I think the new Vettes are great cars. Incredible performance for the money. Funny everyone is so quick to bash the build quality of the Vettes and recently there was a thread about underengineered Porsche parts that was 3+ pages long. Gimme a break.

To each his/her own...

I would welcome this kind of conversation over a good cigar and scotch and continue the debate. It would be fun.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1119036621.gif

Funny how some people on this board are quick to call a Corvette a pimp car and whatnot. I have to wonder if they have heard the same ignorant Porsche bashing from non-enthusiasts that I have endured over the years. If I had a dime for every time I heard the porcupine joke, I'd have a Z06 in my garage right now.

I wasn't prepared for the grief that I took when I told my peers, some of whom have built some very fast cars, that I was going to buy a 911. One guy says it looks like a frog. One guy calls it a Hitlermobile. One guy asks "how's the Volkswagen running?" One guy says it will be a money pit.

I don't care what people say about my choice of cars, especially if they have never driven a good example of the type. If I were the kind of person who cared about people's opinions about my car, I would sell both the Vette and the 911 and buy a red Ferrari 308 and fill my wardrobe with Hawaiian shirts. I choose my weekend drivers purely on their driving characteristics. My 911 is a 200 horsepower go-kart. The steering is almost telepathic, the braking is phenomenal, and the shifter is... well, it is a 915 after all. (You can't have everything.) If I drive it around for more than an hour at a time, my kidneys start to not like me, but I knew going in that the suspension was set up like that. As a contrast, my Vette was originally intended to be a road race car, and I set it up with big block springs up front, fiberglass spring in back, modified brakes, and many, many other speed goodies. But as it turned out, the stiffer and modernized suspension made it a much better car on the street than I ever imagined it could be (and that's 3 generations back from the current model). Bottom line: both of my cars do what they do extremely well, and there isn't much that I would change on either one except to make the interiors more appealing.

But anyway, let's get back to the original topic, that is, the new Z06.

I've not driven a C6 yet (much less the Z06), but I've driven a few C5's and a few Boxsters (base and S), unfortunately not in a back-to-back comparison. They're both nice cars, either of which I would be proud to own. I do have to wonder how long Porsche can maintain pricing power, when 997 owners begin to find it ever more difficult (or extremely expensive) to compete with Z06 owners on the track. I don't think that Porsche will be able to trade on its mystique forever, the way that Harley-Davidson has done so successfully. In the world of performance cars, performance is the bottom line measurement. Like it or not, GM is raising the bar. The car guys there are doing an incredible job, despite the bean-counting mentality that appears to permeate GM management. I believe that if current trends continue, Porsche will be relegated to a boutique brand known more for being expensive (and thus a way to flaunt one's wealth) than a dominating race-bred marque. And that, IMO, would be a low down dirty shame.

Well said....

I believe that GM is striving to reach the bar that's already been raised however....

Well said....

You're driving an Infinity, if that doesn't bring ridicule, nothing will.:D

What's wrong with an InifinitI?

db

I concur.
By the way, Corvettes are revered in Europe (imagine that!). Always have been, too. Could it be it's because they are imported?

Nothing, same as a Corvette, nothing wrong at all.:)

So are David Hasselhoff and Michael Jackson.

You know I just sold the predesessor to the new Vette and the 996 last year. It was called a Porsche 928. Big heavy water cooled brute force and very well balanced. The car was a great GT. However I got an interesting lesson one fall day.

We had a 928/944/968 cruise day here in the Milwaukee area. Well my best friends 951 was laid up so he took his old 70 911T. Now his 911T was no match for any of the iron that was cruising that day in a straight line. However when we started carving up some of the back country roads he was either plastered to my tail or if he was in front of me pulling away. As soon as the road would straighten out it was no match, but that car was like glue. So we switched cars at one point and I was amazed how much fun that old 911T was. It was light years ahead of the 928 in feel, sound and fun. The 928 was fast yes, but not as much fun. Fun and fast are mutually exclusive BTW.

Lesson learned, the speed limits in the US are at the most 75 and I don't often break them as I learned my speeding lessons in my youth. So in one of these power house cars you drive it at 25% of its potential 99% of the time. So why not drive a slower car at 90% of its potential 80% of the time. If I wound out the first 2 gears of the 928 I was doing 75. Done, game over, shut it down and shift to 5th. In the 911 I can wind up 3 gears and still be under 70. Granted it took me a little longer, but I was more involved and had more fun doing it.

So I bought the 71T I have now just as an experiment to see which one I would drive more. Well the 928 kept sitting more and more and more. So I sold it to free up some cash to restore the 71. Why not keep the car you at least drive and enjoy. I just don't see owning one of these excess sport cars. Not me........now an M5, RS4, or C55 (all nearly as fast as the vette with 4 doors) are my daily drivers of choice. I just have to convince the wife to let me spend the money on one.....but I will have one :eek:

kqw...

