Edmunds Commentary On Chevy Corvette: It "Sucks"; No Longer "Cool".

[prowlerjc]

Originally Posted by wescoent

I'll be the dissenting voice here.

The Corvette performs great, but it's NOT cool... sorry guys.

I think it happened sometime in the 1970's. Because I know the C2 Corvette was REALLY cool. The C3 was kind of cool at first... but then something happened... I don't know what.

The Stingray to me, embodies everything that a Corvette should be in a perfect world. Compact, tight proportions. Expressive lines. Appeals to both men and women. A 'je ne sais pas quoi' about the car.

That's why I was so excited when I heard that Chevy was considering a Kappa Stingray, with a 5.3L V8 under the hood. Returns to those original compact, tight proportions with a 'right-sized' engine.

I almost feel the same way about Ferraris and Jaguar sports cars. They lost something in the 1970's. Jaguar got it back with the 1998 XK... Ferrari never did.

The Corvette has always been about excess. Lots of power and great handling. That's why it went in the toilet in the 70s. Low hp and flabby handling.

[bonecrrusher]

This guy as a f'n "ra-tard".... for you old guys go see the movie the Hangover.

I finished school, moved half way across the country, and drove off the Chevy dealership lot in my 1 year old Corvette.

That guy got the wrong degree, probably majored in basket weaving.

I will agree with one thing... 88% of Vette owners where born before 1946, I dont see many other 24 year olds driving C6's... haha.

I've had mine for 3 years and enjoy the hell out of it. The Tupperware interior does kind of blow, but who cares when your going 100+ around Road Atlanta... speaking of which I just signed up to go again next month!

[K-1]

Originally Posted by Danko

The article was successful. It drew attention to the jerk that wrote it which is really all he cared about doing. Damned shame it also cast a negative cloud over Edmunds, though. It was like burning a flag. It drew attention by doing something obviously unAmerican and very stupid.

Bingo! The content of the article may be useless, but it's driving traffic to Edmunds' site. I'm sure the advertisers are loving it.

[skylark68]

Originally Posted by Uzzy

Those days never ever existed. The only kids that had them were the ones with rich parents.

Well, my Uncle never went to college, but he went to Vietnam and saved his money. When he got out in '68, he bought a 2 year old convertible with the 327 and a 4 speed with low miles...

I agree with you though, he wouldn't have been able to buy a new one...

[wescoent]

Originally Posted by prowlerjc

The Corvette has always been about excess. Lots of power and great handling. That's why it went in the toilet in the 70s. Low hp and flabby handling.

Then I don't know... why did I LOVE the C2 Stingray, but have disliked every Corvette since?

[ZHDesign57]

I find this very disrespectful to the Corvette nameplate. The guy's points make no sense, and this is just an epic fail attempt at bashing the car. Of course, people will write anything for mouse clicks these days.

[ByTheLake]

I actually was pleased with the price when I bought my wife's Corvette. Perhaps Edmunds doesn't pay its writers as much as they'd like?

The Corvette isn't supposed to be a high-volume car, and the 30k+ units made annually is fine.

If the "everyman" journalist can't afford a new Corvette, why not get a 3 year old Corvette?

[joemac]

Originally Posted by Edmunds Dufus

And it might be too late to save it. From where I sit, the Corvette has already been displaced as the attainable dream car for America's youth: displaced by the Infiniti G35 Coupe and the BMW M3 (E46). These two cars (and now their succeeding models, the G37 Coupe and the BMW M3 (E92)) are what the kids desire and aspire to. They've become "the Corvette" for the next generation of enthusiasts that have not yet hit the big four-o

The G37 is a entry level luxury touring coupe with some sportiness factor. It's hardly a sports coupe performance platform. With a whopping 270 ft lbs of torque, the Corvette holding 424 ft lbs snickers at the idea of a comparison. The M3 MSRP's for $57,850. How's the college grad going to afford that if he can't stand up to the $48k entry point of the Corvette?

You seem to be in the crowd, I want to do what's cool, I want to appear what's cool, I want to present my status to others, and I want to be seen as an elite social stuffy who has it all.

You know it was this mindset that had millions of Americans financially over extended, too much and too many cars, houses way to big, home equity loans, credit cards leveraged to the hilt.

Maybe it's time to re-baseline what's important to ourselves, our families and our country. Maybe pimping around in the latest socially elite acceptable luxury sports coupe ain't what it's cracked up to be. Nor should anyone and everyone who has a degree be entitled to out and buy one.

