petermj

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbW_e...eature=related

knyght4

AWD isn't so bad. It makes me think what GM what do with that extra weight though. And, you can surely expect a AWD corvette to be near $100k - I can't imagine that price being any lower.

It sure does tickle the brain and surely makes you wonder. And, I do have to throw in that AWD has worked out very well for Subaru, Mitsu, and Lamborghini especially when it comes to both speed and performance. And, the new Aventador is a beast.

Gadfly

I don't think the addition of an AWD system would cost an additional 50k+....

Nothing wrong with front engine, AWD cars with the transmission in the back. It works really well in the GTR...

S'vette

How bad could a vette be if it did have AWD or in my version Quattro? Even with the extra weight it would be faster off the line and for short distances, which is what most of us do. And when you add FI to the vette it needs something to spread the wealth of power for better traction, so I cant see it being a bad thing. Will they do it who kows but if they put it on most of there vehicles then the cost per vehicles will help keep the cost down due to their whole inventory having it. Think Audi, VW etc They dont cost 100K for an AWD car except the R8 The camero is already making a ZR1 camero at half the price so I wouldnt be surprised to see the next gen camero with AWD and still be less than the Z06 and then it would kick the vettes ***. GM would be buying already designed and tested and used techo for this and thus would have too much cost to add to their fleet.

aussiejohn

G'day,

Interesting topic. I don't have a problem with a mid-engine car, but you'd have to think seriously about how to package it. The Porsche Boxster has it made with its boxer engine. That keeps the CoG really low which is what you need on a sporty car. Trouble is, GM stopped making boxer engines in the sixties when the Corvair was scrapped. And no-one makes air cooled engines now ( in cars, anyway ).

Then there's the length of an upright V8 engine. This would necessitate placing the driver so far forward that nothing except the existing chassis could be used. Every panel, inside and out, would be different and the cost to re-tool for this would cost more money than they would ever recoup, based on 14,000 total Corvette sales for the 2011 model.

You might get by without a transaxle by mounting the engine to the front of the existing diff and running the input shaft through the diff housing into the rear mounted transmission, but then you'd have to run the output shaft back through or over/under the trans back into the diff.

It's doable, and you could use the gearset of the current transmission, but the whole outer case would have to be redesigned. Then there's the gearshift linkage.............., and............, oh, I just can't see it happening.

But we can dream.

Regards from Down Under.

aussiejohn

I Bin Therbefor

If you're willing to use a transverse mounted engine, then GM has transmissions that will do the job. Take any front wheel drive, cross mounted engine and move it to the mid-rear position, transmission and all. When there a few Fieros around, doing that with a Cad NorthStar engine and transmission was a slam dunk. The cars that Lotus Engineering built for GM did that very thing. Check both Corvette from the Insdie and the godfather's bio for examples. Better still go to the NCM and see the cars yourself.

By the By the old Honda NSX used a transverse mounted mid-rear engine and trans

petermj

The nice thing about vette is that the car is fairly simple, adding complexity and weight will increase wear and tear and create more maintenance issues. Keep it simple to make it more affordable and easier to live with. After owning AWD 3k VR4, vette is a nice change toward more simplicity and driving fun. Doubtful vette will ever be AWD, thank God. Also, heavy car driven short distance equals truly lousy gas mileage. Absolutely no reason to take the AWD route for the vette now or ever.

kiteboarder

Interesting that you mention Mitsubishi Evo. - I've always been a Corvette fan and currently own a Mustang which my wife drives. Of course, the Mustang suggests $$ savings. I'm a young guy. I can afford a Corvette, but it would take some wallet muscle flexing. This in turn would make me want to treat my DD Corvette more like a garage queen.

I would drive it every day, but I'd probably be too wary to track it. I want to track my sports car... For that reason I'm considering an EVO. Truthfully, not as striking as a Vette or a Mustang but a great car nonetheless.

Carry on... AWD...

Almost There

Sticking with front engine... awd.
mid-rear engine.... rdw

LancePearson

It seems to me that awd would be an advantage in traction and digging out of corners quicker on a road racing track such as vir with 17 turns and two kinks. The car can start pulling out of or through turns with all four wheels without waiting that fraction of a second for the rear to get lined up enough to track straight with its hard push forward or to waste traction on spinning wheels while still in essence moving slightly sideways. The counter is that the systems add weight and complexity. The balance of weight down low and fore and aft is important but some cars now have the transmission in the back on front engined cars for that reason. With awd gear perhaps engineers can set up the torque measuring and adjusting systems in conjunction with transmissions and engines in such a way that it is actually better. Wonder what they are working on in their engineering labs not for public comment yet?

