:lurk:

Weather is good in Diego, lived their in early 1969 as a guest at the United State Marine Corp recruit depot, so I did not get to enjoy some of the fun spots :crazy:

Check out the maitenance on a Ferrari. On some models the shop time nearly equals the drive time. One model, a few years ago, had a 30 hr. flat rate for a tune up. If I heard wrong, I appologize.
Buying the car is the cheap end.

I owned a 2008 Aston Martin and a 2008 Mercedes CLS63 AMG and I don't see a lot of difference between the quality of the interiors. Maybe I'm not critical enough?

that has to do with an engine out of service. ferraris dont get tuneups they get overhauls which is awesome if your a tech not so much if you own the car:yesnod:

I could agree with all but your #3 and definitely your #5.

Engine sound is sooooooo....subjective an opinion but most folks would probably agree that the scream of a a Ferrari has no equal.

As for social status?

That's the point here. The Corvette at it's core is a Chevrolet......the working man or woman's car.:flag:

No shame in this but there is no social status commentary worth mentioning here at all.

You pull into parking lot in a Ferrari and in my opinion you look a little over the top silly in many models but to onlookers the typical assumption will be that you have a significant amount of disposable income.

Drive up in a "New" Corvette and it's a toss up. You might have a few extra bucks but you might also just have a big car payment that is ill advised.

Corvettes often are just the dream car eventually realized by the working man.........many you see on the street today were purchased 2nd hand for nothing more than the average price of a pretty pedestrian every-day coupe.

Anyone who believes their car gives 'em social status, regardless of what it is, is a little deluded anyway but anyone who thinks their Chevy gives them status is just way too far gone for me to even understand.:crazy2:

You know the statement, "All Corvettes are red, the rest are just mistakes". :D

Granted this post is factual and social status isn't achieved by owning a Ferrari or Corvette because even rich people drive crap. Supercars in general are a indulgence of car girls and Guys. People do believe there car gives them social status if that wasn't true Mercedes. BMW and Audi wouldn't have customers

I really don't care about Bloomberg or Wall-Street parasites in general but they got it right about the car itself.
But a Corvette is definately not the working-class alternative or Ferrari for the 99% with prices starting at 50K and going up to 120K...
Come on for a 'Vette?
Let's face it as fast as a ZR1 is it is still a Vette with supercharger and carbon brakes,aluminum frame and carbon body parts.
70 grand more is very steep.
Of course really rich people would never buy a Vette because they want something only they and joe blow won't be able to afford...
High end Porsche,Ferrari,Lamborghini,McLaren...
But that doesn't mean the Corvette is the sports-car for the 99% like it was in the past before the prices have crept up and production # numbers fell.Even Porsche has a much higher production output than Corvette today.
All it means there is really no affordable sportscar for the 99% anymore...at least not new.

You're probably right about that deluded sliver of the crowd but even they would tell you..........."It's just a Chevy!"......... or they'd find the boy racer imagery too juvenile.:leaving:

Anyone who owns a Corvette (I've owned a few over the years, not to mention the 30 years I"ve held onto the one and only I have right now as I type).......any of us can tell the person considering their own first purchase of a Corvette as an attempt at signaling "Social Status" to others....... look else-where........Corvettes are wonderful cars, might be one of the best "bang-for-the buck" deals ever in a car but they come with plenty of baggage too.

The whole boy racer thing, gold chain disco wagon thing, the self indulgent silly immature thing have all at some point or another been attached.

When you buy a Vette you get more than a great sports car.:flag:

You get to defend the brand from snickers, jokes, condemnation and all sorts of other negative baggage too.:crazy2:

I still think it's pretty silly to try and make a statement with your choice of automobile but over-all I'd imagine owning an Audi, Mercedes or BMW would actually get you less of the negative sentiment.

A lot of what you say is spot on.

I wonder how much of the sales decline is due to the emphasis on quarter mile times, 0-60 times and horse power, and the lack of emphasis on quality of materials?

Exotic cars with exotic prices tags are so out of reach that touting performance numbers just add to the " oooh and ahhh" factor. In a more mundane car, that people are actually considering buying, reliability, quality of materials, moderately conservative appearance, gas mileage, etc. are more important.

Corvette gets a lot of these things right, but the image of the car being a flashy, cheaply made drag racer turns off a lot of potential buyers.

Corvette's reputation for being undriveable in snow, hard to control in the wet, having excessive wheel hop if not careful with acceleration turn off a lot of women who are influential in second or third car buying decisions. BMW and Audi sales are doing quite well while Corvette sales are way down.

On this forum we might not think so, but all are considered "performance cars" and the family guy with $40-50 to spend on a 2nd or 3rd car can make the "safe" buy of the BMW or fight with the wife for the Corvette.

This is not to say there is anything wrong with the Corvette! Here in Florida they are everywhere, you can drive them every day and even use them as 'grocery getters'. It has the virtues of reliability, cheap to repair, good gas mileage, comfortable ride and its affordable, both new and used.

But, you still have to deal with the image of "boy racer", flashy and drag racer.

Most of us here are old enough we don't care.

Perhaps GM will be content to sell 12k Corvette's a year, as long as 80% are $65k GSs. I do think that to sell more, the image will need to change.

If I won the 200 million dollar Powerball,I would add a Z06 and a ZR-1 to my GS and never give a hoot to any of the other so-called "supercars". I like the Vette,period. I happen to like my seats and my interior,I guess I'm not so picky as others on this site.

Krystal car stereotypes are for people who buy cars for status. BMW , Mercedes amd audi have stereotypes worse than the corvette here in florida. i work on all these cars and the only way anyone can say the corvette is just a chevrolet is because they never drove one. the corvette is built cheaper than european cars and in most cases is behind in technology. one thing remains the same everyone crys and whines when they need a repair no matter what they drive

I have gone to serveral cars and coffee events with porsche and ferrari friends. My friends are aware that ferrari and corvette share parts such as ac compressors , magnetic shocks, carbon ceramic brakes, wheels, sheet molded composite parts, and even transmission and engine location. You truly have to out of your mind to own a ferrari my friend james says.....when you buy one its like becoming a parent and all of your time, money, and bank account can be invested in the car. James is ordering a 1lt 2013 coupe. I took him in my corvette for a test drive and btw i had corsa sports so the cars sounds amazing and he was sold. You might ask why doesnt he get a zr1 or z06....he owns a ferrari? Although my corvette is a base model I have done small tasteful things to it courtesy of my daughter so he told me why pay for the top models when the base is a great car. SO regardless of the many different opinions about what a corvette is?.............. The truth is that america has not built the best cars in years and making a quick buck has been the main goal for the big three for a long time. Now faced with staggering competition American car makers have no choice but to raise quality. The c7 will be the corvette with a higher end interior. BASE models will most likely have the 100 year edition seats as a carry over. I love my vette regardless of the stereotypes or negative attention it gets. hell even members on this forum can ruthless and they have the same car. :(

That's funny. I tell people I drive a poor man's Porsche.

I've owned all the top brands, Pcars,astons,AMG's. the vette is built better then these other brands. to me quality means it doesn't break and it doesn't cost a fortune to maintain. I like the low tech, no bullshat approach to building a car. I like cubic inches verses a small high stressed engine that breaks because it is designed on the edge of performance. JMHO

:iagree: There's no replacement for displacement . . . .:thumbs:

I never said the engine was built cheap. Still doesn't stop idiots complaining about the interior

As far euro engines go they get taxed by how big the engine is. So high rpm and high specific output is how they design there engines. Gas prices are a lot higher in Europe. So thank God you live in america

Amen, brother. :flag: