tprice

Maybe this will answer your question, my grandson at 14 months old.




He is now 18 months old and LOVES anything with a steering wheel. Wife rides him around on her golf cart the days he stays with us.

Funny thing is whenever he gets out of golf cart he runs straight to the drivers door of my Vette and LOVES to sit in it and turn the wheel and punch buttons .


Also I have a teen driving school and seldom do I drive my C6 to the office but there are many times one of my students sees it and their mouth drops open . And yes I have let a couple drive it before with me in there, NOTHING like the look on their face when I tell them to hop in the drivers seat

I think like a lot of us at that age they seem "unattainable" so they may not seem like there like Vette's but Trust me they do. I have some Corvette stuff in my office and they pick up on it more than you realize


In fact here is one of my former students and friend of mine's son, I completed his driving one Sunday am due to his baseball schedule and while we were waiting on his Dad to get back he and I went for a spin. This young man has an uncle that is married to a true BIG TIME movie star's daughter (daughter in her own right does quite a few movies as well)and he was telling me about some of his Uncles cars BUT he told me NOTHING was like a VETTE. He LOVED the paddle shift and hearing the exhaust when he down shifted

texvette2

would say no. millennials won't have a chance to afford one. 70k to 100k+.

They are lucky to afford rent and food... Truly GM corvettes are not worth that kind
of money, even with a 10 year finance schedule

grandsport2

I appreciate all of the responses! Thanks everyone for all the great comments on this. I think the corvette hobby is still very strong with a lot of younger folks.

Bruze

New Corvettes were ALWAYS out of reach for the average middle-class young person (but I'm sure someone will post
an anecdotal example to the contrary ).

There is nothing new under the sun.

EDIT: They must be worth $70-100k because someone is buying them. If they couldn't sell them, they'd have to lower the price -- basic economics.

grandsport2

I agree Bruze , new is out of reach for many people....including me! But, like stated in my original post, there are some really clean low mileage C4 and C5 vettes priced affordably.

Bruze

GS: I was responding to Tex's comment that "millennials" won't be able to afford one @ "$70-100k -- which would be a new Corvette (excluding a used ZR1, which I don't think he was talking about).

Not sure how old "millennials" are, but I know a lot younger than me, by probably two generations. So I'll guess 20-30 year olds.

At that age there was no way I could afford a new Corvette, but a used one would have been in reach. But at 25, I bought a house instead.

A few months after I got out of high school in '68 I bought a new '68 Camaro, stripped except for a radio, and discounted from $2700 to $2200 because the '69s were just coming out.

A new Vette was around double that as I recall, totally out of reach for me. And I don't think the cost ratio of a Camaro/Vette has changed much -- still about double.

FWIW: The dealer had, right on the lot, a new '68 Z-28, black on black, dual quads, 4 speed, listed at around $3600 as I recall. There was no way I could swing that either, although if I'd had a crystal ball and could know what it would be worth in the future, I would have gotten a second job, lol.

jrose7004

I think that the C7 design was meant to bring in a younger buyer.

z06clif

I guess they can afford a motel room ;-)

Clif

Rapid Fred

40's vs. 60's. That's a lot younger, but hardly young.

I suspect it is working. They are selling a boatload of them AND a lot of "traditional" owners seem to be resisting the C7's styling, especially the rear.

nerz

25 year old software engineer here, just bought my first vette C6 Z06 off this forum back in August. Been loving driving it ever since

corvette312

A lot of kids like corvettes ! When we were young we loved Corvettes. We just couldn't afford it just like the 21st century kids. Eventually they will get their vettes.Just because they have different priorities does not mean that they don't love the Corvettes.

cmonkey713

I am starting to see younger drivers in C-5 and some C-6 Corvettes as the cars reach affordability. The C-7's are for the most part out of price range for younger drivers. Then you have the issue with young families that need a four door or mini van to haul the kids.

jshot00

I have to say that when i drive mine through the neighborhood, kids stop playing and look at the Corvette!

corvettelover25

I'm 26 and have two Corvettes. One is a 77 and the other is an 05. The 77 was my dad's and he gave it to me. I purchased the 05 when I was 22. My dad always had a Corvette and he took me to the museum, car shows and always kept me involved. That's where my Corvette passion came from! I love Corvettes. I also enjoy other fast cars, but Corvettes are my preference.

