Last year I wrote a One Year Report Card on our C7, the car had it's second birthday with us last week and here's an update:

2017 Z51 A8 2LT with Nav & PDR, Mag Ride, transparent top, suede seats. Now at 2 yrs/28,266 miles, which means 13,125 miles in the last year. Previously we had a 2009 Z51 A6 traded at 9 yrs/102k miles.

We've grown to like the good features of the car even more- the ride and handling, power, A8, nice interior & seats, etc.
We've grudgingly gotten used to the "WTF were they thinking?" issues- poor visibility, smaller interior, two-finger door handles, disappearing scale on the Nav, complicated electronics, etc.

We use the car as a DD and occasional autocrosser, and especially for long road trips. This winter we again took a 2 1/2 month drive to Arizona, stopping at 8 National Parks along the way. This is a great touring car, especially on the twisty back roads we encountered. We went virtually all the way from Las Vegas to mid-Kansas on back roads.

Mechanical issues- not a lot:
We were scraping over some bumps in Phoenix, turns out the ride height was slightly below the specs. Had the dealer crank it up on the bolts 1/8"-1/4" to the spec height, and that fixed the scraping.
We are now using the ESP 0W-40, had a Blackstone analysis on the change and results are excellent, though the 5W-30 was doing well also.
I installed the "Flying Roofs" warning tag on the driver side targa latch, though I never have forgotten.
The slight brake pulsation returned, I just don't use the Z51 brakes hard enough. Dealer installed 4 new rotors for "customer satisfaction" and I now remember to abuse the brakes occasionally.
A buzz-rattle at the passenger door was fixed by a dealer- clips were loose.
Battery charger kept losing connection in the trunk, charger replaced under warranty.
We had the Mag Ride update installed and we love it. Originally, the settings were "Stiff, Stiffer, and Brutal". Now, Tour and Sport are both more comfortable and equal or better handling. Track didn't get changed and is still Brutal, but I seldom use it.
Last Fall I had the tranny fluid flushed on my dime just as a preventive measure, but that was before the new brew came out and so I don't know if it helped anything. But we have never had the shudder problem or any other A8 issues.
We have a second set of wheels/tires with the AS3+ runflats, I switch out every Spring/Fall. We ran some really fast twisty roads in TX and NM this year in 60'-70' weather and the AS3+ did an excellent job. If I didn't do an occasional autocross in summer, I'd just run the AS all year.
However, we have now bent 5 out of the 8 wheels and destroyed 2 AS tires, despite keeping the tire pressures correct, ride in Tour, and dodging as many frost heaves/potholes as we could. The Midwest roads keep getting worse, but we drove 200+k miles in our C5 and C6, never bent a wheel or ruined a tire. Glad I got the road hazard warranty from Discount Tires on the AS. Twice.
Finally, I just installed the CCA wide angle driver outside mirror. In a world full of motorcycles/tiny cars/lane jumpers/ etc, it's wonderful.

We're looking forward to another year of "See the USA in Your Chevrolet"!

Photos in following post-
(Sorry, I don't know how to make the photos smaller)
Memorial Day Parade
Air Temperature and Tire Temperature when leaving for AZ in January
Gage Hotel in TX
Fossil Beds in Vegas
US-64 in NM high country
Low country in NM
GPS at top of Capulin Volcano NM
Testing AS3+ at home driveway
Despite two winter trips out west, we had never driven the AS3+ in snow. An April snow storm at home gave me a chance- no perfect, but pretty good.
Tire damage from pothole. Amazingly, it was still holding air and no noticeable vibration.

There's lots of other great pics, but they are just vacation stuff and don't show the car. Gotta get my wife to take one of me next time.

 

Thanks for the ownership update. Looking forward to the rest of the story.

 

 

I really enjoy stories like these. I like the color of your corvette...I am picking my new to me one and your color was on my list...but found this one and it had all that I wanted...and an interior that I love in pics...hopefully I will love it as much when I see it...the corvette is 400 miles away right now.

Our cars are close to the same in many ways...z51, mag ride, nav, PDR, etc.

here is a link for anyone who wishes to view it..
https://www.serrachevroletakron.com/...-OH/3419240143

 

When we went looking for a C7, nobody near us had one in Long Beach Red to look at. We drove to a dealer in Chicago where this one was stored in a warehouse that looked like it was used for the hit scenes in a Mafia movie, all covered with dust. It looked awful. But the salesman suggested we go next door for lunch while they cleaned it up. When we walked back, the car was sitting all shiny in the bright sun and it looked gorgeous. My wife dragged me into a corner and whispered "If they make you a good deal on this one, buy it!" They did, and I did, and we lived happily ever after.
Actually, the color looks pretty drab on a dull day, but sunny days make up for it.

 

Great post! Thanks!

 

Thanks for the "report" .
Great write up and beautiful vette.

