2017 Corvette Mid Engine Car and Driver (Page 11/12)
hyperv6 OCT 08, 07:04 AM

quote
Originally posted by dobey:


I wouldn't be so sure. Even with all the heritage of the Vette, and having been around all the generations of the Vette my entire life, there are still times when I see a C7 and do a double-take because first glance it looked like a Ferrari.

That's not necessarily a bad thing though.



I agree there is a lot of Ferrari there but they left enough Corvette to make sure you would still know it is a Corvette. They will do the same on the next Camaro too.

The next gen has been stated to be as big of a change since the C2 with out giving details but I still expect a few hallmarks will be carried over but for sure the entire body shape will change not only to be different but to fit the lay out of a new drivetrain arraignment. Seeing that they may sell the Stingray and the C8 together for a few years I expect them to share a few details in a similar way like tail lamps etc. They would not be identical but both would carry a similar shape.
2.5 OCT 08, 08:22 AM

quote
Originally posted by hyperv6:


I think you miss the point that while remaining a Chevy the Corvette will for a few early years is looking at maybe doing two cars. The Corvette Stingray and the Corvette Zora. Chevy is looking to do both cars for a few years and then rotate over to the mid engine and do a cheaper version along with the high end car?

The one thing even if it is mid engine no one will mistake it for anything but a Corvette as it will have enough heritage to tell you what it is.




Yep I had mentioned that they might do two cars.
I just hope one day something ghastly with a big ol butt isnt the only choice.
CETICARS OCT 10, 10:50 AM
this mid engine idea will go into the Corvette ATTEMPT YARD with all the other versions ,i agree with collecting data from the race versions , the Covair & Fiero will always be mentioned because they were sold under the brand of GM ,with engine,s in the back ,neither were bad cars or ideas ,corporate greed to cut a corner was the bad decisions ,new fiero platform with chevy citation drive train moved to the rear. would the current transaxle work from the C7 or would it require a complete revamp to make sure the rear was not to long from the back of the door to the rear lights. GM still have to much OLD intervention to shut this project down ... the latest version is crossover = Ferrari style ,and it passed with flying colors ,the next step would be mid-engine ,with no option of a front engine version ...do it right and make the Corvette family love it. It,s time, can they, will they ,make the final hurdle into Super car status.


http://www.gt40s.com/forum/...ustom-transaxle.html

this transaxle is what,s required to move the axles closer to the back of the engine ,thus shortening the engine bay package ....axles forward all the gears moved back into the transaxle ,if this transmission/ transaxle design was supported more with a bolt on GM /Ford bell housing for $5-6000.00 it could be a game changer in more mid-engine applications

[This message has been edited by CETICARS (edited 10-10-2014).]

retroman OCT 28, 05:33 PM
I could see the benefit of moving the engine, even with the current perfect 50/50 distribution of the C7. Namely, we could ditch the torque tube and potentially the parasitic loss that comes with it. Handling may benefit as having a 50/50 distribution with more of the weight at the true center is much better than a 50/50 with the weight pushed out to both ends of the car. Lastly aerodynamics benefit as there is no engine to clear up front leaving room for a sharper cutting edge. This is just my .02 but think what you will.
hyperv6 OCT 28, 07:11 PM

quote
Originally posted by CETICARS:

this mid engine idea will go into the Corvette ATTEMPT YARD with all the other versions ,i agree with collecting data from the race versions , the Covair & Fiero will always be mentioned because they were sold under the brand of GM ,with engine,s in the back ,neither were bad cars or ideas ,corporate greed to cut a corner was the bad decisions ,new fiero platform with chevy citation drive train moved to the rear. would the current transaxle work from the C7 or would it require a complete revamp to make sure the rear was not to long from the back of the door to the rear lights. GM still have to much OLD intervention to shut this project down ... the latest version is crossover = Ferrari style ,and it passed with flying colors ,the next step would be mid-engine ,with no option of a front engine version ...do it right and make the Corvette family love it. It,s time, can they, will they ,make the final hurdle into Super car status.


http://www.gt40s.com/forum/...ustom-transaxle.html

this transaxle is what,s required to move the axles closer to the back of the engine ,thus shortening the engine bay package ....axles forward all the gears moved back into the transaxle ,if this transmission/ transaxle design was supported more with a bolt on GM /Ford bell housing for $5-6000.00 it could be a game changer in more mid-engine applications




All I can say is be careful on how far you say it is not going to happen as there is more to this than you think. What they are working on is more than just another show car. The next one you will see will be a production ready model.

