Just saw a brand new Aston Martin Vantage on the road this morning. Very pretty, but I think you've chosen wisely. The drive back south must be very pretty this time of year, what with the huge snow pack just to the west.
Just saw a brand new Aston Martin Vantage on the road this morning. Very pretty, but I think you've chosen wisely. The drive back south must be very pretty this time of year, what with the huge snow pack just to the west.
In reply to wearymicrobe :
Congrats! Are you taking 395 south? Should be a nice drive this time of year.
I am on the 385 and the roads and secenery are drop dead gorgeous.
So 300 miles into my 600 mile drive and I am pretty much in love with this thing. It's an American Ferrari 458. That is the only thing I can compare it to. I want a Z06 but this does everything I need and then some. The power is fantastic but the motor is weirdly non descript. On track mode with the sports exhaust opened up though the thing comes alive. I cannot find the exhaust open button I am sure I can do it in the custom z mode programming though.
The digital rear view mirror is weird as I have to change my focus point, the brake pedal is a bit to high and back from the throttle I cannot see the ac buttons with the top off. Everything else is fantastic so far. If this is the new GM then they hit it out of the park.
The real surprise was the ride comfort and the stereo. The stereo puts any other two seat car I have ever driven to shame. The ride is astonishing even on freeways cut for rain and with rough surfaces. Again I don't have anything to really compare it to. It makes the R8 adaptive suspension feel 15 years older then it is.
wearymicrobe said:It's an American Ferrari 458
That's EXACTLY what I said, having driven my buddy's 458. I hated the digital mirror (wait until a sunny day, you can't see anything) and the rear visibility in general, there was quite a bit of tire noise, but everything else was fantastic. Suspension is amazing for everything from highway cruising to sport driving. I expected to hate the e-brakes but I loved them. Steering A+. Interior solid A. They're magnificent cars.
Almost ten hours in the car with just a stop for lunch and no back pain, no headache. That's a success. Plus it did fit in the garage.
Need sleep and the car needs a complete detail from all the ice on the road that splashed everywhere.
Ferrari 458 was GM's benchmark car for C8, meaning GM literally bought a 458 to match or exceed its performance and feel.
Well done!
Ok so I am going to put some words down here not that anybody really needs another review of a C8 but after driving it now 700 miles I just want to jot my notes down.
So first value especially in the used market. I paid 78,000 even for the car, it had 8k miles . It came with the 100k drivetrain warranty and two years left on the bumper to bumper because it is certified. The car has a MSRP of ~90,000 and sold originally for 139,000 due to market forces. This makes it the cheapest certified 3LT/Z51 I think that has been sold that I am aware of. I only want to write up the comparisons for now. It is very hard to find something that does everything for sub 150K that the C8 does not at least enter the conversation.
Comparison to other cars
R8 Spyder
So this was the most serious alternative but at 135-140K it did not do anything better then this except the sound. Faster for sure but not in the real world. The service costs on my last one really put the damper on it as well. What really stopped it was the suspension. It really is very performance focused even in comfort mode. Much more street presence in the coupe but finding a good car that does not have modifications was harder then I expected. Almost every single properly spec'd car was black or a very boring silver. Lots of cars that looked good on paper but with some digging were used in rallies or owners I would not trust. Interior space is limited and the seats are uncomfortable in the full sport setup. Fantastic choice though if you want something you can actually daily drive and still have as a weekend car.
Vantage
I really liked this and at ~110K for a certified car it checks a lot of boxes, what really stopped me was the tech and the resale. Yes it is a Mercedes under the skin in some ways but it is two or more generations back and no apple carplay. Weird as it sounds the stereo was unacceptable and almost every single one I looked at had the sports seats and tons of suede. I hate taking care of suede and even at 7-10K miles on a lot of the used cars it had wear. Its hard not to see the value in a certified car at 110K when it was 190K properly spec'd but there are a lot of them out there for some reason at very cheap prices and nobody I know has held onto theirs. Nobody could put a finger on it why but most people traded out to a DB11 and then out of the brand. Also the change to the mesh grill was a stupid decision and half the dealers were swapping the old grill onto the used cars.
