We can agree to disagree but the back of the C8 is an abomination. A hot wheels toy gone awry.

 

I do think the acceleration over 60mph could be a little faster and a Borla exhaust will be like music to your ears a friend of mine has the Atak and it sounds amazing.
The c8 is a experience in itself. It's a sexy looking car. Almost every time I drive someone comes up to me to ask about the car. It's a head turner. The kids go crazy over it. You wont get that in a Camaro or Mustang.The smooth ride(mag ride) and being able to just take the top off is amazing.The audio system sounds amazing.The way the car handles so confidently. Enjoy your beautiful car there is really nothing like it for the price and if you want more thrill to go 60-100mph faster on highway buy the Z06 or any other 150k car or supercharge it. But unless you're tracking it what's the point? I also personally prefer the look of the c8 than the Z06 and most other cars that aren't lambos or mclarens.

Also we are blessed to be able to afford cars that can cost 100k after options I'm also in my 30's.

 

As they say, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"

I had a C7 and recall many whined about how hideous the rear end was on that as well!

Personally, I find the C8 to be superior to the C7 in just about every aspect including design...

 

Try this: rate each car you’ve driven on a scale of 1/10 to 10/10’s. Then separate the driving into two categories: track and street.
For conversation sake, I am going to limit the track scale to 8/10’s because if you’re driving faster than that, you should be thinking about getting a purpose built-race car. After all, we’re talking about production cars. Crap happens, and I’ve seen too many incidents of lost control resulting in expensive damages.

Now, I don’t care whether you’re driving a Ferrari, Corvette, Porsche, Miata or whatever. If you can drive any of these cars at 8/10’s on the track, I guarantee you will not ever be bored. Even if you have a session in each car, one after the other, you will not be bored. Yes, some will be faster in a straight line, and others will be faster in the corners, but all, at their respective driver/speed limitations, will bring smiles, lots of smiles because of the fun you’re having pushing these cars around the track.

Is it more fun with a manual transmission? An automatic? Paddle shifters? What’s the difference? Fun is fun. The required attention span is still there. Loose concentration and bad things will happen. The level of excitement is up to you. Most high-performance sports cars have more excitement than most of us can handle. For example, record a lap time with with all the nanny stuff on, then compare it to a lap with everything off. A real eye-opener, eh? Not to mention the pucker factor.

My point is, it is never boring.

We should have different feedback parameters for driving these cars on the street. It’s just not the same. Not everyone is going in the same direction, for example. And, as we know, some drivers out there are clueless and capable of doing things we never thought possible, like sudden lane changes, etc. So, where does the enjoyment come from? Here’s where it becomes more subjective, because it’s certainly not from driving up to 8/10th’s in the city. Here, I would agree it’s more fun driving a manual gear box, A louder exhaust would help, also, Nicer wheels, too. And what about more CF? You can never have enough. How about conversation at the gas station or parking lot. Gotta make you feel good when others want to talk about your car. How many times has someone asked you how do you like the car and you told them, “It’s nice, but boring.”

I’m sure you guys can add a lot more examples, on and off the track.

But, again, my point is, if you can find no joy in owning and driving a C8, then you are not bored. You’re just boring.(Just a generality, and not meant to describe OP).

 

Loved my C7 Grand Sport, better than I did my C7 Z51, better than I did my C6 Z51 and the two prior Vettes.

But styling moves on. In fact, when I still had my Grand Sport was walking to the far end of a mall parking lot (where I usually park all my cars.) Big gap of nothing between the last parked car I past and my C7. Was probably the angle it was parked (the same as shown below) but thought as I was walking, this FE car look is getting a little long in the tooth! Loved my 260Z as well, BUT that FE car was in 1974. Time to move to a more modern functional ME shape!

Yep love the C8 styling!

It will last thru my next:

 

I agree 100%. Never said a test drive was exclusively the deciding factor...

 

Styling is always a personal opinion. Obviously if a person doesn’t like the styling of any car they should not own it.

as far as the comment of boring?

remember the c8 chassis was designed to handle well with 1000 horsepower. That composure with regards to handling 495 hp and 470 tq is because the chassis is designed to handle twice that amount in the zora, 850 hp in the ZR1, 670 460 tq in the Z06 and 655 hp and 595 tq in the Eray.

some cars are designed to just handle one relatively small range of power. The corvette team gave the stingray the composite and ability to seamlessly handle 495 hp and 470 tq.

if a driver prefers that on the edge feeling of adhesion then the c8 corvette is the wrong choice for you.

go buy a vehicle that better meets your needs of at or exceeding the limit of adhesion more often.

nothing wrong with preferring one driving experience as opposed to another.

many people that I know over the years feel the awd 911 turbo s is a boring drive after 6 months as well and they then choose the more high strung rwd Porsche gt3.

no need to explain any further. Most of us enjoy the composure and inflatable nature of the c8 in its many iterations.

different strokes for different folks.

