Will the 2012 corvette be a downgrade?
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2007
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From: Coralville Iowa
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2007
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This is where they're going, a 70 style vette, same approach like the Camaro retro-forward styling. Only thing is that this current production run will be a long one most likely 2015 at the earliest. I'm telling ya ...
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2003
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And overall performance.This, like anything here on the C7, is a wild a** guess...
I suspect the C7 will feature a seriously upgraded electronics package. (The one in the C6 dates back to the early 90's.) I bet the interior will offer better materials, ergonomics and fit/finish. The power may be less than the current LS3, but I bet the performance envelope will be similar. The bottom line, an improved vehicle with similar performance. Who cares about raw numbers as long as the car performs?
I suspect the C7 will feature a seriously upgraded electronics package. (The one in the C6 dates back to the early 90's.) I bet the interior will offer better materials, ergonomics and fit/finish. The power may be less than the current LS3, but I bet the performance envelope will be similar. The bottom line, an improved vehicle with similar performance. Who cares about raw numbers as long as the car performs?
Horsepower isn't everything. If they can build a C7 Z06 with 400 hp which will outperform my C6 Z06 making 505 hp, then I'd definitely have to take a look at one.
Last edited by '06 Quicksilver Z06; Sep 12, 2008 at 07:54 PM.
Drifting
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,291
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From: Shavertown PA
I heard from an absolutely reliable source inside GM that the next Corvette will have 150 little wheels under the hood with 150 little hamsters making the power. I can't wait!!! At least we will wean ourselves off foreign oil!!!! I just need a pallet of hamster food to keep it moving!!!
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Race Director
Joined: Feb 2004
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From: CT
You're probably more on the mark than the other posts, but 300 hp might be on the high side. GM and the others are looking for a gov't handout. If they get it, developing or having high HP cars will catch the eye of some politicians who will go balistic because "GM is spending the taxpayers money to make High HP cars" Enjoy your C-6 now as it won't get any better from here on. In fact, even before the end of the C-6 run (if, GM even decides on a C-7) I would expect the HP to be begin dropping just for the above reasons I mentioned.
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2007
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I would like to see something like the Tesla, maybe in a revamped edition of a Corvette Brand.
.. Info on this new electric sports car looks pretty impressive....
http://www.teslamotors.com/
.. Info on this new electric sports car looks pretty impressive....
http://www.teslamotors.com/
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2008
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St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16
You're probably more on the mark than the other posts, but 300 hp might be on the high side. GM and the others are looking for a gov't handout. If they get it, developing or having high HP cars will catch the eye of some politicians who will go balistic because "GM is spending the taxpayers money to make High HP cars" Enjoy your C-6 now as it won't get any better from here on. In fact, even before the end of the C-6 run (if, GM even decides on a C-7) I would expect the HP to be begin dropping just for the above reasons I mentioned.
Unless the C7 is zero emissions and somehow powered by renewable energy expect it to raise the ire of quite a number of powerful politicos.
The cry will indeed be "we bailed them out and they are spending it on gas guzzlers not on getting us off of foreign oil". Those folks are expecting GM Priuses not Corvettes from the General.
Oh, and when I heard GM's sponsorship on NPR this morning, it of course went something like "GM - working to increase the fuel mileage of the world"...
Based upon conversations with an environmentalist friend who was a low-level political "insider", he suspects that ANY bailout of GM will DEFINITELY contain provisions to do away with gas guzzlers.
The Vette might be spared, but full size SUV's will likely not. Buy that SS TrailBlazer now if you want it.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,226
Likes: 37
From: South Central PA
2017 C3 of Year Finalist
the problem is, we're spoiled. these new c6s are just above and beyond what we thought 5-10 years ago. look at the hp numbers of the c5s and even the first Z06s. i wasn't alive then, but to me this looks like the same thing that happened in the 70s. engines got bigger and bigger until the gas crisis caused engines to get small. well now hps are going up and up until a gas crisis forces things to go down. all this means is the engineers will have to develop a car that handles better, is lighter, and still performs with less hp. this means that the c7s probably will be a little down (but maybe not pwoer to weight), but the c8s and c9s will be only better. let's be honest, forcing the engineers to build a lighter better handling car is not a bad thing.
also, since the corvette accounts for such a small portion on gm's sales, having a fleet average of 35 mpg won't affect the corvette much unless they do it just to 'look good' to the lawmakers.
but like everyone said, no one knows for sure. this is just my best guess.
also, since the corvette accounts for such a small portion on gm's sales, having a fleet average of 35 mpg won't affect the corvette much unless they do it just to 'look good' to the lawmakers.
but like everyone said, no one knows for sure. this is just my best guess.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,226
Likes: 37
From: South Central PA
2017 C3 of Year Finalist
Hmmm I've been saying that for quite a while, and did in my "buy now or cry later" thread.
