MR Corvette C8 - General Discussion

  • Thread starter CodeRedR51
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Wow...that's...a mess of a car. Sad to see it slotted into the "barely recognizable mid-engine super car" style that so many cars have floated into (and I fully understand why, mid-engine only leaves you with certain silhouettes, and aerodynamics limits your options more). It'll be a bargain. It'll be a superb performing car. It'll sell super-well. It'll piss off plenty of expensive supercar owners, etc.

But...that is not an attractive car. I feel like they had a decently attractive car and then someone couldn't stop the designers. They must have been sneaking in and adding more and more lines and flourishes and small, tacky details. Not the best idea when America is already widely considered hamfisted when it comes to design. We're not exactly known for our elegant, simple designs or our timeless lines/elements.

My only real interest in it will be seeing it in motorsports guise though, so I think I'm fine with that. It'll lose the nonsense and gain some simplicity and purpose (which will hopefully translate into the road car the next few years). We needed a 10, not this 11.
 
It's not a particularly ugly car, but it lacks the graceful lines of other cheaper and more expensive mid-engined cars. 500hp, sub-3 second 0-62 and nigh on 200mph for less than $60k is a lot of bang for buck though.

The C8.R should be a really interesting thing when it comes out for the 2020 IMSA season.
 
Always been a bit of a fan of the C7.R, so I'm intrigued about how its successor will fare more than the road car to be honest.
 
@Danoff Actually, this is probably the closest you'll get to a spiritual successor to the NSX...

by which I mean, it's a usable mid-engined high-power sports car. (I'm not going to say supercar, it has become such a blurred term, plus I'm old.)

Just looking at the shape you can see it's big. Big enough for two large Americans. It's a Corvette, so it's going to be relatively reliable, perhaps even easy to service (maybe not, but most MRs are tricky that way.)

Also, remember the NSX wasn't exactly a looker. Time has been kind to it.

However... I agree with most sentiments about the C8 looking gopping, and detail comparisons to the Evora (a far cleaner execution both in proportion and amount of detailing) are otherwise fair. The back end is a mess, and the proportions over front and rear haunches are wrong. Such a missed opportunity. Of course, we can hope - the facelift one should be a corker.

Where's the manual?
 
As someone who holds the Vette was one of the most iconic cars in the industry, this was a really big disappointment. The design and ballance of the lines just don't sit well with me. Looking at the car from 3/4s, the headlights looks like Hyundai's and the last 3d of the car chassis looks like an after thought. The back of the car looks like a counter, so balky and squared.

Probably the ZR or C8R will make it look less wierd but this is a step back in terms of design language in my opinion. I know changing from FR to MR entails a complete redesign of proportions, but this is not good.

Maybe in person it looks better...

Also, that Matt Farah's tweet is so stupidly hillarious. ^^

iName
Two or three months and everyone will love it.

That’s how design works.
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Not really.
 
Fun to see how far we've come since the first mid-engine mule

gallery_nrm_1420739857-2017-mid-engined-chevrolet-corvette-113jpg.jpeg


gallery_nrm_1420739977-2017-mid-engined-chevrolet-corvette-115jpg.jpeg
 
I doesn't look great does it. It looks like a Honda HSC with 4C dimensions, Hyundai Coupe head lights with Lamborghini DRLs, and the rear of a Camaro with malnutrition. It looks very bargain basement unfortunately.
 
Carbon_6
Always been a bit of a fan of the C7.R, so I'm intrigued about how its successor will fare more than the road car to be honest.
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I've loved the Corvettes since the C5.R & also await what the C8.R can do. Also, don't visit my YouTube unless you want to see a couple more C7.R GT Sport wins. :lol:
 
Eunos_Cosmo
Another thought.

All the cars that now look quite silly for being nearly as expensive or more expensive than the C8:

-A90 Toyota Supra
-Shelby GT350
-Camaro ZL1
-Porsche Boxster
-Nissan GTR
-Jaguar F Type V6

I know Vettes are not for everyone, but I can't get over how much car this is for $60k. It basically makes everything on the market (competition or not) look overpriced. How on earth is a 370z Nismo only $15k cheaper than this? How is a base model BMW 5 series practically the same price? It practically matches the Ferrari F430 spec-for-spec, and is probably much, much faster as well.
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Yeah really makes the new Supra look bad.

zzz_pt
Not really.
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Yes really. People hated on the C6 at first too because “fixed headlights are wrong on a corvette.”
 
Unknown?
Yes really. People hated on the C6 at first too because “fixed headlights are wrong on a corvette.”
Click to expand...

The headlights weren't badly designed though. Those comments came from people who don't like change. They'd probably be saying the C8 shouldn't be an MR. Has nothing to do with design or how the car looks.

"Fixed lights are wrong" is not the same as "these fixed lights look like Hyundai's".
 
