Wildncrazy

He didn't say you were WITH a stripper, he said you WERE a stripper.

WE get to pick which one. If you're male stripper's not an option!

ruexp67

So I guess it's a good thing there are no stereotype about Porche or BMW owners, right? Thank goodness the Mechanic is here to direct us away from being hillbillys and turning us all into douchebags.

Vitt

[QUOTE=Wildncrazy,Oct 24 2009, 07:07 PM]You could take a Hyundai and make it so that it performs admirably but you'd still have a Hyundai when all is said and done.

cbehney

Are you suggesting that there will soon be a shortage of rednecks in the U.S.?

btstone84

i have mine droped to lowest possible hieght i could get it to

btstone84

so honda and hyandai are world class? huh

Saki GT

All the automotive press really complains about anymore is the interior, an easy fix, and that's only when comparing it to cars that cost as much or less. When its compared to more expensive cars, it gets a pass.

blizzam

this is the most retarded article i have ever read. it has more contradictions in it than the bible.

1. "Sure it performs incredibly well, but the Corvette as a relevant performance car has lost its way. Instead of being the everyman, all-American supercar it once was, the Vette has become too expensive, too extreme and too cheesy. Chevy has blown it by allowing the Corvette's price and performance to get out of hand."

in these two sentences, he says the vette "performs incredibly well" (as a good thing), and then says it's "too extreme" and its performance is "out of hand" (as a bad thing). he uses the same argument for and against it. this means that whatever standard he is comparing it too is not even defined enough to say whether its incredible performance is a merit or a demerit. and what about used vettes? performance for the money is outstanding.

2. "Do you realize that the base price of a new 2010 Corvette is $48,940? That's 50 grand for the cheapest Vette Chevy will sell you. The days of a kid graduating from college, getting a good job, saving up and buying a new Vette are long gone...These two cars (and now their succeeding models, the G37 Coupe and the BMW M3 (E92)) are what the kids desire and aspire to. They've become "the Corvette" for the next generation of enthusiasts that have not yet hit the big four-o."

MSRP for an Infiniti G37 Coupe starts around $40-$45k; BMW M3, $50k. sooo...the vette isn't affordable for "kids", so these days they are instead buying G37's and M3's that cost either the same, or nearly the same? possibly more, when you factor in service and parts cost for an M3? also, by the time someone graduates college, gets a good job, and saves up enough disposable income for a luxury vehicle (luxury in the sense that is a luxury), aren't they usually pretty close to middle age, and are no longer "kids"? for a guy who remembers some mystical time when 30-something, gainfully employed, college-educated folks could afford new corvettes (i still don't understand why the same people can't afford them today, but...whatever), he sure seems to have his finger on the pulse of today's youth.

3. "Sure they're slower than a C6, but they represent a far more modern and upscale interpretation of the everyday performance car. They represent what today's car lover wants: speed, style, quality and a nameplate that says he's successful and he knows what's cool. The Corvette just goes fast.

But these days everything goes fast. Guys realize they don't really need a car any faster than an E46 M3, which runs low 13s in the quarter-mile. Sure the C6 runs 12s but nobody really cares. These days, guys want a more balanced package.

And so the Corvette is being squeezed from the bottom by cars like the Infiniti, and it can't really compete with the upscale stuff (Porsche 911) because of its shoddy interior, questionable fit and finish and 1985 profile.

Unfortunate. The Corvette is one fine driving machine. Especially in Z06 and ZR1 trim."

this is a non-point point. basically he is saying that people buy different kinds of cars, because different people value different cars' attributes differently. varied people, varied tastes, varied cultures, varied cars. is this news to any human? the corvette fits a niche market, as does the m3 and the 911. if the corvette was really so awful that it wasn't even successful as a niche-market car, then why has it been in production for well over 50 years? why does it remain in production even when its horribly managed company is in the toilet and had to be bailed out by the federal government? here's a clue: because lots of people (author included) still consider it a "fine driving machine" and it "performs incredibly well". people who buy the vette obviously value 12's over interior build quality. people who buy the m3, vice versa. 1985 profile? has he ever compared the profiles of 911's from inception to current day?

4. ” Come on, Chevy. Stop going in the wrong direction. Nobody ever asked you to make the Corvette the fastest car you could buy or the fastest car for the money. Nobody needs the Corvette to win Le Mans or pack 600-plus horsepower and cost over $100,000. Of course we want it to perform well, but we also need it to be affordable, insurable and durable. And we want it to be cool." "Come on GM, give us a Corvette we the people want today, not the Corvette you thought we wanted in 1989."

i think most of the people who have bought corvettes over the last 56 years have done so because it is one of the fastest cars for the money. if there are any zr1's gathering dust on any dealership lots, lets ask why-because the economy is in the toilet? because dealerships know that right now they can charge way over msrp for them? also, lets look at the success of the last zr1-thanks to lotus, it set world records (lots of them). if you want to buy one today, i hope you have $20-50k to spend, because you'll need it.

maybe someone out to compare the durability, affordability, and insurability of the m3/g37 coupe/911 gt3 vs. the corvette, because this author obviously did not.

5. "And it continues to wrap the Vette in a dated package that is driving America's young car enthusiasts elsewhere...And today the C6 Corvette just isn't cool."

that's funny, i get compliments all the time on my 16 year old c4. i don't think you'd have to try very hard to find many american car enthusiast youths who like the c6.

6. "Nobody needs the Corvette to win Le Mans or pack 600-plus horsepower and cost over $100,000." "...I'd buy myself a Porsche 911. Make it a GT3."

*face-palm* where to start. how about the msrp of a gt3 being over $130k? how about porsche's le mans record? sure, the vette has more horsepower, but is the gt3 so much slower than the zr1 that the zr1 is by comparison gauche?

7. "This semi-regular column is written (in his own blood) by an automotive sage and noted malcontent, known as The Mechanic. Mercilessly beaten as a child with rolled-up back issues of old car magazines, our free-spoken hero developed a unique "for your own good" take on cars and the auto industry, along with an unfortunate habit of setting himself ablaze. Later, after a distinguished career as an automotive journalist and magazine editor, he cast off the reins of his musty oppressors, carved out his superego with a plastic spork and became The Mechanic."
"...and I would do what every other well-educated cultured gentleman with taste and money does."

after the glowing introduction he gives himself, and after reading one of the absolute worst pieces of automotive "journalism" i have ever read, he expects anyone to believe that he is, in his own description, a "well-educated cultured gentleman with taste"? sounds to me like he is pulling an Ahmadinejad (born a jew, converted to islam, changed his name, now vehemently anti-semitic to over-compensate). and he's right about beverly hills-its chock full of people who fancy themselves cultured with taste and money, which is why they buy cars like the gt3, and ferraris, and lamborghinis. the truth is, most of them (like the author) only buy these cars because they have money and want to LOOK like they have taste and culture. maybe "the mechanic" should move there, because he'd fit right in with all the other puffed-up clowns who think purchasing power is appreciation.

Ralleh

Oh, I consider those to be more in the supercar realm.

Lithium Lotus

Even Clarkson himself said he likes the ZR1.