The Generation Game: Chevrolet Corvette

[Liquid]

The Generation Game: Chevrolet Corvette

1953-1962 Chevrolet Corvette (C1)

Bodystyles: 2-door convertible
Engines: 3.9L I6, 4.3 - 5.4L V8
Drivetrain: RWD
Length: ~4.35m / 171in
Weight: ~1,300kg / 2,860lbs

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1963-1967 Chevrolet Corvette (C2)

Bodystyles: 2-door convertible, 2-door coupe
Engines: 5.4L - 7.0L V8
Drivetrain: RWD
Length: 4.5m / 179in
Weight: 1,525kg / 3,362lbs

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1968-1982 Chevrolet Corvette (C3)

Bodystyles: 2-door convertible, 2-door coupe
Engines: 5.0L - 7.4L V8
Drivetrain: RWD
Length: 4.67m / 184in
Weight: 1,597kg / 3,520lbs

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1983-1996 Chevrolet Corvette (C4)

Bodystyles: 2-door convertible, 2-door coupe, 2-door targa
Engines: 5.7L V8
Drivetrain: RWD
Length: 4.48m / 176in
Weight: 1,469kg / 3,329lbs

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1997-2004 Chevrolet Corvette (C5)

Bodystyles: 2-door convertible, 2-door coupe, 2-door hardtop
Engines: 5.7L V8
Drivetrain: RWD
Length: 4.54m / 180in
Weight: ~1,450kg / 3,196lbs

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2005-2013 Chevrolet Corvette (C6)

Bodystyles: 2-door convertible, 2-door coupe, 2-door targa
Engines: 6.0 - 7.0L V8
Drivetrain: RWD
Length: 4.44m / 175in
Weight: ~1,460kg / 3,220lbs

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2014-2019 Chevrolet Corvette (C7)

Bodystyles: 2-door convertible, 2-door targa
Engines: 6.2L V8
Drivetrain: RWD
Length: 4.49m / 177in
Weight: ~1,560kg / 3,440lbs

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2020-present Chevrolet Corvette (C8)

Bodystyles: 2-door convertible, 2-door targa
Engines: 5.5L V8, 6.2L V8
Drivetrain: RWD
Length: 4.63m / 183in
Weight: ~1,715kg / 3,780lbs

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Remember:

It's not the cool wall, but you can judge it that way.
It's not a like wall, but you can choose the one you like the most.
You might have a personal link to it.
You might have a video game memory of it.
You might love its motorsports credibility.
You can change your vote after voting.

Tell us which one you like but also, we're here to talk about each generation in general, tell us which one you really don't like and why. There is also a lot of scope to talk about facelifts and mid-generation changes. The more information you provide, the more accurately people can vote.

With that in mind...

 

[05XR8]

Tough one. I haven’t voted yet.

I sat in a C2 split window when I was a pre-teen. Sat in a co-worker’s C3 pace car replica. Was offered to buy my friend’s ‘84 C4. Drove a C6 convertible for a week during my honeymoon.

Jeez. For me, I’d have to narrow it down to the C2 and C6.
Memories of sitting in a family friend’s C2 with my Dad, as he heavily pondered buying it versus total fun with the top down in the C6 blasting from Orlando to Miami to Orlando.
Probably life behind the wheel. What Corvette has the most aesthetically pleasing view of and around and through the cockpit? The C2 has a beautiful gauge layout. Every Corvette after that not so much. Bordering on GMC and Pontiac J car designs until the C7.

Performance is probably moot. Racing pedigree is the same. Outstanding achievements throughout the model’s history. Each generation has its hot model(s). Leaning more to the C2 with its body shape, knock offs, signature taillight design for future generations(some) to follow, big leaps in performance for the times. Not to mention the classic but short lived Sting Ray tv show.

C1 is just a classic cruiser I wouldn’t mind owning.
C3 with its narrow body proportions is least appealing.
C4 I can watch the lights flip open and close all day.
C5, I really hate the short bubble Z06. Regardless of how much performance it packs. The hatch should have been the donor.
C7 went too angular for me and lost the signature taillights.
C8 looks better in the metal and as a racer, but I pass.


C2= favourite
C3= least favourite

 

[sw3g005]

C3 would probably be my pick, especially if it's a early year roadster:

One of the best looking cars I know of. Doesn't help that I had a orange diecast model of one as a kid

Honorary mentions go to:
C2 - can't go wrong with a split rear window, though the full window model's cool too. Also, NFS Undercover - not the best NFS game but have plenty of good memories of it, including its car theft missions, where funnily enough a C2 was the targeted car in one of them.
C6 - more video game nostalgia. NFS, Driver SF, WR2 (as a mod).
C8 - for the Ferrari-soundalike Z06 model.

C1, C4 and C5 are cool in a typical (respectively) 50s, 80s-early 90s and late 90s kinda way, though they wouldn't be my first pick of Corvette. C7 is probably my least favourite; it's not bad but it's also kinda... eh.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

For me the C6 had the best combination of looks and dynamic ability out of all of them. The fastest car I've ever been in is a C6 Corvette as well - a 700bhp n/a monster Z06, I'll never forget the violence and the deafening sound.

C5 & C7 tie for 2nd
C2 & C4 tie for 3rd
C1, C3, & C8 are not desirable for me at all.

 

[Famine]

 

[Darla Starch]

4th gen 'Vette was the first RL car I drove in a videogame
5th gen was current when I first got into cars
6th gen was coverstar of one of the first car mags I bought

Chose 6th gen because reasons I guess 🤷‍♂️

 

[Liquid]

I'm torn between the C2 and C4. I've seen both in person and the C2 is one of the most beautiful vehicles ever made. The C4 just has an it factor I can't describe. It looks like a fabulous grand tourer but obviously I am not speaking from experience and clouded by clichès of American build quality. The C4 also has a design language I absolutely love; blocky but just sleek enough. I have this image of both the C2 and C4 crusing along an open road with a dust trail, just an aesthetic I'd like to enjoy.

The C5 is great but I hate the C6 headlights and paint-matching.

I'm less keen on the C7 and C8, they've veered away from the pretence of a grand tourer to an imitation super car.

I'll probably change my vote during the week.

 

[TexRex]

C3. '70. First year of the 454. LS5 4-speed coupe in Bridgehampton Blue with black vinyl interior.

 

[Aaronhuang]

Love the C1, and the C6 was a close second.

 

[McLaren]

C6 for me, bias admitting. Strong power for the dollar with the higher end models. It was everything I was looking for in a sports car at the time; 400+Hp V8, manual, 3LZ made the interior a bit nicer alongside the Nav. Pretty reliable, bullet proof cars with the regular maintenance so your wallet wasn't hit too hard, but you definitely needed to be sure you could cover yourself with the head issue or in my case, a new transmission.

Still absolutely love the C6, but overall, I've admittedly fallen more for the C7 in the last year. The C8 has really made me appreciate the C7's traditional FR platform, but with Chevy's goal to bring radically update the C6 inside & out. First time getting into a C7 after my C6 was a really nice change.

 

[-Fred-]

As far as motorsport pedigree you hardly can beat the C6. It literally won everything, everywhere and sounded epic doing so. The yellow and the "Jake" logo are iconic, it's the epitome of the mid 00's GT era.

However the best looking one is the C2, which is easily in my forever top 10 best looking cars.



So yeah, I don't know.

 

[Liquid]

As far as motorsport pedigree you hardly can beat the C6.

As a non-North American who didn't follow the ALMS, I have stronger memories of the C5.R through Gran Turismo 3.

 

[Roo]

Hmmm.

Looks says C2.

Nostalgia says C4 (thanks GTA3).

Personal memories of it audibly turning the Le Mans pitlane exit into a drag strip says C7.

Still undecided.

 

[Tornado]

The C5 is one of the most influential/important cars made in the past 30 years. I can't really argue it shouldn't be the choice.

 

[Liquid]

The C5 is one of the most influential cars made in the past 30 years.

I am @ing you because I'd like to know more. The C5 is a beautiful machine which has aged extremely well.

 

[ScottPuss20]

When I went to Le Mans in 2010, I heard the sounds of flat sixes, flat-plane crank V8's, turbo diesels and V12's, but by far the most distinct sound was that of the Corvette C6.R's. That year, 2 cars from Luc Alphand Racing were entered into the GT1 class and 2 from Corvette Racing in GT2. It left quite the impression on me and even my mum could recognise the sound, which ranged from a roar to growl - similar to a lion. I immediately fell in love with the savagery and dirtiness of the car. Moreover, I remember losing my mind over the C6 ZR-1's insane horsepower figure back in 2009. I was like, "640 HP in a CORVETTE? That's 20 less than an Enzo! It's pretty much a supercar with that kind of horsepower!" The car also featured in one of my favourite Top Gear episodes, where Clarkson said that the car was built by a fat man in Kentucky. Safe to say his opinion about the Corvette changed after spending a few days with it, hence validating my own opinion of the car. The C6 is the best Corvette if you ask me.

