I'll just leave this right here......

[thstone]

Originally Posted by Racer Boy

Slamming American engineering is ridiculous.

Sorry if it appeared that I was slamming American engineering - that was not my intention. American engineers, as a group, are the best, brightest, and most innovative in the world and I am proud to call myself one of them.

With that being said, all I was saying is that I doubt GM's ability to create a world class car out of the box on Version 1.0. My thinking was that it will likely take them an iteration or two before they really get it right because of their inexperience with the mid-engined platform. Its not that I consider GM engineers to be stupid or dumb or bad engineers, just inexperienced with the mid-engine platform.

I went on to say that the reason that I believe Porsche to be ahead in the mid-engine game is because of their 20-year head start with the Boxster/Cayman. I'd suggest that it also took Porsche 2-3 iterations to get it right. The 986 Boxster was a great first try but certainly not a perfect car by any means whereas the Cayman GT-4 is considered by some to be one of the greatest mid-engined sports cars.

In regards to Ford, the GT was a great car out of the box, so American engineering can certainly do the job! But the 2005/2006 Ford GT was a halo car that listed around $150,000 (or $185K in today's dollars). Unfortunately, the mid-engine Corvette isn't going to be able to command a price anywhere near $185K so it will be full of engineering and materials compromises in order to meet the $80K price point. And just for reference, the new 2016 Ford GT lists at $450,000 so its mostly irrelevant to this discussion.

The question is whether GM can design and build a car as good as the Cayman GT-4 (which lists for around $85K) for a slightly lower price (around $80K)?

Honestly, I hope GM proves me wrong.