I now own a trailblazer ss with the Vette LS2 that is AWD and I remain extremely surprised how well even an SUV is set up for road driving with all that power. I was nervous about the AWD aspects but now think it is fantastic...way better than the engineering that was involved in my last one with selectable 4wd.

My initial reaction to awd having driven my 76 Vette at VIR with traditional engine, shift, differential is that I think, hold on to your hats now, that the Trailblazer SS would wax the 76 vette easily on a road course partly due to its power, partly due to it's race oriented suspension and partly due to the awd. It is much faster than the l48 four speed zero to 60 and quarter mile in stock form as is.

I'd want to hear engineers who design fast cars talk about awd as a concept more than just us before I'd rule it out. What I have has made me way less averse to it.

Lance P.

HarryWild

You cannot beat AWD for cornering and for launch or for driving on wet, snowy or even on icy roads.

McGirk94LT1

Readyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy... go:

Last time you raced somebody in 2" of snow?


And I'll just throw it out there, I drove my c4 through 3 winters in southeast PA. Made it each year except the last huge storm and only reason is cause I was at work, and there is a 100' steep ramp to get out of the parking lot. If I was on the road I woulda made it. I also discovered that had I not had serious summer tires, I probably would have been fine. The performance, summer tires are what kills RWD cars in the snow. GTR has some of the best performance tires on it. I'd love to see what it would ACTUALLY do in 2" of snow instead of what you think it would do. All summer tires say not recomended in temperatures below 50ish. My buddy has a WRX and was hillarious watching him in an empty parking lot 2 winters ago. Just stupidly confident slidding around... but keep in mind the WRX is probably FWD biased, and he had meh all season tires. Stick some shallow PS2's on his car and he woulda at least had more trouble then he did.

Also, 4wd only does so much on ice. Once you loose traction on an ice patch, you slide, and untill your off that ice patch you usually dont get it back. People think like you do and that is why you see a bizmillion suv's crashed in the winter, because once you slide, awd doesnt help you stop if your going in the wrong direction.

S'vette

Ask the Audi engineers who developed thier race cars and were winning so badly due to the quattro that they had to add weigth to their car to give the others a chance.

S'vette

But the vette is a track race car not a snowmobile. Isnt that what most say? So why even talk about snow when we are talking AWD in the sense of better performance under normal circumstances. And I sure the AWD would have done even better in the situation you described.

petermj

if you want a rally car, buy a mitsu evo or audi, vette ain't it. MOST AWD cars start out as FWD (including 911 but in reverse) and it is typically a sideways solution to RWD cars, there are exceptions of course but this is the rule. If rain and snow are your concerns, you will do fine with FWD car. Do not make the vette into something it was never meant to be.

jackhall99

Mike, well stated. You gotta understand that HarryWild is just wild about the GT-R and thinks the Corvette should emulate it!

As with you, I get the summer performance tires off my car in October and mount good A/S tires for winter use. Some of my friends go to winter tires, but the Michelin's will do. Hell, I'm not going out in 4" or more anyway.

And you nailed it on the loss of traction in a FWD vehicle. When they break loose, they are GONE just like every other vehicle.

jackhall99

Where did you get that from? The Corvette is first and foremost a great sports car that, in proper form, can be tracked. Most 'vettes sold never see a track.

And nobody has claimed it is a snowmobile either Properly equipped, it will navigate winter roads with limitations due to ground clearance.

bluemax750

I think that everyone here for the most part is thinking to old school and short sighted in regards to AWD in the Corvette. And for the people that think that Zora Duntov would be against AWD in the Vette, I disagree. I do agree that he would be against it if it were purely mechanical, which is what everyone here seems to be either for or against. Here is what I think he would be pushing for or implementing. Keep the front engine/rear drive/tranny layout, but drive the front wheels with electric motors powered via ultra-capacitors. So that the electric motors will augment the V8 driven rear wheels when necessary/beneficial. Such a setup would easily add 150-200 hp of electric power to the Vette, imagine that on top of the current power of an LS7?

petermj

Right on, a single 1.21 gigawatts flux capacitor per wheel does sound like a good plan

jackhall99

LMFAO peternj.

I remain amazed that so many people feel that the Corvette has to become something it isn't.

Call me old fashioned if you want. But the Corvette has been a front, now front-mid, engined RWD, simple and affordable American sports car that has stayed with most competition for the past many years. Accept continued refinement of that platform, ala Porsche's 911, or buy something else that suits your needs better.