570GT
So yes I did look at these and the 600 yes they are a lot more money and they are no where near the build quality of even the C8. Also I cannot make this up the one that I was interested in broke on the test drive in two rather hilarious ways. Worst was getting in and out the seats and sills. There is not a dignified way to get in and out. Several friends have these and they love them but they are not used in bad weather and they are younger then me and have modified their cars to really make get them the way they wanted.
Mercedes GT
See the Vantage, actually a really good car and more GT then the C8. These make people really happy that I know. Every single one was sliver or black. The rare ones with good colors sell very quickly.
Mercedes SLS Coupe.
I looked everywhere for a clean higher mileage car that at a reasonable price but they are all gone, this is a collectors item now and not a driver. Tech is archaic insurance was 3x the cost of the R8 when I checked.
C7 Z06 / Z07
I really almost pulled the trigger on a 2015 Z07 yellow on black coupe, but its ~70K for a good automatic Z07 right now. The power in the car is overwhelming, you can put your foot down in any gear and it will break traction and fly. The suspension is really good for the age of the car, the tech is miles behind. In my mind it is my old ACR with a nicer interior and bit less power and a the rough edges sanded off. I would not hold it against anybody to pick the C7. Personal opinion is the Z06's are overpriced right now but finding a good one moving forward could be trouble. At 55-58K which they were at a while back they were the deal of the century if you wanted power and modability. Even at todays prices its hard not to buy one, throw a pulley, E85 and tune on it and go out an hunt supercars for 30% the price.
911 Turbo.
I did not seriously look at a 911 this time, I had a 997.2 Cab that was darn near perfect as a daily. But it never felt fun or exciting. It was just competent in every way never exceptional. I looked at a few 997.2 Turbo's but pricing is out of control and availability was low as well. If you want a car with 60K miles and some mod's they are out there. Again very boring color combo's but I did find a white on yacht blue interior PDK cab that fit the bill. It sold before I could really get my butt in gear. I knew if I did buy one I would have to get the updated infotainment from Porsche and have the car PPI'd and they were all private party. A GTS in the 991.2 really is the one to get but at 140K+ plus for a used well ]optioned car that I know will not have as much character as what I wanted I did not go that way.
Ferrari 458
I looked, I like the car but I am priced out on them currently. I don;t see any downside if you chose one but again talking with friends that have them the wear and tear that you see on the low mileage cars is hard to explain. Seats with bolsters that are cracked, leather that is in bad shape, misaligned panels here and there. Lovely car and fantastic value if bought right. The dealer around me really pushed me towards a 488 as those are not holding value as wlel and should see an upswing soon. If I was looking for a weekend only ar that is likely where I would have ended up. I can get groceries in a C8 you cannot do that even in La Jolla in a 488.
I was really excited with the release of the C8. Then the prices just sky-rocketed above MSRP. So, I quit paying attention.
Thanks to your thread I just looked and found many 2022 C8s under $80K ... interesting.
The sweet spot is the 2LT with or without the Z51 your call. The only option that I had as a must was the front lift and magnaride which almost all of them have optioned out.
Right now Chevy is pumping out a bunch of Z51 1LT coupes for sore reason with zero other options, allegedly its parts supply issues and the full leather cars and the ones with the red leather interiors are getting pushed to the back of production.
Fantastic purchase, and I think your "American 458" is bang on. I hope it brings years of happiness! Please keep us updated as you put miles and adventures on it.
I do wonder about the comfort vs. the Z06...from the one person I know with 15+ hours of highway/daily use on both, he actually really prefers the Z51. He said the Z06 is a bit too "race car for the street" from a daily/comfort perspective, which I guess is not surprising.
I am hoping to drive a Z06 in 2 weeks at a customer event. Will report back.
wearymicrobe said:La Jolla in a 488.
Wow, so close to my mom and her husband. He just retired or semi-retired from the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla.
My friends that instruct at SMMR's Vette school have all told me the C8 is the easiest car to drive fast they've ever driven.
