C7 4 Me

Paul,

Just from various lurking and reading your posts, my (rather worthless) two cents are the following:

I think you're a vette guy that has had a bit of an axe to grind with the c7 styling (you were definitely slow to accept it, and it seemed to take the Z06 to actually bring you around). I think you're fairly clearly leaning toward the viper, but you're somewhat held back by brand loyalty and tradition.

Don't be. I personally love the C7 and its styling. But if it's not for you, then there's no need to justify any further; you like another car equally as much if not more - and that's the car you ought to go with. I think you're a Gen V Viper guy at this point, and I sure hope you'll share your delivery and thoughts with us once you finally get it.

Paulchristian

Wow...

Get out of my head man!!!! You really did capture my dilemma. You are 100% right. Time to let go and venture off into the dark side I guess. Thanks for the reality check.

jimmyb

+1
And kudos to LD for not taking the bait.

Jimmy

harlold

the paint on my two gen v's is & was immaculate

got my new one cquartz pro'd after 300 miles and just looks unreal, no orange peel at all.

svtkeith

Every Viper I've seen from the Gen III's to now has had flawless beautiful paint.

lawdogg149

I agree as well. The paint is light years ahead of the orange peel of the corvette. My detail guy says he has never seen paint so smooth as my viper.

svtkeith

Yeah I thought my ZR1's paint was great till I compared it to the Viper's paint....every Stingray I saw was bad so much so it turned me off to the car..lawdogg you have a C7 Z06 is the OP in the paint better than the Stingray?...I sure hope they improved it because the car is beautiful otherwise.

Boba Fett

The paint on my 06 Z was actually better than my 2011 ZR1. You got lucky with yours Keith. I actually haven't been up close and personal with many C7's but the OP on the last one I saw was absolutely horrific.

lawdogg149

I had the C7 stingray last year and now the C7 zo6 and I would honestly say the Orange peal has gotten worse. Both of my cars were red. Seems that red is the worst I have seen. I do know the Viper however is wet sanded at the plant before clear coating and shipping out. It is a hand built car that can get that kind of attention.

Corvette however spent all those millions to have a better painting system just prior to starting the C7 line up. You would think it would be getting better but they have gotten worse.

quick04Z06

Well, there you go. I would suggest any car at any price sprayed under today's assembly line conditions with today's paint formulations will have orange peel unless it is wet sanded. Just look at any BMW or Mercedes. They key is that hand sanding, which with Chevy's production volumes, is unlikely to happen.

svtkeith

Yeah Boba I guess it was the luck of the draw because the paint on my 09 Z06 was not quite as good as the ZR1 but very close.

svtkeith

Wow that's unfortunate sorry to hear that law...not enough complaining to the company if people keep buying them like that and not putting in complaints they'll never do anything about it for such a car you'd think the paint would be better than on a Cobalt at least....

lawdogg149

I have a whole fleet of work trucks I bought last year that have better paint jobs indeed. I have complained on both surveys and even fussed at Rick when I picked them up. Your right they could care less since they are selling so fast.

Im also thinking the red is the worst. I have seen several other C7's and they dont appear as bad.

jimmyb

+1 on all points.

Snorman

Were the trucks GM, Ford or Rams?
I've had three Rams (two '12 1500's and a '14 2500) and the paint on them is/was pretty marginal. Lots of OP on all and mottling on the silver 2500. I never shopped the GM trucks, so can't compare.
S.

lawdogg149

All GMC 2500's. I bought 31 of them last year. But they are all white which has to be the simplest color to paint

NytmereZ

It looks like you are giving a review of a gen 2 or 3 viper, it's obvious you haven't even sat in a gen 5 srt , if you did you would know the the ride is just fine, and the base interior is still much better than the The Z06's interior , the seats are are identical to the gts(sans power seat) , the only difference being there is cloth and leather, instead of all leather, the leather on the doors is not as high quality, as the laguna, but still better than the vettes, the rest of the interior is identical,with the exception of the model counsel between the seats, viper interior is light years above the corvettes.
The only gripe I have about the viper is that it is tight inside, but it's not stopping me from buying one.

EdwardETraylorIII

You hear about a lot of folks graduating from Vette to Viper...

Not so much the other way around.

There is a reason for this.

I've owned a few Gen V vipers and countless newer vettes. They are both great cars but there is no contest when it comes to absolute best bang for the buck and absolute exclusivity (if that's your thing)!

lawdogg149

I will make you the best offer. Come on down here to GA and I will let you drive both. I have done this with several of my friends and all have chosen the Corvette. And if you like the viper the best I will make you a smoking deal on mine. Cant get even that good at a dealer.

NytmereZ

This is what some people here don't understand, virtually every viper owner has owned multiple corvettes, after 5 or 6 of them, and seeing so many on the road , some people throw out the brand loyalty and take the step up.
The gen 5 has addressed all of the compromises that other gens had, from comfort to price , viper, with the exception of a couple of years has always dominated in performance, the cars now being priced the same, makes it the better bang for the buck.