I ordered my C6 back in 2005 with the 'middle of the road' package and never missed a thing. I got mine without nav, satelite radio, onstar and hud. Like it that way and it's been a great car. I have no buttons on my rear view mirror. Had it six years now and like it as much as the day I bought it.

 

2LT owner here and more than pleased, can care less about HUD, heated seats or the marginal factory NAV.

The one thing I may have wanted from 3LT would be tilt/tele wheel but really dont even care about that.

 

A better question might be: "Why 3lt or 4lt?".

What do you want in a sports car? The basic Ilt comes with many options considering the 430hp and the six speed. Again, what do you want?

IMO the best performance car for the money ever since the C6 was introduced was the 1lt.....just get NPP on it and get noise on demand and 436hp. 2, 3, 4 lt...GS....no more hp than 1lt narrow body car.

Again, what do you want. My feeling is that people who buy 3 and 4 lt cars want a "sports personal luxury car". All the junk options and cowhide on everything....again...what do you want in a car?

Apparently there's a lot of profit margin in the 3 and 4 lt. It's these cars that come with BIG stickers and the dealers stick it to whomever buyers will pay near to msrp for all the fluff. But, when time comes to clear out the lot the selling price drops are most extreme in the 3 and 4 lt....conclusion? Well, these options sticker for lots of money but don't cost all that much more.

If you want 3 or 4 lt wait until a good sale is happening.....let some other sucker pay for all this junk. Now, I have a 2 lt. I'm biased and it shows from my calling 3 and 4 lt goodies "junk". This stuff would add nothing to my fundamental enjoyment of the car.

You want a fast no nonsense car? 1 or 2lt. You want a larded up luxury car you can brag on because of the long list of options and silly little gimmicks ( like HUD )...go that way.

I love it when people say they can't shift without the HUD. This proves conclusively they never really learned how to shift a performance car OR they have the music up so loud they can't even begin to hear what the engine is doing in the gears etc.

 

Heated seats are very easy to add. You can purchase an aftermarket kit that looks stock when installed. I put them in my 2LT. Takes about an hour and a half to take the seats out, pull the covers off, install the elements, reinstall the seat covers, install the switches, and run the wiring over to the passenger side fuse block (the fuse block is already set up for them). The switches mount in the factory locations - and you're good to go; all nice an toasty! If you're not the do-it-yourself type, any good upholstery shop can install them.

 

I have a 2011 GS 2LT

I like it because it has 6 way power seats for both the driver and passenger where the 1LT seats don't. Also the 2LT Sport bucket seats have lumbar support where the 1LT seats don't.

However, the 2LT don't have the heated seats like the 3LT ... but, I live in southern Florida ... I don't need heated seats anymore than an Eskimo needs a refrigerator with the icemaker option.

Now, the 3LT has the power telescopic steering column, whereas the 2LT only has the manual tilt steering wheel ... The tilt wheel of the 2LT is something that is really needed with the different height drivers ... However, the telescopic steering wheel is but a gimic and basically serves no purpose.

Music ... Slight differences between the 2LT and 3LT Bose sound systems ... they both suck equally!

Now, the real thing your giving up with the 2011 1LT and 2LT is the HUD ...

Can you live without it? ... Is the 3LT worth $3,000 more than the 2LT? .... that's your choice

________________________________________ ____

Now for the real waist of money ... My 2LT Grand Sport came with the $300 optional Corvette flag logo embroidered onto both seat headrests. Nice touch indeed, but if priced at an extra 100 bucks, this might have been an worthwhile option ... However, $300 to sew a couple of Corvette cross-flags on the seat headrests is way over the top in my opinion! My bet is GM don't have $50 tied up in that little bit of headrest embroidering!

Just my opinion.

.

 

I orderd my 2005 1SA (2LT) because I did not want all the extra stuff. I only wanted the power passenger side seat, extra air bags, auto trans and 3:15 gears.

Once the warranty expired I added a complete Z06 exhaust and a few other mods to personalize the car to my taste.

Depending upon what you want in a Corvette you can purchase the bear bones 1LT or get all the options with the 4LT. You can go a step further and purchase all the dealer installed accessories too. Then there are many aftermarket items to further personalize your Corvette. It is all a matter of choice!

If you are looking for a deal.... You can always go see Dave Salavadore at Kerbeck for a the 3LT when they run their specials!

 

I personally think the main thing that is killing the Z06 sales is not so much the GS, it is the ever increasing price of the Z06. Now that it is climbing in price close to the ZR-1 those few that can afford it can also afford the ZR-1. The bottom line is the right now the size of the Corvette pie is only so large & increasing prices & other options makes the pie smaller for the Z06.

