2014 C7 Corvette from Car and Driver

[Rob]

So below is an artist's depiction of the 2014 C7 Corvette that is in the current issue of Car and Driver magazine being shipped to subscribers right now.

What do you think?

 

[Huskerman]

I like it. It is a continuation of what the C5 started and the C6 continued. If it ain't broke don't fix it......C&D is saying all the body panels will be carbon fiber which is cool. 8A or 7M.....same rear tranny configuration. Splendor interior of course with new cool seats and Michilins will replace the Goodyears finally........I think its going to be real impresive with the LT1 power...........oh yeah, the taillights are not round....:ugh

 

[LLC5]

The front of it looks good, like a Ferrari. Still not a fan of the Camaro styled tail lights that Car and Driver showed in the magazine.

 

[catbert]

We'll see when the real deal leaks.

 

[GRANDSPORT]

We'll see when the real deal leaks.

You may be looking at it.....

 

[warren s]

The fender cove reminds me of the GT-R
License plate on the front is going to look real out of place.

 

[F4Gary]

Viper front, GTR side, and Camaro rear.....according to the rendering.

 

[67vet]

Overall, I like it.

The fuel door looks goofy. It will not be easy to hold the nozzle in that position.

I hope the dimple above the splitter is a curb sensor.
1-13-13

 

[hotrodbob]

It's great except the Camaro tail lights!

 

[Dadman1950]

Like the front in the pictures but I'm waiting to see the actual car before I vote!:confused

 

[1analguy]

It's so bad that I'm not even noticing the Camaro taillights. And, if even the base model is going to be stuck with that ugly, zoomy hood lump, then it should at least have a supercharger as an excuse. Sorry to come off so sour on this car, but in view of the pleasantly aggressive elegance of the C6, I was hoping that GM styling had finally turned a corner, grown up, and developed a more refined aesthetic regarding Corvette styling. I hoped they would merely extend and massage the C6 design language for the C7. Instead, they've reverted to the junior-high grade aesthetic of "the-more-the-merrier" regarding edges, angles, scoops, vents, bumps, etc., that they embraced back on the C2s and C3s. Those excesses can be forgiven because they were a product of their times, but we're supposed to know better than that now. When I was 13, I would have been over the moon on this car. Maybe I just got old, but I think that what I really got was "taste"...and this car just ain't to mine. It looks like they hired Anime artists to design it for them. I think I'm going to throw up...

 

[Dadman1950]

It's so bad that I'm not even noticing the Camaro taillights. And, if even the base model is going to be stuck with that ugly, zoomy hood lump, then it should at least have a supercharger as an excuse. Sorry to come off so sour on this car, but in view of the pleasantly aggressive elegance of the C6, I was hoping that GM styling had finally turned a corner, grown up, and developed a more refined esthetic regarding Corvette styling. I hoped they would merely extend and massage the C6 design language for the C7. Instead, they've reverted to the junior-high grade esthetic of "the-more-the-merrier" regarding edges, angles, scoops, vents, bumps, etc., that they embraced back on the C2s and C3s. Those excesses can be forgiven because they were a product of their times, but we're supposed to know better than that now. When I was 13, I would have been over the moon on this car. Maybe I just got old, but I think that what I really got was "taste"...and this car just ain't to mine. It looks like they hired Anime artists to design it for them. I think I'm going to throw up...

hnoes OMG I was just getting ready to post that the design is so good that I'm not even noticing the Camaro tail lights! Then I read analguy's post and I'm feelin' kinda confused! :confused I too am retired and up until now i always thought I had good taste (if at times it tended a little to the the extreme) :eyerole. I outgrew my Trans Ams with the Birds on the hood but never stooped to the poor taste of the black and gold Bandit edition. Owned a lot of Porsches, not sure that says anything about taste and also a lot of Corvettes. Never owned a C3 but owned the C4 C5 and C6. Always wanted a C2 67'427/435 and I always thought it was beautiful. Classy and tasteful. Think overall the C5FRC is the best looking Vette of all time - that probably says something about my taste. But after seeing the C&D rendition of the C7 I thought immediately of the 67. Not sure why, maybe the angles, but I think it is great looking (except for the rear) and I think I could get past that. Of course I still need to try and use good judgement and not leap in too soon. But I'm getting closer if the C&D rendition is anything like the real car. But now I am questioning my taste!:duh God, I'm 62 and to think that in all those years when I thought my taste was improving analguy has made me "see the light". :BOW I'm calling my analyst for an appointment! But one last thought for analguy - "Did you ever wonder if this is as good as it gets???"

 

[67vet]

Good question Dadman - "Did you ever wonder if this is as good as it gets???"

Because if they could do better - why don't they?

 

[catbert]

It's hard for me to emotionally involved with an artists concept. I just don't see the hard/fast opinions, one way or another. I figure that we will have seven years to bitch about the design if it is truly bad - after the middle of January. I don't need a head start on a seven year trip.

 

[1analguy]

My "terrible" is someone else's "terrific"...I get that. I'm not trying to convert anybody here, I'm just sharing my impressions of the currently proffered C7 renderings. If you love what you've seen, I'm happy for you. There's no right or wrong here...it's completely subjective. All I'm saying is that, so far, I'm disgusted by what I've seen. To me, the C4 and C6 seem to be the only Corvettes that have been designed by adults for adults...and this rendering of the C7 is just a tragic back-slide to those zoomy, glitzy fan-boy designs of the 60s and 70s. By the way, my first Corvette was a '70 LT-1 coupe and I loved the way it looked, but I was only 21 at the time. By the time the C4 came out I had lost all of my enthusiasm for the C3s, and had never really cared for the C2s to begin with. In the last ten or so years I've come to appreciate both the C2s and C3s for their historical significance, but this is still tempered by the knowledge that they were poorer cars because of their styling. Zora himself once said, when commenting on the C2's racing performance, that it was really just a "bad airplane". The body design produced so much aerodynamic lift at high speed that it could barely be controlled. Fortunately, it also produced so much aerodynamic drag that it couldn't quite go fast enough to completely lose control. The C3s were better, but not by much. Both designs were the result of purely cosmetic considerations. This C7 just smacks of that same design attitude, though I'm sure it performs quite well in the wind tunnel. The engineers wouldn't allow the stylists to take over again so completely, would they?

Say, the OP was asking "what do you think?"...have I overdone it again?

 

[Dadman1950]

My "terrible" is someone else's "terrific"...I get that. I'm not trying to convert anybody here, I'm just sharing my impressions of the currently proffered C7 renderings. If you love what you've seen, I'm happy for you. There's no right or wrong here...it's completely subjective. All I'm saying is that, so far, I'm disgusted by what I've seen. To me, the C4 and C6 seem to be the only Corvettes that have been designed by adults for adults...and this rendering of the C7 is just a tragic back-slide to those zoomy, glitzy fan-boy designs of the 60s and 70s. By the way, my first Corvette was a '70 LT-1 coupe and I loved the way it looked, but I was only 21 at the time. By the time the C4 came out I had lost all of my enthusiasm for the C3s, and had never really cared for the C2s to begin with. In the last ten or so years I've come to appreciate both the C2s and C3s for their historical significance, but this is still tempered by the knowledge that they were poorer cars because of their styling. Zora himself once said, when commenting on the C2's racing performance, that it was really just a "bad airplane". The body design produced so much aerodynamic lift at high speed that it could barely be controlled. Fortunately, it also produced so much aerodynamic drag that it couldn't quite go fast enough to completely lose control. The C3s were better, but not by much. Both designs were the result of purely cosmetic considerations. This C7 just smacks of that same design attitude, though I'm sure it performs quite well in the wind tunnel. The engineers wouldn't allow the stylists to take over again so completely, would they?

Say, the OP was asking "what do you think?"...have I overdone it again?

I understand what you are saying and my comment was not to criticize what you said, just taking your comment and adapting it to my impressions! This is a forum so I don't think anyone should take comments too seriously unless they were malicious. Besides maybe if I had not posted my comment based on your comment you may not have posted your comment above which is both interesting and enlightening.

You seriously never liked the C2 ????????? Not even the 67 427 ????? :duh

 

[1analguy]

Actually, I kind of thought the road racing versions of the C2 looked really wicked (flared fenders, wide tires, etc.)...so much so that in the mid 80s I bought a modded-out, screwed-up '67 roadster with the notion of resto-modding it myself. When I finally got the body separated from the frame, I found that the build order on the top of the gas tank told a sad story...both for the car itself and my project with it. It turned out that it had originally been an L68 400hp tri-power car. Insult-to-injury, they actually produced far fewer of the 400hp tri-powers than they did even the rare 435hp cars, so it was ultra-rare. Having done a mild restoration on my '70 LT-1 (and not really enjoying that process), I purposely did not want to do a restoration. I had specifically wanted a car that meant nothing to anyone else so I could just hot rod it and have some fun. I had searched for over two years and looked at dozens of cars to find the right one. My only other requirement had been that it have a nice, solid, relatively rust-free frame. The pickings were slim and I was fortunate to find exactly what I was looking for, or so I thought. When I discovered what it really was, there was just no way that I was going to be responsible for permanently destroying an L68, so I halted my project and sold the car to a guy in my area who was a wizard at restoring old Chevys. Ultimately, he did an amazing job on it, but it had been so far gone from stock and thus took so much out of him that he never restored another car. He sold it to a collector who occasionally displays it at area car shows. It's now the awesome original Marlboro Maroon with black top and interior...

So, that's as close as I ever got to C2 ownership. As I said, I do respect their historical significance very much, and whenever I see a really clean example, I'm always in awe of the work and dedication that it takes for a car like that to even exist at this point in time...

 

[LT4CE]

My "terrible" is someone else's "terrific"...I get that. I'm not trying to convert anybody here, I'm just sharing my impressions of the currently proffered C7 renderings. If you love what you've seen, I'm happy for you. There's no right or wrong here...it's completely subjective. All I'm saying is that, so far, I'm disgusted by what I've seen. To me, the C4 and C6 seem to be the only Corvettes that have been designed by adults for adults...and this rendering of the C7 is just a tragic back-slide to those zoomy, glitzy fan-boy designs of the 60s and 70s. By the way, my first Corvette was a '70 LT-1 coupe and I loved the way it looked, but I was only 21 at the time. By the time the C4 came out I had lost all of my enthusiasm for the C3s, and had never really cared for the C2s to begin with. In the last ten or so years I've come to appreciate both the C2s and C3s for their historical significance, but this is still tempered by the knowledge that they were poorer cars because of their styling. Zora himself once said, when commenting on the C2's racing performance, that it was really just a "bad airplane". The body design produced so much aerodynamic lift at high speed that it could barely be controlled. Fortunately, it also produced so much aerodynamic drag that it couldn't quite go fast enough to completely lose control. The C3s were better, but not by much. Both designs were the result of purely cosmetic considerations. This C7 just smacks of that same design attitude, though I'm sure it performs quite well in the wind tunnel. The engineers wouldn't allow the stylists to take over again so completely, would they?

Say, the OP was asking "what do you think?"...have I overdone it again?

I love this post! I particularly like where you said "the C4 and C6 seem to be the only Corvettes that have been designed by adults for adults..." It could not be possible for me to agree more!

I am just hoping to gawd that all these "renderings" we're seeing are not accurate. Because if they are, Corvette may no longer be special. Cadillac is probably out front for Chevrolet, now. Or, gawd forbid, the Camaro. A nice enough looking car, but still. :nono Even the C7 logo smacks of Cadillac. Nothing against Cadillac, if that sharp angle concept is the direction it's going... that's fine for Cadillac. I guess this co-mingling of Corvette and other Chevy brands all started when they put Corvette motors in Cadillacs.

btw, how long until we see Camaro tailights on a Caddy? :eek

 

[Dadman1950]

I love this post! I particularly like where you said "the C4 and C6 seem to be the only Corvettes that have been designed by adults for adults..." It could not be possible for me to agree more!

I am just hoping to gawd that all these "renderings" we're seeing are not accurate. Because if they are, Corvette may no longer be special. Cadillac is probably out front for Chevrolet, now. Or, gawd forbid, the Camaro. A nice enough looking car, but still. :nono Even the C7 logo smacks of Cadillac. Nothing against Cadillac, if that sharp angle concept is the direction it's going... that's fine for Cadillac. I guess this co-mingling of Corvette and other Chevy brands all started when they put Corvette motors in Cadillacs.

btw, how long until we see Camaro tailights on a Caddy? :eek

Everyone has their own perspective and taste, however questionable, but how can you leave out the C5 Corvette which IMHO is the most beautiful Corvettes of all time! Have you forgotten that the 1999 C5 was chosen as the Best Engineered Car of the 20th Century? In addition to the "engineering" the lines of the C5 are clean and flowing. Is there any car more pleasing to the eye than the C5 Z06? I'm not just saying this because I own a C5 because I also own a C6 and C4. I too have some concerns over the renderings but I beieve when we see the car most of us will love it. Does anyone remember all the negativity about the C6 when it came out and also about the C5. I am confident that after the C7 is out for a while most of the negative comments will go away except from those that are habitually adverse to change or just like to complain.

 

[steveb01z06]

To me, the biggest thing about this car is technical: all-carbon fiber body is major and they also say that the frame will be aluminum. It makes me wonder how they will do any further lightening in the future. Poly-carbonate windows is a possibility, and I personally am hoping for ditching some of the convenience and comfort equipment that people have become so dependent on. I'm not holding my breath on that.

As for the styling, let's face it, there are only so many original ideas for styling a 4 wheeled vehicle. I like Porsches, but if they had never been invented and somebody were to come out with a 911 today, people would hate it.

I have been ambivalent on Corvette styling for some time. Fortunately for me, styling is the least important aspect of vehicle design, and with the thousands of cars already on the road, differentiating an individual car by style is getting harder and harder.

The thing that surprises me a little is where are the comments on electric steering? I had assumed that the reason for the switch from hydraulic was weight and complexity but reading up on the subject shows that the primary reason is fuel economy with that change being worth 1 mpg by eliminating the power steering pump. The thing about the electric powered rack, I can't remember a single car test raving about the change, and usually the opposite. Steering feel is probably the single most important item in the driving experience, so I hope they got it right.