and tiny coolant-temperature and fuel-level gauges.
But we don’t just think Chevrolet can do better, we know it can. GM’s chassis tuning is, typically, among the best in the business. It’s sometimes even the best, showing companies like Porsche and Ferrari how a car should feel and how it should respond. The last-generation, C7 Corvette Stingray was nothing short of magnificent.
The C8 isn’t quite there. It has neither the limit-handling grace of a 718 Cayman or the ESP-assisted Stealth-Fighter moves of a Ferrari 488 Pista.
...
Alas by then, the race has been won. Thanks to gearing, grunt, and grip, the C8 is an astonishing straight-line performer. But the Corvette isn’t just about straight-line performance, and here’s where the mid-engine layout should pay huge dividends. And doesn’t.
Pulling 1.03 g of skidpad grip seems fine—until you realize that the base C7 Z51 managed 1.08 g six years ago. And in that car, the tester’s notes didn’t complain of plowing understeer.
Since understeer can be interpreted as “stability,” several of our editors suspected that this handling characteristic may have been engineered in on purpose by GM to ensure that C8 buyers who have never driven a mid-engine car won’t immediately wrap it around a tree. I doubt this. The violent lifts, spazzy steering flicks, and brake-stabs required to make the Corvette rotate are at odds with the new car’s delicate feel.
The steering doesn’t communicate the handling limits either, neither changing in effort as the front tires fall into understeer nor, more disappointingly, coming alive if the rear end does starts to rotate.
GM’s chassis-tuning track record is coloring our impressions here, but the previous Corvette—as well as the Alpha-platform Camaro, ATS, and CTS—seem to defy the laws of physics at their handling limits. Even if they understeer mildly, those cars’ chassis respond to miniscule additional steering inputs or slight changes in throttle position even at the absolute handling limit, making them continually adjustable. The C8 Corvette doesn’t perform this same magic trick.
Yet. Maybe it’s just a matter of tuning, or tire selection. One GM insider hinted to us that future variants of the Corvette might be less one-dimensional at their handling limits. That will be a welcome upgrade for master-level drivers trained on exotic mid-engine cars. What’s also disappointing is that the 149-foot 70-to-0-mph braking performance stopped short of matching that first C7 Stingray’s 146-foot stop—to say nothing of the several later Stingrays we tested, which stopped as many as 13 feet sooner than that.
When not at the test track, the Corvette’s interior is a quiet and smooth—but somewhat cramped—place to be. The big, dramatic waterfall of buttons is pretty to look at, but the glossy finish on the black buttons renders them unreadable in sunlight. More importantly, that design feature seriously impinges on occupant space—broad passengers on the right side have nowhere to put their arm. They’ll wind up using the driver’s armrest.
Passengers will also hate the positioning of the center-stack touchscreen, which is angled directly at the driver. Forget about asking the Corvette’s passenger to change the radio station or enter a nav destination—even if they could see the screen, they can’t reach it.
Drivers will appreciate the thoughtful layout of information on the screen, and especially the Stealth Mode, which turns off all displays and instrument panel lighting for use on dark roads, leaving only a clear digital speed readout and tiny coolant-temperature and fuel-level gauges.