How many ZR1 owners do you think take their Vette to the track, and out of that small number, how many of them are capable of extracting 100% of the car's performance?

In the meantime, the owners of "those other $100k+" cars are enjoying the interiors of their cars every time they drive them.

 

Yes

 

They should add a track version base vett...it's quite apparent that those who track and those who don't have different needs. As a non-track vette owner I would prefer an interior that provides the creature comforts of a luxury car. I honestly bought the car for the looks...performance was not a consideration...this car was strictly eye candy for me!!

 

Point taken.
But that still doesn't change the fact that each $113k example provides different qualities that the other did not offer so neither one actually wins that battle. Especially when the gap between the quality/feel of two car's interiors (which is based STRICTLY on opinion, not an objectively measured fact) is far less than the gap between their performance/track results (measured fact).
True, performance results certainly aren't everything/the only thing to judge a vehicle by.
But neither is interior accoutrement.

"Oh my Mercedes SL63 has a nicer interior."

"Yeah but my ZR1 (hell, even my Z06) destroys your car in EVERY performance category...and for much less money."

They both win.
And they both lose.

 

I don't know how many track their ZR1 routinely,but that does not matter much. They learn how to drive their cars thanks to GM during a three day school, and I would bet most of them can indeed extract close to 100% of the car's performance on a track.

Can you?

 

If your C6 is eye candy for you, great!

My C6 coupe is a DD that can be tracked and autocrossed whenever I want to do that.

GM has enough versions of the car (don't need to copy Porsche in that arena), and if you want a track specific car, get the GS or Z06.

 

No. You can replace the seats and wrap everything in leather, but you can't retrofit a car with CUE.

 

Why is it about "winning battles"?

Since the opinions one has regarding the interiors of two cars is subjective, you can't predetermine that the gap between the two car's interiors is smaller than the gap between the performance metrics of the two cars.

Additionally, my point is that for most sports car owners (those who don't track their cars or street race), the quality of the interior can be "used" and/or appreciated more than the car's performance abilities.

 

The number of owners who either track their cars and/or engage in closed street racing is fundamental to the discussion. I'd offer that the percentage of sports car owners who engage in either of these activities is very low, and as such, the actual performance of the car matters less than other considerations.

 

Huh? Don't both GM/Chevrolet and Porsche (or Mercedes/BMW/Dodge for that matter) want/desire your money equally?
That's a battle of sorts, no?
Each focuses their attention on somewhat different areas in their $90k+ offerings and it's up to us the consumer to decide which one takes priority.
Why can't we have both you may ask?
I suppose we can. It currently takes a $96k Porsche (which also doesn't come with a '$96k interior' either in my opinion) to match the overall performance capabilities of a $49k Corvette. Tack a mere $4k or so on to the Corvette to bring it's interior appointments up to the standards of the Carrera S and sales just might increase. Everyone wins.




Ok, fair enough, true.
And that's why some of us always come back to performance as a measurement.
It's a performance oriented sports car. It's supposed to perform well and go fast. The faster car wins, period.
When Porsche/Ferrari/Jaguar get beat by the Corvettes at LeMans or Daytona, they don't still give the trophy to the other cars anyway because "they have nicer interiors".
If Chevrolet wants to steal more Porsche sales then let them offer a Carrera S level interior in the ZR1 or Z06 without raising the current price.
And if Porsche wants to steal more Corvette sales with their Carrera line then let them offer the power of their Turbo model for Carrera S prices.
Until then, it is what it is.




True, to each their own I suppose.
And it's certainly not anyone's place to tell others what car to buy or not to buy, but why buy a ZR1 or Z06 at all then?
That kind of money buys 'allegedly' nicer interiors from some other marques (albeit in what is also MUCH slower models of course) so why the need/desire for the car with the 'allegedly' inferior seats and stereo when their idea of joy lie in where "the quality of the interior can be "used" and/or appreciated more"?
I'll tell ya why, BECAUSE IT'S FASTER.





Agreed.
But again, how in the hell is Chevrolet selling so many damn Corvettes then?
Wouldn't these THOUSANDS of sports car buyers be buying/driving Boxsters, Z Roadsters and SLKs if interior quality/fitment/finish is so much better (not necessarily something I concur with, but we know that others believe it at least) and if that actually holds such a much higher priority in vehicle purchase decisions?

 

Not the "battle" you seemed to be referring to; the "battle" over which car has the better interior.

As for the rest of you comments, all I can say is that for people who do not track their car or engage in closed street racing, the specifics of performance tend to not matter as much as other assessments. For example, the difference in 0-60 times, or skip pad g, or quarter mile times just doesn't matter as long as the specific car being considered reaches a minimum performance "fun" factor. Once that minimum performance standard is reached, many people start placing a higher emphasis on subjective qualities.

 

Incredibly wrong. Else why would the exotic big three use anything other then a regular old v6? They 1% of ferrari buyers that go for the ferrari track days want performance, and the guys who buy a $300,000 car want it to perform. After all, you can keep making the car go faster and charge more money, but I mean, a car can only be so luxurious you would think

Also incredibly wrong because the owner of a faster car has bragging rights over someone with a slower car. I think you doubt the importance of that to a lot of buyers.

 

Because the V6 probably wouldn't meet the minimum performance expectations.

It's not the 1% I'm talking about.

