Funny how certain themes here at CC just seem to materialize. Just after I put up the Rendezvous post, son Ed sends me these shots of the new Corvette Sting Ray he took in Washington DC within the past couple of days. So let’s turn it into a GM Design Fest Day. Needless to say, the new Sting Ray has been a very polarizing design, and folks have pretty strong opinions. But so far, it’s all from photographs and car show views; now we have some curbside shots, as well as a brief comment from Ed as to how it comes across in the wild.
Ed’s brief comment: New ‘vette looks vastly more subtle in person than in pics, but it also has some really cheap, chintzy details. Was pure coincidence that I was in town to see it, of course. This was apparently the first time it’s been shown outside a car show.
Maybe some of that has to do with it being charcoal gray (or black?) on a cold, gray day. But it confirms my own feelings on the subject: there’s some good things happening with the new Vette; its overall shape and proportions are quite good, such as seeing it from across the street. But that’s about as much positive sentiment as I can muster. Overall, I’m disappointed; I held the design of the C6 in quite high regard. It was tight, original, clean, and honest. I can’t really use any of those words for the C7.
Undoubtedly, its performance, capabilities and interior will be improvements. But most of all, its cartoonish, Camaro-ish rear end really spoil it for me. To each their own, but it just doesn’t look classy. The C6 could hold its head up among some of the best-designed cars in the field, including the Ferraris. And that was my initial impression when it came out. Not this time around…
Is that a red Camry in front of the Sting Ray? Oops; not exactly. Do you all want to touch that one, or have we taken on enough for one day?
The red car is an ATS Cadillac.
I dislike the 2014 Corvettes, styling looks too Japanese to me. My enthusiasm for new Vettes has waned since disappearance of the disappearing headlights. Its hard not to like any Corvette but for a driveable one nothing beats a C4.
Thanks for helping me out on that red car 🙂
For some reason, I could never warm up to the C4. Too “brittle”, in more ways than one. The C6 is the only Corvette in a very long time that really spoke to me.
I like the ATS, never noticed till you said that, but from that angle that looks 100% like previous generation Camry from A pillar rearward.
Maybe its just a generational thing, because I was born in 1983, but C4’s have always been the coolest Corvettes to me. Peter Egan once said in a column if you buy the exact same Corvette you first remember seeing as a kid and thinking was cool, that you’d never regret that purchase. So for me, its a white C4 convertible, post facelift, with a red leather interior. Oh yeah…
I get that. Which is why I’ve endlessly vacillated between a ’57 (first sighting), and the C2, which was so obviously a much better car in every respect when it came out (and I was still a kid then too).
A 1958 Corvette convertible fuel injected in an attractive color like this would probably be the holy grail of Corvettes. The problem is is that I would be afraid to touch it…
I am older but I agree. If I agree on Vette mention. If I did not have my Camaro I would probably have one of these… Time to get my Don Johnson Miami Vice mojo on…
Heck yeah. My uncle has a red over red just like that, I think he paid 8 grand for it. Way more than $8k worth of car. I’d also take one in any of the especially campy 90’s colors, but white over red is where it’s at for me. And the digital dash? Yes please
Teal with white leather interior 93 C4 roadster anyone?
For the record though, I like the new Corvette, it takes some getting used to, but there are very neat details in the styling.
For me that would be the 1995 purple-and-white Indy 500 Pace Car Replica. That was one of my first 1:18 scale model cars, and it is still my favorite. Of course, if I were to actually buy one (which I just might do one day, considering how cheap they’ve gotten) it would be a more tame teal, blue, burgundy, or dark green coupe (and, again thanks to one of my 1:18 models, the C4 Corvette is the only car I’d ever be willing to own in white. I hate that color more than anything, but the C4 coupe pulls it off).
That also explains why I’ve been seeing so many great condition C4s lately. As my generation graduates college and gets their first real jobs, they can afford to finally own their childhood dream cars.
For me it’d be the 1996 Grand Sport, which I could just about swing these days if I was on the right continent. That was the one featured in Gran Turismo–and hours of adolescent virtual ‘track time’ does create a certain bond.
Still on the fence about the C7. Like Paul, I’m a huge fan of the C6 (just never much liked the way they drove; woolly steering and cheap seats). I appreciate the C7’s tighter, leaner proportions. I just wish it looked less like a Transformer.
Yea I am glad there was not a back handed joke in there. Not hard to spot most Cadillacs now the Arts & Science theme is every evident in all the models especially in the front clip. The ATS, CTS, XTS are all progressively larger versions of the same basic design.
