You made the right decision.

Your original question was should get MSRC for the just for resale value if you weren't going to use it. I answered no since there isn't any option that you could plan on getting all of your money back when you sell. But MSRC is probably one of the options with the least negative rate of return.

But I don't see how you could have a car with MSRC and not use it. The only way is if you don't do any spirited driving AND prefer a firmer riding suspension all of the time. Or if you are a total track rat and plan on replacing the shocks anyway.

I wouldn't by a Corvette (especially a Z51) without MSRC.

 

I really don't think you will regret this. The different settings are fun to play with and customize.

 

Buy (and pay for) what you want, instead of worrying about buying a car for its next owner. To get as close to the facts (instead of the opinions, educated or not) check some of the used car pricing guides like KBB, NADA and Edmunds for the differences in pricing on a 2-year-old C7 with and without Magneride. While this can only be a guideline, you may be surprised at what you find.

P.S. Having owned two cars in the last few years with Magneride, it’s an option I’ll always look for on future purchases.

 

Because when it comes to options most used car guides, and car dealers for that matter, are clueless. When I was shopping for used C7 Z51's I had to search high and low because most online shopping tools (Autotrader, Cargurus, Cars.com, etc, etc) don't list it and most dealer selling the used car have no idea what it is.

The C7 I ended up buying didn't list it, I had to call the dealer and ask. The salesman didn't know so I told him how to check and he came back with cellphone pictures and confirmed the car had it. Keep in mind this was a high volume Chevy dealer. It's one of those options that most people don't really understand I suspect but for me it's a must have.

 

Having owned many Corvette's I can't see why anyone would buy this car without it. My C5 was brutal on the streets if the streets weren't really well maintained. In the C7 Z06 with MRC if I put it in Touring it's a whole different car. When I put it in Track on Track days it's incredible. Why would you want something inbetween that doesn't suit either situation well?

 

Looking at the used Vette market I see a lot of buyers get the car because it has the cool factor. An affordable sports car with good performance and looks.Many are going to be cruisers and not tracked,most to first time buyers who don't track their cars or even know what MRC is.
I have had several Vettes over the last few years that have been offered with magride,98-C5, two of them. one Z51 and one with first gen mag ride, at resale time I got no more for the mag ride than I got for the Z51.
2001 C5 that had the Z51 and sports seats options and I got more interest in the fact that it had the sport seat option than the Z51 and no one even asked about the mag ride. In my 2009 C6 with Z51 no one asked about the mag ride option, nor about the top noise.They were all first time buyers and none of them had a clue about the car other than it was affordable and their dream car.
Really doubt that it will bring much return on the 2K you spent to get it. I really believe that of all the buyers looking at a used Corvette that the Mag Ride is considered important by more than 5% of the lookers.
Daily driving for you will be softer in touring than the Z51 without it.But if you are not going to track the car then the Z51 is a bigger waste of money and if tracking then the MRC is and should be included with the Z51. In fact it should be standard in every Corvette made.

 

Your experience with buying services is exactly why I suggested used car guides, instead of active market listings that don’t have room to show all the options. KBB.com, for example, says Magneride is worth $715 additional when selling a 2017 C7 Coupe with Z51 and 22,000 miles.

 

The C8 has Magnetic Ride Version 4.0! It maybe be the best version of it to date, maybe even better than on any other car.

We just need some reviews about it......

 

When I bought used, I made sure not to get a Corvette with MRC, because it's highly likely it was traded because the MRC stopped working. Very expensive to fix unless you are doing to work yourself hand buying aftermarket replacement shocks. It will cost you over $3000 to have the dealer to replace them.

 

OEM C7 MSRC shocks are $308.79 front (each) and $314.79 rear (each) on RockAuto. I bet you could find a shop to install them for $200 or so. They aren't that different than installing standard shocks.

 

What scares me is if I buy it I will think I'm super bad *** and end up like that crashed Z51... maybe he didnt have PTM enabled.. lol

I'm saving $2K and my life thank you.

 

Something to consider - Mag Ride replacement parts. Not cheap nor even close to standard replacement parts.

 

When I bought my '93 way back in '02 I was influenced by the dealer. Because of him I chose this car over another because it had MRC of which I knew nothing about. The car had a little over 6k on the odometer which in his defense was also an influence. The MRC in the C4 does nothing for me. When I returned to the dealer thinking there was something wrong since all 3 modes seemed the same for me, his answer was "oh you won't notice the difference unless you track the car". Now I'm sure MRC is much different in the C8 and the Z51 option is great for some but I personally won't pay for something I won't use because of future resale. Bottom line IMO, get what you want don't concern yourself with resale.