Performance bragging rights are in my opinion a very poor reason for buying any sports car. Additionally, performance bragging rights become less of a factor as the price of the car goes up as, for example, a Ferrari 458 owner could certainly have afforded to buy a less expensive car. A Vette owner bragging to a 458 owner that his car has slightly better performance would be pretty juvenile, as the 458 owner could have easily bought the same Vette had he chosen to.

 

The Corvette currently gives up too much in luxury to maintain it's claim on king of the hill performance; it's hurting business because every potential Corvette owner understands and appreciates the benefits of a nice interior but few push the performance limits. There needs to be a balance between the two. Right now it's tilted too far in the performance direction. Because GM is highly unlikely to downgrade the Vette's performance and knows it absolutely has to upgrade the quality and improve the interior, that means a higher priced car. I don't think there's any way around it.

Here's an item from the Auto Section in today's local paper. Such comments are typical and, of course, the ZR-1 is the top of the line Corvette...

"Without a doubt, the ZR1 is the Vette to end all Vettes. Barely 1,500 kilograms of sports car are motivated by some 638 horsepower worth of supercharged Chevrolet small-block V8 through a surprisingly slick-shifting sixspeed manual transmission. Despite traction control and tires wide enough for a Lamborghini, the ZR1 will spin its rubber in second gear every time the tachometer spins past 4,000 rpm. That’s because, unlike European supercars, the comparatively low-revving 6.2-litre V8 also pumps out 604 pound-feet of torque. Indeed, strafing through the tight and twisty Apache Trail in Arizona, I lugged the engine around in the 2,000-to-3,000-rpm range; any more and I would have been spinning sideways into guardrails. The ZR1 is only let down by an interior that looks as though it was designed by Starsky & Hutch, and seats that need better side bolsters. After all, the 2012 model’s new Michelin Pilot Sport Cup radials are said to be good for 1.1 g of cornering force".

...That's all she wrote.

 

Mag writers will always be biased against the Vette, especially the interior. In just about every head to head comparison with the super cars they always use the interior to downgrade the car against the foreign competitors, don't expect that to change no matter how great the new interior might be.

 

Other than the comment on the interior it sounded like a pretty positive assessment to me. I think the Corvette's interior really is a problem, one which I am sure they are going to fix.

 

I have of course noticed the mags are biased towards euro cars, but I have to admit that the Vette seats don't hold on to me when going into corners. I have not sat in as many cars as most of you on this forum, but I can say that when i sat in an EVO (a car I don't like for many reasons) the seats held me in place. When I corner hard in my Vette I find myself sticking my knees and elbows out trying to hold on. I often dream about what it would be like to take a quick turn and only have to worry about the car holding the road instead of wishing it would hold ME.

Other thought. The word "luxury" is being used a lot to describe a good interior. My def of luxury is soft comfy seats, isolation from outside noise, and rich furniture-like materials and such. This might be nice and perhaps Corvette can have a quality luxury interior, but perhaps it can be high in quality without trying to be a luxury piece. Ya, I want leather everywhere, but I also want alcantara to hold me in the seat. And that seat better be firm and shaped to hold me in place. I don't need the seat to massage my butt, but it better grip it. I want no rattles or squeaks. I want design cues that embody mechanical art and precision craftsmanship. I don't need a stereo that is an entertainment center or any of that garbage, but it does need to produce accurate quality sound with speakers that don't rattle within the door. There needs to be levers to open the doors and they need to look like mechanical sculpture. What is not wrapped in quality leather should be "form follows function." That means nothing cute or trendy, rather I prefer cleverly thoughtful. This is a sports car. I want the interior to be of high quality and purposeful. Fluff can be reserved for some other car as far as I'm concerned.

 

^^^

GM offers Recaro seats in the CTS-V. If I remember correctly, there is an issue with fitting aftermarket seats in the C6 due to the torque tube. But, considering the volume of Corvettes GM will sell if the get the C7 right, I would think that there will be sufficient demand to have a custom Recarro, or Recarro like, seat available for the C7. Hopefully this happens.

 

GM offers Recaro seats in the CTS-V. That is ok and makes sense I guess. I would expect most CTS-V drivers are luxury first, performance second. For those people the performance seat should be an option. For those who reverse that and want performance first, they can buy Recaro. But for Corvette, I would expect it to be the opposite. Recaro style seats are needed. If they need an optional seat, it should be the luxury one.

While I'm on it, I don't think it should cost $3500 to have sports car seats in a sports car. How much more would it cost to make a stock seat that has side support and shoulder bolsters? It should cost NOTHING to make that shape.

I imagine a meeting within GM:

GM Exec. "We should give the new Corvette some real sports car seats."

GM Engineer "Yes sir, we can do that and only add $3500 to the price of the vehicle sir."

GM Exec. "Really, $3500?"

GM Engineer "Well sir, we don't actually know how to put side support and shoulder bolstering into a seat. The technology is derived from the space program and is simply outside the scope of our engineering department. We will have to farm this out to Recaro, pay for colored stitching, etc. It really drives the cost up."

GM Exec. "Ok, that makes perfect sense to me. Now tell me about those six piston brakes."

GM Engineer "Well sir, Brembo holds the technology to the 5th and 6th piston pretty close to their vest...."

 

Don't blame it on the Engineer. It is more like this:

Engineer: "Sure we can make new seats with better side supports, but they need to be custom made to fit around the torque tube. Here are the costs."

Management: "Since it is an add on item, we need to at least triple our investment."

Marketing: "But the seats still need to fit a 550 lb. fat guy, our target market."

Engineer: