I hope so becouse I heard ( fastlanedaily.com ) that it will be around untill 2014? I really dont think there going to milk the C6 for that long. They will be doing a facelift andwhat not to keep the sells going but nothing to radical. But when you think about it "if its not broken why fix it.
It was launched when? 2006? That's not a long run - especially in Corvette terms. Off the top of my head -
C1 - 1952 - 1962 = 10 years
C2 - 1963 - 1967 = 4 years
C3 - 1968 - 1983 = 15 years
C4 - 1984 - 1996 = 12 years
C5 - 1997 - 2005 = 8 years
C6 - 2006 - 2014 = 8 years
EDIT - Baxter - how do I get these in different lines? They are when I type them...
Well, there could still be a Chrysler version in the works depending on the merger(?). They will all be white with red interiors, and have an AC/Delco tape deck AM/FM radios that will be guarranteed to work for six months. All switchgear will be sourced from Dynasty/Fifth Ave. leftovers, and the paint will be water based. It will have either the word "cross" or "shelby" or R/T in the name of the car somewhere, and untold numbers of special editions.
mattmacklind wrote:
Well, there could still be a Chrysler version in the works depending on the merger(?). They will all be white with red interiors, and have an AC/Delco tape deck AM/FM radios that will be guarranteed to work for six months. All switchgear will be sourced from Dynasty/Fifth Ave. leftovers, and the paint will be water based. It will have either the word "cross" or "shelby" or R/T in the name of the car somewhere, and untold numbers of special editions.
We will call it Cordoba, and it shall have rich Corintian leather
Hmm the Corvette might be the last production car (and will certainly be the last sports car) to be sold with leaf springs.
I see GM and Chrysler joining, then GM getting rid of some brands from both camps and creating the following brands:
- "GMPP" brand with both Corvette and Viper models
- "GM Truck" brand with GM large and medium trucks, Dodge and GM light trucks (Jeep, Hummer, PowerWagon, etc)
- " GM Lux" brand with the premium RWD cars from ChryCo mixed in.
- "GM Family" which gets the Malibu, Chrysler minivans, and GMs new "big little SUVs" like the Traverse.
- "GM Pony car brand" which gets the G8, Solstice, Challenger
All of the dealers will be "General Motors Corp" and will sell all of the above, certain dealers will get the Lux and PP brands with volume and status sales.
GameboyRMH wrote:
Hmm the Corvette might be the last production car (and will certainly be the last sports car) to be sold with leaf springs.
Ummm... your point is? A transverse leak is a little bit different then leak spring suspension and nobody can doubt the shear cornering ability and great handling of the Corvette. So I don't know what you're getting at here. The C7 has a 90% chance of sticking with the same design...
Cotton
Reader
10/21/08 10:06 a.m.
GameboyRMH wrote:
Hmm the Corvette might be the last production car (and will certainly be the last sports car) to be sold with leaf springs.
and it's doing a hell of a job with it's setup, so why change. A transverse fiberglass leaf is way different from a stick axle and wagon springs.
I love the people that bash the transverse leaf spring, yet it handles better than their little nazi-sled or rice rocket. They are the same people that bash pushrods and think that having 84 valves per cylinder makes their car better. And that isn't a long run at all, and btw the C6 started life in 2005, so it would be a 9 year run, not 8. I'd still take a C5 Z06 over a base C6 though, even better a 99 Fixed roof coupe
Well, Cadillac uses a transverse leaf in one of their cars. I can't keep track of the acronym, something with an X in it. XLR? Of course it's probably lifted right out of the Vette...
I'll take my Covette 700 lbs lighter and about 20% smaller, thanks :)
Well obviously the leaf spring gets the job done, but it's just such an out-of-place primitive design. Imagine if BMW had put an advanced revision of the rubber cone hydraulic suspension on the new Mini. Sure it would get the job done, but it would still be very odd.
Edit: well whaddaya know, there are actually some advantages over coil springs to this setup, they're even lighter:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvette_leaf_springs#Transverse_leaf_springs_within_independent_suspensions
^ Are you "truly" familiar with spring technology? Or quoting some poor sap who thinks that a transverse mono-leaf spring is even REMOTELY COMPARABLE to the friction laden multi-leaf steel springs found in pick-ups/older RWD vehicles. There is NOTHING primitive about the vette "leaf" spring. It's a flexible member, that is formed in a different way than the torsion (coil!:) ) springs found in many/most other vehicles.
The transverse leaf offers: light weight and good packaging and can be tuned (if desirable) to have the same spring rate/behaviour as a "non primitive" steel coil spring. (coil springs have been around since the 1500's: not so with composite mono-leaf springs!)
Are torsion springs primitive too?
Nathan
DOH: Treed by your edit! Sorry. :)
Kramer
New Reader
10/21/08 11:56 a.m.
I can't believe that cars these days are still using the "old" wheel technology. Isn't that the oldest technology around? Even older than the transverse leaf spring! There are many different, higher-tech ways to move a vehicle--airfoil and mag-lev are two.
Or maybe the traditional, round wheel works. As does the transverse leaf spring.
Keith wrote:
Well, Cadillac uses a transverse leaf in one of their cars. I can't keep track of the acronym, something with an X in it. XLR? Of course it's probably lifted right out of the Vette...
