Thought maybe you knew the owner. Nice looking car, and I'm reasonably sure those pics were taken in this neck of the woods. I'll be on the lookout. Finally saw my first C8 in person at my dealership - still processing, but I think I like it.
Even if that were the case, there should be a safety latch like on ALL(?) other cars ever made! Pull the hood latch on your car. The hood pops up an inch but does NOT fully release because of safety latch. The hood CANNOT fly open. And it doesn't matter whats under the the hood, engine or frunk. Just poor design (save a couple bucks) to allow hood to be able to fly open. Now, if the hinges were in the front, no problem. I smell a recall. Definitely a safety issue. https://www.motor1.com/news/433914/corvette-c8-frunk-opening-issue/ .
My guess is the decision not to have a secondary latch was the thought that it would be too inconvenient for customers that regularly use the front trunk. I'm sure some people would've complained that they had to reach down to unlatch the frunk just to put a bag or a gallon of milk in. With that said, when I saw the car in person and noticed there was no secondary latch, my first thought was "how long until one of these pops open while someone is driving?" I guess this answers my question.
I own a C8 and its user error in my opinion. GM engineers designed the frunk lid to have three separate positions: fully open, fully closed with a mechanical latch and partially open but still secured with a secondary latch (this is to accommodate a battery charging cable during storage, and fully closed with a second latch. Built-in safeties are supposed to ensure that it will not open if drivers accidentally press the release buttons on the key fob or in the cabin while the C8 is in gear. However, doing so when it's in Park will open both latches to allow the lid to be easily lifted by hand. My guess is the few users who have had this happen have not fully closed the lid to engage the secondary latch and leaving only the third partial latch engaged and then they are pressing the fob while the car is in park releasing it and then driving off not realizing the trunk is fully unlocked and the lid is just sitting there ready to be grabbed and pulled up. The last report I heard is GM is looking at doing an over the air update to add and additional warning if this is the case.
I took a drive from Los Angeles to Texas and back over the past two weeks and put 3600+ miles on the car. I averaged 28 miles per gallon and my custom radar/laser system did its job perfectly I hit a few rain storms coming and going and I can tell you that rain storms make an absolute mess of the car, holy cow those vents in rear are like dirt sprayers and it just sprays the dirt everywhere lol. The long hours behind wheel were very comfortable and every gas stop and rest area stop was like arriving with a celebrity with people asking about the car and asking to take photos which made every stop fun.
These guys imo do great an acurate reviews of most cars. thetres an excellent tech annalysis of the suspesion and implicit potential of the platform. A it stands now, fantrastic GT car, excellent quality, not a finely honed sports car, yet.
This proves pretty much what I thought and why I, in particular, wanted one. Its a Sports GT. I won't be tracking it. This will be my new daily driver and long journey machine. And as a sports GT, it should have the sportiness I need along with the comfort, the interior, the storage, the ease of entry, the reliability (hopefully!) and the electronic do-dads I would want without compromise. I tried that in a C7 but I could not get used to that car as it seemed to me the tail always wanted to step out. Going from 458 to C7 is like stepping back 20 years. And it seemed a bit "crude" with its horrible paint, poor material selection in its leather interior, glue smell in the trunk, and a manual box that to me didn't pay off because of all its quirks. Fcars to me are special. Owning an Fcar is special. Driving an Fcar is special. Its something you do on a Sunday morning for most people. Few are daily drivers. The C8 is not "special". Its a mass produced and therefore cheaper substitute. But the advantage is that its a GM machine with service everywhere, lower costs to run, and if someone runs into you its no big loss. Just get another. And for someone who likes to mod their cars, no one cares about its "originality". You can be creative without the wine and cheesers of the world telling you "Enzo would never have done it that way". And the 3 year depreciation from my F430 spider to get into a 458 would just about paid for an entire new base C8. I think the C8 Grand Sport version will be more of a true track car. I'd consider upgrading to the Flat Plane crank twin cam version if they don't lose too much of what makes the C8 good for me. I still love Fcars. But for something I can take everywhere without worry, this is actually better.
