Corvette C7 discussion

[stingstang]

I've been drooling over the C7 since I first heard it was coming out. I'm getting the money saved up, and reading all the lastest news and hear-say on it, but I need to ask... Now that there's a new factory made specifically for the car, will the durability, or overall quality of the car be better than the c5 and c6? Is it going to be worth waiting another year and a half for this to come out? Will the Z06 version be released at the same time? I would argue yes, because the new SRT Viper was released with specs far surpassing the suspected performance of the C7, and the SRT8 version was released at the same time, which kills the current ZR1.
Also, Dodge with it's challenger, and Ford with it's mustang, and even Chevrolet with it's Camero all out or coming out with specs just dusting the current Z06, it would be embarassing for them to release their new flagship that's slower than the pony cars..

 

[wip99gt]

Didn't even notice you started a thread about this.
Did you see the edmunds report about the C7:
http://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/corvette/2014/features-specs.html?sub=coupe&style=101420407
I like the fact that there'll be a 7 speed. The base C6 vette with the 6 speed could get close to 30 on the highways. A lighter, direct injected, 7 speed manual version will be awesome for fuel economy. This car is worth waiting for. I don't think I'd buy one for a while as I expect a lot of kinks to need working out. Remember this is GM we're talking about. I do think anyone who buys a C6 in the next coming while will regret it once we see actual production pics and spec. I really hope to see a twin turbo variant in the C7 ZR1.
The new 5.5 litre is looking pretty impressive. They're saying 440hp for the base, but you know they can get a lot more out of it. The basic design is the new race engine being used for the GT2 vettes at Le mans.

 

[stingstang]

Wup99gt,
We don't know exactly what's going to be inside the car until it gets unveiled at the NY auto show next year. I don't know where edmunds got all that info, but reading this:
Double wishbone front suspension
Double wishbone rear suspension
Four-wheel independent suspension
Front and rear stabilizer bar

makes me know it's fabricated. The rear end is going to be leaf-spring, just like it's been since the car was first made, and I read that this was confirmed.
As far as GM releasing a car that has bugs... I'm interested in knowing how you came to this conclusion, as this car has been tested already for the last year (under cover) for bugs. If there's something wrong with a car, there's a recall, and that doesn't happen hardly at all because the auto makers get terrible lawsuits, and just lose TONS of money. They're very careful about what they bring to the market, and being their flagship car, the Corvette, it's hard to imagine a less-than-perfect product.

 

[wip99gt]

The C5 and up has a double wishbone with leaf springs to improve the anti roll effect. The car uses them on the front and back.
As per bugs the first Duramax diesels had lots. Yes the engine was developed by Isuzu and the Transmission by Allison but it is still a GM with their warranty and it had transmission, injector, and rear brake issues. Even the Volt, which was hyped up almost as much as the vette, has a major recall because of side impacts causing the batteries to catch fire. Two of the three tested by NHTSA caught fire. By no means am I saying GM are bad vehicles. All cars have teething problems and if what I hear about the C7 is true then I'd be amazed if there wasn't some issue. There is also the fact that they may have a lot of testing time with mules but like most new vehicles little problems will arise with the first production year. Most manufacturers make slight changes every year to fix those problems. Even my '09 ski doo had slight changes from the year before. The vast majority are minor things like a seatbelt bracket, better adhesive to something to prevent squeaking, etc. Now with this being a whole new powertrain applied as well as a whole new factory here I would put money on it with the first year having a lot more warranty claims than the next. Be it warranty or recall that's still a drive to the dealership and time without your car.
I'd love to own a C7 but for my money I'd wait for the 2015. Kinda the same way I don't buy a Monday or Friday car.

 

[stingstang]

Some interesting points. I don't know what you mean about a monday or friday car, but I do know that even corvettes have their minor problems with door handles falling off, and other little details. What I was pointing to was problems like the gas pedal being stuck under the floor mat...things that are dangerous, or require a mandatory recall, or large design faults. I can understand and tolerate something jiggling underneath the console somewhere, because a dealership is going to be able to find it and fix it quickly.

 

[wip99gt]

The whole Monday or Friday car is because people generally don't do as good a job at work on those days. I even know owners of dealerships who do the exact same thing as me and look up the VIN to see the day the car was built. They won't even buy a vehicle built on those days, exotics excluding of course. Myself I'm very picky when buying a vehicle which probably stems from being a mechanic for dealerships for so long. It'll take me ages before I find what I want because I over think everything. For instance I needed a new vehicle to tow my toys and it took 2 years before I got exactly what I wanted.
That whole gas pedal fiasco with Toyota was proven to be mostly BS. There wasn't a single accident where it was proven to be the culprit. The media completely blew that one out of proportion. It was the exact same with the 80s GM half ton trucks that blew up when they got t boned.
I've slowly started to hate dealing with dealerships, not because of the mechanics or people working there but all the stupid hoops they have to jump through when doing a warranty claim. My '08 dodge 4500 has been through 2 turbos and it took 3 weeks to get the second one installed, both under warranty, because of the stupid stuff they had to do for warranty reasons. For my job that is a huge deal because it's my field truck. I missed out on 5000 km of field work and when billing out $1.10 a km that's a big chunk of money.
Back to the topic though what do you think will be under the hood of the C7 ZR1? I know the new block can supposedly get to a max 6 litres of displacement. Now as a NA engine I can see that making 500-550hp which in my eyes is not enough for the ZR1, Z06 maybe. I hope for twin turbo and suspect it will be because of efficiency vs a supercharger.

 

[stingstang]

The new ZR1 will have no less than 700 hp, since the pony cars are encroaching on that territory already. I'm suspecting another supercharger on a slightly modified C6.R 5.5 liter engine, as the low-end power will be there as well as the high-end.
The Z06 will get a turbocharged engine, I'm thinking. A sign of the times, and with the ability to get those final rpms to hit 550-600 hp, it will be a 'faster car' on paper than anything else from the US. I couldn't predict what engine wil be used, though.
I suppose I wouldn't be upset to see the 5.5 liter used in all 3 models, as long as it was appropriately modified in each car.

 

[wip99gt]

I think they're going to just up the displacement for the Z06. That new engine with direct injection will have a lot more torque and horsepower at a lower rpm and if they can get what sounds like to be around 440 out of 5.5 then 500 to 550 out of 6 litres should be good. As per the ZR1 I personally feel a couple of variable geometry turbos would be better than the supercharger but you never know. Superchargers have become more efficient and I'll give them that but the new turbo technologies that have come out in the past five years for gas engines have been really impressive. With solenoid actuated vanes you can create gobs of torque at a low rpm and still get high horsepower at a high rpm. By going the turbo route you don't get the power loss of turning a supercharger which can actually add up to a good amount of horsepower. I've seen 50hp losses from superchargers before, yes they gained 200 but still any loss is a loss in my eyes. And also even if you're driving the car lightly that supercharger is still turning and still drawing power. I do completely agree with using a modified C6 R block.
One thing though. I know the majority of people think of turbos as being peaky in horsepower but check out what can be done now. Engines are able to get peak torque from 1600-4000 rpm while still getting huge horsepower numbers with VG turbos. The problem with the early ones were not being able to handle much boost but now I see some with 50lbs boost on diesels. Granted a diesel is easier on turbos than a gas engine because of lower exhaust temperatures, which causes its own set of problems by the way. I have seen some modified cars running over 30lbs boost on VG turbos.
I'm guessing that we're most likely stuck hearing only rumours until January, Detroit auto Show. Possibly we'll get lucky and they'll give some info about the Z06 and ZR1. If we get real lucky they'll get rid of that god awful plexi glass window on the hood so you can see the plastic cover of the engine.
I am confident the new ZR1 will crazy. I remember when I saw my first C6 ZR1 and chased him for a good 20 blocks just stare at it talk to the owner. It was dark grey with black wheels then with those ZR1 blue brakes.