As good as they say the Vette is, I still can't get into the styling....especially the agricultural looking interior.

 

I like daisy dukes bro. lol..in the end. It's a much more pliable platform for those that want to add whatever, etc..I just want my hands on a nice Maserati like I drove in my valet Parker days

 

For the last couple weeks I've been involved in a big Corvette photo-shoot for an upcoming book. Seventeen cars, C1 thru C7.

Even as a Corvette fan I can't warm up to the latest styling. It looks cartoon-ish to me. In fairness, I feel the same about many other new cars as well.

I never fully realized just how simply handsome the C4 and C5 looked, and to some extent the C6, until they were alongside a C7!

Oh well....tastes, vary, of course. I just wasn't made for these times.

Cheers
DD

 

I have not seen or driven the Vette in real life, yet, so can not honestly comment on the aesthetics or the direct "feel". I did go to my local Chevy dealer to see one but they were all sold out. No surprise for a brand new model.

Reading a bunch about them, I would not discount the Vette as a possible future purchase. You can have the Z51 base for $54K and the only thing that I would really add is the Magnetic suspension option that will bring it to about $56K. With that combo you can dial the suspension to beat nearly everything on the roads or tracks or, dial it back and have a superb street ride over bad pavements. At such prices it is nearly half of the price of the other cars listed, while in all out performance it will outrun every single one of them, be that on the race track or over your local winding roads.

Perceptions are slow to die and this effects the Corvette's image as a soft, old man's car. But, the new one has electronics that are more sophisticated than pretty much any mentioned in the above video, has now a high quality chassis, interior and...wait.... a Z06 model that is coming soon that, for still less $$$ than any of the other 3 cars will absolutely make mince-meat out of them as a group.

As usual, you will not buy "image" when you get a Vette, you will simply get the best car, by far, for the money and, many will argue that the best car, independent of monies.

Albert

 

I do agree Albert. I owned a C4, C5 and C6. Best there is for the money. But it is NOT an F Type.

There are sooooo many Vett’s on the road, they are common and not a “special” car. If I see one other “F” a month..... well I don’t!

I agree the F can not out perform the vette at all BUT I still love the looks and the sound .

Now if the maintenance and reliability are in the same cost category as the vette, I will be happy

 

Yes, I do love the exclusivity of Jaguars. Which is the only reason I am still in the running for an F-type, if the Coupe will meet my "awe-factor" requirements when I see it and drive it.

One more BIG advantage of more "common" cars, like the Vette, is the wide availability of after market performance and cosmetic offerings. If someone likes to custom tune their chassis or engine to his exact liking, there is no comparison. Unfortunately, availability of the same aftermarket for Jaguars is generally extremely limited and extremely expensive. $1800 for a XKR-S GT rear sway-bar when for the Vette the same could be bought for less than $200...

Did you know that you can lower the Vette about 1" in about 30 minutes without any extra parts?

Albert

 

Racing comparison: F-type V8S vs. Aston V12 vs. Stingray.

See how the British "track test" cars in a slightly wet environment while dodging some wayward sheep along narrow country roads...


Albert

 

Didn't Motortrend run both the Vette and the V8S against one another and the V8S had better 0-60 and 1/4 miles time?

F type was -3.4
Vette was at-3.8


I am confused now??

 

I did know about the lowering of the 1” but the C6 slightly dragged going into my driveway and other entrances. Plenty low as far as I was concerned.

 

I think that is probably correct. The F-type was tested to be slightly faster in straight-line acceleration. The Vette is consistently quicker when turns are involved. That is likely has to do a lot with the lower weight and better handling.

Laguna Seca is a good comparison track as it has steep uphill sections where power is king and tricky handling sections. The Vette is 2.5 sec. quicker there, which is a LOT.

Laguna Seca lap records - FastestLaps.com

At VIR no record of the F-type but, notice that the Vette was a full 10 sec. faster than the XKR-S, which is night and day in racing. So, there can be very little doubt about the Vette's performance qualities.

Virginia International Raceway lap records - FastestLaps.com

Albert

 

The weight of the F type really does work against it. We will have to see where the coupe is at with it's weight.


