The Mazda 3 I bought to replace the dying 135 is going to go to the better half in the spring when she finishes her degree.
I'm trying to think of something, that I don't have to modify, that I could the occasional HPDE and also be comfortable for a 10 day roadtrip. Coming out of OKC, there is alot of highway I could make good time with.
What would you buy next year that would fit those loose requirements?
No personal experience with them, but I've always thought the Grand Sport models seemed like the 'Goldilocks' car in the C7 lineup. All the suspension, brake, and tire you could ever want but none of the feeding/care or overheating issues of the supercharged cars.
You need a Z51 with all the track coolers or you need a grand sport.
Either car needs to have steel brakes obviously. You'll shoot yourself in the foot on the carbon disks with any track work.
I have a '16 Z51 M7. I daily it, mostly in the city. I have 16k miles on it.
My take on the levels of C7's available.
Stingray with Z51: 455HP. A ridiculous performance bargain. Get the coupe and you have LOTS of room in the back for luggage, dogs, whatever. Docile city car, cruses lazily at 80mph and gets 30mpg doing it. Want to pass something? Use 4th and enjoy the pull. Want to really pass? Use 3rd and scare both you and the car you are passing. If you have to have the A8, flush the torque converter 3 times. It's a chronic fail for the C7 and Chevy has never fixed it.
Grand Sport: 455HP but has the Z06 body, suspension & brakes.The best engine with the best suspension & brakes. If you like the "boy racer" body style, then it's the car to get. If you like less attention, the Stingray is the way to go.
Z06: 650HP. Too much power for anywhere. It's frustrating on the track and pointless on the street. For dick-waving only.
And yes, there is now the ZR1, but see Z06.
I've tracked the same car as mine at Ron Fellows racing. It was set on "race" setting but with some loose nannys. I had the best time throttle steering around the corners. Such an easy touch with so much tire and power!
Unless you are actually hampered by the amount of cargo space, the C7 is a "grand touring" auto in every sense. If you want me to help make sense of the option packages I'm happy to.
Just sayin', 2019 'vettes are glued to the ground now. If you might go for new, you've got the advantage. I know of a person that will negotiate a car purchase for you for a nominal fee. He's quite well known, but I'm still new at GRM and I don't want to do something dumb like advertising something or whatever!
Edit: Oh, forgot. Only been to the dealer for oil changes. Never a repair!
I must of missed it, or forgotten, what happened to the 135?!?
I fantasized about owing a Corvette my whole life. C7 has the same LT1 as in the Camaro (95% of the performance at at sometimes half price), but with less cooling capacity. After my horror show thread, you might be able to guess where I stand on this subject...
Cayman, Supra?
Snrub said:I must of missed it, or forgotten, what happened to the 135?!?
I fantasized about owing a Corvette my whole life. C7 has the same LT1 as in the Camaro (95% of the performance at at sometimes half price), but with less cooling capacity. After my horror show thread, you might be able to guess where I stand on this subject...
Cayman, Supra?
Rod knock with less than 34k miles. Bone stock, never tracked, etc.
I was dead set in a "Zupra" next year, but I've been soured on that.
Shadeux said:I have a '16 Z51 M7. I daily it, mostly in the city. I have 16k miles on it.
My take on the levels of C7's available.
Stingray with Z51: 455HP. A ridiculous performance bargain. Get the coupe and you have LOTS of room in the back for luggage, dogs, whatever. Docile city car, cruses lazily at 80mph and gets 30mpg doing it. Want to pass something? Use 4th and enjoy the pull. Want to really pass? Use 3rd and scare both you and the car you are passing. If you have to have the A8, flush the torque converter 3 times. It's a chronic fail for the C7 and Chevy has never fixed it.
Grand Sport: 455HP but has the Z06 body, suspension & brakes.The best engine with the best suspension & brakes. If you like the "boy racer" body style, then it's the car to get. If you like less attention, the Stingray is the way to go.
Z06: 650HP. Too much power for anywhere. It's frustrating on the track and pointless on the street. For dick-waving only.
And yes, there is now the ZR1, but see Z06.