I liked the svagegeese video because it gives an idea of the platforms potential. The suspension looks really interesting. We also all seem to agree that this platform will be around as was the c5-7 for 20 years. Each version will probably improve as the c5-7 did. What we’re seeing is ver 1.0 a great Learjet for the road. a lux gt is not for me, but somewhere along the way I’m assuming hoping we’ll get the stonking Vette. Maybe the first stab at the z06 won’t be it, maybe ver 2.0 gs will be it. Hard to say, as long as the platform has potential it will come. one other aspect to consider, it’s going to take time for the weak links of the car to become known. For those of us who track extensively a 23 or 25 c8 should be fully sorted with foibles known. I really appreciated seeing things like how the oil and filter can be chaNged without removing the underpans of the car, and 100 other thoughtful ease of maintanace things. If you go to the track fluid changes Are a 4 day affair and diy ease and diy time is really important. the z51 in the video came out on the scales at over 3600 lbs wet, which is a real weight. that sounds like 500lbs up on a maclaren wet weight and a similar up weight over a cayman gt4. As always with track weight is a big issue as is cost to run. if the Vette is truly economic to run compared to a euro car the extra cost of tires and pads related to weight may make sense. on my exige cup I’m seeing costs per day as follows, tires $400-500 Based on 2-3 days. Pads $125 based on 5 ddays. Fluids $50(brakes transmission and engine oi) based on 4 -5 days) the big cost being race gas at $10 per gallon can easily add another $2-300 per day. The experience is really raw like a single seater true track car which no street car will approach and short of a senna and a Gt2rs no street car is aS quick around. Still it’s roughly $900 per day or realistically less than 1/2 what a gt3 cost to run. But you also need a truck and trailer. Maclaren and. Ferri costs on Track are stratosphere: I’m hearing 4K plus like in some cases 10k when all is said and done if you’re really using the car and doing say 10 days or more per year. As an aside a Miata is $400, (before things break which they will) realistically more, but the car is cheap. The Elise on 888rs is drive to the track pads last 10-14 days tires 10 days gas is under $100 so you’re talking maybe $300. Based on what the camaro guys and c6 folks are seeing, I’m guessing a Vette will use its r compound tires in 2 days as well as pads. Let’s say $1100 per day, Plus maybe another 200 -300 in gas fluids rotors etc per day, on a car you can drive to the track with true epic supercar performance. As with it’s purchase cost that’s 1/3 to 1/4 to run on track compared to an equivalent euro exoticFerrari maclaren) and you can probably laugh off the depreciation delta cops and d to an exotic, even if you wreck the Vette it will be less than the depreciation on a trackeD Ferrari or maclaren. The comparison then is to a gt3 or gt4
c8 c51 at $75k vs 718 gt4 with pdk at $115k is the track test i want to see. the cayman better be much faster, way more engaging, and more economical to run for that delta. i think porsche will be slightly better in all 3 aspects but just barely. in that case, its c8 all the way.
I think the difference is that the c8 in its current form is really a Gt car learjet for the road, and as the articles say a but too numb and understeery(even with track align) to really be a trackmeister. Plus its year 1 in terms of Gm reliability. The Gt4 is a fully honed machine and probably far more rewarding the "drive" on street and track, but thats just now 2020. Give the vette say 2-3 years when we should have a honed Gs and z06 and the compro will be more valid. I think the difference will be that the z06 will offer Maclaren 600lt performance for Gt4 money. If it can loose 300+lbs over the Gt C8z51 and stffen up a little while unlockign the potential of the suspesiona nd layout we have a winner, same for the Gs. the question is whether the vette team baked that goodness in, I say yes. Possibly though what well get is a even heavier car with lots more hp like the c7 z06, 3 fast laps for the magazines, depedns on devlopment budget. But I gotta believe they have planned a full bore 'Gt3" version somewhere just to fly the flag. Hopefully it wont have "we saved $50 melty brake lines" and other not really suitable for track cost cutting like vettes before. Sure you can change those bits, but porches come ready to run and so should vettes. As it is, GM has been really smart. the current version of the C8 is the volume version, the car its prime demographic will most like. Mid engined exoitic, easy to get in and out of, and as comfortable and quiet as a luxury car. Same formula as the 911 or the current 992, start witht he lux Gt version most really want, develop other variants to cater to niches and higher prce ranges. So well see a zr1 to do the porche turbo deal, and hopeflully a z06 to battle the Gt3 with a Gs to battle the Gt4, all at lower price points with more objective performance. Heres hoping. Heres also hoping that after 30k miles it wont feel like sued tupperware, or maybe that doesent matter because for the price you can just go get another newer one. The car has potential, lets see what they do with it and how far they take it. I mean who wouldn't like an aventador svj as a track toy for 1/20th the price with reliability to boot and reasonable running costs. Make mine look like the C8r weigh 3200lbs for 120k and we have it wrapped.
Driver skill is key. I think the whole under steer thing is so way over blown its not even funny. I agree 100% with Speed Phenom and what he states in this video and this kid tracks his C8 a lot: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=speed+phenom+understeer+c8+video&&view=detail&mid=AA232C868CFA3930A383AA232C868CFA3930A383&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=/videos/search?q=speed+phenom+understeer+c8+video&qpvt=speed+phenom+understeer+c8+video&FORM=VDRE
I saw my second one today in the flesh. You definitely think McLaren? Some Ferrari model I missed? Oh wow that's the new C8....absolutely a game changer IMO. Can't wait until the Z model...and if it can outgun exotics this version of the Corvette is truly a game changer. Congrats to all owners out there.
I saw one coming from the front and my first thought as Huracan but it had McLaren like running lights. Then I saw it was a C8. Its not a bad looking car but its not what you would call a "compact" car. Italian cars (aside from the Aventador which seems huge to me) and McLarens look smaller to me.