I tease my wife that if she ever goes back to work (she's been on a sabbatical since 2021) that I could by some really cool cars (I make crap 3/4 ton of money) that I would then come to hate do to maintenance costs.......................good to see you got a Vette with 100K warranty.
C8 is gone.
I really wanted to love the car but man did it just piss me off in small little ways every single day in traffic. Ended up at dealership twice in the ownership period both times waiting for parts and service. Still in service and they bought it outright from me cost about 700$ a month and I put 3k miles on it to own it which I am a little cranky about but that's life.
I think if I had bought the convertible and a 2LT and no z51 it would have been a long term car to own the coupe just had a few to many things that bugged me
I sold five cars and four bikes almost 200k worth of stuff. The Ford GT that I lost when sold the ACR popped back up and made a cash offer on that pending inspection. But not holding my breath. If anybody knows on a black no stripe GT with some moles on it pass it on my way so I can cover my bases.
Sorry to hear about the experience with the C8. Guess I'll now stop looking at the rare white ones trying to guess if it is you driving it.
What went wrong with it? You make it sound like it was something either coupe or Z51 specific.
Which generation Ford GT? I saw a white "latest generation" GT one night recently and it broke my brain.
Piguin said:Sorry to hear about the experience with the C8. Guess I'll now stop looking at the rare white ones trying to guess if it is you driving it.
What went wrong with it? You make it sound like it was something either coupe or Z51 specific.
So I really love a convertible and thought the removable top would be sufficient. It cavitates horribly inside the cabin and stereo is completely blown out. Plus you loose all your rear trunk space with the roof.
The Z51 is the right thing for people who are going to track the car. On the street it's not the best, the brakes squeal constantly, the ride quality is OK when you are pushing the car but in traffic it shudders and on sipped cut roads it is seriously loud. Track mode is fantastic on smooth roads on anything that has ripples the car is too stiff and will stepout, which causes it to pull power and protect the driver.
The motor is also weird, it revs like nothing I have ever had short of a F20C, swap gears and it just jumps in a blink to where it needs to be. But there is never a reason to really rev it out, power is everywhere and it has very little character.
The big one was the small little bugs, the E diff shutting off on long drives, little warning messages here and there. The stereo not turning on when you get in the car, the doors that constantly lock on you in a parking lot at very slow speed, the seatbelts hitting the seats and making noise, the seats having too much bolster in the rear but not enough on the side even in the GT2 seat option. The passenger seat being very tight for my wife. I have been puled over three times in five months, no tickets but I have not been pulled over for 15 years before this car. No tickets of course as I drive like a old man on the street.
The funny thing is the car gets more attention then my Viper did. People just love corvettes it seems and the white and red drew all sorts of eyes. Would come back to people sitting on the car, people trying to race lots of weird interactions. With the Viper I got left alone or asked real questions by people who knew what it is. Lastly it was not worth the money, I am a GRM sot of guy and was I having 1500$ a month in fun with the car, not a chance. Would I rather have the cash in a fun car that gives me more feeling and experience, yes.
Long and short the 2007 GT popped up and I had been moving cars around anyway that I was not using and I just pulled the trigger to get rid of it. Right now I just have the 1955 Thunderbird and the KTM 690 to commute with. My mother in law is hading over her old 1996 Civic to me to use until I get something back in the garage.
Good luck on the GT! Hopefully it's one you hang onto for a while.
medicprepper said:wearymicrobe said:dyintorace said:My buddy is still looking for a C2. Would it be possible to connect you with him?
Please. I just put it up on Corvette Forum last night and I have like 10 emails to answer this afternoon already on it. Priced it to low I think but will stand by the pricing I posted.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c1-and-c2-corvettes-for-sale-wanted/4722732-1964-corvette-coupe-4-speed-socal.html
Too bad I didn't see your ad in time, that's exactly the doll I was looking for.
I still have that car and it is for sale. I need someone with a GRM mindset to own it. Everyone who looked at it did have the skills to drive it or wanted a car they could revert to stock and flip.
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