On another note, I don't know where the tester is running those cars, but I would love to have a driveway alike.

 

Doug,
I absolutely agree with you on the looks of the Vette, I just can't warm up to it. Although, I don't think it would take much to make it look considerably better. If GM ditched the fussy rear taillights in favor of classic circular ones, if they made the hood vents body colored instead of black, and in fact, got rid of a lot of the black accents in favor of body color painted surfaces, I think it would have a much smoother. more elegant body. If the lower front grill opening had a diagonal mesh rather than the simple egg crate opening, it would be richer looking. I've seen quite a few Corvettes around Southern California over the past month or two, but when I was at the LA Car Show and saw the F-type coupe for the first time and then the Corvette, there were some similarities in the sloping rooflines when looking forward from behind both, but the Jaguar seems more elegant than the Corvette because of its subtleties.

There is no questioning the Vette's performance parameters or pedigree, and certainly it is the performance bargain of the year if not the century.
But, I prefer the looks of the F-type.

 

The weights for all models are on JaguarUSA.com. Jaguar lists a weight of 3,671 lbs for the F Type V8S Convertible and 3,638 lbs for the F Type R Coupe. The difference doesn't appear to be all that material between the V8-engined cars. Taking each listed weight model for model, the difference in the claimed weights ranges between 33 lbs (between the two V8 models) and 44lbs (V6 and V6S models).

 

James

Those "dream" factory weights probably do not include any fuel, oil, coolants, plus wheels and some body parts. The "real" weight, as measured by pro testers appear to be at least 300 lbs more. You can search the methodology of the testers but, usually they test with a tank half-full and no driver/passenger in the car (curb weight).

Here is Road and Track specs"

http://www.roadandtrack.com/cm/roada..._finalfull.jpg

Motor Trend show roughly the same weight

2014 Jaguar F-Type V8 S First Test - Motor Trend

Albert

 

Take it up with Jaguar.

As an aside, they list your XKR at 3968 lbs. Maybe the "real" weight for your car is closer to 4400lbs? For someone so weight obsessed, you're not exactly practicing what you preach

 

Actually, I do not own an XKR. But, just to see what it actually weights, here is the link to the official test:

2010 Jaguar XKR – Instrumented Test – Car and Driver

However, I did own 2 XKs before purchasing my present XJL and XF. I did not buy any of my Jaguars to be the fastest car on the road, as they are heavy GTs, vs. dedicated sports cars. The F-type IS a dedicated sports car and with its aluminum construction it has no business weighting as much as a much larger XJ.

As a very long time track-racer, of course I was always obsessed with weight. A car that weights 100 lbs more on a race track will never win.

With my past and present performance cars I was/am still obsessed with weight which is one of the reasons my 500 HP RX-7 only weights 2600 lbs, which makes it nearly unbeatable by most present day performance cars.

I have fought my weight battles in kayak-racing products where the manufacturers almost ALWAYS lied about the "actual" weights of their boats. Finally, when I got tired of bitching about their lying, I designed and built my own light weight racer and have been unbeaten in it for over 5 years by even the very top young racers using those heavier factory racing boats. Oh, yeah, weight counts...

Albert

 

it is what it is. If the weight of the F Type troubles you I can only advise you not to buy one. Those of us who did quite like them, though.

 

The new 2015 Z06 is looking pretty good. I don't know if I can get my head around a Corvette though. A corvette, holy crap...

 

Chevrolet had a C7 at the motor show in San Jose last month. I have to say it looked incredible. I personally think the design is stunning, just as the F Type design is stunning. The interior on the C7 looked great to me although I think the F is better, just as it should be. GM has hit a home run here. The price to performance ratio is off the charts. With that said, I obviously preferred the F. For me, it's the better car but it's hard to argue against the C7. Best vette and best car from GM period.

 

I know what you mean. I was never really attracted to Corvettes but it is hard not to be impressed with the Stingray. I would like to see the ZO6 differentiated more from the base model. It will have exotic levels of performance and it should look more exotic, as well. The old ZO6 looked the same as the Grand Sport with its standard performance.

Albert

Edit: Z06 Picture from Chicago Show attached. Not bad looking....