Worth the wait - MY2024 1LT first impressions
10-15-2023, 09:44 PM
#1
Racer
Thread Starter
Worth the wait - MY2024 1LT first impressions
Hey Everyone, picked up my Stingray Coupe last week after less than 4 months of waiting. Here is my story.
Why I chose the C8 - It started back in 2020 during the pandemic. I had started planning to make one final purchase of a new car. I have at some point in my life been into Musclecars owning several Mopars and Mustangs over the years. So if this was to be my last, I wanted to go big. Admittingly, the Stingray was the 3rd on my list. This was my list in order or priority - Mustang GT500, Camaro ZL1, Stingray, Charger Hellcat. By the time I was ready to make a purchase this year, the GT500 was no longer available. The ZL1 being in it's final year was very difficult to find without a hefty mark up in California. The Hellcat was considerably down the list as I preferred an all around performance car and way too many were being stolen in my area.
Finding the right dealer - I had posted this on my other posts. I had contacted 10 dealers in the California Bay Area. 8 replied with various markups ranging from $5k all the way to $15k just to submit an order. I found this to be absurd since many posts on this forum had stated various dealers no longer charging mark ups. So Googled the list of top selling Corvette dealers in the nation and found the largest West Coast dealer to be in California. This was Rydell Chevrolet in Northridge, CA. At some point, Rydell had a $5k mark up, but by the time I contacted them in June, there were no more mark ups on Stingray orders. I sent in my deposit on 6/18.
Picking up the car - On 9/28, my Salesperson informed me my car was built. On 9/29, he informed me the car was shipping with an ETA of 10/05 to the Dealership. We worked out a pick up date of 10/12. I booked a one way flight to Burbank, CA with Wife in tow. On 10/12, we arrived to pick up the car. We already had all the costs worked out, so it was just about cutting a check and inspecting the car. Checked the body gaps for fit, and interior panel alignment. I had thought the front and rear bumper gaps were narrow at the top and widen towards the bottom, but I checked 3 other cars on the lot and they all came this way. We checked for any damage, chips, etc. We started the car to check for any unusual ticks, rattling or knocking. My Wife and I took a short test drive and the inspection was complete. The car had 4 miles on it when we arrived to the dealer and 7 on it when the test drive was complete. All was well. We returned to the lot and started checking out the other c8's in the lot. They had 12 other c8's on the lot (2 in the showroom, 9 pre-sold, 1 used). We wrapped up the purchase and off we went.
The drive home - Now comes the fun part. We immediately logged 57 miles driving to our Airbnb. I drove like Grandma as I was adjusting to the proportions and blind spots of the car. By the time we left to return home, we had already logged 133 miles. Our first stop was Santa Barbara Courthouse and Stearn's Wharf for dinner & topped off our gas. We stopped for the night in San Luis Obispo and drove home in the morning. Total mileage when we arrived home was 577. Break in accomplished.
Break in - We followed the procedure outlined in the owner's manual. I don't think I ever reached 3k RPM's. There was no use of cruise control, and admittingly, varying speeds for 400+ miles is pretty annoying and a bit stressful. However, I am glad we picked up the car far enough away where we could accomplish the break in miles before we arrived home.
Ride - I am very impressed with Magnaride. Although I have no true basis of comparison. The roads got worse and worse, the closer we returned to the Bay Area. Magnaride soaked up potholes well. I did scrub it once on a dip on an intersection which left some really minor scuffs on the armor underneath the front bumper. Oops.
Issues - Only two minor issues popped up within the first 130-ish miles. On one occasion, the frunk would not latch itself and close. I reset it using the key fob to release it again. No issues since. The Forward Collision Alert triggered once when there was nothing in front of me. Has not happened since.
Other comments - The following distance indicator is unobtrusive. I have not tried lane keep assist yet, I'll get to it eventually. Rear park assist rocks! I did not find the rear view mirror camera useful, at least for me. 500 miles later, I have grown accustomed to the blind spots. The side mirrors are more than adequate. I installed an SD card in the PDR when I picked up the car, but then forgot to start it. Ugh, the drive home would have made for some nice footage.
Edit: At 730 miles - so far, have only been able to get it up to 5k RPM's. Haven't done any hard launches. Just a couple of instances out of 2nd gear or the Interstate and the C8 makes good use of its power.
- Competition Seats - I thought I would be sacrificing some comfort here. But I am surprised after hours of driving, it doesn't put my legs to sleep.
- Base 10 speaker Bose - The wife commented how good the sound was. IMO, this system has good clarity, but I like a little extra Bass. I believe that is what the 2LT+ 14 speaker system brings to the table.
Some minor issues in the last 100-ish miles
- I had one issue after speaking with an Onstar rep, my phone would not connect to Carplay upon start up. A simple restart fixed this.