I've tracked the same car as mine at Ron Fellows racing. It was set on "race" setting but with some loose nannys. I had the best time throttle steering around the corners. Such an easy touch with so much tire and power!
Unless you are actually hampered by the amount of cargo space, the C7 is a "grand touring" auto in every sense. If you want me to help make sense of the option packages I'm happy to.
Just sayin', 2019 'vettes are glued to the ground now. If you might go for new, you've got the advantage. I know of a person that will negotiate a car purchase for you for a nominal fee. He's quite well known, but I'm still new at GRM and I don't want to do something dumb like advertising something or whatever!
Edit: Oh, forgot. Only been to the dealer for oil changes. Never a repair!
Excellent! This is exactly the kind of post I was looking for!
z31maniac said:Rod knock with less than 34k miles. Bone stock, never tracked, etc.
I was dead set in a "Zupra" next year, but I've been soured on that.
That's awful, sorry to hear that. Car-part shows replacement engines in the ~$4k range. Any reason not to hope it was a one off engine and try again? For a while I remember you making some very favorable comments about the 135i. Friend of mine found metallic bits in the oil of the N55 in his 335i and sold it (I wouldn't do that). Is it a common problem? Presumably you soured on the Supra is due to the BMW origin?
I had a c7 auto convertible for a week as a rental and was really impressed. I put 600 plus miles on it and it was very nice, fast, and comfortable. I wouldn’t mind having a coupe as a dd.
Snrub said:z31maniac said:Rod knock with less than 34k miles. Bone stock, never tracked, etc.
I was dead set in a "Zupra" next year, but I've been soured on that.
That's awful, sorry to hear that. Car-part shows replacement engines in the ~$4k range. Any reason not to hope it was a one off engine and try again? For a while I remember you making some very favorable comments about the 135i. Friend of mine found metallic bits in the oil of the N55 in his 335i and sold it (I wouldn't do that). Is it a common problem? Presumably you soured on the Supra is due to the BMW origin?
Since it was my only car and I don't have the tools anymore, I would have had to let my Indy shop take care of it. He said it would be about $6k all in, I couldn't justify putting that much money into the car.
Yes, I really liked the car drove great, super quick, tq everywhere.
My mechanic said it's unusual but it's not the first time he's seen an N55 eat bearings with that little mileage. He said the N55 was more reliable in basically every way than the N54, except the rod bearings. Just bad luck for me.
The only negative I can see on the C7 is tire cost, but I drive so little I don't think it would be a big deal. I had only put 1200 miles on the 135 from December to a few weeks ago when I traded it in.
Cotton said:I had a c7 auto convertible for a week as a rental and was really impressed. I put 600 plus miles on it and it was very nice, fast, and comfortable. I wouldn’t mind having a coupe as a dd.
Good to hear more positive comments, from what I've read the C7 really took a big step up with the interior.
The C7 used to be so ugly to me in the beginning but they've grown on me. Especially in certain colors.
I agree on the colors. With the black trim accents, it ready pops in white. And I hate white cars.
In reply to z31maniac :
Big step up in design and materials, unless you were a fan of the plastic fantastic GM parts bin feeling stuff in previous gens.
My biggest disappointment with the C7 is how slowly they seem to be depreciating. 
Appleseed said:I agree on the colors. With the black trim accents, it ready pops in white. And I hate white cars.
White is typically my favorite color for all cars, and I agree the C7 looks awesome in white.
Shadeux, wouldn't be going new. I'll let someone else take the depreciation hit this time. Just a quick glance around town there are plenty of low mile cars available. And as always, I'd be willing to travel for the right car (I drove from OKC to Indianapolis for the 135).
But who knows, I may change my mind by the time spring rolls around. But the C7 does seem to tick all the boxes.
spacecadet said:You need a Z51 with all the track coolers or you need a grand sport.
Either car needs to have steel brakes obviously. You'll shoot yourself in the foot on the carbon disks with any track work.
Just out of curiosity, what's the problem with the carbon brakes? I know they are hideously expensive, but other than that I don't know much about them.