I'll take my Covette 700 lbs lighter and about 20% smaller, thanks :)
The XLR is a corvette frame with that super ugly caddy body on it. They also remove the simple, powerful, reliable, and quite efficient LS engine and replace it with a less powerful, vastly more expensive/complicated, and less efficient northstar engine. Oh, the XLR costs quite a bit more than a vette as well. From what I've seen, you also need to be 70 and wearing one of those goofy white golfing hats to buy one.
On the topic of a GM-Chrysler merge, I'll bet a billion dollars that it'd just turn into a super badge-engineering extravaganza. Think about it, you could have even more different names for the Trailblazer/Envoy/97x/Ascender/Bravada/Rainer/H3. The market is totally primed for some Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep named variants as well. Think about how many more versions of the Sebring they could make. The mind reels at the possibility of cloud themed names for the Impala...
skruffy wrote:
On the topic of a GM-Chrysler merge, I'll bet a billion dollars that it'd just turn into a super badge-engineering extravaganza. Think about it, you could have even more different names for the Trailblazer/Envoy/97x/Ascender/Bravada/Rainer/H3. The market is totally primed for some Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep named variants as well. Think about how many more versions of the Sebring they could make. The mind reels at the possibility of cloud themed names for the Impala...
i think we have a candidate for the next "Say What?" section right here
im just hoping GM doesn't merge with E36 M3hole chrysler
Salanis
SuperDork
10/21/08 1:35 p.m.
I thought I read somewhere, probably in a sidebar in a GRM issue, about why the Corvette engineers went with a transverse leaf spring. They stated that it was actually a superior system, but it is more difficult to engineer, install, swap out, and fine tune, which is why most other manufacturers go with the coil-spring system.
AutoXR
New Reader
10/21/08 2:09 p.m.
Stop getting your automotive news from rumour-mill websites.
The C7 Vette will be here in 2010 as a 2011... the XLR is gone, a smaller caddy is coming, the CTS is getting a diesel and a 4cyl turbo....and a whole brand is gone by 2011.
JM
Tech Editor for GM.
DILYSI Dave wrote:
It was launched when? 2006? That's not a long run - especially in Corvette terms. Off the top of my head -
C1 - 1952 - 1962 = 10 years
C2 - 1963 - 1967 = 4 years
C3 - 1968 - 1983 = 15 years
C4 - 1984 - 1996 = 12 years
C5 - 1997 - 2005 = 8 years
C6 - 2006 - 2014 = 8 years
EDIT - Baxter - how do I get these in different lines? They are when I type them...
edit: I was going to suggest using the html code [br] (except with greater than/less than signs instead of brakets), for line break, but it doesn't work.
skruffy wrote:
Keith wrote:
Well, Cadillac uses a transverse leaf in one of their cars. I can't keep track of the acronym, something with an X in it. XLR? Of course it's probably lifted right out of the Vette...
I'll take my Covette 700 lbs lighter and about 20% smaller, thanks :)
The XLR is a corvette frame with that super ugly caddy body on it. They also remove the simple, powerful, reliable, and quite efficient LS engine and replace it with a less powerful, vastly more expensive/complicated, and less efficient northstar engine. Oh, the XLR costs quite a bit more than a vette as well. From what I've seen, you also need to be 70 and wearing one of those goofy white golfing hats to buy one.
The two cars are built at the same factory.
katonk
New Reader
10/21/08 5:35 p.m.
C2 - 1963 - 1967 = 4 years
C3 - 1968 - 1983 = 15 years
C4 - 1984 - 1996 = 12 years
C5 - 1997 - 2005 = 8 years
C6 - 2006 - 2014 = 8 years
EDIT - Baxter - how do I get these in different lines? They are when I type them...
Fixed... you just need to put < br > at the end of each line. Note: don't put a space between the <> and the br.
You have to hand it to the Corvette for being technologically efficient. Shows what's capable without OHC design, AWD, or active yaw control.
I keep waiting for Ford's switch to OHC V8s to pay off (as they're the only domestic to do so), and it just hasn't when you compare it to the LSx series of engines.
I'll take my Covette 700 lbs lighter and about 20% smaller, thanks :)
I see what you did there...
ReverendDexter wrote:
I keep waiting for Ford's switch to OHC V8s to pay off (as they're the only domestic to do so), and it just hasn't when you compare it to the LSx series of engines.
Well, it has paid off for Ford. They learned a lot about cylinder-head oiling, and why it is important if you don't want the camshafts to digest themselves.
I forgot who pointed it out, but Ford is stuck in copycat mode, with no real company identity or even reason to be copying.
All the imports have OHC? Okay, we need that too.
Dodge has a V10? We need that as well.
Butt ugly front ends? Comin' right up!
Somea the Japanese and Germans have AWD. We need that.
No hybrids that I am aware of, yet. The GM/Dodge/other truck hybrid motor/CVT transmission module thingus looks pretty tasty. I give Ford until 2011 to have one of their own.
It's nothing new, though. When Ford came up with the 429, they managed to duplicate Chevy and Chrysler, depending on if it was a wedge or a Hemi (er, i mean Boss).
ford has been selling the escape hybrid for a few years now...