A word to the wise the new GM is not the same old GM. Did you ever think that GM would ever approve Cadillac to do their own line of engines again in your life time. Well it is happening. That was more of a stretch than Corvette going to RWD. Also note that would have the old GM ever approved a Camaro like the Z/28? Not if your life depended on it. The new Z is only a hint at what the new Alpha based Camaro will do. Start watching at what the new ATS V will do once it hits the LA show soon.

From those I know they are very excited at GM now as they are seeing things they never thought they would ever see GM do. The next 5-10 years are going to be interesting as like Bob Lutz says the people who are not the problem are getting the upper hand.

[This message has been edited by hyperv6 (edited 10-28-2014).]

BlackThunderGT OCT 29, 04:17 AM

quote
Originally posted by Imnuts:

Off the subject but still about the Corvette, has anyone else looked at a 2014 and noticed how bad the paint job is, the orange pill is about the worst I’ve ever seen. I was at the corvette museum and factory and I did not see one that had a decent paint job. I talk to a corvette owner that was concentering getting one but only if he could order it in primer only so he could have it painted professionally. I would not want to spend 70k+ on a car with paint like they are putting out. I’d almost be embraced I had bought it.



Yes! 37,288 of us looked at them and bought one. I'm not living under a rock and there have been paint issues but most can be easily worked out by a professional detailing.

Most new corvettes are paint corrected and protective coated or protected film anyway. It's really a none issue for real car guys who understand for the price of a new corvette you are getting more performance per dollar than anything else on the market.

Oh by the way the base price for a 2014 corvette was $51,995 not 70,000 +, there have been 2 price increases since. 2015 base price is now $54,000. I know people who drop more on pickup trucks every couple of years. LOL

Yes! There will be a mid engine C8. GM will build it and many of us will buy one. I dropped my plans of upgrading to a Z06 and now saving my money for a C8 mid engine corvette.
Fiero84Freak OCT 29, 10:20 AM
Not much Fiero in this thread, huh? And I'm coming into it a bit 'late'

I know a lot more about Fieros that I do Corvettes. I do own a Corvette - a C5, for not that long though - and I've driven every generation from C3 to C6. I have yet to drive a C7, although my face is always plastered to my window every time I drive by my local Chevrolet dealer a minute away.

Many have been saying that this rear mid-engined Corvette is all marketing hype, and I can attest that this is the same story as with the last four three generations that have came out. I feel however that something that makes a potential C8 rear mid-ship car more realistic this time around - and I haven't read about this being talked about much - is this; the GM Y platform has reached it's evolutionary limit. If you think about all the "tricks" GM has performed with the Corvette in the past 20 years, you can see this pretty clearly. It's becoming more apparent in the C7 Stingray, because in particular their only real answer for bringing down MPGs is cylinder deactivation. There's nothing wrong with cylinder deactivation. However, the longitudinal front-engined RWD platform severly limits positioning of any sort of hybrid components. Also consider that every Corvette since the C5 has used further tricks especially for weight distribution, like a transaxle (transmission in the rear, coupled to the rear end/differential) and also has had to utilize two 9 gallon fuel tanks immediately behind the passengers (they're split to ensure clearance for the torque tube tunnel).

