2014 C7 Chevrolet Corvette

[SUB-FT86]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

I really dislike the exterior, but they deserve compliments on the drivetrain and chassis. The bars in the gigantic front grille are flat out ugly (anyone else think they look like braces on teeth?), and the rear is extremely ugly as well.

Opening those vents for transmission cooling is a very clever adaptation to the upward slanting body at the rear (good to see they're not trying to use it for brake cooling like the Viper, because using 2 90 degree turns with a submerged inlet like they do on the Viper means you don't get airflow for crap), but ideally for aero they should be using soft edges, not those sharp ones.

Still, DI, VCM, intake cam phasing, 2 stage oil pump, 7 speed manual gearbox is pretty much as good as it gets. They'll need to eventually add start-stop in a refresh if they want that 17mpg city figure to go up, a 6.2L engine just burns through too much fuel while idle. If it were up to me to decide the engine's targets, I'd care less about the torque and drop the displacement a little and put the power up higher in the rev range, to make only 450hp from a direct injected 6.2L engine is a little pathetic. This is a light sports car, not a truck.

I guess me and you differ on this part but when a 3100 lb car is making 450hp/450tq even from a 8L it is not pathetic. This car is all about the P2W ratio and that matters much to enthusiast who craves performance. I could understand your point if it only made 270hp with 6.2L, What I find funny is when some cars come with this 100hp/L thing and still feel slow as shit. It's as if that's supposed to make a difference that's impressive.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by SUB-FT86

I guess me and you differ on this part but when a 3100 lb car is making 450hp/450tq even from a 8L it is not pathetic. This car is all about the P2W ratio and that matters much to enthusiast who craves performance. I could understand your point if it only made 270hp with 6.2L, What I find funny is when some cars come with this 100hp/L thing and still feel slow as shit. It's as if that's supposed to make a difference that's impressive.

450hp is pretty good, but the point was that they gave it truck cams which defeats the purpose. Go big or go home. If the target is 450hp, use a 5.5-5.7L engine, not a 6.2, and save some cost, mass, fuel, and engine compartment space. Save the bigger engine for the Z06 model or whatever, or make the base model Corvette more powerful.

I'm not talking about overhead cams vs. pushrod.

All else equal, to use a bigger engine to make the same power makes very little sense when you have enough torque to spin the tires off the line.

[ZetaVI]

Interior is underwhelming and the back is bit too much. Overall, I still think it looks really good.

[DarkSunrise]

Looks pretty good. As others have mentioned, I don't like the rear or the interior much, but hard to tell from pics. I would love to see one in person.

[LSxJunkie]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

450hp is pretty good, but the point was that they gave it truck cams which defeats the purpose. Go big or go home. If the target is 450hp, use a 5.5-5.7L engine, not a 6.2, and save some cost, mass, fuel, and engine compartment space. Save the bigger engine for the Z06 model or whatever, or make the base model Corvette more powerful.

I'm not talking about overhead cams vs. pushrod.

All else equal, to use a bigger engine to make the same power makes very little sense when you have enough torque to spin the tires off the line.

All else being equal.....except valvetrain?

It would have taken a lot more than 11.5:1 compression to make 450hp out of a 5.5-5.7 OHV motor and still hit the fuel mileage and drivability goals they were looking for. That's a midrange aftermarket cam. No smooth idle, no 26+mpg highway, certainly no 17mpg city.

[Rayme]

I very much love the whole design, if there's one thing is I find the rear is too flat, I would have liked it to have a bit more relief. Feels like there's too much going on on a 2d surface.

[CTB727]

I hate the Camaro taillights. Everything else looks good. And it's about time they updated the interior so it doesn't look like it's from a Cobalt.

[Draco-REX]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

450hp is pretty good, but the point was that they gave it truck cams which defeats the purpose. Go big or go home. If the target is 450hp, use a 5.5-5.7L engine, not a 6.2, and save some cost, mass, fuel, and engine compartment space. Save the bigger engine for the Z06 model or whatever, or make the base model Corvette more powerful.

I'm not talking about overhead cams vs. pushrod.

All else equal, to use a bigger engine to make the same power makes very little sense when you have enough torque to spin the tires off the line.

I can spin the tires off the line in my BRZ with 150lb/f of torque, that argument is kinda meaningless...

As for cost, mass,and engine space, a 5.7 or a 6.2 will take up the same amount of space. The difference in displacement is a matter of cylinder bore and stroke. The block size will stay the same.

The Vette's strength is it's torque and ability to exit corners better than its competition. Going to a small displacement low-tq, high-hp engine just because that's what the europeans do won't do it any favors.

[thorlius]

Originally Posted by CTB727

I hate the Camaro taillights. Everything else looks good. And it's about time they updated the interior so it doesn't look like it's from a Cobalt.

This exactly. The sunglasses are cartoonish and lame for a sports car. Even the Camaro (I used to frequent the camaro5 forums) guys mostly hate the taillights like that.

The rest of the car looks great.

I drove a Cobalt as a winter car and a C6 as a summer car before selling the former and trading in the latter for the FR-S, and agree 100%. Identical steering wheels was a joke.

I'm pretty happy I made the deal as I would have been very jealous of the C7s on the road if I was driving around in a base C6.

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

450hp is pretty good, but the point was that they gave it truck cams which defeats the purpose.

Max power at 6000rpm => not a truck cam.

If the target is 450hp, use a 5.5-5.7L engine, not a 6.2, and save some cost, mass, fuel, and engine compartment space.

Weirdly enough, one reason they stuck with 6.2 is for fuel efficiency. It will be able to run more of the time as a 4-cylinder than if they'd made it a 5.5.

All else equal, to use a bigger engine to make the same power makes very little sense when you have enough torque to spin the tires off the line.

Torque at the wheels includes torque multiplication from gearing. A 450hp 5.5 would definitely be lower-geared than the 450hp 6.2. Actual torque at the wheels would be similar.

[Dave-ROR]

I hate the rear end, but I'll drive one and would consider buying a Z51 7MT car. In the end I'll probably have the same complaints I always have about modern Vettes.

[Dimman]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

I can spin the tires off the line in my BRZ with 150lb/f of torque, that argument is kinda meaningless...

As for cost, mass,and engine space, a 5.7 or a 6.2 will take up the same amount of space. The difference in displacement is a matter of cylinder bore and stroke. The block size will stay the same.

The Vette's strength is it's torque and ability to exit corners better than its competition. Going to a small displacement low-tq, high-hp engine just because that's what the europeans do won't do it any favors.

If the engine was optimized as a smaller displacement, it would be smaller, lighter and rev better. Smaller bore with same wall thickness will be shorter longitudinally. Shorter stroke means the lower crankcase can be shorter/engine can be lower. And since the deck height is based on rod length which is also based on stroke, it too would be less, meaning shorter height and narrower width. Plus less rotating inertia from smaller/lighter internal and reduced stroke diameter.

Not saying it would be a massive amount, but it would be smaller and lighter.

[LIKEABOSS]

Laguna Blue with Black Wheels Please!

[LSxJunkie]

Originally Posted by LIKEABOSS

Laguna Blue with Black Wheels Please!

Agreed.