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zzz_pt
The headlights weren't badly designed though. Those comments came from people who don't like change. They'd probably be saying the C8 shouldn't be an MR. Has nothing to do with design or how the car looks.

"Fixed lights are wrong" is not the same as "these fixed lights look like Hyundai's".
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The majority of people saying it shouldn’t be MR are saying it for the same reasons though. That user was correct in his assessment. When big change comes along there is, in most cases, a huge backlash(on the Internet anyway) then eventually it fades to mostly positive takes.

As far as people saying a certain aspect looks like another car that happened with the C6 and C7 too. I’ve seen everything from “this looks like Hyundai” to “this looks like a Ferrari” with the C8. With the C7 the headlights looked like Ferrari/Viper.
 
Unknown?
The majority of people saying it shouldn’t be MR are saying it for the same reasons though. That user was correct in his assessment. When big change comes along there is, in most cases, a huge backlash(on the Internet anyway) then eventually it fades to mostly positive takes.

As far as people saying a certain aspect looks like another car that happened with the C6 and C7 too. I’ve seen everything from “this looks like Hyundai” to “this looks like a Ferrari” with the C8. With the C7 the headlights looked like Ferrari/Viper.
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If someone says fixed headlights "are wrong", that doesn't say anything about how well designed they are. Saying the fixed headlights look like a cheap copycat from another brand, that's something more related to how those specific headlights were designed, most probably.

Because there are tons of different possible ddesign solutions for fixed headlishgts and whoever said " are wrong in a Corvette", said that regardless of how the headlights looked like.

That's the difference. I will never look cars I don't like the looks of. And being MR vs FR or fixed headlights vs pop-up headlights is irrelevant if either of them looks poorly designed.

It's all a bit irrelevant. I think the C8 looks ugly from several angles and probably one of the worst looking corvettes I can remember.
 
What I find very frustrating, and I guarantee it's already happened dozens of places on the internet, is that a couple of people with a better eye for elegant or quality design will gently photoshop the car into something far more attractive with a short sit at a computer. I feel like the design meeting for this car was akin to:

 
Eunos_Cosmo
Another thought.

All the cars that now look quite silly for being nearly as expensive or more expensive than the C8:

-A90 Toyota Supra
-Shelby GT350
-Camaro ZL1
-Porsche Boxster
-Nissan GTR
-Jaguar F Type V6

I know Vettes are not for everyone, but I can't get over how much car this is for $60k. It basically makes everything on the market (competition or not) look overpriced. How on earth is a 370z Nismo only $15k cheaper than this? How is a base model BMW 5 series practically the same price? It practically matches the Ferrari F430 spec-for-spec, and is probably much, much faster as well.
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I think you're jumping the gun a bit here. $60K is the base model and as far as I've seen, the performance package is the option touting 3 second 0-60 times; the current Z51 package is $5,000 at minimum over sticker. Beyond that, what's the report this car will be monstrously faster on a circuit than a GTR, GT350, or ZL1 1LE just because they've swapped ends and dropped in a DCT?

Under cutting the competition otherwise, has been nothing new for the Corvette. It's short comings will still be the same now with the hate it or love it looks.
 
zzz_pt
If someone says fixed headlights "are wrong", that doesn't say anything about how well designed they are. Saying the fixed headlights look like a cheap copycat from another brand, that's something more related to how those specific headlights were designed, most probably.

Because there are tons of different possible ddesign solutions for fixed headlishgts and whoever said " are wrong in a Corvette", said that regardless of how the headlights looked like.

That's the difference. I will never look cars I don't like the looks of. And being MR vs FR or fixed headlights vs pop-up headlights is irrelevant if either of them looks poorly designed.

It's all a bit irrelevant. I think the C8 looks ugly from several angles and probably one of the worst looking corvettes I can remember.
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The point is to give the car some time before you call it ugly. Plenty of cars have gotten initial backlash from a design perspective that has worn off. The A90 Supra had a very similar thing happen. From the “this isn’t a real Supra” to styling complaints, it parallels the Corvette a lot. I think the car looks good from many angles, and Corvette design language is very clear. The rear is questionable, with my problem with it being the big hexagon in the center, but It does the job of being very aggressive, if not to a fault. It’s a little over designed, but I’d give it a 7.8/10
 
I think all you un-American America hating soy boys are missing the point here (sarcasm).

Seriously though, the point is that this is a rocket ship for the American working man. It's the democratized superar experience. Who cares how it looks? It's a supercar that costs less than the soccermom SUVs on sale today.
 
I'd argue that's where the problem lies. The Corvette has long been the budget super car, which has:

World beating performance and cost...BUT...(insert issues).

Just because someone is an American working man (who honestly can't often afford a $60K car...) doesn't mean they don't want to have the best possible product for their money. It'd be nice to have a world beating supercar which isn't derided for a boring or chintzy interior, or ugly random aesthetic bits, etc. The Corvette has always had a "catch", and that's unfortunate.
 

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