GTP Cool Wall: 2014+ Chevrolet Corvette Z06

[Skygrasper550]

Most people call that Carbon Fiber, but yeah black plastic could be a slang I guess. "Joe I love the black plastic on your super car"

Joe: "it's called carbon fiber"

Pete: "Is that French?"

That's carbon fibre?? Hmmm, I guess the front splitter does resemble carbon fibre from a distance, but I'm really confused about the rear spoiler. The translucent look of the spoiler can fool people into thinking it's plastic. I've never seen translucent carbon fibre body panels before.

 

[TenEightyOne]

That it seems to generate so much hatred from the other side of the pond makes it cooler.

Maybe some of us have owned American cars before and we wouldn't like to do it again?

Much as I generally like Corvettes... this one has the look of that Kate and William movie (not a film, definitely a movie), all fur-coat and no knickers.

Uncool.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Technically, they both have polymer components that significantly impact the material behavior under various types of conditions, load and processes, among other things?

You do have a point, but I wasn't trying to get to the split hair aspect of what I was saying. As for the load and tensile conditions or other properties...no they don't share similarities to that extent.

 

[Crash]

You do have a point, but I wasn't trying to get to the split hair aspect of what I was saying. As for the load and tensile conditions or other properties...no they don't share similarities to that extent.

I know. I was being facetious. I should have added a or or something. My bad.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

I know. I was being facetious. I should have added a or or something. My bad.

yeah you probably should of but you still have a point, the fact that I know you were being sarcastic makes me now laugh especially due to what I said that you had prior quoted.
Thanks for the laugh Crash.

That's carbon fibre?? Hmmm, I guess the front splitter does resemble carbon fibre from a distance, but I'm really confused about the rear spoiler. The translucent look of the spoiler can fool people into thinking it's plastic. I've never seen translucent carbon fibre body panels before.

There was a reason for it that GM had in making the rear spoiler like that, I just can't recall at this moment I think because of the seating level of the driver they wanted them to be able to see behind them with out the obstruction of an aero bit. However they didn't want to lose downforce so they made the middle see through. The rest of the rear spoiler that is black though...that's carbon fiber along with the roofing if I remember correctly and added carbon with the Z07 package.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

accidental double post, please delete.

 

[Skygrasper550]

There was a reason for it that GM had in making the rear spoiler like that, I just can't recall at this moment I think because of the seating level of the driver they wanted them to be able to see behind them with out the obstruction of an aero bit. However they didn't want to lose downforce so they made the middle see through. The rest of the rear spoiler that is black though...that's carbon fiber along with the roofing if I remember correctly and added carbon with the Z07 package.

I actually heard about that in a Motor Trend video on Youtube, where they pitted the C7 Z06 against the GT-R Nismo. I did hear about them making the center part of the black thing translucent for rearward visibility, but I think I didn't hear quite well that the black thing was carbon fibre XD but yeah, I didn't know translucent carbon fibre was possible. I remember the GT-R Nismo beating the C7 Z06, even though the Vette was the better spec-wise.

And while the extensive use of carbon fibre throughout the car is ingenious (Carbon fibre suspension is enough for me to give this car a 'Cool' rating), I just don't like the look of the carbon fibre splitter and spoiler. So it still stays Seriously Uncool for me.

 

[Exorcet]

I remember the GT-R Nismo beating the C7 Z06, even though the Vette was the better spec-wise.

I happened to browse an issue of MT the other day. The Corvette had a misaligned suspension. They brought a newer Corvette with proper suspension settings, which included production tweaks made since the last test, and it gained 2 seconds on laptime. It beat the GT-R by about .7 sec, but it was not a side by side comparison.

 

[Skygrasper550]

I happened to browse an issue of MT the other day. The Corvette had a misaligned suspension. They brought a newer Corvette with proper suspension settings, which included production tweaks made since the last test, and it gained 2 seconds on laptime. It beat the GT-R by about .7 sec, but it was not a side by side comparison.

Misaligned suspension? If that car was fresh from the factory, shouldn't someone have test driven the car? It's weird how they found that out only AFTER the shooting. But still, it would be better if there was a rematch. Of course, since the Vette had production tweaks, the GT-R should also have production tweaks as well, so that the playground is even.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

I actually heard about that in a Motor Trend video on Youtube, where they pitted the C7 Z06 against the GT-R Nismo. I did hear about them making the center part of the black thing translucent for rearward visibility, but I think I didn't hear quite well that the black thing was carbon fibre XD but yeah, I didn't know translucent carbon fibre was possible. I remember the GT-R Nismo beating the C7 Z06, even though the Vette was the better spec-wise.

And while the extensive use of carbon fibre throughout the car is ingenious (Carbon fibre suspension is enough for me to give this car a 'Cool' rating), I just don't like the look of the carbon fibre splitter and spoiler. So it still stays Seriously Uncool for me.

