I want to agree with you that the "corvette absolves a lot of sins". But GM is still operating like they are "too big to fail", I hope we don't bail them out again. They make some amazing products and have a long history of advancing manufacturing and technology in their sector. Even with their engineering prowess, almost in spite of it, they continue to make some of the most mediocre vehicles that have ever existed. I swear the only people that buy their cars are former employees and relatives of said employees.
>I swear the only people that buy their cars are former employees and relatives of said employees.
I regrettably had to use a rental GMC of theirs, it seems car rental companies have quite a stock of them, to say nothing of their quality, felt like driving a wheeled takeout container.
> I swear the only people that buy their cars are former employees and relatives of said employees.
Coworker loves loves loves the corvette even though its one of the worst vehicles electrics wise. Two people he convinced to buy vettes traded them back in within a year of purchase for electrical issues.
Brand loyalty is a big part of the American mindset and I think GM rested on those laurels to the point where even after the bailout they still have the same mindset.
>Two people he convinced to buy vettes traded them back in within a year of purchase for electrical issues.
Why on earth would you take a bath on a trade-in instead of using the lemon law if there were unfixable electrical issues?
Also - this sounds pretty anecdotal to be honest, long-time corvette owner who follows the forums and I've not seen any widespread complaints of electrical issues with the c8 besides a battery drain issue caused by OTA updates that was resolved.
C7's, and this was just before COVID. They were bought preowned from dealers. One had the entire electrical system shit itself after driving through a puddle and the other kept killing the battery at random.
Given you responded to a quote about the C8 platform redeeming GM - it'd probably pertinent to specify you're talking about literally a completely different car other than the name. The C8 was a ground up redesign.
That being said, the C7 also had no known electrical issues. A certified pre-owned would still be covered under lemon law. "driving through a puddle" sounds like more than a bit of an understatment if it took out the entire electrical system. I have driven my car through many, many rainstorms and had exactly 0 issues. I'm also not clear how he traded in a car with a non-functioning electrical system, no dealer would touch that with a 30 foot pole.
>the other kept killing the battery at random.
That could literally be anything, and again wasn't a widespread issue with the C7 platform or there would've been a recall, just like with the C8.
Mid-engined is most useful as a transition step to a modern skateboard design EV. Gets the center of gravity low and closer to the actual center point of the car, which a skateboard design then improves.
Corvette can't admit to aspirations of a Pure EV this decade (thanks, politics), but in my opinion, that's the only way to absolve a lot of the GM executive sins on being wishy washy about EV futures.
> Corvette can't admit to aspirations of a Pure EV this decade (thanks, politics)
I wouldn't attribute it to politics, but rather, the fact that the Venn Diagram of performance car enthusiasts and people willing to buy an EV are basically two entirely separate circles. When you consider cars that have a very big loyalty to the brand, like Corvette does, it gets even worse.
I personally would LOVE to buy a Corvette EV convertible. But I don't have my hopes up of it ever happening. The demand just isn't there.
There's a reasonable sized overlap there. EVs might not interest the "I love the sound inefficiency as literal sound walls" crowd, but the performance car enthusiasts that love torque curves and min/maxing them will eventually begrudgingly admit that EVs have some very lovely torque curves and many of them even know and salivate that most of those curves are software-defined making min/maxing them a fun videogame to play (possibly hazardously while driving, though that's part of the sport of Formula E) rather than buying and installing expensive aftermarket parts.
Brand loyalty I'll give you in that I have heard a lot of "the day Corvette makes an EV is the day Corvette is dead to me" hyper-masculine statements, but hyper-masculinity is political. (So is hyper-partisanship in many cases.)
I think the path forward for GM, and most other companies that still make engines is plug-in/gas hybrids. The electric transmission (should be?) more desirable to car enthusiasts, and the engine can still be a moat, though I'd say it quickly starts to feel redundant(to me).
I still think 2019 GM was correct in killing the Volt that hybrids are a worst of both worlds in engineering trade-offs and strictly one or the other is the best approach for both. I also still partly agree that 2019 was about the right year to end that "transition tech" phase, at the very least as a political message (that wasn't correctly received).
(I say that as someone who still owns a 2012 Volt as my only car, but mostly not because I still think I need a hybrid but because I want an full electric, reasonably sized sedan or hatchback, and all the car companies decided Americans only want EV crossovers/SUVs/assault tanks/land yachts this decade.)
All hybrids (Prius included, and especially noted) are just sub-par Full EVs with extra weight albatrossed around their necks when gas gets hard to buy and it does seem like past time to stop sinking good money after multiple decades of sunk costs in ICE car engines.
I think it would be more obvious if the US had more of the cheap EVs that China and Europe are producing, but we all know the US right now isn't politically aligned to have nice things.