 

wrong. the difference between a 1lt and 3lt is 4800.00 you will never see a 4800 difference on resale.

for example
when i traded my 05 in I paid 37700 1lt only option was the polished wheel. sticker was 45000.00 ( i could buy GMs at the time)
traded it in on a 06 9 months later had 13,000 miles on it and I got 38500

AT THE SAME TIME I WAS TRADING a lady with a yellow 05 12500 miles 3lt loaded accept nav. her car stickered for 52000 she got 39000 on trade

500 bucks at trade 7k difference in sticker

the only reason I buy 2lt's is I want red interior
the 3lt not worth the money

you can add hud for 650.00
heated seats for 400.00
1050.00 vs 4800 no way in hell

 

OP, your decision to go with a 2LT (or 1LT) is yours alone. Still the same great performing C6. You will have a blast with 1LT, 2LT, or XYZLT. Some great points made on the pros and cons, but as usual, our loving brother OregonC6 comes in with the BS. He'll hit this post once, and then fade into the Oregon woods...

My "larded up" 3LT has the options that make our life on very long road trips more comfortable. None of them help the outstanding performance of the base C6. Just personal preferences.

And to our friend OregonC6, I don't need the HUD to shift my M6. However, when blasting my favorite music, carving up a mountain road, I find the stereo a plus.

OP, find a nice 2LT that meets your needs and budget, buy it. You will have a great Corvette.

 

where did you get that number, the 2lt upgrade on the 2012's is not 5k....on the 2012 its by far the best value out there.

 

2011 Grand Sport Coupe:

1LT Base Price: $55,045

2LT Base Price: $56,240 (+ $1,195 higher than the 1LT)

3LT Base price: $59,250 (+ $4,205 higher than the 1LT)

 

I went with 2LT, and it was definitely the right decision for me. I wouldnt listen to all of those people who say "this sucks" or "that's useless". It just proves the old adage of opinions being like.... well, you know.

Look at each of the additional things and decide if YOU need/want them.

Here was my thought process:

"upgraded" Bose stereo... I can install a much better sounding system, and would upgrade even if I had the Bose, so not worth any extra cash to me

HUD... Wanted it and definitely worth some extra. Regretted not getting it, but then the kits became available, and I put it in. It's a neat feature, but now that I have it, I don't really use it... A nice to have, but not a must have.

Memory seats and telescoping wheel... Often a source of issues, More stuff to not work properly down the road (definitely issues with the C6). I'm the only driver, and I'm of average build, and the stock wheel position is comfortable for me, so these are not really useful for me. Tall, or... "larger" people often love this feature as it makes getting in and out easier.

Heated seats... One other feature I knew I wanted.

So there were two features I really wanted... Not worth the extra $4k for me. But if the stock steering wheel position wasn't comfortable, or if the upgraded stereo were a Dynaudio or Mark Levinson system... The decision might have been different.

Decide if any of the additional features are worth the combined $ to you, and you'll have your answer.

 

I think the two tone seats beat that. At least for the $300 you actually get something extra. For free, you can get black seats, or grey seats, etc. Charging $650 to use black outer panels (from the free black seat material), and grey (or whatever color from the free other color material) inner panels, is not only highway robbery, but it's just plain insulting. I'm not saying it's not a great option (looks great, and is ordered by lots of people), but that's essentially 100% profit to GM.

 

Getting off the OP's topic, but the REAL rip-off is the Heritage Package on the GS. You can get the two-tone seats, Corvette logo, for around $650. For close to $1200 you get the GS logo and the stripes for close to $1200. Means you are paying close to $600 for the stripes and the GS logo. Doesn't cost GM much more to do the Corvette vs. the GS logo. Lot of money for the stripes. Heritage came with my car, but negotiated it out of the final price. Too much for too little.

 

Your absolutely right!

Now ... How about this ... You pay something like $395 extra to get the Comp Gray painted GS wheels instead of the regular Silver painted GS wheels on a 2011 GS.

395 FRICKEN DOLLARS!

Give me a break! .... It don't cost 1 penny more for GM to paint these GS wheels gray instead of silver .... not a cent more!

Total Highway Robbery!
____________________________________

GM could paint the wheels purple for the same price if they really wanted to .... Paint is paint!

Total Bullsh*t

.

 

I ordered my '08 as a 2LT, as the only item I wanted from the 3LT group was the memory seats. My wife and I travel often (85K so far) and switch driving duties every few hours. We have different passenger seat positions too, so it really was no big deal.

 

The biggest reason that I bought a 2lt was the value it offered for the money. 48K out the door. I had nav on my 06 and found it difficult to use. The previous owner had added some sort of itunes adapter that was hard to use too. I figure that I will add an aftermarket nav and save some money. I do like the HUD and will add that myself. It is available for less than 400 dollars at parts taxi. I do like the fender stripes andt they are relatively inexpensive to add yourself.

But, I say get what you want!

 

1 LT for me on my GS,I like the solid leather seats over the perforated,I don't need blu tooth,and I bought the Corvette cargo cover at WCC for $69. HUD just gets in the way of your view of the road IMO.

 

I know this is getting way off topic, but wanted to add to your post. If you look at the cost of buying GS wheels from any of the forum suppliers, the Comp Gray wheels are actually cheaper than the Silver wheels! Sounds to me like you should've gotten a credit for going with Comp Gray.

I was kind of disappointed my car came with silver wheels, but once I found out I could buy a set of the Comp Gray wheels for $850 from a forum supplier, plus have my stock silver wheels for track use, I realized I came out better afterall.

John

 

What are these "cool summer nights" of which you speak?