- 40,752
Yes, you read that right. Notwithstanding the incredibly embarrassing recent accident that potentially has the chance of totalling her, the past 9 months of Ayeka IV has made one thing clear to about Ryoko: the compromises that exist when daily driving a C4 Corvette (noisy, rattly, constantly chasing some nonsense or another, obscenely heavy clutch, poor build quality, obnoxious to get in and out of, piss aggravating roof, decently practical use) are not worth the very good benefits (great driving feel, perfect seats, complete on rails grip, perfectly neutral handling, shrink wrapped jet fighter interior) when you then go and buy another car that has almost identical benefits done better and the car is also faster and gets much better gas mileage.
Put another way, an Elise 111R is a Z07 C4 Corvette times 10 with fairly negligible downsides in comparison (slightly louder, slightly rougher riding slightly harder to get in and out of, slightly less water resistant, fair bit smaller trunk but whatever I live alone). Ayeka being so much better than Ryoko simply cannot stand. This time a far narrower net has been cast, primarily just two cars with a third darkhorse option:
I've been thinking about this for months. This was the overwhelming runaway favorite. I had planned out mods that I wanted to do (295s all around with ATS calipers on C6 Z06 rotors in the front, C5 front calipers with C6 Grand Sport rotors on the rear, C6 Z06 shocks all around) and the interior work I was already ahead on (throw the C5 seats out and attach heated 1993 C4 seats to their frames, convert the interior to red, put the same head unit in the car as is in Ayeka IV because it fits perfectly behind the dash, change the steering wheel to a custom made smaller diameter one) . And lighting? You know it was getting sequential export taillamps and LED aftermarket lights. Third time was truly going to be the charm. A runaway favorite.
Positives:
But then, I was poking around. And something was noticed with regard to prices:
Positives:
So somewhat higher highs but lower lows.
The dark horse third option?
Positives:
I've driven C5s and C6s before. I've not driven any R171 SLK, but hope to try and find an SLK55 to do so soon. Still at this point the C5's game to lose, but only just. This time I also don't think there will be a crazy out of nowhere option that I choose (like I did with the 911 and the ATS) because that is what the SLK55 already is.
Put another way, an Elise 111R is a Z07 C4 Corvette times 10 with fairly negligible downsides in comparison (slightly louder, slightly rougher riding slightly harder to get in and out of, slightly less water resistant, fair bit smaller trunk but whatever I live alone). Ayeka being so much better than Ryoko simply cannot stand. This time a far narrower net has been cast, primarily just two cars with a third darkhorse option:
I've been thinking about this for months. This was the overwhelming runaway favorite. I had planned out mods that I wanted to do (295s all around with ATS calipers on C6 Z06 rotors in the front, C5 front calipers with C6 Grand Sport rotors on the rear, C6 Z06 shocks all around) and the interior work I was already ahead on (throw the C5 seats out and attach heated 1993 C4 seats to their frames, convert the interior to red, put the same head unit in the car as is in Ayeka IV because it fits perfectly behind the dash, change the steering wheel to a custom made smaller diameter one) . And lighting? You know it was getting sequential export taillamps and LED aftermarket lights. Third time was truly going to be the charm. A runaway favorite.
Positives:
- This is just a normal ass modern feeling car and not something that was supposed to debut in 1983.
- What in them even breaks?
- Ryoko but objectively better in every single way, other than the interior and steering feedback/feel
- They even still really look good.
- That storage space wow.
- That Silverado interior, good lord.
- They do sit a lot lower to the ground than a C4
- It's a lot harder to find a good exhaust for an LS engine.
- God that interior.
But then, I was poking around. And something was noticed with regard to prices:
Positives:
- These are cheaper.
- These are much smaller.
- These are much faster
- These are almost certainly better built.
- Even the absolute nadir of Daimler Chrysler interiors has to be better than 90s GM one put together out of bits and pieces of mid 90s pickup trucks or the 2000s one made out of recycled Cobalts.
- There's not anything I'd have to really do to one if these in comparison. LSD, wider wheels, head unit. Boom. Maybe R172 seats?
- These don't really seem to break any either, from what I've read.
- This is a bit further removed from an Elise so there would be less of the overlap that made Ryoko suffer so much in comparison.
- Power retractable hard top with heated seats works for me, an insane person who drives with the roof removed no matter how cold it is. It even sounds like it is fairly hardy.
- A car actually made of metal? Wow.
- A much more interesting car.
- Acceptable storage, but not the Lincoln Town Car cavern the C5 has.
- Atrocious fuel mileage and Premium only.
- That slushbox is indeed the reason the car is so fast, and is world's apart from the 5Gtronic it replaced, but it still doesn't sound like it's too great.
- That roof doesn't sound fun to fix if it does break.
- The least sporty for sure.
So somewhat higher highs but lower lows.
The dark horse third option?
Positives:
- A performance baseline that was as good/better than a C5 Z06 without the hardtop body that I hated.
- Better assembled and objectively (from GM's perspective) superior car to the C5 in every way
- Actually just a modern car. Much easier interior upgrade paths than a C5 (for audio).
- Barely any more money than a C5 (albeit consistently the most expensive of the three).
- I didn't like how these looked much when they were new (they look like a C5 with weird proportions and stuff blatantly copied from Ferrari) and time has done them no favors.
- They are much more fiddly in electronics because they fall in that no man's land where they have more stuff in them that is more sensitive but less reliable (than a post-2000 C5). To do the kind of stuff I want to do and would do with a C5 would be much more annoying or just isn't possible without compromise.
- The interiors are, somehow, even worse. Much tighter tolerances taken by GM to screw together the most awful feeling plastics you'll ever see outside a contemporary Dodge/Nissan. Like the infamous Cobalt steering wheel.
- Steering feel is even worse, and the ones where GM fixed it (LS3 cars) are generally out of my budget.
- Equipment levels in C6s are harder to parse than they were for C5s, which also generally were ordered with all options anyway.
- Somewhat smaller storage space than a C5.
- More annoying interior upgrade path (for everything that's not audio).
I've driven C5s and C6s before. I've not driven any R171 SLK, but hope to try and find an SLK55 to do so soon. Still at this point the C5's game to lose, but only just. This time I also don't think there will be a crazy out of nowhere option that I choose (like I did with the 911 and the ATS) because that is what the SLK55 already is.
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