Swift
However, on paper(and the track), the C6 owns the Carerra. I realize that paper isn't everything, but it's true. Which would I rather drive? The Carerra for the reasons that you have described. But which is the guy with about 70-90K going to buy at mid life crisis? That's the question.
I've pointed out many times in past the C6 makes the Carrera look bad on paper.
But you don't drive a spec sheet. Numbers tell you very little about the actual driving experience. If you care about driving, then the C6 and 911 are not as far apart as the numbers make them.
In both markets --the Carrera's and the Corvette's you will have a number of people who buy the image. These are the peopel who don't really think past the marketing literature, quote 0-60 times, but drive the cars the way they would drive an Accord and couldn't get 7/10ths out of their cars to save their lives.
You will then have a number of people who are enthusiasts. Oddly, these people in some ways are even worse than the posuers because they've become convinced that their car of choice is the be-all, end all of cars and nothing-- absolutely NOTHING will shake their faith in that mantra. Rather than figuring out what they like about a car and evaluating one based on how it accomodates their needs and desires, they choose a car to worship and shape their desires based on what the car does well and even what it doesn't do well.
It's this kind of narrow-minded tunnel vision that makes diehard 911 people unable to accept how great a car the Boxster is, Corvette freaks unable accept that a car that doesn't gush torque at idle can be fast and car people in general who think transverse composite leaf springs are "old tech".
Then there is the tiny fraction of pragmatists who can evaluate a car without bias and understand that each car is a series of design, manufactuering and economic compromises; that NO car is perfect and even cars that they may not choose for themselves may have merit in someone else's eyes depending on
their needs/desires.
There are too many people in group A and B, not enough people in group C.
skicrush
I think it's pretty safe to say that generally speaking, drivers that are more performance oriented are going to go for the vette, and those that are more interested in a certain feel will go for the porsche.
I don't think that is very fair to the Porsche guys. Like I said in my reply to
Swift, there will be a lot of posuers who buy the name, but there are many Porsche owners who track their cars. These people are quite performance oriented. There are also your fair share of Corvette owners who do nothing but wax them and drive the speed limit on Sundays. In fact, based on my own experience, the Carrera and the Corvette have roughly equal likelyhood to attact group A owners.
As you move up to the Z06 and GT3 (or Turbo), this likelyhood decreases. But I think the percentages stay about the same.
skicrush
I admit that this whole debate comes down to an issue of what the buyer is really looking for. No one buying any of these cars will be able to wring anything close to the official ring time out of their car, but it does give you an idea what your car is capable of once you get some experience driving it.
Agreed.
IMO, the speed differential between a Carrera S and C6 is minute enough to be a wash on the street. If you're ever going fast enough to find out on a public road, you should be locked up and your car impounded. For track events, it's a bit of a different story. But I've always advocated learning to drive fast in slow cars.
M
Meow! (='.'=)
That's crazy. We pay sales tax, and the gas guzzler tax on top of that. you pay the sales tax when you register your car, so you can't just go to a state with no sales tax (like Oregon) to purchase your car. The gas guzzler tax is a one-time shot though--you pay at the pump after that. But man, your CO2 tax is crazy! 35% of the cost of the car!! Which looks like it's at least 30% for anything that costs over £25-30k! I hope I'm reading that wrong!