I will say that other friends of mine just view a car as a mechanism to get them from point A to point B. They aren't really viewing a car as a hobby. My friends don't understand my passion for cars, but they don't have to.

LFZ

^true....most young people today view cars to get them from one place to another...that's all.

Young people today are more into designer jeans, the latest iPhone, and being post ****** on their facespace, Instagram, chatsnap, and whatever. Funny....at my office, the young employees never want to work, but damn they always want a paycheck....

WA 2 FST

Great post.

I tend to think less has changed than most of us "older" owners tend to think. I'm 48...bought my C5Z new at 33, but since 22 have owned some sort of American V8 performance car.

Just a few observations... as was mentioned in the above post, and in several others, the passion and hobby very often gets passed from one generation to another. My son is a case in point. However, I'm not... my dad died when I was 15, and he was not a "car guy" and definitely viewed a vehicle as a means of transportation only (and I don't look at people like that in a negative light, unless they choose to take overt offense to my hobby/passion for cars).

I honestly think the percentage of car enthusiasts with the millennial generation is about the same as mine (post-Boomer generation). However, there are _far, far_ more things to do/be involved in than there were in past generations. When I was younger, it was jocks, nerds, and preppies. Nowdays, there is so much more diversity (if you want to call it that), and more options of things to catch our interest. Along with this, we are just "busier" as people than we were in generations past. Like it or not, there is more demand on our time, and less down time. I work with teenagers... and at least where we are, there are so many things to do, places to go, just lots of stuff competing for their time. Oh, and they better make very good grades to get into the college of their choice. Club sports, show choir, academic clubs... instead of taking a portion of their time, it seems to take all of their time, and many are encouraged to be involved in multiple activities. Having the time (even if they have the means) to turn wrenches is tough to come by. This does not change the interest or desire...it just limits the opportunity, to a degree.

I'm confident some of my observations are due to the socio-economic climate where I live.

But when I attend a Cars/Coffee outing locally (which is several thousand people), literally 1/2 the people there are under 25. The hobby/passion is strong. It just manifests itself differently than it did 25-50 years ago.

Here's a pic of my son and I at an event. He's 21. Bought his C6 with a healthy down payment. The other pic is of him when we flew out to pick up my C5Z and drove it home.

DonnieT

I think another small reason that the younger generation appears less interested in cars today is the difference in the car culture growing up. I remember growing up as a kid in the 60s and 70s with the annual pilgrimage in the fall to the car dealerships to see the new model lines. It was always an exciting time. I can remember the fun trying to guess the year and make of a car from afar... which could be done because of the distinct model changes. Once model changes were introduced at different times of the year it seemed a lot of the models appeared all the same and the excitement was gone

mikeyyyallday

I'm 22 and just bought my 2005 C6 a few months ago. I've been wanting a Corvette for a few years and when the opportunity came up, I jumped on it. I couldn't be any happier. It's the ultimate badass sports car. I would say 95% of corvette owners here in Hawaii are 50+ years old. Definetly don't see any young people driving corvettes. All the young kids here (25 and younger) drive a BRZ, 350Z/370Z, G35/G37, or fart can Honda Civics.

IDSRVIT

All my kids love the vettes (ages 18, 17, 15, 13, & 9) and I'm pretty sure several will own vettes

MTBSully

I'm 25 and I just bought my first corvette. Had mustangs and camaro's through college, but decided to try the c6 z06 since it is in my opinion the cheapest supercar you can buy, and I have yet to hear someone who didnt like theirs. I love it so far, I love corvettes, but coming from the mustang and camaro world, I am having a tough time adjusting to the typical corvette owner;

"keep it stock", "keep it legal", "don't change anything, don't you think the GM engineers made it as best they could" and so on and so forth. The typical "I put 6 coats of Zaino on the car and put it in the garage" corvette comments.

Stock is not my style.

Especially in regards to the LS7. I nearly fall out of my chair every time someone posts the classic "should I spend $3k on an extended warranty" threads. Especially when the head fix is under $1500 and then you know the problem is taken care of.

Granted, plenty of guys on here who mod, race and beat on their cars just like me, but my impression is this is not the majority.

Cliff notes: Young c6z owner, love the car, having trouble adjusting to fellow owners.

Pic of my car