As far as Corvettes go, my favorite design of all time is the late 50s/early 60s but you can’t really drive those anymore practically. I am not a big fan of the midyears. The sharks are nice but the later ones are kind of slow and they eat gas. When the C4 came out it revolutionized the image of the Corvette from being more of a brute to a high tech machine. Now a days, the C4 is among the cheapest Corvettes available so their bang for a buck is incredible. They are not overly expensive to work on or maintain, get reasonable mileage when you are cruising and the convertibles especially in red or white are lookers. I like straight lines and crisp angles in car design so I suppose the C4 is probably the closest of all Vettes to that theme – as are the latest Cadillacs ironically.
I’m not trying to rag on the ATS, but it’s an interesting thing: as the Arts & Science theme gets watered down, and time has gone on, the result is that they’re starting to look increasingly generic. I truly thought that was a Camry at first glance. That would not have happened then years ago when the CTS first came out.
The derivativeness of the ATS is something that I also noticed recently, but I saw it as derivative of something else entirely. A mere few blocks away from where the photo of the red ATS and the new Corvette was taken, I found this ATS parked right in front of a 2007 Chrysler 300C (my car). The similarity in proportions and roofline was unmistakeable.
That’s actually a CTS, but the similarities are obvious. The ATS is a bit less angular, and its more curved C-Pillar resembles the Camry’s, as well as a few other cars.
Well that is a base model with out the fog lights and the character line down the side is kind washed out, to fair, they are much interesting up close, 2 people at work have bought one in the last month, so I’ve gotten to view them up close.
This is how we roll in NC.
Proof that today’s sedans are all looking just a bit too much alike! Not good
I agree, If it weren’t for the ATS headlights I’d never be sure its an ATS
do something to keep all 3 unique. Right now ATS is the Cadillac Buy.
I have to agree on the new ‘Vette looking too Japanese. It looks like something a 15 year boy would draw up after seeing “Fast and Furious”. The quad fartcan treatment looks particularly awful. I’m sure it will be a big hit in these parts with the over-indulged offspring of wealthy Hong Kong business men though.
A sad follow up to the C-6.
Besides the awful Camaroish taillights and chintzy exhaust(is it just me or do they look misaligned?), I also detest the fact that the rear has somewhat moved back to a soft convex shape like the late C4s and C5s. That really looks too soft for a Corvette and really sends a mixed message with the overly aggressive taillight/louver/exhaust treatment. The C6 looked just about perfect in this area: Bold round individual tails, concave/negatively sloped shape, clean and uncluttered and instantly identifiable.
Everywhere up to the butt though, I like better. The greenhouse seems to have upset a few purists, but really, the bubbleglass’s heritage comes from the 78 Disco vettes. Bout time that look is buried, and hey, It’s not the first time the Corvette has changed rooflines either.
OK, you’ve posted about a new car, so I cannot contain myself.
I drove a Tesla Model S yesterday. I’m just about speechless. Finally it’s the 21st Century. Our jetpacks have arrived.
Saw it way out in an empty part of the parking lot at work, and ogled it a long time. Then saw it again on the street, with a friend of mine driving it! Yesterday he let me take it for a ten mile spin around the office parks and freeways.
It’s an amazingly big car, way bigger than my Prius. Stunning appearance in real life. Low, sleek, carved. Chrome door handles are perfectly flush. Click the keyless remote, they glide out a few inches for your hand to pull. Inside, tons of space for five adults, a big hatchback space behind that, plus a trunk under the hood.
Push the start button and boot it up. The huge 17″ iPad-like console display comes up with a Google map of your area and your music and comfort choices, or graphs of your power usage, expected range, etc. Behind the wheel another big sharp display with concentric speed (mph) and power (kW) gauges, and a smaller usage/range graph. Push the column stalk down for Drive, give it a little pedal, and it’s quite smooth, docile, fully controlled. Steering is precise and a bit heavy. It feels exactly like the luxury sedan it is, plus exquisite smoothness and silence.
Give it more pedal, you get more push. More pedal, More Push. More pedal, MORE PUSH! Silent, effortless Hand of God force, perfectly smooth, like gravity. In four seconds you’re going 60 mph. Let up on the pedal and you feel a smooth firm force slowing you down. Let it up more, and more force slows you down. It’s one pedal driving, you just use the brakes to hold it stopped. Driving the Tesla Model S is just a total joy, a dream come true.
All the car of the year awards are totally justified. This is a milestone car. Tesla Model S is not just an astonishing luxury sports sedan, it’s a perfectly capable all-around car for anyone to drive, take on long trips, anything. 250 mile range. Recharges in as little as 30 minutes. And hey, it’s Made in USA. If this is the future, I want to live a long, long time.