In reply to z31maniac :
I nuked a pothole and started to see tire wear. When it was getting bad I took it to a Chevy dealer. They noted the other front tire had wear also. I said "fix it, whatever," gritting my teeth. Next day? Out the door bill, two new tires + alignment = $756.00. I think the days of the 1k tires are gone for a Stingray. Yes they were run flats.
In reply to Shadeux :
That is remarkably not bad, even before considering that they were runflats, and done at a dealer. Probably around $300 each mounted and balanced, or what the indie chain I used to work for was charging for the Gatorbacks on a late 90s Mustang, in the early 00s.
I find the interior comments amusing, because it's the same thing everyone was saying when the C5 came out. Finally the Corvette has a decent interior! How expectations change.
In reply to z31maniac :
Smart man. I would have not gone for new, but my wife wanted new, plus it was her money, so... Anyway, you want to look for a "2LT" level car. If you want fancier interior, get a "3LT." The Z51 package makes the car totally track ready. I don't have the magnetic ride shocks. I find the ride to be pretty smooth and I keep it on the hardest setting. I have heated/cooled seats which since I'm in Florida the cool seat thingy is awesome!
We drove 400 miles to a dealer in SC for this car. I'd fly across the country for the right car. Epic road trip coming back!
In reply to Knurled. :
HAhaha! I appreciate a nice interior, but I really care about what the car does more. I find the C7 interior to be most acceptable. In fact, I know quite a few C7 owners, and all they want to do is bling-out the engine and body. Can't think of an interior comment from them, good or bad!
(We do have this really nice couple that traded their C7 for a 2019 SS Camaro. The owner was geeking-out about how he had 16 colors to choose from to light the interior. Some of us started to back away slowly....)
Definitely a +1 in the vette
especially over another German time bomb
Shadeux said:In reply to z31maniac :
Smart man. I would have not gone for new, but my wife wanted new, plus it was her money, so... Anyway, you want to look for a "2LT" level car. If you want fancier interior, get a "3LT." The Z51 package makes the car totally track ready. I don't have the magnetic ride shocks. I find the ride to be pretty smooth and I keep it on the hardest setting. I have heated/cooled seats which since I'm in Florida the cool seat thingy is awesome!
We drove 400 miles to a dealer in SC for this car. I'd fly across the country for the right car. Epic road trip coming back!
The main thing is the better stereo. I'm not 16 anymore and don't want to bother with upgrading the sound. The HK setup in the 135 was fantastic.
z31maniac said:Shadeux said:In reply to z31maniac :
Smart man. I would have not gone for new, but my wife wanted new, plus it was her money, so... Anyway, you want to look for a "2LT" level car. If you want fancier interior, get a "3LT." The Z51 package makes the car totally track ready. I don't have the magnetic ride shocks. I find the ride to be pretty smooth and I keep it on the hardest setting. I have heated/cooled seats which since I'm in Florida the cool seat thingy is awesome!
We drove 400 miles to a dealer in SC for this car. I'd fly across the country for the right car. Epic road trip coming back!
The main thing is the better stereo. I'm not 16 anymore and don't want to bother with upgrading the sound. The HK setup in the 135 was fantastic.
You've got me there. I turned on the radio once when I bought it. Even driving for hours on the interstate all I want to hear is that engine.
Shadeux said:z31maniac said:Shadeux said:In reply to z31maniac :
Smart man. I would have not gone for new, but my wife wanted new, plus it was her money, so... Anyway, you want to look for a "2LT" level car. If you want fancier interior, get a "3LT." The Z51 package makes the car totally track ready. I don't have the magnetic ride shocks. I find the ride to be pretty smooth and I keep it on the hardest setting. I have heated/cooled seats which since I'm in Florida the cool seat thingy is awesome!
We drove 400 miles to a dealer in SC for this car. I'd fly across the country for the right car. Epic road trip coming back!
The main thing is the better stereo. I'm not 16 anymore and don't want to bother with upgrading the sound. The HK setup in the 135 was fantastic.
You've got me there. I turned on the radio once when I bought it. Even driving for hours on the interstate all I want to hear is that engine.
I agree, but I know my better half would like to listen to some music at some point on a road trip. :)
Make sure to take an auto C7 for a spin. The 8-speed auto is a honey of a transmission.
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