1985 Corvette

In some instances, weight gain has to happen. If it happens because parts get beefed up, no biggie. If there is weight gain due to increased product quality, no biggie there either. As these are initially street cars, the weight added will be hard pressed to be noticed in everyday driving, even aggressive driving on the street.

If the total package exceeds the predecessor entry car despite weight gain, I see no foul. I feel the higher performance variants will shed the pounds to some degree. If the C5 and C6 have been any indicator, the use of carbon fiber applications throughout high performance models is on the rise and the future offerings may have full body shells constructed of it. I remember I use to think it was a big deal when the Z16 optioned C5 Z06 had just a carbon fiber hood.

This car probably has the hardest job of any car on the planet. A mass produced car challenged to run with exotics in some categories while maintaining affordability and down-to-earth pricing for the masses. All that under the thumb of GM.

With cars like the Mustang, we set a glass ceiling for expectations of the car and if it shatters it, then even better. The Vette's ceiling is left wide open. That's good and bad because we set lofty expectations for what the car should be and it makes some great strides but it's bad in ways that someone is always going to find something was left on the table by GM.