Implementation of hybrid components is why I think GM will seriously consider a major re-design to finally move into revolutionary stages. The current C7, despite any significant leaps forward in technology and creature comforts, is still based off evolution of the Y platform which just limits any sort of revolutionary changes. It retains itself as a good value sports car but in the face of competition from say Porsche's Carrera, which not only has four seats in 4S trim but technologies that are quite a bit ahead of the Corvette, means that GM is going to have do something drastic short of adding a rear set of seats which I cannot see them ever doing to the Corvette to keep the car relevant to it's competition. A rear mid-engined design could provide a platform that opens up the entire front of the car for various things. I could see something like an AWD, gas/electric hybrid being a real possiblity with such a design. The rear mid-ship could retain a tried-and true gasoline powered V8 engine, while the front of the car could house an electric hybrid setup that completely or partially deactivates the gas engine. Regenerative braking is a technology that has now disseminated into standard passenger cars and could also be an option on the table to correlate alongside the electric drivetrain. There's really a lot that could be explored, that would ultimately go beyond the longitudinal front-engined rear transaxle design that has been the norm since 1997.

The FR-S/BRZ was mentioned some posts back. I think the Asian manufacturers have been fairly smart in their front-engined, RWD models. There was some criticism when the FR-S/BRZ and Hyundai Genesis coupe all released that the relatively small underpowered cars (Hyundai 2.0 turbo in this instance) did not take advantage of a transaxle. Even the 370Z which puts out very respectable HPs would have benefitted. A transaxle would have better distributed weight and delivered more optimum cornering abilities. Not only would a transaxle be costly to design, but as the Corvette has shown it could potentially limit the platforms to evolutionary changes. As it stands now, Fuji Industries can do anything they want to the BRZ/GT86/FR-S (although they seem reluctant to) and Hyundai's Genesis has a lot of free room in it's various trim and engine applications. Basically even with a front-engine RWD platform, many of the Asian makes outside of Mazda's Miata have good chances to implement future technologies on evolutionary platforms simply because they've... well... been relatively simple.

And I guess bringing all this into the Fiero, we have to remember that for all intent and purposes the Fiero is a Frankenstein-GM product. The stamped space frame was a good idea. The coined "Endura-Flex" body panels were a good idea. It's mid-engined and shaped like a wedge to best utilize the benefits of the rear mid-engine design and reduce drag co-efficients. It's potential is "sealed" largely because of using existing GM components that were implemented around the design, rather than design the components for optimization. Ultimately the Fiero was concieved as a two-seat econo-box. There's nothing wrong with that.

What will set a rear mid-engine Corvette apart from the Fiero is that GM will go full-force into optimization of the design. Other than maybe introducing an evolution of the currently coded LT1 engine, they'll likely construct a chassis and layout that's dedicated to a rear mid-ship layout. I don't think they can realistically expect to base it off the current Y platform. Sure initially the largest issue will likely be price; such a Corvette would probably be more expensive than the current C7. One can't expect it to stay at such a high price forever though, and creating such a platform would open it up to the typical "GM sharing" amongst other GM makes. GM has already tried sharing the Y platform with Cadillac before (the XLR), and while rumor persists they may do that again with a rear mid-engine Corvette platform I can't see them making that same marketing "mistake" twice....
Australian OCT 22, 06:06 AM
I want a mid engine vette but I want a lot of things. We used to have a 75 growing up and I always wanted a fiero and got one now I want a mid engine monster.
Rick Morehouse OCT 28, 07:55 PM
Perhaps many of you have read "FIERO", by Gary Witzenburg, first published in 1986, Sub-titled: Pontiac's potent Mid-Engined Sports Car. Published by HPBooks AND/OR Lamm-Morada/HPBooks, w/all due respect to publishing laws! Anyways, way back in this thread someone suggested we read all we can about our delightful pocket-rockets. I've had to read it twice(slow learner) to appreciate the wealth of design, engineering, testing & marketing that developed as the fiero went through its' gestation period. Don't mean to preach to the quire, but this book is a great read. Rick
David Hambleton OCT 28, 08:56 PM
Oh yeah, what Rick said! Incidentally, for any Scrabble players reading this I Googled 'quire' & it actually is a real word. (Although Rick meant choir... )