As I previously said - C8's grace is in function. Yes, it is ugly, but what it can do on track at that price point makes up for that.

I think you are mistaken.
Dropping $250K on a Ferrari or Lambo only to get smoked by a $67K Chevy will sting. Value of these supercars is only partially about exclusivity, it is also a lot about the best money could buy. I am not talking here about Flying Spur or Phantom , I am talking about Gallardo or 812 Superfast.

Are you familiar with "sleeper" culture? Sleeper is a highly modified performance car that is made to look like a mundane non-performance car. The whole point of these is to challenge supercars to street races and then film blowing the doors off them. This works because a) supercar owners generally mind getting smoked by plebmobiles b) plebs love watching supercards smoked this way, because it isn't obvious that mods on a sleeper car could approach in cost the value of supercar - so false narrative of underdog winning over a stupid rich guy that wasted his money can be presented.

Re: Tesla. First, Tesla S is still $100K+ car, so it isn't insulting to getting smoked by one as it is in the same category of rather exclusive cars. Second, Tesla S can do this "smoking" in a very narrow range of circumstances - fully charged battery, battery is cold and so on. It won't smoke your Labo at the stoplight in most circumstances. Also, Tesla is entirely incapable of competing in morotsports - it very quickly goes into thermal protection mode and its performance drops to nothing.

 

Car people also know that electric motors are capable of tire shredding torque. It's not apples to apples when gas vs. electric cars do the drag strip.

 

Ok. Fair enough. Ugly but fast. That I agree. As I said this was always the Corvette's appeal. Cheap performance.

But the buyers of real supercars don't buy only for the performance. I really don't think any Aston buyer cares much if their car is not the fastest. Or Aston would never sell anything. Ferrari is Ferrari. Nothing else matches the pedigree out there. So I don't think they will care either. Besides we have had a cheap supercar slayer for ages now. It's called a Nissan GTR. That's nothing new. Eats Lambos for lunch on a daily basis. Yet Lambos still sell well. To the point Lamborghini has to put an artificial limit on the sales to maintain some exclusivity. Nobody who can afford a Lambo really buys a GTR instead because it may be faster.

And I used to think the GTR was ugly and classless. But the C8 makes the GTR look like a beauty.

GTR is also ICE and not electric. So perfectly apples to apples.

 

No there are many other compelling reasons besides attainable performance.
The same manufacturing and engineering efficiency that makes performance affordable also makes reliability possible.
So it becomes one of the few sports cars that you can drive anywhere in the country and drive x-country.
You could drive from one corvette club to the other across the country and never have to buy a drink.
Then there is national pride, and rightfully so, not unlike the Italian Tifosi who live and breathe Ferrari- but guess how many of them have even touched a Ferrari.
So if it was up to Ferrari none of us would even know what a sports car is like. Corvette represents what America and American dream stands for- its not the privilege off old money or dad's money.
That's why its "little red corvette" and not little grey nissan.

One of the easiest ways to tell if one has the right perspective is to see if the uninitiated (ie, the un-brainwashed) share the same view. How many women could you get to own a maxima on steroids, not even the Asian ladyboys!

 

Oh I forgot but my eye for cars also had me buy in my youth a Damiler SP250 Talk about beauty in an ugly sense well it got the votes for it when it was introduced in the UK as the club racer chase car. Oh mine was , you guessed it , Red.

 

I happened to be watching the Mecum auction yesterday where they had a 2017 Ferrari 488 on the block. It went for $250K and you could easily see how GM designed the C8. My bet if viewed by a novice from the side next to a C8 they would have a hard time saying what it was. Then in came a 67 Jaguar XK-E coupe in 100% restored condition and it went for $30K. Enjoy what you like.

 

I said this 8 years ago. Chevrolet made some incredible decisions a decade ago that got it here. If you recall we were in a crisis. Even Ford bet the bank on V6 with turbos, and ditched push rods.
Chevy went the opposite direction as if they could see the future no one else could, doubled down on pushrods and went to 6.2.
There is a lot that went into that C8. I admire things that can adhere to their values and prove themselves.

You can see Jaguar struggling with this right now- the thing that put them back on the map was the 5l v8 used across the board, and it was modular, you could have V6 or V4 from same engine.
Now they are betting the farm on inline 6, in a move that seems like a capitulation. A mid engine isnt going to be possible with inline 6, unless they bolt 2 of them together like Ferrari? But is a 12cyl engine in the best interest of a company that needs reliability above all?

 

This creation is years ahead of any Jaguar on the market today. Kudos to Chevrolet:

 

In a perfect world, a German company would buy Jaguar similar to BMW-RR and VW-Bentley.

 

Hopefully the new design will have a trunk big enough for a golf bag,...or two
Until then, I'll be shopping for an XKR coupe.

 

Trunk holds 2 golf bags and the front trunk holds additional luggage. I just read an article about an aftermarket tuner who is doing upgrades expecting to do a 700HP version and a twin turbo 1200HP version. Also aftermarket boys are gearing up for various accessories. 1st cars build start around 1st week of Feb. I suspect the 495HP could be easily bumped up another 50HP with a simple tune. Gonna be interesting.

 

You left out the other disasters, BMW-Mini and Range Rover with the BMW 4.4.
Tata is wealthier than the German car industry, giants in everything from steel to software and amazingly let Jaguar be Jaguar. Never insisting JLR use steel.
Its a crying shame RR is not allowed to develop its own engines.

 

When I saw the C-8 at the L.A. Auto Show several weeks ago, I must say I didn't like its looks. I think maybe it was more related to the fact that they had displayed a white car under a huge fluorescent fixture so that it looked lavender. It did not show well. I do like the blue car that DGL has shown in his previous post. And I am impressed with the Corvette's spectacular performance parameters especially at the price. But I've always admired cars that were sleek, sensuous, Jaguaresque, and JAGTOES, I really liked your choices in red sports cars which should be the color of any real and Italian sports car. As many of you know, I'm guilty of a similar vice...

 

Is that your Pantera in the picture, Ted? Looks like a lot of fun. Beautiful condition.

 

The after market mod options will be huge. You'll be able to have it anyway you want it.

 

So I just did the while 'build & price' thing on Chevy's website. Jesus... you can basically get a brand new 500HP supercar for ~$65K. Even the base model has everything you would need. The C8 is a game changer indeed.

 

Now this is a car I wish I could afford to have in the garage (the Jaguar Eagle Speedster):

 

Hi Glen,
Yeah, that's my Pantera, just after I got it back last year from 4 years of modding and restoring. Still a few kinks to iron out, but I've driven it more on weekends since getting it back than I did in the five years previous to the restoration combined. Look, it doesn't have the smoothness and agility of my XKR, but provides an exciting, thrilling feeling being so low to the ground, and it is so loud with that deep Ford V8 growl. And when I take it out, normally very early Sunday mornings and there's no traffic, rowing through the 5 speed is kind of fun. Next time you're out here, you'll take it for a spin.End of next month I should be getting my '68 Pontiac GTO back from restoration. That is my favorite car of all time!

 

Our Range Rover had that BMW engine and I wasn't fan. Started leaking from cam covers a bit too early and it would warm up faster than any engine I have seen. One radiator or water pump issue and you're done in no time!

 

My order sheet came out at $84K . LT2 version with Z51 package and the extra $7.5 K for the convertible.