- I had a couple instances while working through the settings, it would revert back to Carplay.
Edit: At 1,124 miles -
- Red triangle of death on infotainment screen. Documented here: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-of-death.html
At 1,638 miles -
- Oil change at dealer
- I have started to use the rear view mirror cam more consistently, especially when reversing out of a parking spot.
Here is a pic of the car at Stearn's Wharf in Santa Barbara. The car drew a lot of looks, and people taking pics & filming as I drove by.
Why I chose the C8 - It started back in 2020 during the pandemic. I had started planning to make one final purchase of a new car. I have at some point in my life been into Musclecars owning several Mopars and Mustangs over the years. So if this was to be my last, I wanted to go big. Admittingly, the Stingray was the 3rd on my list. This was my list in order or priority - Mustang GT500, Camaro ZL1, Stingray, Charger Hellcat. By the time I was ready to make a purchase this year, the GT500 was no longer available. The ZL1 being in it's final year was very difficult to find without a hefty mark up in California. The Hellcat was considerably down the list as I preferred an all around performance car and way too many were being stolen in my area.
Finding the right dealer - I had posted this on my other posts. I had contacted 10 dealers in the California Bay Area. 8 replied with various markups ranging from $5k all the way to $15k just to submit an order. I found this to be absurd since many posts on this forum had stated various dealers no longer charging mark ups. So Googled the list of top selling Corvette dealers in the nation and found the largest West Coast dealer to be in California. This was Rydell Chevrolet in Northridge, CA. At some point, Rydell had a $5k mark up, but by the time I contacted them in June, there were no more mark ups on Stingray orders. I sent in my deposit on 6/18.
Picking up the car - On 9/28, my Salesperson informed me my car was built. On 9/29, he informed me the car was shipping with an ETA of 10/05 to the Dealership. We worked out a pick up date of 10/12. I booked a one way flight to Burbank, CA with Wife in tow. On 10/12, we arrived to pick up the car. We already had all the costs worked out, so it was just about cutting a check and inspecting the car. Checked the body gaps for fit, and interior panel alignment. I had thought the front and rear bumper gaps were narrow at the top and widen towards the bottom, but I checked 3 other cars on the lot and they all came this way. We checked for any damage, chips, etc. We started the car to check for any unusual ticks, rattling or knocking. My Wife and I took a short test drive and the inspection was complete. The car had 4 miles on it when we arrived to the dealer and 7 on it when the test drive was complete. All was well. We returned to the lot and started checking out the other c8's in the lot. They had 12 other c8's on the lot (2 in the showroom, 9 pre-sold, 1 used). We wrapped up the purchase and off we went.
The drive home - Now comes the fun part. We immediately logged 57 miles driving to our Airbnb. I drove like Grandma as I was adjusting to the proportions and blind spots of the car. By the time we left to return home, we had already logged 133 miles. Our first stop was Santa Barbara Courthouse and Stearn's Wharf for dinner & topped off our gas. We stopped for the night in San Luis Obispo and drove home in the morning. Total mileage when we arrived home was 577. Break in accomplished.
Break in - We followed the procedure outlined in the owner's manual. I don't think I ever reached 3k RPM's. There was no use of cruise control, and admittingly, varying speeds for 400+ miles is pretty annoying and a bit stressful. However, I am glad we picked up the car far enough away where we could accomplish the break in miles before we arrived home.
Ride - I am very impressed with Magnaride. Although I have no true basis of comparison. The roads got worse and worse, the closer we returned to the Bay Area. Magnaride soaked up potholes well. I did scrub it once on a dip on an intersection which left some really minor scuffs on the armor underneath the front bumper. Oops.
Issues - Only two minor issues popped up within the first 130-ish miles. On one occasion, the frunk would not latch itself and close. I reset it using the key fob to release it again. No issues since. The Forward Collision Alert triggered once when there was nothing in front of me. Has not happened since.
Other comments - The following distance indicator is unobtrusive. I have not tried lane keep assist yet, I'll get to it eventually. Rear park assist rocks! I did not find the rear view mirror camera useful, at least for me. 500 miles later, I have grown accustomed to the blind spots. The side mirrors are more than adequate. I installed an SD card in the PDR when I picked up the car, but then forgot to start it. Ugh, the drive home would have made for some nice footage.
Edit: At 730 miles - so far, have only been able to get it up to 5k RPM's. Haven't done any hard launches. Just a couple of instances out of 2nd gear or the Interstate and the C8 makes good use of its power.
- Competition Seats - I thought I would be sacrificing some comfort here. But I am surprised after hours of driving, it doesn't put my legs to sleep.
- Base 10 speaker Bose - The wife commented how good the sound was. IMO, this system has good clarity, but I like a little extra Bass. I believe that is what the 2LT+ 14 speaker system brings to the table.