Maybe if we had jobs and economy that supported buying $50k vehicles they would be more attainable. But in our ways of buying everything imported it simply doesn't leave a robust thriving economy to support the real lifestyle (not financed) of affording a $50k vehicle.

The price of a Corvette is up roughly 15% over the last 15 years. The price of health care, gas, deodorant are up over triple digits in the same period. Reality check is in store for Edmunds.

[motorman]

i have bee owning and driving corvetts since 1959 and will be driving them as long as i can get my old decrepit body into the driver seat.

[Exploder]

Edmunds sucks. It was never cool.

If they really want to maintain any credibility whatsoever, they should fire this guy immediately and let him work at TTAC.

And now of course we have to wait for some people saying how anyone hating on this guy is a GM fanboy...even though the Corvette is one of GM's few truly, genuinely excellent, uniquely American cars that even most of the world can respect.

[rsbaker]

Excuse me but This guy is an OXY-MORON! Performance out of hand? That's outrageous! If GM or Chevrolet cut back on the power and performance he would probabaly be the first to bash the Corvette as some kind of Sports car poser and say that it could not compete with Germany's finest and much more expensive sports cars. Hey pal if you want a poser get a Nissan 370-Z. You can criticize the 'Vette for many things but this guy's argument holds no water. Even Jeremy Clarkson was won over by Corvette in his cross country drive in a ZR1. As for coolness...I can think of nothing better than blowing the doors off of any Euro-exotic for 1/2 or even a 1/3 the price, and still be practicle and affordable as a daily diver that will still give you 26 MPG highway. Now that's cool! If you can't afford the price of admission for a Corvette then buy a Camaro.

[TheWraith]

i'm a corvette owner (2002 coupe), and I have to say, I honestly am not a fan of the direction they're going with the car.

look at the 4 variations of corvette on the market for 2010:

base model coupe and convertible - i am not even remotely a fan of the style of these things. there is absolutely nothing striking about them whatsoever. They are just flat out too watered down to carry the corvette name in my opinion. The corvette is supposed to be special.

grand sport coupe and convertible - ok, a huge step in the right direction style-wise. But at the price of entry of about $55,000 or more, you're getting an interior that's the best GM had to offer....in 2004/5, and a drivetrain that's available in vehicles costing $20,000 less - the camaro SS and leftover G8 GXPs. Yes, of course the handling is world class, no question there, but what is your market here? If you have your mind set on a new corvette, you just aren't sure which one, I can see the GS making sense - better looking that the base model, but a much cheaper alternative to the ZR1 and Z06. But if you compare it to all the other vehicles out there that are $60,000 or less, including at GM, it really doesn't hold up well.

Z06 and ZR1. The bang for the buck comparing to Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, etc is impressive. But these are absolutely out of the grasp of the typical corvette owner from years past. That and with the spartan interiors (for the price tag), and the fixed roof only, these are vehicles that are not only a second car to most buyers, they're practically a second corvette, since they're basically track cars.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by rsbaker

Excuse me but This guy is an OXY-MORON! Performance out of hand? That's outrageous! If GM or Chevrolet cut back on the power and performance he would probabaly be the first to bash the Corvette as some kind of Sports car poser and say that it could not compete with Germany's finest and much more expensive sports cars. Hey pal if you want a poser get a Nissan 370Z. You can criticize the 'Vette for many things but this guy's argument holds no water. Even Jeremy Clarkson was won over by Corvette in his cross country drive in a ZR1. As for coolness...I can think of nothing better than blowing the doors off of any Euro-exotic for 1/2 or even a 1/3 the price, and still be practical and affordable as a daily diver that will still give you 26 MPG highway. Now that's cool! If you can't afford the price of admission for a Corvette then buy a Camaro.

QFT.

[prowlerjc]

Originally Posted by wescoent

Then I don't know... why did I LOVE the C2 Stingray, but have disliked every Corvette since?

Probably the very well executed styling. It is a mix of a very muscular body with very delicate, almost feminine, detailing. Very few stylists have managed to pull that off.

[377Z]

Not a very strong argument but what made me chuckle was the "insurable" comment, stated in the context that Chevrolet should change the car so that it is less expensive to insure. No way to do that without destroying the car's identity.

If he were talking about the fullsize trucks & SUV's, he'd have some point IMO. As recently as 15-20 years ago, the Suburban for example was around only 10% more expensive than the fullsize Chevy car (then Caprice). The current Impala costs roughly the same when adjusting for inflation, but the trucks are nearly double. Unfortunately CAFE & the SUV boom made this happen, and the coming CAFE will ensure the prices for large vehicles will stay high.