Ok... got an email from another dealer I got on the Vette forum. Says he will call me tomorrow. Let's see....
Hope your dealer experience improves. US dealers of American cars can be frustrating to say the least and are not very good ambassadors for their products.
From what I understand, they are making a stripped down version of the C7 that's not going to be called a Stingray. Power will be 400 and not use the LT1 engine. Obviously, it will be cheaper and more fuel efficient to help meet the guidelines.
I do not know about the rest of you but I get about 1100 emails a day. I think I read about 50 of them and that is just the ones that come to my office, and have nothing to do with the ones I get about my books. So when I want to buy something car, watch, etc I do the stone age thing I pick up the phone and call. Call the guy I gave you (I gave you his number) if you did you would already have your order in. I do not understand this whole email thing!
I travel way too much for someone who can't use email. Sorry, he's out. 2 emails over 10 days and not even a "thank you" or a call? I did gave him my phone number and told to call anytime. It's 2013 the last I checked. We have something called "the internet" now. So........ I talked to another dealer today back east.... AND PUT A DEPOSIT DOWN TODAY!
Thanks! GM is not taking orders on Convertibles until Dec. He figures delivery in late Jan through March. Too early to tell. I'll pick it up in Bowling Green and drive it back to Vegas. No pricing yet. Only put $1K down and it's fully refundable. So far, so good! My first American car in..... well, let's just say "many, many" years.
Sounds great, new Corvette, a factory visit and a road trip! I did something similiar years ago when the Viper GTS coupes came out. Picked it up back east and had a very memorable road trip, I'm guessing you will too.
Make sure you allow enough time to visit the museum and don't just rush the delivery. Have fun and enjoy the trip. As others have said, the weather could be tricky and you may want to drop down south as quick as you can on the return trip.
Order guide is supposed to be out next week, with pricing to follow soon. Fichtner leaked a preliminary version a couple months ago that gives a good idea of the features in each option group. Looks like once again the HUD won't be in 1LT. BG is great fun, and your delivery date might not be too far away from the Bash in late April. Hopefully the factory will be open for tours again by then. I got in during the last week it was open. You don't watch from afar; you walk right along the final assembly line for more than a mile. For a few bucks more than R8C (to be any sort of Vettehead, learning GM RPO codes is part of your initiation) you should be able to get a private and more extensive tour, including being the first one to start your car at the end of the line. (well OK, it's probably not YOUR exact car, and whether it is or not, you have to turn it back over to a worker who will drive it off for final tests and leak check, but you can watch) If you don't have time for that, then your car will be on the Museum webcam to show off to the world for a few days. Especially with a C7, be prepared for a few people to ask "is that a Ferrari?" It's happened twice to me and my ridiculous old C6 Base Coupe 1LT, aka Poverty Package. Here we are in front of the factory sign last August. I'm personally torn between picking up a 427 after the incentives improve--I signed for my 2011 from dealer stock in June 2011 at 1.45% for 72 months, right now it's still 4.9%--or waiting for a C7. Image Unavailable, Please Login
From what I've been told, the coupes start production in August and the Convertibles in November or December. I'm put money down on a convertible so I don't expect it until sometime early next year. That's fine by me as long as it isn't snowing in Kentucky.
Congrats I think you might find you like the car a lot more than you think you will. After two years mine still puts a smile on my face every time I drive it.
No slush box for me! So, yes, manual. Interesting debate going on at the Vette forum. About 60% of those who are taking manuals said they would take a DCT if offered. I would also but the stick is fine too if the gearchange isn't too hard or vague. It is a rear transaxle in the C7 so there is some risk. The manual is standard. The slushbox is like $1200 more. I'm still waiting for the complete pricing but I imagine everything is about 1/3 the price of Ferrari or McLaren. The entire hood is CF --and it's standard. There choices of colors and materials inside and out are really limited compared to F cars. And, you order 3 different option "packages" instead of picking and choosing what you want and don't want. But, the list of standard equipment is terrific. Picking it up at the factory costs an additional $500, which seems weird to me. But, that's the way they do it.
You should be fine. I have not used any salt on my properties for the last 2 years. It's been really warm for the last several years in Ky, compared to a decade ago. I have a good friend that worked designing the seats on your new car. He has had nothing but praise about the new Vette. The sound is different (engine is more aggressive), GM has gone to great lengths to get the squeaks and rattles out and the quality up.
video of the design goals for the C7 on Autoblog today: Corvette Stingray designer lists five goals of new exterior shape
I'm wondering about this rev-matched 7-speed manual gearbox of the C7. Is this new technology or are there other Chevys that already have this technology? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but if the new manual gearbox does the rev-matching, then the actual revving must occur AFTER the driver completes his gear change because the car wouldn't know he has committed to the lower gear (or which gear to rev-match) until the stick is fully repositioned. So this means a slight delay and a difference in the sequence of events because conceptually, with a fully manual gearbox, the driver blips before completing the gear change. I suppose the new gearbox will have to do the gear change very fast to prevent the driver from noticing a delay in engine-braking effects and engine response. But all the same, one of the big issues I have with the single- or dual-clutch sequential trannies is that they are all SEQUENTIAL. I'm sure you've all had the experience where a hairpin at the end of a fast stretch required hard braking and downshifting from 4th, 5th, 6th or even 7th all the way down to 2nd or even 1st. It's easy to do with a fully manual tranny but kind of inconvenient (sound effects aside) to spend time rowing down several gears when you know exactly which gear is correct for the corner. This new gearbox should fix that. Anyway, I think this GM 7-speed rev-matching manual is interesting and hope they get it right.
The Nissan 370Z was the first car to rev match on down shifts in a manual transmission. In the Nissan, it senses where you are going with the stick and revs to the correct RPM accordingly. Check out some YouTube videos, it does a really decent job unless you want to rev match for yourself. Mark
Thanks Mark, I'll do that. Based on how you describe the Nissan, the computer probably senses the entry of the gear shift into the next gear, rather than wait till the shift is fully completed. This allows the driver to manually blip while the tranny is only declutched. I imagine it can also prevent an over-rev situation if the driver then selects the wrong gear, regardless of whether he rev-matches manually or allows the system to do so. Which is a good thing. Of course, drive-by-wire throttles really suck when you attempt to manually rev-match so the option to do so is probably moot. PS: Actually, on second thoughts, auto rev-matching would likely NOT PREVENT over-rev situations unless the shift action is electronic.
The manual C7 has paddles on the steering wheel for rev matching. It hasn't been discussed by GM, but I'm assuming the driver would pull one of the paddles while down shifting.
A museum rep spends half the day with you. He goes over the car, shows some behind-the-scenes stuff at the museum, and then you get a one-on-one tour around the assembly line. It's not a bad deal. When I was at the plant in '06, R8C C6s had a "museum delivery" sign taped to the windshield as they went down the line. This supports anecdotal claims that Bowling Green pays a little extra attention to those cars. Who knows. The Museum can also send your car back to the factory to fix issues that made it past QC. Sure beats having a dealership have at it.
The power top of the C7 Convertible is now in operation. Corvette C7 Convertible - elektr. Verdeck in Aktion
for those so inclined,here's the ordering guide for the C7:Download the 2014 Corvette Stingray Ordering Guide