Yes, it’s a very expensive car today. Remember what a good PC cost 20 years ago? It’s a tenth of that now. The first color TVs were over $4K in today’s money. Cars like the Tesla Model S that normal people can afford are coming, in good time. (Actually my friend isn’t particularly wealthy, he just has different priorities.)
I didn’t take any photos since I only snap old cars. Here’s the only picture of one on the street I could Google up, it’s from Wired.
I see 4-5 Tesla in Naples as well as at least 1 Spyker never sat in or drove any of those. Of course along with the myriad of Lexii Bentley convertibles and the one odd mustard colored late 70s Corolla coupe that I keep seeing periodically. I hear Tesla is the “in” car for the IT monied crowd.
I know what you mean about PC costs. I bought my first one in 1990 and it was $1200. In 1983, we received our first big IT installation at the dealership courtesy of Reynolds & Reynolds. We got 2 IBM terminals, modem setup, various other pieces of equipment including a fax and what not. $4700. That is equivalent to about $11,000 now. We kept that stuff for_a_long_time. The biggest thing I can remember about that system was that the modem was integrated with the phone line, you didn’t have to remove the headset and put it on the box!
Nice. I haven’t even seen one of these yet. The Fisker Karma is surprisingly not that uncommon here in Oklahoma, the local Cadillac dealer is also a Fisker dealer, so I’ve seen probably 6 of them, too cartoonish for me, but sharp. I think our nearest Tesla dealer is in Texas or Colorado, so probably a bit far for a service, not even factoring in the range anxiety…
I wouldn’t bank on Moore’s Law to make these affordable. The improvement of batteries happens at a much slower pace than the improvement of semiconductors. CPUs get faster and cheaper every year, but laptop batteries are still only good for a few hours.
Plus: There are two kinds of products that are capable of chemically storing large amounts of energy: Batteries and bombs. As power density increases, batteries become more bomb-like. Just ask the folks at Boeing.
UPDATE: Paul talked me into making this an article, so please comment there, thanks!
At least the C7 has (supposedly) a higher-quality interior than the cheap-o plastic-fantastic interior than that of the C6, & looks less outdated than the C6.
Cant say I like it the 69 Stingray was probably the last Corvette that looked the business to me yeah the C6 looks pretty good on a skid pan and can show lots of exotica how fast is done but we can get that powertrain in a sedan and ist unlikely 2014 Corvettes will be on sale here.
I think the C7 is an improvement over the C6 and an overall style success. Yes, the rear end is not my favourite either, but overall it’s a move in the right direction. I always though the C6 nose was bland and rather unappealing. The C7 is quite attactive from the front end, and I think that is more important the the ugly rear end. That said, I really don’t dislike any Corvette styling. My favourites is definitely the C2’s (in coupe form). But then there is also the 56-57 which is my favourite C1, very clean and sporty. The C3 was my least favourite style, especially after 1973, but they seem to be very popular with the younger boomers. I like the styling of the C4, especially the later ones, but they are torture chambers for tall people. I still think the C5’s look good today, and the muscular C6 Z06 is my favourite of that generation.
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I like the new Vette for the most part even though the rear is a bit overdone. At least it’s distinctive.
I haven’t gone out of my way to look at pics of the new Vette because it’s not my kind of car. Even before I saw the comments here, my first though on the tail of the car was, “Ewww, that’s overwrought.”
To my eye, the peak of Corvette styling was 1958-59. I’m not a fan of the C4 Vette either. When they designed the C4, it’s like someone took a ruler and drew a line across the fender peaks of the C3 and called it good. Meh.
It’s a Corvette, it’s supposed to have that cartoonish, hairy-chested machismo. As it is, that is vastly more subtle than the C3 Corvette.
I could be wrong but I think that building is the Rayburn House Office Building. My congressman has an office there and I attended a reception on the first floor when I was last in Washington.
Yeah, that’s definitely the House side of Capitol Hill. Maybe the ‘Vette is there to be inspected by members of GM’s “other” board of directors.
New York dealer tags on the car….hmmmm, I think there are at least a couple of senators/reps that own a car dealership or two….
GM designers should have been in the Retro look theme; like the Camaro, for the new Vette, C2 or Early C3’s would have been better inspiration than this.
Looks like a Mix of Japanese GTR & Ferrari.
C7 didn’t do it for me at first glance and it’s not growing on me. I like it less every time I see it.
I like it better than any Corvette since the mid 60’s. The rearend on the C6 was too big vertically and the tail lights were too big so the C7 is a big improvement, imo. I hated the big butt on the C6. The C7 looks modern but has classic styling details, much like the Camaro.