Some minor issues in the last 100-ish miles
- I had one issue after speaking with an Onstar rep, my phone would not connect to Carplay upon start up. A simple restart fixed this.
- I had a couple instances while working through the settings, it would revert back to Carplay.
Edit: At 1,124 miles -
- Red triangle of death on infotainment screen. Documented here: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-of-death.html
At 1,638 miles -
- Oil change at dealer
- I have started to use the rear view mirror cam more consistently, especially when reversing out of a parking spot.
Here is a pic of the car at Stearn's Wharf in Santa Barbara. The car drew a lot of looks, and people taking pics & filming as I drove by.
Last edited by GR8C8; 03-08-2024 at 04:26 PM.
Popular Reply
10-16-2023, 03:07 AM
Race Director
all depends on the owners expectations of luxury in a sports car.
in my opinion all the fluffy luxury items in the 2 and 3 lots vehicle are nuances. The luxury features standard of the 1LT are more than in my needs or expectations. To me the 1LT is pretty luxurious.
you my wife’s Audi Etron has way more stnadard and optional luxury features and she’s happy. Happy wife happy life.
I personally don’t need cool or warm air blown up my butt. I don’t need to spend 2800 dollars for a front end lift kit and if I did take out the front splitter which I haven’t in 3 years and 28k miles the front splitters are 150 dollars.
I could replace that front splitter 20 times and it would cost the same as the front end lift. I’m daily driving this c8 and haven’t needed to replace even on so far.
the various other features of the 2 and 3 lt for 7 or 12 grand respectively mean very little to me.
I did feel the z51 and mrc shocks for 7 or 8 grand combined was a smart choice on my part but again YMMV….
good luck and just my opinion. For those that value serious luxury and high tech etc..,those interior packages are excellent choices to chose from.
all depends on your expectations…
I can plug my phone into the console power source and the phone does music and navigation so I’m happy.
in my opinion all the fluffy luxury items in the 2 and 3 lots vehicle are nuances. The luxury features standard of the 1LT are more than in my needs or expectations. To me the 1LT is pretty luxurious.
you my wife’s Audi Etron has way more stnadard and optional luxury features and she’s happy. Happy wife happy life.
I personally don’t need cool or warm air blown up my butt. I don’t need to spend 2800 dollars for a front end lift kit and if I did take out the front splitter which I haven’t in 3 years and 28k miles the front splitters are 150 dollars.
I could replace that front splitter 20 times and it would cost the same as the front end lift. I’m daily driving this c8 and haven’t needed to replace even on so far.
the various other features of the 2 and 3 lt for 7 or 12 grand respectively mean very little to me.
I did feel the z51 and mrc shocks for 7 or 8 grand combined was a smart choice on my part but again YMMV….
good luck and just my opinion. For those that value serious luxury and high tech etc..,those interior packages are excellent choices to chose from.
all depends on your expectations…
I can plug my phone into the console power source and the phone does music and navigation so I’m happy.
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10-15-2023, 11:54 PM
#3
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Congrats on your C8 - great that you did not have a lengthy wait to get the car. Nice write-up of your experience so far and hope you get many trouble free miles of smiles from the car.
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GR8C8 (10-16-2023)
10-16-2023, 12:05 AM
#4
Racer
Thread Starter
Thanks Guys. Many smiles so far. And yeah, hoping I do not run into some of the aforementioned issues.
10-16-2023, 12:20 AM
#5
Racer
Thread Starter
One more comment I left out. My accessories did not ship due to the strike. I have several accessories: Radiator grille guards, splash guards, rocker extensions, floor liners, stealth emblems. These are all on the window sticker, but none shipped. Dealer said they would ship to me directly, but could not determine an ETA due to the strike.
10-16-2023, 12:21 AM
#6
Pro
Isn't that a 2LT? I didn't think PDR and camera rear mirror was on a 1LT.
10-16-2023, 12:44 AM
#8
Pro
Cool, thanks. These things just keep getting better.
10-16-2023, 03:07 AM
#10
Race Director
all depends on the owners expectations of luxury in a sports car.
in my opinion all the fluffy luxury items in the 2 and 3 lots vehicle are nuances. The luxury features standard of the 1LT are more than in my needs or expectations. To me the 1LT is pretty luxurious.
you my wife’s Audi Etron has way more stnadard and optional luxury features and she’s happy. Happy wife happy life.
I personally don’t need cool or warm air blown up my butt. I don’t need to spend 2800 dollars for a front end lift kit and if I did take out the front splitter which I haven’t in 3 years and 28k miles the front splitters are 150 dollars.
I could replace that front splitter 20 times and it would cost the same as the front end lift. I’m daily driving this c8 and haven’t needed to replace even on so far.
the various other features of the 2 and 3 lt for 7 or 12 grand respectively mean very little to me.