Unless the C7 is zero emissions and somehow powered by renewable energy expect it to raise the ire of quite a number of powerful politicos.
The cry will indeed be "we bailed them out and they are spending it on gas guzzlers not on getting us off of foreign oil". Those folks are expecting GM Priuses not Corvettes from the General.
Oh, and when I heard GM's sponsorship on NPR this morning, it of course went something like "GM - working to increase the fuel mileage of the world"...
Based upon conversations with an environmentalist friend who was a low-level political "insider", he suspects that ANY bailout of GM will DEFINITELY contain provisions to do away with gas guzzlers.
The Vette might be spared, but full size SUV's will likely not. Buy that SS TrailBlazer now if you want it.
Unless the C7 is zero emissions and somehow powered by renewable energy expect it to raise the ire of quite a number of powerful politicos.
The cry will indeed be "we bailed them out and they are spending it on gas guzzlers not on getting us off of foreign oil". Those folks are expecting GM Priuses not Corvettes from the General.
Oh, and when I heard GM's sponsorship on NPR this morning, it of course went something like "GM - working to increase the fuel mileage of the world"...
Based upon conversations with an environmentalist friend who was a low-level political "insider", he suspects that ANY bailout of GM will DEFINITELY contain provisions to do away with gas guzzlers.
The Vette might be spared, but full size SUV's will likely not. Buy that SS TrailBlazer now if you want it.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 7,988
Likes: 1
From: Folcroft NE Pennslyvania
St. Jude Donor '09
This, like anything here on the C7, is a wild a** guess...
I suspect the C7 will feature a seriously upgraded electronics package. (The one in the C6 dates back to the early 90's.) I bet the interior will offer better materials, ergonomics and fit/finish. The power may be less than the current LS3, but I bet the performance envelope will be similar. The bottom line, an improved vehicle with similar performance. Who cares about raw numbers as long as the car performs?
I suspect the C7 will feature a seriously upgraded electronics package. (The one in the C6 dates back to the early 90's.) I bet the interior will offer better materials, ergonomics and fit/finish. The power may be less than the current LS3, but I bet the performance envelope will be similar. The bottom line, an improved vehicle with similar performance. Who cares about raw numbers as long as the car performs?
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2008
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St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16
Corvettes aren't gas guzzlers and quite honestly, even the politicans (maybe not publicly) will like to have an American built product that can out perform the best the world has to offer at a cheaper price. they can't preach 'buy american!' if the best car you offer is a prius.
You know that and so do I. But remember you're dealing with folks in Congress that run the gamut from the likes of Jay Leno to Ralph Naderites. There are a powerful number of folks that simply hate the American "icon" of big gas guzzling V8's.
The C6 is real close to not meeting the current CAFE standards, let alone those in the future. Regardless of what the DIC says and the highway mileage is, it's still is only rated at 16 city. And remember, much policy is not made by elected officials, but by policy wonks in agencies such as the EPA.
As quick as incandescent light bulbs were "legislated" out of existence so could many cars including the Vette.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2007
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From: Currently somewhere in IL,IN,KY,TN,MO,AR,MS,AL, or FL
The current CAFE standard allows 27.5mpg with any vehicle over 8,500 pounds not counted in the average. The new standard will be 35mpg with everything under 10,000 pounds counted. It is naive to assume that GM will make this average by just making tiny cars no one wants and leave the Corvette alone. The only way to achieve these averages is to make SUVs and pickups much bigger so they weigh over 10K and aren't counted. Then ALL other vehicles will have to make proportional changes. A quick back of the envelope says the Corvette's share will come to about 40mpg. The only way to get there is much smaller and with a 4 cylinder engine.
Anyone who thinks technology will solve this problem doesn't remember what the EPA did to the Corvette in the 70s. Power peaked in 1971 at 425 HP and just 4 years later the best you could get was an L82 with 205 HP. The federal government doesn't care about the Corvettes iconic image and technology can't perform miracles. The LS3/LS7/LS9 will be the last great Corvette engines for a very long time.
Anyone who thinks technology will solve this problem doesn't remember what the EPA did to the Corvette in the 70s. Power peaked in 1971 at 425 HP and just 4 years later the best you could get was an L82 with 205 HP. The federal government doesn't care about the Corvettes iconic image and technology can't perform miracles. The LS3/LS7/LS9 will be the last great Corvette engines for a very long time.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Nov 2005
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But technology was less able to produce hp without lots of gas then...might be different this time around