Not much of a Vette enthusiast, I think the Camaro is the better looking of the two.
I’ve always hated the C6, so I actually like the C7, tacky details and all. To me the C6 is just like the Lamborghini Murcielago: None of the elegance and class of the previous generation, none of the aggressive futuristic styling of the next generation. Just a forgettable wedge with no redeeming styling features, the sports equivalent of a Camry. The C7 is a step in the right direction.
I’d still go with a C4 or C5 if I was in the market for a nice recent ‘Vette, though. I just can’t get excited about a Corvette without pop-up headlights (C1 included).
Well, I like that the C7 has a nice taut looking body with fairly short overhangs. And the front view is nicely menacing. Having said that, the detailing on the side seems fussy to me, and the rear view is just over the top.
Since I was born in ’54, I’m sure the C1 was the first one I saw, but for me the C2 remains the ultimate in terms of design, I suppose because I was 9 to 13 during its production run, so it hit at that time of maximum susceptibility to sports car design (late childhood-early adolescence). The C3 is my least favorite, because it looks bloated, but also I suppose because it replaced my beloved Sting Ray. C4 doesn’t do it for me either, exactly because of the straight lines. Sports cars are supposed to be sensuous as well as brutal, and the C4 just isn’t. C5 began the road back, and C6 was another improvement.
So, I guess my ranking would be 2, 6, 1 (especially the ’58 redesign), 7, 5, 4, 3. Reserving the right to revise the rankings once I actually see a C7 on the road rather then on screen.
I’ll look forward to seeing one of these in the flesh to see if the cartoony-OTT details come of as purposeful or ridiculous. It definitely helps to have a dark color to hide all the black plastic vents.
I like it for the fact that it is a new Corvette. And I do agree with Paul, the C6 was a very nice update from the C5, taking the Mako Shark sharp fender cuts and Kamm rear end with the traditional round tail lights and incorporating it on the soft fendered C5 John Cafaro design. I also like the flat rear window glass, a nice departure from the bubble backed glass onboard Corvettes since 1978.
I kind of wish the designers had the courage to go with the Corvette Stingray show car’s rear window, which featured a split window in addition to that show car’s rear end, which had a boat tail not unlke the Mid Year Corvette’s of 63-67.
The one thing that irriitates, even beyond the Camaro-like rear tail lights, is the iconic Crossed Flags emblem taken to a cartoonish extreme. Look carefully at the extreme angle of the flags and you see the 1976-onward Pontiac Trans Am Screaming Chicken in it’s appearence. And they seem to be everywhere on the car. I wished they had toned them down to 1968 levels: one on the steering wheel hub, one on the nose and one on the rear gas filler door. We don’t need screaming chicken crossed flags everywhere to tell us what we are looking at, we already know!
I like the Stingray badge on the front fenders, though. But any Opel Manta A fan will immediately recognize the European Manta Ray fender badge, even if it is tarted up to 2013 specs!
Nice catch on the street and nice photos. The introduction of every new Corvette will have controversy attached. I’m thankful that we even have a new Corvette, considering the plight of GM in the past few years… And I hope they sell them like hotcakes!
That new Stingray will probably be over $ 100K. Who has that kind of money? If I was to get a Vette, I’d want a 57 or so. My bro in law has a pristine 95 that he bought for $ 12K, in 2011 with low miles. Enough dream car for anyone.
I have a hard time getting in and out of it.
Still not feeling the love for the C7. To me it looks like a Nissan GT-R as interpreted by circa-1997 Pontiac.
What the styling does say to me is that the Corvette has a certain reputation outside of its devoted fanbase, and GM wants to distance the new model from that. Especially so if it hopes to sell this car in appreciable numbers overseas.
A bit off-topic but Callaway study the possibility to do a Shooting brake version of the Corvette http://www.autoblog.com/2013/03/18/corvette-stingray-shooting-brake-under-consideration-by-callaway/
Casey of the blog Art & Colour even imagined a 4-door Corvette going after the Panamera. http://artandcolourcars.blogspot.ca/2013/03/2014-corvette-corsa-panamera-competitor.html
The new Corvette seems to have been styled by a fan of “Corvette Summer.” It has too many vents, exaggerated features, contrasting colored panels where it shouldn’t, and what look like repurposed tail lights. The body colored dog legs over the door are the single worst feature though, probably because of the blacked out A-pillars.
I’ll keep my C5.. however I’ll check the C7 out next month @ the Corvette Museum.
not a fan at all so far.