I do happen to think the corvette engineers did too good a job isolating the rear mid engine lt2 from the cockpit with the roof on and the windows up. I get that yet for grand touring across long distances the stingray is an amazing achievement.

ordering a htc does allow for the rear window to go down in the winter months that allows more engine exhaust sound into the closed cabin. That’s an interesting option to consider as is the borla oem approved 5 grand exhaust. Pay your money and get what serves you best.

I believe the popularity of the z06 is not only its performance capability but the visceral increase experienced by drivers. I don’t think it’s by accident the stingray closed cabin is so well isolated. To the corvette engineers it was a crowning achievement in engineering and it motivated the massive sales of the z06 for many stingray owners.

since the demand so far off the charts and the wait list is in the multiple year range maybe the Eray as the quickest corvette ever built might just satisfy even those waiting on the z06 list with it’s more visceral sound and vibrations of the flat plane crank etc..

hard to say until we get some professional journalist reviews on the comparisons of Eray, z06 and stingray z51.

hopefully the embargo will be lifted sooner rather than later.

 

the old muscle cars and pony cars we had in the sixties and seventies were fun. The flexible chassis, the limited tire adhesion. Always on the edge, lots of squeaks and rattles ..the tire spinning wasn’t fast but hot dam it sure did create excitement as teenagers and through the years.

but performance? There is no compassion to the c8 stingray.

flexible chassis create excitement for sure. Tires with lower limits of adhesion on real world surfaces do as well.

the c8 is unflappable by design. Some would call unflappable boring . Some would call that excellent engineering.

 

^^^
Remember a number that as you say, chassis flex and skinny tires back in the day made it exciting BUT slow compared to the C8!

One still vivid in my mind was a collogue in our Lab had a '67 427, 435 hp black Vette with side pipes and red hood scoop (similar to the pic I just found.) He moved to the West Coast to work in our sales region. I visited to help support one of his customers.

We were going to dinner, and he said here are the keys drive my Vette. He knew I had a modified '67 Chevy that I raced. As we approached an on-ramp he said get on it. Did not have to tell me twice. Made a turn onto the ramp and WOT power shifted to 2nd. It tried to change lanes. Same going to 3rd. Lots of fun. But checking the stats, the best 0 to 60 time was 5 seconds! And if starting from a stop, like the Hot Rod I built as my 1st car, had to slip the clutch.

May remember the Beach Boys song "Shut Down" with the Vette up against a 413 Super Stock Dodge:
Here are a few words:
"My stingray is light the slicks are startin' to spin
But the four-thirteen's really diggin' in
Gotta be cool now
Power shift, here we go
Superstock dodge is windin' out in low
But my fuel injected Stingray's really startin' to go
To get the traction I'm ridin' the clutch
My pressure plate's burnin, ' that machine's too much"

Yep, in the case of the Vette 205 section width tires was no other way to launch!

 

I know you didn't.

I was just offering a different view on a test drive being a requirement before purchasing. I've purchased all of my Corvettes (5) without a test drive, as well as a couple of Porsches (Cayman S & 911 Turbo S), Lotus Elise, Jaguar F-Type, Audi RS4, several BMW M3s, etc., because I knew from reviews what I would be getting.

I was perfectly happy with all of those cars, at least for the first year or so, and a test drive wouldn't have changed a thing.

 

Agree. For me the C7 was the first Corvette I actually wanted to own myself. My brother had a C5 and a C6 that I put quite a few miles on and while I thought they were fun sports cars at the time I had the opportunity to purchase either of them when he was ready to move on and I passed on both. I personally think the C7 was the best Corvette to date when it launched and the styling will hold up just fine over time.

I now think the same of my C8, just better in every way over the C7 and while styling is very personal they are two completely different types of sports cars so they should be styled completely differently. It's funny the posts saying the C7 is bad looking or now the C8 is bad looking. Everyone I come across thinks the exact opposite. In fact, while very few of my friends with huge collections of exotics never really commented at all on my C7 they have all complimented the C8 for it's styling and are incredibly impressed with it's performance once they drive it. These are guys that have owned and driven just about anything with performance in it's pedigree. The C8 is a true mid-engine bargain. Pics of both.

 

agreed. Had 2 new C7Zs. The C8 version is insane.

I rented a C8 Z51 last year for carlisle as my car wasn't here yet. I was overly impressed with the cars refinement. But I found myself agreeing with an early tester (maybe smoking tire?) That what the car needed was a higher revving engine to complete the driving experience. He was not wrong.