I did feel the z51 and mrc shocks for 7 or 8 grand combined was a smart choice on my part but again YMMV….
good luck and just my opinion. For those that value serious luxury and high tech etc..,those interior packages are excellent choices to chose from.
all depends on your expectations…
I can plug my phone into the console power source and the phone does music and navigation so I’m happy.
in my opinion all the fluffy luxury items in the 2 and 3 lots vehicle are nuances. The luxury features standard of the 1LT are more than in my needs or expectations. To me the 1LT is pretty luxurious.
you my wife’s Audi Etron has way more stnadard and optional luxury features and she’s happy. Happy wife happy life.
I personally don’t need cool or warm air blown up my butt. I don’t need to spend 2800 dollars for a front end lift kit and if I did take out the front splitter which I haven’t in 3 years and 28k miles the front splitters are 150 dollars.
I could replace that front splitter 20 times and it would cost the same as the front end lift. I’m daily driving this c8 and haven’t needed to replace even on so far.
the various other features of the 2 and 3 lt for 7 or 12 grand respectively mean very little to me.
I did feel the z51 and mrc shocks for 7 or 8 grand combined was a smart choice on my part but again YMMV….
good luck and just my opinion. For those that value serious luxury and high tech etc..,those interior packages are excellent choices to chose from.
all depends on your expectations…
I can plug my phone into the console power source and the phone does music and navigation so I’m happy.
10-16-2023, 07:59 AM
#11
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Enjoy your new ride and have fun!
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GR8C8 (10-16-2023)
10-16-2023, 09:16 AM
#12
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GR8C8 (10-16-2023)
10-16-2023, 08:15 PM
#14
Racer
Thread Starter
Thanks for the questions and comments Everyone!
@Kittyheart - As Jerrivette mentions, it depends on your expectations. I have the blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise and cross traffic alert in my other vehicles and found that I could live without them. I never really use seat warmers in my other cars and often forget I have them. My commute is relatively short, only 15 miles. If anything, I would say that Apple Carplay has been one of the better livable features for me, but probably also something I could live without since I do not have it in my other cars. But me is not you. If you value things like heated seats, BSM, etc, by all means go with the 2LT. I think the C8 is so well done, that there is no wrong decision here.
I have now driven in LA greater area traffic, road trip 417 miles back to the Bay Area, and confident saying I can live with this car for long trips or daily commute.
@Kittyheart - As Jerrivette mentions, it depends on your expectations. I have the blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise and cross traffic alert in my other vehicles and found that I could live without them. I never really use seat warmers in my other cars and often forget I have them. My commute is relatively short, only 15 miles. If anything, I would say that Apple Carplay has been one of the better livable features for me, but probably also something I could live without since I do not have it in my other cars. But me is not you. If you value things like heated seats, BSM, etc, by all means go with the 2LT. I think the C8 is so well done, that there is no wrong decision here.
I have now driven in LA greater area traffic, road trip 417 miles back to the Bay Area, and confident saying I can live with this car for long trips or daily commute.
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Acpantera (10-17-2023),
JerriVette (10-16-2023)
10-16-2023, 11:26 PM
#15
Beautiful, you picked the right color. Wheel color goes great with the RM.
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GR8C8 (10-17-2023)
10-17-2023, 06:29 AM
#16
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Congrats on your new ride....don't forget to wave! 
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Acpantera (10-17-2023)
10-17-2023, 06:42 AM
#17
Le Mans Master
Enjoy your new Vette.
10-17-2023, 02:17 PM
#18
Drifting
Thanks for the questions and comments Everyone!
@Kittyheart - As Jerrivette mentions, it depends on your expectations. I have the blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise and cross traffic alert in my other vehicles and found that I could live without them. I never really use seat warmers in my other cars and often forget I have them. My commute is relatively short, only 15 miles. If anything, I would say that Apple Carplay has been one of the better livable features for me, but probably also something I could live without since I do not have it in my other cars. But me is not you. If you value things like heated seats, BSM, etc, by all means go with the 2LT. I think the C8 is so well done, that there is no wrong decision here.
I have now driven in LA greater area traffic, road trip 417 miles back to the Bay Area, and confident saying I can live with this car for long trips or daily commute.
@Kittyheart - As Jerrivette mentions, it depends on your expectations. I have the blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise and cross traffic alert in my other vehicles and found that I could live without them. I never really use seat warmers in my other cars and often forget I have them. My commute is relatively short, only 15 miles. If anything, I would say that Apple Carplay has been one of the better livable features for me, but probably also something I could live without since I do not have it in my other cars. But me is not you. If you value things like heated seats, BSM, etc, by all means go with the 2LT. I think the C8 is so well done, that there is no wrong decision here.
I have now driven in LA greater area traffic, road trip 417 miles back to the Bay Area, and confident saying I can live with this car for long trips or daily commute.