 

Whoa I’ve never seen “frozen” for the tire temp gauge, that’s cool to see. (I live in Seattle)

 

Wow, 2 years, it seems like you just bought that car Jim. Great update, and happy to hear it's doing good. Also, I agree the C7 is a great road trip car. We're already planning a long one for our new GS this August.

 

 

Glad to hear a good report!

For the wheels it seems the Z51, GS and Z06 are the ones that have it more commonly. When I purchased my C7 the rear wheel had a minor bend but I found a set of base wheels in your finish (my 2nd favorite) for $500 with TPMS and Centercaps. Did the light trimming to my ducting and haven't had an issue in 10k miles on the worst roads in South Carolina. I do regularly drive around in Eco/Tour and occasionally Sport but during mountain trips its Sport for sure with the mag ride upgrade performed.

 

I like your pics . . . you have some very interesting shots

 

Now this is the first time I've heard of this issue. Can someone explain a little more in-depth? Why would going easy on brakes cause problems, and why does "abusing" them occasionally keep them working normally? Jim says he autocrosses some, is that not enough "abuse"?

 

Nice review and great photos!

Since you are pushing 30k on your 2017, it makes me feel a bit better knowing that I still have a lot of life left in mine (just over 9,500 miles and I picked it up factory-fresh on 2-1-17). I estimate that will get at least 25k out of my tires (18" front & 19" rear), possibly 30k if I really continue to be easy on my Stingray.

I've had my three "free" oil changes (NOT a dry-sump car and no Z-51 package) within the two years of ownership and have had absolutely zero problems/issues with my car. It is pretty much a 'garage queen' and I have only driven the car in rain twice (because it started raining after I was away from the house). It will never see a track and there is no way I'll ever push the car to its limits (which are way beyond mine). For those of you who do run your car to the edge of sanity, that is your prerogative. The main thing is that we each do whatever we wish in order to enjoy this fine automobile.


I am in the minority, but am pleased that I ordered it with the 7-speed manual gearbox. Automatics are okay, but driving a stick is my personal preference and it was announced that the upcoming C8 will be automatic only. Oh well, it is what it is. I can't afford a new one for awhile anyway, so it's all good.

As it stands now, I will retire in 8 years and - if circumstances permit & I still have my Stingray - a long road trip will be in the works. I have been to 40 of the 50 states and wish to add 8 more to that list. (Alaska and Hawaii will have to be via air or cruise ship, of course).

Have a great day and save the wave!!

 

On a normal grocery getter, being gentle on the brakes usually just means your brakes will last longer.

If you have high performance brakes, that means they are designed to work well at the higher temperatures which come from heavy use. If you use them "too" gently, material from the pads tends to build up invisibly but unevenly on the rotors, causing what feels like a warped rotor (actual warped rotors are rather rare). This uneven buildup can be removed by turning the rotors on a brake lathe like you would do to smooth out a rough rotor, or by simply replacing the rotors. Or if it's not too bad, do a dozen 65 to 10 mph hard decelerations, but not into the ABS, with about 2/3 mile in between. Then drive 10 miles without using the brakes at all for cooldown. That's like the brake burnishing procedure in the Owner Manual. Pick your road carefully for this...
Or you can prevent the problem by using the brakes harder than normal in normal driving. Nothing crazy, but enough that passengers would notice the difference.
Because we take long road trips, sometimes the roads and traffic won't allow me to do more aggressive braking, and sometimes I simply forget. After 5,000 miles of featherfoot braking, some constructive abuse is needed. Autocrossing will do the job but you can't go too many miles between events or the problem starts to return. I wish I had a good formula to tell how much is just right, maybe some else does.

 

Great looking car and I’m partial to that color!! Looking forward to next years report.

 

This is how you use a Corvette... good on you! I'm surprised to hear you're bending Z51 wheels this much as the issue is more commonly found on the wider GS/Z06 wheels which impart more leverage on the barrels.

I always mod my cars too much for the track... I hope to learn with the C8. The car will stay stock, I will buy the longest B2B warranty I can get, and I will put as many miles on it as I can.

 

Jim,

Quick question - in your report card, you mentioned the disappearing scale on the NAV unit, are you referring to the fact the 6th generation Corvettes had a scale in the lower left corner that showed the scale of the map plus had 2 two arrows that let you adjust it on the screen?

If so, you can real quickly adjust the scale on the screen in the 7th generation by just turning the big fat outside ring around the dial on the bottom center that has the word MENU in it. While turning it, the map will show what scaled you are setting it for. To me, this is much easier than hunting for and pushing something on the screen, especially if you are the driver. The scale doesn't stay displayed on the screen after you quit turning (maybe that is what you want??)

 

Correct. On our C6, the current map scale was always displayed. On our C7, when we change scale the new "scale bar" shows up for a very few seconds, then disappears. I have not found any way to keep it in view. That's another one of those "WTF were they thinking?" issues.
Changing scale by turning the **** is nice, losing the scale afterward is not.

 

Jim, how do you wash your car on road trips? Self car washes with hand wand?