 

C4 and early C5 F45 were not magnetic ride. MSRC debuted on the C5 with the 2003 50th anniversary edition. The earlier electronically adjustable shocks were a completely different technology. They were not active dampers... they could do mild adjustments to the damping profiles, but were not real-time sensing. The magnetic fluid was/is a game changer. I would not compare the experience in a C4 or early C5 to mag ride. Even the early mag ride in the late C5s and C6s was vastly improved with the later C6s. The C7 mag ride offers massively varying ride quality from mode to mode... touring is soft and track is race car firm. Plus, the shock is constantly adjusting based on sensor data real-time. The C8 debuts the 4th gen of mag ride in an all-new for Corvette coil-over package. It's a "must have" to me.

 

Yep, comparing the early MSRC systems to today's technology is like comparing flip phones to iPhones.

 

I copied this from the C7 forum. I thought this would be helpful here and would expect the C8 to be similar. Once we get some C8 reviews we'll have a better idea.

The April 2014 issue of Corvette Magazine does a back-to-back-to-back comparison of a base Stingray, Z51 and Z51 w/MSRC. Some highlights as follows:

Base Stingray

...the base suspension (referred to internally as FE1) isn’t a particularly soft-riding car. It’s not unduly firm in terms of overall ride quality, but rather than absorbing sharp bumps, the car passes a lot of them along to the driver, particularly at around-town speeds.

Even with the base suspension, the C7 is a still 1-g car. Quick turn-in? Check. Seemingly endless grip? Yep. Massively powerful brakes? Oh, yeah. Stupendous power on demand? You know it.

Interestingly, the FE1 Stingray works better the harder we push it. To our hands and butts, the car doesn’t feel entirely happy to be driven merely briskly. Driving at a six-tenths pace, we find ourselves sawing at the steering wheel in corners, making minor corrections to the car’s line, and stumbling over the brake pedal, which has a slight dead zone at the top of its travel that makes delicacy a challenge.

But when we up the pace a few notches, the base-suspension Stingray comes into its own. Pushing harder on the brake pedal reveals excellent feel and modulation. Loading up the superb Michelin run-flat tires clamps the Stingray onto our chosen line, and the C7 doesn’t relinquish its grip as we feed in the power—and more power, and more, until the g force is nearly pressing us against the door panel. When the traction control starts limiting the fun, we switch the DMS from Sport to Track mode, which frees up the rear end to move around a bit. As the turns come faster and faster, the C7 simply gobbles them up.

Z51 without MSRC

In the twisties, the Z51 package proves just as desirable as the Competition Sport seats. Compared to the base, FE1-suspension car, the Z51-equipped FE3-suspension Stingray feels more planted, more responsive and, well, faster. While it doesn’t offer noticeably more grip, it definitely allows us to better exploit that grip, with less nose dive under braking, faster turn-in and less lean in the corners—not that the base car leaned much to begin with. In short, Z51 makes the Stingray feel more like a full-on sports car, one that better connects the driver to the road and really encourages you to attack the turns with conviction.

There’s a price to be paid for the extra connection, however: The FE3 car’s ride is noticeably less comfortable than that of the base suspension. While this suspension setup isn’t too extreme, we do think it does make ride quality an issue for those who want to use their car regularly on less-than-perfect roads, or simply prefer to cruise around.

Z51 with MSRC

When these optional magnetorheological shock absorbers are combined with the Z51 Performance Package—the resulting suspension is referred to as FE4 (there’s no FE2)—there is a real increase in ride comfort and no detriment to handling.

Ordering MSRC along with Z51 is the ultimate no-brainer option. First, it offers better ride quality than the base suspension. Second, it absorbs bumps better than either the base or FE3 shocks. Third, its stiffness varies both depending on the Driver Mode Selector’s positioning—soft in Tour, firm in Track—and what the road underneath is doing. Finally, ordering both MSRC and Z51 gets you Performance Track Management, five distinct levels of traction- and stability-control intervention inside Track mode. The only downside to MSRC is that you have to pay extra for it, but that’s part of how Chevy keeps the base price down. Regardless, we don’t think there’s a better $1,800 you can spend to improve a Corvette.

 

I think Z51, mag ride and front end lift will all be options that will disappoint used buyers when finding a unequipped car.