Everyday C8 Driving

[John]

Everyday driving a C8; any parallels to driving a Ferrari?

True, we only have a smart of this question issue to currently think about now, but does this video create questions/issues in your mind about getting a C8? Or, are all comparisons completely ridiculous?

Thanks Doug DeMuro for your thoughtful video on why some of us are not planning to everyday drive a Ferrari (besides our being too broke to do so). Does it raise questions about trading in our 50,000 mile C6 (or comparable) and buying a new C8?

Will driving a C8, a la one of the last points in his video, bring us too much attention? (We have been asked, “is that a Ferrari” twice in our C7.)

[Sparro]

Won't be an everyday car, but as i've stated before, I feel the C8 is essentially a NA Ferrari. Having said that I will still be worried about parking it an leaving and having morons perhaps giving you door dings. Gotta be careful with it for sure. But I feel the maintenance costs, mileage put on, resale valve won't be impacted as much as they will on a Ferrari or Lamborghini.

[MidEngine]

I always park in a very far away space or one that is side to side protected in our Corvette. I rarely parked with a car in front and behind me.

[Plasboy]

Its pretty much the same now, have to be a little more careful of road conditions , watch where you park etc.. Don't run collector insurance so no biggie on miles.
I'm sure you'll get more attention at least for a while but oh well. My wife drives our C5 to work most days so it's all in your mind set.

[C8UR911]

It will be just as daily drivable as ever. The convertible may be a bit harder to drive given the prominent humps that meet the seat backs in the rear. Again, slightly.

The coupe, on the other hand, will be more daily drivable than the C7 as the rear blind spots are not as great and the view out the front and sides are better than the C7.

Noting about engine or stance will make it less daily drivable than any Corvette before it

[meyerweb]

I, personally, use my C7 as a daily driver, and wouldn't hesitate to do the same with a C8, assuming our guesses on pricing are close. (If it turns out to be a $140,000 car, not only will I not daily drive it, I won't own it!)

Yeah, it'll attract a ton of attention when it's new. My C7 did, too. But eventually there will be enough of them on the road that it'll be "just a Corvette."

It will be just as daily drivable as ever. The convertible may be a bit harder to drive given the prominent humps that meet the seat backs in the rear. Again, slightly.

The coupe, on the other hand, will be more daily drivable than the C7 as the rear blind spots are not as great and the view out the front and sides are better than the C7.

Noting about engine or stance will make it less daily drivable than any Corvette before it

Not sure I agree about the blind spots on the C8 coupe. It looks to me like the view out the rear window will be even worse than the C7, and with the extra wide rear fenders you'll have to really watch the outside mirrors. The rear view camera will help a lot, though, (at least in the daytime*)so I sure hope that's a standard feature and not an expensive option.

* My wife's Honda as a camera mounted on the passenger side rear view mirror that comes on when you turn on the right turn signal. In daylight, it's pretty useful in seeing what on your right. But at night, you can't see anything but headlight glare, and it's pretty difficult to get any sense of how far behind you the headlights are.

[ZoraC2]

GM knows that a good percentage will daily drive the car. obviously a smart decision going with a tried and true LT2.
They also have more test mules in circulation than the C7. If they are going after the likes of Porsche and Ferrari you need to be bullet proof.
I normally wouldn't go for a first year with an all new ground up architecture but the idea of a ME corvette is a dream come true and I need to be a part of it!

I don't think I'll drive it daily, maybe more like 2-3 times a week weather permitting. Especially not in the winter months here in north Jersey where they salt the **** out of everything. The salt just eats it away!

[Sparro]

As I've never owned a corvette before, the C8 will be my first. I'm assuming this will be a fibreglass body as previous vettes? How well does this type of body hold up to a "door ding?" With a metal body it can sometimes flex a bit on a light hit and not crease or ding as with harder hits. What happens to a corvettes body when hit in this style?

[Maxster]

Having said that I will still be worried about parking it an leaving and having morons perhaps giving you door dings.

Isn't the Corvette body virtually door ding-proof?

[John]

Corvette body panels, except for their CF hoods and roof panels (translucent’s excepted), and except for the other CF body panels on high perf models, are down to 20% glass fibers; the 80% rest the remaining panels is a mix of air entrained molecules, plastics, resins and such. Those remaining Corvette body panels not of CF, arecalled SMC panels (sheet molded plastics), are flexible and pretty resilient. Due to their flexibility, to hold their shape, we typically see more “creases” and bends in Corvette SMCs than in most metal panels (but even the latter is changing as metal is getting thinner and thinner)..

[Klinn]

I definitely intend to drive the C8 as a regular car, not reserve it just for sunny weekends. Admittedly, I do tend to avoid rainy days with my C6 and use the other car instead, but I have no qualms about running errands with the Vette.

I'm sure at first the new design will attract attention but that's true for other cars. Even my FR-S got a lot of looks back when it was the hot new thing.

I always park in a very far away space or one that is side to side protected in our Corvette. I rarely parked with a car in front and behind me.

During one visit to the grocery store I saw a C7 vert parked in the middle of the crowded lot. Fortunately the spots on either side were open so I parked my C6 on his passenger side. Figured I would protect one flank of his car. By luck, happened to meet the owners when I came out and we had a nice chat about Vettes.

[John]

We used to be of the mind set that our Corvettes do not go out in the rain. For sure, no more. That change started during our drive home from Bowling Green (Museum Delivery), an we got into the worst rain we have ever seen outside of Florida, a true monsoon for a full hour. Slowed down, and all was, and was thereafter just fine. The 2014 Pacific Northwest part National Corvette Caravan had five days of massive rain, and again, just slowed down in the worst of it, and cleaned it up, was show ready, for the NCM event.

Our cars do not rust. They clean up so well!

[Heidi]

Our C8 will be DD like our C7GS Vert. We used to park the GS with the top down. However, after the alarm went off once or twice, we decided to put the top up before going into a store or restaurant. Peace of mind and less worry to get damaged. Of course, if we drove a Ferrari or price equivalent, we probably would not use it for a DD. Corvettes are for driving and having fun, no matter where we go on daily basis.
Heidi
Save the Wave

[meyerweb]

As I've never owned a corvette before, the C8 will be my first. I'm assuming this will be a fibreglass body as previous vettes? How well does this type of body hold up to a "door ding?" With a metal body it can sometimes flex a bit on a light hit and not crease or ding as with harder hits. What happens to a corvettes body when hit in this style?

The plastic (not really fiberglass, as John pointed out above) is actually pretty resilient. I try to avoid parking close to other cars, but sometimes have no choice, and I have no visible dings on the doors. I think they're probably less likely to get dings than a metal door. Certainly way better than the old true fiberglass 'vettes.

[electroVette]

My view is that daily drivability comes down to reliability/durability. Ferrari, McClaren, etc. are notoriously unreliable which makes them bad daily drivers. Even if you have the funds you can't daily something that's in the shop for months per year.

The LT2 C8 can reasonably be expected to have reliability similar to the LT1 C7, except for the new and unproven DCT.

Tremec has reliable products but the DCT is based on IP they acquired from their purchase of the Belgian firm Hoerbiger Drivetrain Mechatronics, which supplied DCTs to Ferrari, AMG, McClaren - none of which are noted for reliability. Hopefully Tremec's validation process and company culture have ensured their own DCT will adhere to Tremec standards. Still, any entirely new product is dicey. In a sense we're all going to be Tremec's public beta testers.