https://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/co...tain-road.html
Quote:
Originally Posted by Obioban
Link to said article?
Searching through C&D looking for it, all I found related to heat management on the non Z06 is...
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...-drive-review/
I do think it makes sense to skip the first year or two on this car, as it's SO different than previous cars that I do suspect there will be some teething issues on early cars that need to be overcome.
I have way more faith in Corvette than BMW. BMW hasn't made anything I have any desire for/interest in/desire to work on since they moved to turbos.
By more easily serviceable I meant the engine is easy to access from above-- routine maintenance, such as valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, coils, etc will still be easily accessed (with some caution not to mar the paint). Compared to a Boxster/cayman/911, with no topside access and turbo components adding complexity everywhere, should be a cakewalk. Or, put differently-- the car is set up so that Chevrolet dearerships will be able to work on it!  |
I wish I hadn't looked for it because wow, it's an incredible read. It certainly takes faith to believe in the Vette.
I'm not sure this qualifies as 'a few teething issues'.
It's easy to picture the Vette people coming out to defend that this was just one car, that blah blah blah. Mags have had the E46 and E9X and somehow neither of those has had vanos/subframe/rod bearing issues.
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...-test-wrap-up/
Some choice quotes
Let’s get this out of the way up front: The litany of breakdowns suffered by our long-term 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Z51 (C7) was simply appalling.
But the dry-sump oiling system included with the $2800 Z51 package could not prevent the engine from self-destructing. It grenaded at 6000 miles, when we rolled onto a local chassis dynamometer to meas*ure the LT1’s power at the pavement. The engine started to eat itself before we could begin the testing in earnest.
Other drivers agreed, chiding the seven-speed for its chunky engagement, propensity to pop out of lower gears, and the difficulty in navigating the tightly spaced gates.
Although we had fitted excellent Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 winter tires, the Corvette struggled in the deep freeze of our Michigan winter. In sub-zero temps, the LT1 V-8 could take up to 12 seconds of cranking before firing, which surely contributed to the starter motor dying at 21,000 miles. Shortly thereafter, the brain of the Stingray’s heating-and-air-conditioning system began shutting down intermittently—in mid-January—and needed to be swapped.
The C7’s axle seals began leaking lubricant at 25,000 miles. Frigid winter weather probably aggravated this failure. GM was in the process of installing more-durable seals in production, and the improved parts supplied to our dealer cured the issue. But it’s worth mentioning that neither our long-term 2014 Jaguar F-type V-8 S nor our 2014 Porsche Cayman S, which both suffered through the same awful winter, had any problems dealing with the cold.
We’ve experienced little if any trouble with the later Stingrays we’ve driven and want to think of our test car as a first-year anomaly. The latest Corvette is an amazing performance bargain, and it still pained us to hand back the keys. But the reality is that this Stingray failed spectacularly, and its 17-month evaluation was a test of our patience as much as it was of the car itself. We can forgive some of its troubles because the C7 is the type of machine we’re happy to still have in our over-regulated and increasingly automated world. But we won’t forget this experience anytime soon.
And about the regular Z51 C7 overheating, it was in Edmunds, my bad. Sometimes I confuse both mags.
Here's the link:
https://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/co...g-checkup.html
https://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/co...tain-road.html
Which mates up perfectly with what I read in the Vette forums when I was thinking of getting a C7 Z51 instead of the E90 M3.
The first condition in my mind for a car to be considered an option is for it to function. The QuattroFormaggio may drive like a dream and yadayadayada, but as it cannot function without breaking down then it's not a real world option.
So we can talk about fun to drive and EPS and turbos and whatever, but a car has to be able to function. I couldn't care less how engaging something is if it doesn't work.