7 facts General Motors does not want buyers to know about Corvette C7 Stingray

In its attempt to market new Corvette C7 Stingray, +General Motors  marketing team clearly assumed approach of holds barred, resorting to promoting information that at best misleads the potential customers.   

1.  FACT:  New Corvette is HEAVIER and considerably so than its predecessor.  

Yes, +Tadge Juechter  has been trying his hardest to promote the "newer, lighter and stiffer" frame new Corvette uses attempting to convince potential customers that this supposedly lighter frame translates into an overall lighter car.  The REALITY is however, that the new car even in its lightest 1LT trim level, without Z51 option is still 90 pounds heavier than its predecessor. 

Things get real heavy with the addition of Z51 option and automatic transmission and going up the trim levels.  In its heaviest, most AARP friendly form, new Corvette approaches 3500 pounds!!!
For comparison, the heaviest of the previous generation of Corvettes, ZR1 managed to score 3350 pounds while producing 178 hp more!!!

2.  FACT:  Adding more weight to the car DOES NOT IMPROVE fuel economy.

No matter how BS +Tadge Juechter  spews regarding fuel efficiency of the new Corvette, laws of physics disagree with him.  According to Sir Isaac Newton, a body at rest tends to stay this way and work is required to convince it otherwise.  Now, unless new Corvette is to be used in free fall condition only, it is a fact that heavier object requires more energy to get it moving.  The heavier the object is, the more work it requires and work of course requires energy.

Here is a thought for Tadge Juechter, take a peek at Ford's latest attempts with F150 bodied trucks using SMALLER engines while actually gaining fuel economy and hauling abilities.
Yes Tadge, time to go back to school and learn some physics before blowing smoke at the ignorant
masses.

IF new Corvette was actually lighter, it  could be an awesome high performance machine, avoiding complexity of AFM and higher stall speed of automatic version to really improve its performance.

3.  FACT:  None of new technologies such as AFM, VVT or DI employed in new Corvette translate into performance. 

Why?  No need to look further than the Corvette C7R.   Not only does this car not use the new LT1 engine or its supercharged LT4 version but it actually manages to LOSE horsepower by adopting GM direct injection system.  The loss is only 3 hp but it is very significant considering other manufacturers efforts that result in about 10% horsepower GAIN while employing DI. 

As a side note:  carbon build up continues to be a serious issue with all stand alone DI systems.  Horsepower actually decreases with miles piled up on a car, unlike with the conventional multiport fuel injection systems.

4.  FACT:  New Corvette has aerodynamics considerably inferior to its predecessor.  This is why Juechter never disclosed the top speed of new Corvette.

The proof?  Hennessey 200 mph run requiring not only supercharging but also a serious shot of nitrous oxide and over 700 rwhp to cross the 200 mph barrier.  For comparison, C6 ZR1 required 570 rwhp to achieve 205 mph top speed.  Oh and last ZR1 Cd was about 0.36 due to ground effects needed for stability at higher speeds.

5.  FACT:  Corvette buyers pay for FAILED E85 performance boosting attempt by General Motors.

Yes, the car includes ethanol compatibility measures EXCEPT for the engine itself lacking the ability to withstand the increase in compression.  Yes Juechter, this is the biggest failure yet, apparently too cheap to use forged internals to make actual power gains?

The outcome of this ethanol failure is that each buyer subsidizes the extra money spent on features that cannot be used.

6.  FACT:  The performance figures such as 0-60, ET and skid pad numbers claimed by Juechter and GM marketing team, are possible only in SPRING and with  AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION ONLY. 

Why?  The summer tires allowing for better handling and braking and acceleration work only as designed in temperatures above 50 F.  Below this temperature, soft summer compound hardens to the point where slightly above freezing point, driving this new Corvette becomes outright dangerous.  There is already plenty of photographs showing C7 wrecked since the temperatures went down due to winter.

As already mentioned, laws of physics prevent new Corvette equipped with manual transmission from achieving claimed numbers.  However, increased stall speed on cars equipped with manual transmission can actually produce impressive numbers but only due to stall speed increase.  This is in case anyone wonders why those cooling vents are on rear quarter panels.

Since Z51 equipped convertible version cannot use these vents, it is a given that life expectancy of the transmission in those cars, if used on the drag strip, will be considerably shorter than its hatchback counterpart.


7.   FACT:  New Corvette paint quality is horrible and without possibility for improvements.

In spite of marketing investment in upgrades of Bowling Green facility, absolutely no monies were spent on modernizing the paint process.  There is absolutely no improvement in paint quality from the previous generations.  In fact, due to sharper surfaces on the new car, the paint quality became considerably worse.