Don't know much about Scotch, but 2 friends and I are going to try to go to the Harrisburg Brewer's Festival today (if it's not sold out). Craft beers, food, and 3 bands.

Since there will probably be 3 of us, I'm guessing that we'll be going in the big Benz. Funny how a Porsche vs. Corvette debate becomes irrelevant if you need to carry 3 grown men.

The Corvette C6R in Le Mans today gives me something to root against. A monster in its class, but I hope it loses to both DBR9s.

My point is that it's a matter of perspective. Most of the guys here on the board are drawn to import cars. I am too. That's part of the reason that I own a 911.
In Europe there are more 911's running around than Corvettes so that will make the Corvette more "exotic" to europeans. Vice versa here in the States where you can't throw a rock without hitting a C5 but seeing a 911 is more infrequent.
That is the only reason that I wouldn't buy a Corvette today ( I owned 2 when I worked for GM). The Corvette has evolved into a world class GT car but there's just too darn many of them in S.E. Michigan to make them desireable to me.

Corvette C6 pricing in Europe:

Denmark 180 254,56 € $234 331
Norway 155 596,56 € $202 276
Finland 95 550,00 € $124 215
Netherland 87 950,00 € $114 335
Greece 86 950,00 € $113 035
Austria 75 950,00 € $98 735
Spain 67 950,00 € $88 335
Sweden 67 326,90 € $87 525
Italy 63 950,00 € $83 135
Belgium 63 950,00 € $83 135
France 63 350,00 € $82 355
Germany 61 450,00 € $79 885
Switzerland 58 658,67 € $76 256
USA 35 000,00 € $45 500

I hope you guys have/had a great time. The weather is stellar...

I had the top down today...81 degree's and sunshine...a great 911 day....

Don't forget, the 50th annual Porsche parade and swap meet is coming up next week. At this point I plan on attending Saturday, the 25th...

A co worker of mine bought the Z06 when it was first available. He tracks it, has modded it, and not one single problem. Any newer Corvette guy I talk to has zero issues. Maybe I talk to the wrong people, I don't know? It drives like a very well built car, even after all these years.

We didn't make it to Harrisburg. Didn't know whether they were going to be sold out so we just had a cookout. But you're right... the weather was spectacular for this time of year.

I'm definitely going to Hershey on Saturday... my main interest is in the swap meet. Babydoll's owner may go too, and if she does, we'll have to look at the show cars, especially if there are any interesting 914's.

Not sure if this was posted elsewhere...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1122260222.jpg
Article translated:

Thought this would be interesting to you all.
Scanned from a recent issue of "Bilmagasinet" - danish car mag.
Interview with Jan Magnussen about (among other things) his record lap at NBR.
Here´s a translation:

[Top pic, Magnussen and Vette:]
Thursday morning, Southern Germany. General Motors have discreetly rented the legendary german Nürburgring track for an hour between 7 and 8 in the morning.
The temperature is more comfortable than at Le Mans, and the track is empty apart from a couple of early rising spy photographers.
It takes more than a blue Vette to exite them - they recognize it, it´s the Z06 version, the brutal Vette with 500 BHP. What they do not know, is that it´s Jan Magnussen behind the wheel.
The objective is to beat Walther Rörhl´s laptime in a Porsce GT3 RS - it´s 7:43,0 min for the 20,8 km heavily varied track with 73 corners.
The record was set in 2004 in a standard version of the Porsche.

[Splash in middle]
Jan made 7:42,9 thereby beating the Porsche GT3 RS by 0,1 sec.


[Two lower photos]
"The photo is taken at Flugplatz. I´m going 240-250 km/h at full throttle in 4th gear and the car is actually jumping twice: After the first jump it lands so hard that it takes off again, as you can see in the second picture. As it lands the second time I have to take a sharp right immediately after.
The car is a standard car with street setup - had it been my racer it would hardly have left the tarmac. At NBR the street car reaches 295 km/h on the long straight in 5th gear (6th gear is an overgear for saving gasoline). At NBR there are no run-off areas like other tracks,. You simply have to stay on the track. When you are halfway around the 20 km, you think it´s a good thing there are only half as many places left you risk running off the track" Jan says.

[About the track and the car]
"The stree Corbette has virtually no grip compared to my race car which has a large rear spoiler. But it does have almost as many BHPs as my Le Mans racer and is almost as fast. The rev limiter sets in at 7000 rpms, and it does have more than 500 BHPs.
It´s fast.At the record attempt I drove 2 x 2 laps with a cooldown lap inbetween for both mine and the car´s sake.
I couldn´t have driven one single lap more. I wouldn´t have liked to drive a single meter (3 feet) more with myself at the wheel at that speed", Jan finishes.

Covettes might be alot of "bang for your buck". But..... it is still a fair amount of "buck" that you need to dish out to get a car that was built next to a Cobalt on the assembly room floor possibly by the same workers. IMHO