I want to agree with you that the "corvette absolves a lot of sins". But GM is still operating like they are "too big to fail", I hope we don't bail them out again. They make some amazing products and have a long history of advancing manufacturing and technology in their sector. Even with their engineering prowess, almost in spite of it, they continue to make some of the most mediocre vehicles that have ever existed. I swear the only people that buy their cars are former employees and relatives of said employees.
>I swear the only people that buy their cars are former employees and relatives of said employees.
I regrettably had to use a rental GMC of theirs, it seems car rental companies have quite a stock of them, to say nothing of their quality, felt like driving a wheeled takeout container.
> I swear the only people that buy their cars are former employees and relatives of said employees.
Coworker loves loves loves the corvette even though its one of the worst vehicles electrics wise. Two people he convinced to buy vettes traded them back in within a year of purchase for electrical issues.
Brand loyalty is a big part of the American mindset and I think GM rested on those laurels to the point where even after the bailout they still have the same mindset.
>Two people he convinced to buy vettes traded them back in within a year of purchase for electrical issues.
Why on earth would you take a bath on a trade-in instead of using the lemon law if there were unfixable electrical issues?
Also - this sounds pretty anecdotal to be honest, long-time corvette owner who follows the forums and I've not seen any widespread complaints of electrical issues with the c8 besides a battery drain issue caused by OTA updates that was resolved.
https://www.tsbsearch.com/Chevrolet/N242435630
C7's, and this was just before COVID. They were bought preowned from dealers. One had the entire electrical system shit itself after driving through a puddle and the other kept killing the battery at random.
Given you responded to a quote about the C8 platform redeeming GM - it'd probably pertinent to specify you're talking about literally a completely different car other than the name. The C8 was a ground up redesign.
That being said, the C7 also had no known electrical issues. A certified pre-owned would still be covered under lemon law. "driving through a puddle" sounds like more than a bit of an understatment if it took out the entire electrical system. I have driven my car through many, many rainstorms and had exactly 0 issues. I'm also not clear how he traded in a car with a non-functioning electrical system, no dealer would touch that with a 30 foot pole.
>the other kept killing the battery at random.
That could literally be anything, and again wasn't a widespread issue with the C7 platform or there would've been a recall, just like with the C8.
Mid-engined is most useful as a transition step to a modern skateboard design EV. Gets the center of gravity low and closer to the actual center point of the car, which a skateboard design then improves.
Corvette can't admit to aspirations of a Pure EV this decade (thanks, politics), but in my opinion, that's the only way to absolve a lot of the GM executive sins on being wishy washy about EV futures.
> Corvette can't admit to aspirations of a Pure EV this decade (thanks, politics)
I wouldn't attribute it to politics, but rather, the fact that the Venn Diagram of performance car enthusiasts and people willing to buy an EV are basically two entirely separate circles. When you consider cars that have a very big loyalty to the brand, like Corvette does, it gets even worse.
I personally would LOVE to buy a Corvette EV convertible. But I don't have my hopes up of it ever happening. The demand just isn't there.
There's a reasonable sized overlap there. EVs might not interest the "I love the sound inefficiency as literal sound walls" crowd, but the performance car enthusiasts that love torque curves and min/maxing them will eventually begrudgingly admit that EVs have some very lovely torque curves and many of them even know and salivate that most of those curves are software-defined making min/maxing them a fun videogame to play (possibly hazardously while driving, though that's part of the sport of Formula E) rather than buying and installing expensive aftermarket parts.
Brand loyalty I'll give you in that I have heard a lot of "the day Corvette makes an EV is the day Corvette is dead to me" hyper-masculine statements, but hyper-masculinity is political. (So is hyper-partisanship in many cases.)
I think the path forward for GM, and most other companies that still make engines is plug-in/gas hybrids. The electric transmission (should be?) more desirable to car enthusiasts, and the engine can still be a moat, though I'd say it quickly starts to feel redundant(to me).
I still think 2019 GM was correct in killing the Volt that hybrids are a worst of both worlds in engineering trade-offs and strictly one or the other is the best approach for both. I also still partly agree that 2019 was about the right year to end that "transition tech" phase, at the very least as a political message (that wasn't correctly received).
(I say that as someone who still owns a 2012 Volt as my only car, but mostly not because I still think I need a hybrid but because I want an full electric, reasonably sized sedan or hatchback, and all the car companies decided Americans only want EV crossovers/SUVs/assault tanks/land yachts this decade.)
All hybrids (Prius included, and especially noted) are just sub-par Full EVs with extra weight albatrossed around their necks when gas gets hard to buy and it does seem like past time to stop sinking good money after multiple decades of sunk costs in ICE car engines.
I think it would be more obvious if the US had more of the cheap EVs that China and Europe are producing, but we all know the US right now isn't politically aligned to have nice things.