sundevilfan

So many people are complaining because the tail lights are not round. I think the most important aspect is that there are four of them. The four tail lights make the car unmistakeably a Corvette. Look at the tail lights on a 1991 ZR1 Corvette closely and you will see that they are square with rounded corners. Styling is so subjective. I love the new C7 design but I also still enjoy the rounded (or should I say oval) look of my current C5. I liked all of my C3 Corvettes more than I liked the angular styling of my C4. I guess I will always prefer rounded styles over angular styles. I think it is a throwback to the fact that my first car was a 1956 Oldsmobile Starfire convertible with big rounded fenders!! The C6 did not light a big enough fire under me to replace my C5. However, I will be getting a C7 and saying goodbye to my C5. Time marches on.

Michael A

Good points. I am glad to see the Corvette is not stuck in an evolutionary dead end as the 911 is. It was looking a little bleak there for a while, but the Corvette designers really came through this time.

Michael

sundevilfan

I could not agree with you more. The 911 was a great car in its DAY. However, staying with that same tired design shows little imagination.

diablojota

This I disagree with. The p-car is selling more year over year, so clearly people are liking this 'same tired design'. This is how they continue to drive loyalty and brand image. The p-car is still an excellent car. The pricing model hasn't changed in a decade. You can point to other brands that do the same thing like Rolex, Apple, etc. None of these companies have significantly changed their designs, only continued to improve and hone the technology and they all continue to sell well year over year. It's a model that works for many companies.

DDSLT5

Yeah - cause the 911 is such a HORRIBLE sports car.

lottavettes

Also in '91, you could get one in Turquoise

Hirohawa

Have things changed suddenly or is someone using a 91 C4 design as a positive?

I had a 1990 C4 for 8 years loved it at the time, but is definitely the worst looking Corvette generation only made worse by the 91 refresh.

white90conv

I definitely liked the C4 exterior styling and prefer it to the C5 and the C3. The interior was a tacky mess however and the car had a lot of body shake. The square tail lights on the models after '90 looked good. Mine was a '90 and was the first Corvette with enough leg room for me.

sundevilfan

You missed my point. I am saying that the shape of the tail lights is not nearly as synonymous with Corvette as the fact that they have used a four tail light design for many years. The shape of those tail lights has changed but four lights has remained constant. Most of the complaints I am reading about the C7 is that the tail lights are not round.

sundevilfan

I bought one of the first 1984 Corvettes taking delivery in June 1983. At the time it was an awesome car. However, over time I grew tired of the difficulty entering and exiting the car and as you mentioned the body shake. Climbing over that outside frame rail was a real pain. The shortcomings of the C4 are reflected in the current market prices. Here in Arizona you can buy C4 Corvettes all day long for as low as $4k.

sundevilfan

I agree with you that a Porsche is a fine sports car. I was referring to the exterior design of the car. This is obviously a very subjective area and everyone is entitled to their own likes and dislikes. When I look at the 911 I see OLD. I fully realize that the car has changed dramatically under the skin.

I grew up in the 50s and 60s when most cars changed exterior styling yearly. Back then it was even easy to spot the year of a Corvette with a glance. That is no longer true with the Corvette. The changes visible on the outside of the car are usually minor and require close examination to determine the year.

Hirohawa

Well if we are getting really technical the C5 had oval tail lights. My issue is not so much with the shape (square vs round). Every version of C2-C6 there where four round or roundish tail lights that where not part of an assembly but mated right up to the body and eventually became default that they where inset.

So you always had a pronounced cut and depth between the body color and the lights. The fact that these are inset in a black surround and almost flush is not bad per se but it just loses the very unique Corvette look and feels more Japanese or Euro to me.

Ferrari has done a great job of modernizing their round tail light aesthetic over the years and I doubt they would ever totally eschew it the way GM did on this new car.

vetmts

Yes the P brand is selling well but the 911 not so sure. If its sales did increase its because its the new 911 if you can call it that. No one is saying the 911 is not a great sports car but many are starting to perceive the design as well stale, dated, etc.

One could seriously argue that when the "new" 911 came out it was already old. Exterior was the same and we had already seen the interior on the 4door.

sundevilfan

I understand now the point you are making. It is a very valid point that I had not considered. I was focusing on the fact that when viewed from behind at night we will see four tail lights. However, during the day time we will see only one light assembly on each side. When expressed the way you have I can see that the C7 tail lights are a departure from the usual four light design. Thanks for your insight!

Tom73

Don't forget that on the early tail lights (61-62, c2, earlier c3) that there were only one taillight per side. That other round thing back there was the backup light. At night you would only see one round taillight per side.

Tom...

Geof180

I love the squares on my ZR-1..

I, for one, am so looking forward having a direct side by side comparison when a new 7th gen car is sitting next to the Z in the garage..