RareZ07

Do you think the distinctive Corvette design ended in the C4 series of1996? Do you think seats and interior layout are better than C5 and C6?

Leftoverture

No, but the C5 was too big in the rear and the C6 has lasted too long. The C7 should have come a year or two ago. The C4 was more of a milestone design than either the C5 or C6 and the C4 has way better seats.

zr1fred

Most people prefer the C5 design and the C5 interior (outside C4 forums, that is). The C6 is really just a C5+, and the C7 looks to be a C6+. As far as distinctive Corvette design, it could be argued that that ended in 1984. Not best, just the most distinctive. The best corvette has always been the newest, with the possible exception of some of the C3s.

Old Ben

Yes.

The C5 and C6 look too much like other sport style cars. I have to look at the emblems to tell them apart.

nathanours

I much prefer the interior of the C4. I love the high side walls and how you sort of climb into the cockpit. It really makes it feel different from other cars. You don't get the same feeling with the newer 'vettes.

Then again, I'm 22 and limber so the whole climbing out/falling in thing is no problem for me. I may feel differently about that in 20 years.

H P Bushrod

I don't think you'll have a problem getting in and out of your C4 in 20 years (unless something happens to your back). I'm 50 and on my 2nd C4...no problems here. I love the C4 design.

JeffnSharyn

I looked at the C5 & C6, but I kept coming back to the C4. For me the C4 is a better fit. I like a car that is a little rough around the edges.

The C4 to me is a Muscle Car that can actually stop and turn corners as well. Not refined, but a blast to have as a daily driver.

1analguy

When the C5s came out, I took a good look at one. When my eyes recovered, I quickly made a successful all-out search for my C4 GS...and to this day, I've never regretted that choice. I still believe that in '97, the only real improvement that the C5 held over the C4 was the C5's stiffer frame...and I have no complaints about my GS's frame. It's just fine...but, in the world of car frames, stiffer/stronger is usually desirable. I find the high sill on my C4 is actually an aid to entering the car. I sit on it while stuffing my legs in, and then use it and the console to lower myself into the seat...

JMO, but the C5 styling was a total disaster. Sometimes a car's styling will grow on you after a while. Not so with the C5. I still can't stand the sight of any them, but especially not the Z06/coupe. The first time I saw a C5 "in the flesh" was at a local parking-lot car show in the spring of '97. It was a red fast-back coupe, and was parked right next to a red '96 coupe. As my wife and I approached the two cars from the rear, I commented to her "hey, look at the new C5 Corvette". Now, my wife likes cars well enough, but she's no "gear head" and, after she'd looked over both cars, she looked back at the '96 and said "it's a lot prettier than the old one". That's when I realized what bothered me so much about the C5: she was right...the brand new C5 actually looked older than the 12-year-old car that it was replacing...

A lot of people didn't see much difference between the C5 and the C6. To me, all the subtle changes they made to the C6 completely transformed the car. The C6 is everything that the C5 should have been. How the shapes of the two can be so similar, and yet the over-all effect so different, still amazes me. The C6 still looks elegant, modern, and wicked, all at the same time. I love that car, and will probably be replacing my GS with one in the near future. As far as the C7, with all the "leaked" renditions, photos, etc. that have been surfacing, I'm beginning to suspect that my eyes are in for yet another beating...

93Rubie

Its just refined enough, but still a little rough around the edges. I call that perfect. I want a car that feels "alive."

I like the C6 looks, the only C5 that strikes me as somewhat attractive is the Z06/FRC.

Seats suck big time in C5's, not much better in C6. The C4 seats rock.
I did an auto-x school this past summer, my instructor commented on how good the C4 seats where and how crappy C5 Z06 seats are.

Mr. Peabody

Heck I'm 60 with a bad back and I don't have any problems getting in and out of my 95. The late model C4 sport seats are the best seats ever put in a stock corvette

24695bob

I'm 68 and soon to be 69...
I currently own one C2 .. three C3's .. one C4 ... and one C5 ...

The Corvette distinctive design ended in 1982 ... PERIOD !

After I finally get into my C4 I much prefer the "feel" But I liked my 95's instrument panel a heck of a lot more then I do my Current 35th Aniv 88s "Starwars" instrument panel I Still have to search for how fast I am going.....

As for looks... Well maybe it my age.. but to me the C2 to me just screams CORVETTE and the chrome bumper C3's scream almost as loud ... The C4's I like the later cars better then the earlier cars.. The C5 and C6 are "ok" but honestly do not do a lot for me..

Stock Performance.. a C5 or C6 any day... all day long

BTW...notice I stated AFTER I get into my C4...!!! That thing is a royal PIA for me to get in and out of...

Bob G

1analguy

I'd go back even farther, and say that it ended with 1972. The early C3s were the first Corvettes to really grab me, but what they did to them starting in '73...well, mustache/Mona Lisa comes to mind. I understand why it happened...they had no choice at the time, and did the best they could. They should have killed it sooner, but didn't have the money. Oddly, when they added the bubble rear window in '78...and, this is not a compliment...it was actually an improvement over the '77!

The C4 was such a huge break with the past that it took me several years to come around on it...probably about the time the smoother/rounded bumpers showed up (somewhere around '90-'92, I can't remember). With most cars, as they tweak the styling from year to year to try to keep them fresh/current, they pull the design farther and farther from the original design language...and they often look progressively worse. Discordant elements are added, etc...it's normally a bad deal all around. Occasionally, there's a design that will age very gracefully...and the C4 was one of those. In the mid '90s, the C4 still looked perfectly current, while the mid '80s cars (which looked radically new in '84) looked old. All from the same design language. That's quite unusual, yet it happened again, and more extremely, with the C5/C6. MHO (often worthless, though in this case, since corroborated by several people) is that the C5, even though it was an entirely-new car, looked "old" on day one. And then, the effect of its subtle "refresh" was actually so successful/radical that they had to call it "C6"...

96GS#007

You can't be serious

1analguy

ya, I didn't get that one either...

1Asterisk

I used to have a 2000 GMC Sierra. When I started seriously looking at Corvettes I was disappointed at how much the C5 interior reminded me of my truck. Same switches, controls, and radio.

As I was checking out the C4 the interior struck me as unique even if some elements are shared with other cars. Still I didn't have those other cars, so it was unique to me. I haven't regretted that decision yet.

The C6 is a step up from the C5 interior, but it still doesn't have that unique look to it. Hopefully the C7 does something to stand out a little more. Interiors are just as important to me as exteriors. I'd skip a car if I was not drawn to the inside.

Joe C

- and i'm 64 and have my share of aches and pains, but i prefer the c4 interior. granted, the C5/C6 has more room, but i like the snug as a bug feel. i think the 90/91 corvettes had some of the best corvette interiors. C5/C6 door panels look like they are tupperware or rubbermaid. i understand the designers went all out on the c7 -will wait and see...

Old Ben

Totally serious. Until they are up close they look like a Maxda MX-5 or Nissan GT-R or a couple of other cars that I could not tell what they were except that they were not vettes. The rounded nose and abstract lights are the same on a lot of cars.

1analguy

Well, from way down the road and straight at the front of the car...I guess I could kind of see where he's coming from. All cars are doing battle with the same air, though. If they're going to do it successfully, there are only so many solutions...so the general frontal profile is going to end up at least somewhat similar on cars of similar size and type. This just suggests that everyone's stylists are finally listening to their aerodynamics people.

bb62

Who are in turn listening to their fuel economy planning people.