I would have no problem owning an LT2 C8 its a wonderful car. But you lose the visceral 1 step away from killing yourself in it C7s.

Having said that I wouldn't trade my C8 for any C7 ZR1 included. Thats how amazing it is.

 

I felt the same about my C8’s as the OP. At first, I was infatuated. Had fun driving the first for 9600 miles in the first year so pretty decent seat time. Was on a list and another allocation came up and could get out what I had originally paid. And then with the 2nd car, I had cooled somewhat but took it anyway. After another 1K on the new one, I just wanted something different. The folks at GM did a really great job satisfying the needs across the board by being quick, comfortable, full of upgrades and what could be bad? Well overall, not much but I started to feel like it was somewhat less than satisfying (for me). Maybe I just have a short attention span but wanted to go a different way. I am on a few Z06 lists as I believe that may be more to my liking but not sure that’s the car that will change my mind.

Went a different route with a Porsche Cayman GT4 MT and while the 0-60 does not come anywhere close to a C8, I find it a little more engaging and more fun although not saying by any means measured by performance metrics, it’s better. Love revving the Flat 6 to 8K RPM and just gives a different feeling. I hate to bring up a PCAR in any discussion on this forum as I am NOT one looking for a the argument that those who have Porsche’s blah, blah. I just happen to like the GT4 more for what I was ultimately looking for. In a few months, I could change my mind again (if I get a z06 allocation) but the SR luster just wore off.

So I get all sides of the discussion (not making a for or against any particular brand), but you just have to go with your gut (and wallet).

 

Objectivity.

Nice!

 

Of course it's objectivity which is what you'll get when posting a thread like this.....and I mean no insult towards your thread. Having four Corvettes before my C8 and two of them being modded I can related to a Corvette that feels raw. As a teenager muscle cars were all I was around. Soon after that I fell in love with a 72 Corvette that a friend drove when we switched off weeks driving to our community college every weekday. My car was a 74 Datsun 260Z.

After 30+ years with a Corvette in my garage, and a barrage of exposure to friends with exotics, the C8 came out. Wow - GM finally built Zora's dream car. I wanted one. It is "boring" if you want to hear your car rumble and/or shake at a traffic light. It is "boring" if you do illegal pull runs on an interstate. It's not meant to do either. It's meant to run in the class with the exotics at a cost and service/repair rate that is much cheaper than those exotics. They succeeded in every aspect. The numbers prove this. We are approaching the 5th manufacturing year and there is still a wait list to get one. There are almost zero cars on any dealer lot in the country for sale - a first for any Corvette generation. If you find one it's because someone ordered one and can't afford it or got tired of waiting.

Finally some people just want to drive European exotics. Some people want a raw muscle car like a top of the line Mustang or Dodge muscle car. More power to them. I still think the C8 beats every American car made in legal performance and absolutely kills the European exotics in price and maintenance costs.

 

Let's discuss the production numbers a little before we start saying the C8 is successful because the demand is higher than ever...this isn't quite true if you look at the C7 and C6 historical production vs the C8, but especially the first 3 MYs.

C8 Corvette Production Figures (corvsport.com)

2020-2023 MY Production for the C8 shows ~20,000, ~25,000, ~26,000 with a grand total for the 3 years of ~72,000 units.

By contrast, both the C6 and C7 started out with ~37,000 units in the first year, and climbing from there to total over 100,000 units in the first 3 years:

C7 Corvette Production Figures (corvsport.com)

C6 Corvette Production Figures (corvsport.com)

Given these large total production discrepancies, we really can't say the C8 is selling better than any previous generation, as it hasn't hit the production numbers of any recent generation. I understand that parts and supply constraints are the limiting factor to the C8, but it's not an equal comparison regardless.

 

This is a good perspective, good info.

 

Yes but the C8 still has waiting lists to buy cars at MSRP with more than 100K cars already built. That wasn't the case with C6s and C7s. There were already discounts available by then.

 

I think for some people a scary car is a fun car. And others, a fun car puts the power down in a controlled predictable fashion. And for some that is "not as fun."

 

I do find a lot of the comments here interesting, and somewhat dismissive. It seems some folks want to justify the fact that the car does seem a bit soul-less, and they explain that its because it is so capable at normal people speeds, but when this car is pushed, it becomes fun when those other cars could not hang anymore. Its "Sophisticated". I guess they are sophisticated in ways a Carrera S wouldn't know anything about, huh?

Bottom line for me, albeit from my brief experience as a C8 owner, A comparable in price P car is orders of magnitude more engaging, has similar tech, can be had for similar money, and performs in the same ball park as the C8. BUT when you are in the mood for a GT luxurious ride, the Corvette takes it hands down. Its like a Bentley in comparison. I'm not upset with my purchase...but I AM second guessing selling my 911.