I never said it was translucent carbon fiber. What I said was the black you see is and the mid portion is something else like plexi that is formed together or some other manufacturing technique. The splitter is done like that due to certain U.S. safety front end standards that the car has to adhere by. Seriously I understand the cool wall is to pass judgement in any sort of wide ranging way but as in another concurrent cool wall right now, the not knowing of certain things or reasons behind it and then using those unknowns to pass judgement isn't all that understandable.

Misaligned suspension? If that car was fresh from the factory, shouldn't someone have test driven the car? It's weird how they found that out only AFTER the shooting. But still, it would be better if there was a rematch. Of course, since the Vette had production tweaks, the GT-R should also have production tweaks as well, so that the playground is even.

Car problems like this happen all the time in magazine testings and usually the factory will assess the issue (because it hurts their image not to do so) and then bring a new car or fix the first car.

 

[Adamgp]

Maybe some of us have owned American cars before and we wouldn't like to do it again?

Hear that all the time. "My dad owned a '77 Ford Granada (or insert other old American car) and it was crap, so I won't buy a 2015 American car because obviously they haven't improved at all."

 

[Joey D]

Misaligned suspension? If that car was fresh from the factory, shouldn't someone have test driven the car? It's weird how they found that out only AFTER the shooting. But still, it would be better if there was a rematch. Of course, since the Vette had production tweaks, the GT-R should also have production tweaks as well, so that the playground is even.

Doubt it was fresh from the factory, most of the time magazines get press cars which have all had the hell beat out of them by journalist.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Hear that all the time. "My dad owned a '77 Ford Granada (or insert other old American car) and it was crap, so I won't buy a 2015 American car because obviously they haven't improved at all."

That would be stupid-people who you're thinking of... some of us are a bit more current than that, but thanks for asking.

Incidentally, our own Granada was plenty bad enough with no need for imports.

 

[Adamgp]

That would be stupid-people who you're thinking of... some of us are a bit more current than that, but thanks for asking.

Incidentally, our own Granada was plenty bad enough with no need for imports.

Guess I run into a lot of idiots then. That's the story I always hear. They blindly buy imports because of some bad experience a friend/relative had back in the 70's/80's.

 

[niky]

Guess I run into a lot of idiots then. That's the story I always hear. They blindly buy imports because of some bad experience a friend/relative had back in the 70's/80's.

They built cars with MyFordTouch and GM's self-deactivating ignition switches in the 80's?

 

[Roger the Horse]

"My dad owned a '77 Ford Granada (or insert other old American car) and it was crap, so I won't buy a 2015 American car because obviously they haven't improved at all."

More often than not it's a PC Cruiser or a Ford Explorer. Possibly a 90s Camaro or a Neon. Recent enough that the scepticism towards American cars hasn't left the market.

 

[Adamgp]

They built cars with MyFordTouch and GM's self-deactivating ignition switches in the 80's?

It was more of a quality/reliability thing.

More often than not it's a PC Cruiser or a Ford Explorer. Possibly a 90s Camaro or a Neon. Recent enough that the scepticism towards American cars hasn't left the market.

Did you skim over the part where I said "or insert other old American car"?

 

[Roger the Horse]

My point is that the US car makers had a foray into the European market in the 90s and early 2000s, and a decade later most people are still put off by the fact that they/their friend/their brother/their mother had a PC Cruiser (which a decade or so ago were a fairly common sight on European roads) that broke down all the time while their neighbour's Corolla/Focus/Golf or whatever didn't.

That's not saying that modern US cars share the faults of those earlier vehicles, it's that those vehicles are still recent enough that the market is adverse to US manufacturers.

 

[Adamgp]

I knew what your point was. Just a little confused how you didn't think a 15-20 year old car fell under the category of "old car".

And the PT Cruiser that my mom bought new in '04 has been pretty much trouble free for it's 11 years and 100k miles that we owned it.

 

[Roger the Horse]

I would consider a 15-20 year old car fairly old, but it's much newer than a car from the 70s. Short of the Alfasud practically coming out of the factory rusty, a car manufacturer will have had plenty of time to recover from a disaster in the 70s reputation wise. That's less the case for a car which left production five years ago.

Perhaps the US got the better PC Cruisers while Europe got the duds. I can't say I've ever encountered a European owner whose feedback has been anything other than "it breaks down all the time."

 

[Adamgp]

Could be the engines offered. The US got a 2.4 or 2.4 turbo. Europe got a 2.0 gas or 2.2 diesel (Mercedes engine).

 

[niky]

It was more of a quality/reliability thing.

The ignition barrel recall was a reliability issue. My Ford Touch, also. It's the only onboard infotainment system I've ever seen do the "blue screen of death".

Then there's those damnable dual clutch boxes...

To be fair, a lot of negative perception for Chevy out here isn't Chevy's fault. But it's never a good thing for your brand to be associated with that absolute manure-hole, the Daewoo Lacetti/Forenza/Optra.