 

[Tornado]

I am @ing you because I'd like to know more.

In the US the C5 immediately became the standard that things had to match up to. That isn't to say that there weren't cars in that performance area that were still better than the C5 at certain things, but it was such a profound leap forward over the C4 (arguably not more than the C4 was over the C3 but no less) and for the market segment that it basically made an entire cottage industry of cars that had been in development while the C4 was soldiering along dead on arrival as thoroughly as the Elise had done to all of those ultralightweight cars that had been jostling to come out in the mid 90s. Why buy a Mangusta or Esperante or the poor poor Shelby Series One when the C5 exists for a third the price/less and is faster? It also is probably the deciding reason that what was left of the 90s Japanese bubble cars immediately packed it in. The 300ZX and A80 and 3000GT/Stealth all could easily trade blows with the aging, compromised-from-development C4; but it was a much taller order to do so with the cheaper but also better in every way C5. As far as it pertains to the Corvette, the C6 and C7 are both heavily C5 derived; to the extent that you can call them "It's a C5 but." The C6 in particular is basically the GM equivalent of the 997, stretching the wheelbase and fiddling with the interior and technically nearly everything is a "different" part but nearly everything that's drivetrain/suspension related can just be bolted directly on to the C5 as a direct upgrade. The C7 is a bit more extensive but even that can be summed up more or less as "put the C6 Z06's aluminum frame as standard and make it look like a Camaro" because GM had no money to develop it (which probably has correlation to why the C7 had so many teething problems in its first couple years).


On a more global level:

The reason that exists with the design benefits that it has (low weight, extremely compact dimensions, high economy for its displacement, extremely high tunability despite decent base power) is because it needed to be designed entirely around fitting inside the C5 Corvette's bodywork. That's also why 1993 was when GM notified Lotus and Mercury Marine that they no longer needed any more LT5 engines built, both because it wouldn't fit in the C5 whose design was locked in that year and because they felt a new clean sheet design using things learned from the LT1/LT5/Northstar development could be better than both. Lotus had actually been doing an LT5 that was supposed to be good for 450-475 horsepower as a sort of "Generation III" of the design when the edict came down that GM didn't want it.


The C5 Corvette was developed under extremely similar circumstances to the 996 911 across the ocean. It had to basically be better than the outgoing car in every measurable way (fuel economy, performance, emissions, useability, weight) while also being significantly cheaper to build (the C4 and 993 were both extremely expensive to make and their successor's development started when both companies were near bankruptcy) with the main allowance for margins being the build quality if need be (why the C5 and especially 996.1 have such poor interiors). The main difference is that Porsche amortized the 996's costs alongside the Boxster whereas GM upper management actually canceled the C5 soon after the design was locked in and the development team working on it basically just ignored that directive and kept working on it in secret using various slush funds diverted to them by Chevrolet's manager until they had something so promising to present that GM's management had to approve it. The plan for a while was actually to just significantly rework the C4 a second time and have that soldier on for the rest of the decade; and that's what GM management thought that the Corvette development team had been working on in 1993. That's why all of the initial press sightings and rumors of the C5 Corvette pointed towards the car coming out in 1995 and not 1997 when GM actually released it. Had that ended up happening it's entirely possible that GM would have tried to cut corners to save money with the LS1 as well since the design constraints of the C4 weren't as tight as those of the C5 (larger engine bay and less sensitive for weight balance) and the tiny dimensions/extremely lightweight/fuel efficiency certainly wouldn't have mattered as much if the engine had debuted in the GMT800 pickups that were on the horizon as well (since those were set to use the iron block versions of the LS anyway) if the C5 had remained canceled outright.

 

[Centroid]

Looks wise the C2 hands down.

The technical sophistication of the C8 really appeals though.

I've never driven any of these and probably never will, so I will give the nod to the C2.

