Saw one today with tan interior and black exterior, I love the look of those years the very best, may get one someday too If I can save up, Anything notably wrong with those years? I also like the first gen sbc thing sooo many options for upgrades adn SOOO much cheaper. How do they drive, how are teh brakes? How would one compare to a 93-97 trans am as far as comfort and ride as well as overall feel, handling (although my car has some stuff done here hehe) and braking and power band?

 

Welcome to the Forum and congrats on your desire to own a Vette.

Both years of Vette have the high-torque L98 power plant. The '89 Vette is the best of the MAF style L98s, has improved steering and, with the Z51 or Z52 option has very quick steering control. The '90 Vette is the first year for the Speed Density (MAP sensor) L98 and has slightly higher compression than the '89 L98. The '89 L98 can be modified more before a chip change is needed than can the '90 L98, but untilamately the MAF in the '89 will be an air flow limiter. However, both cars can be gotten well into the 12s with common mods.

I feel my '88 Vette is the most comfortable car I've been in; I own an '86 IROC and some friends have '90 & '91 Camaros, for comparison. On a recdent drive to Atlantic City, one of them with an '90 Camaro told me the seats in my '88 Vette were extremely comfortable.

I have improved the handling of the IROC till it corners very flatly, but the Vette truely "corners like it is on rails". In fact I gave a friend who owns an '82 CE vette a demo ride in my '88; when he told me to "turn left here" I just turned the wheel and his comment was just as I stated above, "like it's on rails".

I love the F-bodied cars (so I kept the IROC-Z) but the Vette is several hundred pounds lighter and pulls higher g-pad numbers out the door.

The power band of the LT1 starts lower but rises higher than that of the L98; both engines can be easily modified to in the same league.

I believe the ride is somewhat harsher in a Vette, after all it is officially a sports car. But for me it's part of the Vette mystique, combined with the handling and power.

I would say braking for that year Vette is on a par with a late model Bird.

The best way for you to judge is to take an '89 or '90 Vette out for a test drive or take a ride in a friends Vette. I think you'll be sold on the feeling of driving a Vette; it realy is contageous.

 

Alright, here's my breakdown, as an authority on the subject. My car before my vettes was a black on taupe (tan for us in the middle and lower brackets of society) '97 Trans Am. Gorgeous car that was plenty fast, 14.0@98.6mph bone stock. Great car, road comfortably, handled reasonably well for the 3600+ lb car it was. An absolute blast to drive.

Then I moved to Japan and found a black on grey '86 Vette. After driving and working on that car for about 8 or 9 months, I went home on leave and drove around the T/A while I was there for about a month. Nothing like the Vette. The Vette felt smaller, more trimmed down and I feel it's base seats were more supportive and comfortable than the nice adjustable lumbar/bolster leather seats in the T/A. The T/A just felt big and bulky. Everthing from the thick windshield side frames to the center bar on the t-tops felt thick and almost little kid like. Think "my first wicked fast car."

The Vette was thin, almost like going from that really pretty, but kind of thick girl next door to the thin gorgeous supermodel you dream about.
The Vette, even with it being 11 years senior, still felt and looked to be in a different class.

With all that subjective stuff out of the way, the brakes on my old '86 are about as good as the big bird's. I haven't driven my '88 yet, which is the year they went to dual piston calipers, so I don't know how those compare.
As far as quickness, the grunt motor L98 has the LT-1 off the line, but up top it would be all Trans Am.

This can be remedied though. All the parts below the intake on the L98 are pretty much standard small block chevy stuff (for the most part), especially the early iron head '86's and '85's. Stuff isn't really all that cheap for the L98, but it's not as expensive as the LT1 stuff and you'll have more choices. The Vette specific stuff can be expensive though.

Handling is no comparison. The Vette is 100 per cent better in that respect. It may not ride quite as nice, but it will out corner all but the most modified F-bodies out there. My brother(who now owns my T/A) runs a prepared class '91 Bird and he was amazed by my '88's handling. C4's are some of the best handling cars ever, including the C5's(that's my opinion, I don't like the compromise suspensions of the newer cars, with the Z06 being the exception).

The cool thing is that parts availability is so much better than pretty much anything out there except for brand new cars. Working on the l98 car's is infinitly better than the LT1 F-bodies. Forget all day to change the plugs like your Formula. It took me about an hour to change the plugs wires and distributor cap/rotor and I was taking my time goofing off with friends when I did it.

I don't think I could ever own another F-body except as a daily driver with a family. Once you go Vette, anything else really feels like a step down. That's why there's so many fanatical Vette guys and gals out there.

Well, I'm off my soap box. Take my $.02 for what its worth, maybe half that.

Good luck. If you decide to go Vette, carefully choose which year, since every year had improvements, but some can be drawbacks if you're going to modify. Like my '86 with it's iron heads. Any set of small block perimeter bolt heads will bolt right up, but with the newer motors, to do that you'll have to re-drill the intake manifold and get new valve covers.
Good luck deciding. I'm a little biased, but I have been in both worlds.
Chris

 

There are some significant differences between 89's and 90's beside the speed density and other engine changes already mentioned.
90's have the newer slanted radiator with dual cooling fans that was designed to accomodate the LT5 in the ZR1. Because 90's and 91's were the only two years that had the new radiator design along with the L98, there are some parts that are unique (and unfortunately discontinued by GM) to these models.

Probably the most noticable difference between 89's and 90's is the revised interior that was introduced in 90, and replaced the original C4 all digital instrument panel.
I personally like the combination of the original C4 body design with the square tail along with the new interior.
Mark