Drove A C6 Today

Originally Posted by Adam

Wow turbo'd LS2 engine? That thing must've shoved you back in the seat pretty hard. I just drove a modded 04 Ls1 last weekend for a few hours at Bowling Green KY. It had approx 430 hp and that was pretty impressive but not quite as explosive as I thought it would be. I drove a C6 last year as well and it was impressive. I didn't care for the tramline effect of either car which is more than likely due to the wide rubber. I took a tour of the vette plant down there too....I must say it was pretty neat seeing the car built from start to finish. The corvette is definately a great car in it's own right....and great people too.

Adam, what is "tramline effect"? Thanks.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by bmussatti

Adam, what is "tramline effect"? Thanks.

Tramline is when the car follows every groove or imperfection in the road. It can be kind of scary escpecially at high speed because the car literally trys to steer you into the ditch.

[Brucelee]

Originally Posted by Adam

Tramline is when the car follows every groove or imperfection in the road. It can be kind of scary escpecially at high speed because the car literally trys to steer you into the ditch.

With the right set of rubber, this all but disappers. The runcraps are a real disadvantage in this car and many folks get them off as quickly as possible.

[drburton]

There is a good MotorTrend article this month on the 'Best Handling Sports Car'. I'm sure some Vette loyalists aren't very happy with the results. The top three end up being 1) 911 GT3 2) Cayman 3) Lotus.

Nice showing by Porsche. The Corvette had a very good lap time but was the 'most difficult' to drive at the track. The Cayman was one of the easiest to drive.

Unless you are an expert driver I have to think this would play into your buying decision.

[Bavarian Motorist]

C6 is a great car. There are turbo kits for c6s that cost under $6,000...



If only they had that for our Boxsters...








Also, luggage capacity is more than DOUBLE what it is in our Boxsters!!! Which is surprising considering how much space we actually have! 22.4 cubic feet anyone?

[super66]

Originally Posted by Adam

Tramline is when the car follows every groove or imperfection in the road. It can be kind of scary escpecially at high speed because the car literally trys to steer you into the ditch.

this was the ultimate beef I have with the vette! horrible.....I haven't driven the C6 yet but the vettes I had never ran on run flats and had the same problem....I do liike the new styling but can't believe they got rid of the pop up head lights

[Adam]

Originally Posted by super66

this was the ultimate beef I have with the vette! horrible.....I haven't driven the C6 yet but the vettes I had never ran on run flats and had the same problem....I do liike the new styling but can't believe they got rid of the pop up head lights

I believe it has more to do with front tire width than anything else, but runflats could be a factor. Typically cars that have skinnier tires up front like the Ferrari f430/360 or 911 variants/boxsters etc don't exhibit this type of behavior or at least to a much lesser extent. I've never driven one, but the Ferrari only has 235mm wide tires up front, but massive steamrollers on the back and I've never read a review where tramlining was mentioned. On the other hand Vipers and vettes have wide tires up front and they are known offenders. I'm sure there are several other contributing factors at play, but tire width would be #1 in my book. That's my theory at least. Chevrolet had to go back to fixed head lights so they could offer the C6 with HID lights. Pop ups can't be true projector HID lights thus the switch for the C6. Pop ups are also old school and very few new cars have this feature these days.

[Bavarian Motorist]

Even the NSX switched to fixed headlights.

[super66]

Originally Posted by Bavarian Motorist

Even the NSX switched to fixed headlights.

ha....yeah but the nsx doesn't have the Americana of the vette....the vette enthusiasts were pretty up in arms over the headlights and when they went to the rectangle rear lamps on the C4.....the round rear lights were a staple.....

[Bavarian Motorist]

Originally Posted by super66

ha....yeah but the nsx doesn't have the Americana of the vette....the vette enthusiasts were pretty up in arms over the headlights and when they went to the rectangle rear lamps on the C4.....the round rear lights were a staple.....

True, but the NSX is notorious for not having changed its basic design in 15 years of production. If the NSX does it, it's an absolute necessity for any other car

[markab986]

I bought a 05 C6 coupe mn6 new. Black w/black interior

Front tires are 245/40-ZR18
Rear tires are 285/35-ZR19

It is truely a very fast car, the torque is unbelievable, and a great bang for the buck. I can get an easy 29 mpg on a long 80-85mph interstate cruise.

Yes, I get the "tramline" you talk about in less than perfect roads, and also it seems to have considerably more "bump steer" than a boxster. The track is similar as to cars of its size, but the wider tires do try to climb in/out of "trucker grooves" The runflats are so so. They have (compared to a good non-runflat) poor traction, poor cornering, and don't hook up the 400hp to road well...plus are super noisy on a concrete roadway. The only plus, no spare, drive with zero pressure in the tires.

I have to disagree with... "It can be kind of scary escpecially at high speed because the car literally trys to steer you into the ditch."...comment, never had that problem, yet. It's seen 165+

And I like the fixed Xenon High-Intensity Discharge lamps, nice design...more euro looking.

Both the Boxster and the Corvette have their ups and downs...both are a blast to drive.