 

[ScottPuss20]

In the US the C5 immediately became the standard that things had to match up to. That isn't to say that there weren't cars in that performance area that were still better than the C5 at certain things, but it was such a profound leap forward over the C4 (arguably not more than the C4 was over the C3 but no less) and for the market segment that it basically made an entire cottage industry of cars that had been in development while the C4 was soldiering along dead on arrival as thoroughly as the Elise had done to all of those ultralightweight cars that had been jostling to come out in the mid 90s. Why buy a Mangusta or Esperante or the poor poor Shelby Series One when the C5 exists for a third the price/less and is faster? It also is probably the deciding reason that what was left of the 90s Japanese bubble cars immediately packed it in. The 300ZX and A80 and 3000GT/Stealth all could easily trade blows with the aging, compromised-from-development C4; but it was a much taller order to do so with the cheaper but also better in every way C5. As far as it pertains to the Corvette, the C6 and C7 are both heavily C5 derived; to the extent that you can call them "It's a C5 but." The C6 in particular is basically the GM equivalent of the 997, stretching the wheelbase and fiddling with the interior and technically nearly everything is a "different" part but nearly everything that's drivetrain/suspension related can just be bolted directly on to the C5 as a direct upgrade. The C7 is a bit more extensive but even that can be summed up more or less as "put the C6 Z06's aluminum frame as standard and make it look like a Camaro" because GM had no money to develop it (which probably has correlation to why the C7 had so many teething problems in its first couple years).


On a more global level:

View attachment 1359039

The reason that exists with the design benefits that it has (low weight, extremely compact dimensions, high economy for its displacement, extremely high tunability despite decent base power) is because it needed to be designed entirely around fitting inside the C5 Corvette's bodywork. That's also why 1993 was when GM notified Lotus and Mercury Marine that they no longer needed any more LT5 engines built, both because it wouldn't fit in the C5 whose design was locked in that year and because they felt a new clean sheet design using things learned from the LT1/LT5/Northstar development could be better than both. Lotus had actually been doing an LT5 that was supposed to be good for 450-475 horsepower as a sort of "Generation III" of the design when the edict came down that GM didn't want it.


The C5 Corvette was developed under extremely similar circumstances to the 996 911 across the ocean. It had to basically be better than the outgoing car in every measurable way (fuel economy, performance, emissions, useability, weight) while also being significantly cheaper to build (the C4 and 993 were both extremely expensive to make and their successor's development started when both companies were near bankruptcy) with the main allowance for margins being the build quality if need be (why the C5 and especially 996.1 have such poor interiors). The main difference is that Porsche amortized the 996's costs alongside the Boxster whereas GM upper management actually canceled the C5 soon after the design was locked in and the development team working on it basically just ignored that directive and kept working on it in secret using various slush funds diverted to them by Chevrolet's manager until they had something so promising to present that GM's management had to approve it. The plan for a while was actually to just significantly rework the C4 a second time and have that soldier on for the rest of the decade; and that's what GM management thought that the Corvette development team had been working on in 1993. That's why all of the initial press sightings and rumors of the C5 Corvette pointed towards the car coming out in 1995 and not 1997 when GM actually released it. Had that ended up happening it's entirely possible that GM would have tried to cut corners to save money with the LS1 as well since the design constraints of the C4 weren't as tight as those of the C5 (larger engine bay and less sensitive for weight balance) and the tiny dimensions/extremely lightweight/fuel efficiency certainly wouldn't have mattered as much if the engine had debuted in the GMT800 pickups that were on the horizon as well (since those were set to use the iron block versions of the LS anyway) if the C5 had remained canceled outright.

The LS found it's way into many of Holden's products as well, forming the basis for their V8 models and the HSV's before production ended in 2017. The CV8 Monaro, one of my favourite cars, got the famed 5.7 litre lump from the C5 Corvette. Later on the 6.2 litre version found it's way into SSV Commodores and the big 7.0 with the supercharger ended up in the GTS-R W1. The LS is one of Australia's favourite engines, and many Commodores still on the road today use a derivative of it. If you want cheap, reliable power, the LS is the engine that you use. It's one of the greatest engines ever made.

 

[CTznOfTime]

C6 (ZR-1) is the absolute top
C8 Z06

C1 = C2 = C3 I am loving these OG, as time goes by and as I get older.

C5
C4 (ZR1) personal favorite for the longest time, I am a 80 baby.

C7

Why is the poll just down already so fast.

 

[Liquid]

Why is the poll just down already so fast.

Polls are open for seven days after creation.

 

[CTznOfTime]

Polls are open for seven days after creation.

You could spec for a longer period or not limit it...

 

[TheHun99]

For me the unquestionable favorite is the C6, especially the Z06 with the LS7. That's by far the "sportiest" sportscar I've ever driven (not the Z06, just the regular C6), so I'm definitely biased. I'd be happy with the base coupe and the original 6 liter LS2 with a manual, obviously.

After that C2, C3 and C5 on the same level roughly, then C7 - just as someone else has mentioned, the angular look kinda goes against what I'd look for in a Vette. C1 and C8 don't interest me whatsoever.