MotorTrend seems to have a pretty good overall grasp of what the next generation Vette will be about.

 

I like the vert but the rear of the coupe is weird, especially the shape of the window. The front reminds me of the updated NSX and a late 80's (I think) Trans Am.

 

I like it... If the interior is on par with the euro league.. I will be put down some $500 on the Z06 replacement!

 

hot shit

 

Very nice. Can't wait to see the production model.

 

I like it. The back does look weird, but it's just a sketch. I'm sure the production model will look awesome. Too bad they encountered problems with the SMG-style tranny, hopefully they'll continue working on it and end up offering it as an option.

 

looks pretty damn good. doesnt seem like too great of a change tho..... i do like the back, the rear window is kinda retro vette looking i guess.......

 

pleas,pleas,pleas don't screw up the vette. i remember the first time i saw the c5, couldn't believe how great the car looked.

don't really like the sketches, yellow one is the same as the c5 but without pop up lights-like a copy of the andy pilgrim zo6 ( http://www.grabiak.com/pages/andy.html ), the green one reminds me of how good gm is at butchering once great cars.

 

Thought: Is there really a need to change the current vette. It is selling extremely well still. They could just drop a new motor in it, and spruce up the interior?

 

i like the previous sketches better. I see the attempts to bring back some of the old lines but i am not feelin it. I like how the rear ends (atleast taillights) have evolved right now (c5). Don' tthink they should go back to the 70's look. The front end of these sketches reminds of "Corvette Summer". That was cool when i was 12 and loved hotwheels cars. But not now. They need to refine this thing and make it look clean and powerful.

 

Red, they have decided to update this because the style is old, like the NSX. they also figured flip up lights are done, no one puts them in cars anymore and some clean xenon projectors are 10x better anyday. also, GM is trying to get more of a presence in europe and the vette would be a steping stone but as it is right now they dont appreciate it, they dig other things. i think the price would move up too, in order to directly compete w. the viper.

 

I hope not. Or hopefully it won't go up too much.

 

motortrends previous sketch. like this a little more with the ferrari front end.



yea this has some potential

 

i agree with everyone. hot shit. i REALLY hope they dont screw this up. even my dad says that "he wants the company to put out a nice car for a change" and he works for them!

the back window is hot, but looks like poor visability....but hey, its a sketch

 

if they have smg...fuk you m3!!!

 

I doubt they will mess this one up. It's GM's automotive crown jewel. I am sure it will be very sweet

 

Very nice.

 

Many reputable sources say these sketches are inaccurate, but no one really knows what's in store for the C6 in terms of styling. I've done a TON of reseach on this subject, so hopefully I can weigh in here.

You can expect:
- 6.0L and 6.4L engines at 430ish and 500hp
- GM is heavily researching a 7.5L DOHC TT engine right now, but it hasn't been implicated in the use of any car yet.
- Non pop-up lights so to drop weight and use HID
- 18front/19rear wheels (footprint width unsure)
- It won't be cheap, expect them to roll of the lot in the low 60's.

The largest changes expected are:
- Total interior renovation
- Great attention to dropping weight. Some say it'll go well under 3000, but I think that we should expect right at 3000. Nonetheless, the performance version will have a substantially better power/weight ratio than a Murchielago. About 6.0lbs/hp vs 6.5lb/hp...yikes.

 

This photo illustration combines the spy shots with information from design sources. The new car has a few more edges to it than does the C5, and what insiders call “Viper-like” headlights.




The windshield is not as steeply raked as it is on the C5. Under the skin, the C6 shares a chassis and some electronics with the Cadillac XLR. Design sources said the C6’s fixed headlamps (the first seen on a Corvette since the 1962 model) are intended to reduce wind noise and help lower the car’s coefficient of drag. Headlights will not be hidden, the flaps seen here serve as camouflage and to expose the lights as necessary. A Nissan 350Z was being used for comparisons. (Photo © 2003 Jim Dunne/Popular Mechanics)





The fender tops have a sharper fold in them than in the rounded C5, but the shape is more evolutionary than revolutionary. This convertible was running with the coupes. (Photo © 2003 Jim Dunne/Popular Mechanics)






New door handles are similar to those on the Cadillac XLR, which is being built alongside Corvettes in the Bowling Green factory. Disguises cover the fender vents. The car’s overall length should be slightly shorter than the C5’s, though the wheelbase is just more than one inch longer. The coupe’s rear glass is longer than the C5’s, stretching almost all the way to the back of the car. (Photo © 2003 Jim Dunne/Popular Mechanics)








These spy photos show that the C6 will use an exhaust system (above) similar to the C5’s. The rear glass (left and below left) is slightly longer and has an edge in it, extended from the rooftop shape. The taillights are hidden by the disguise, but we’re told they are more circular than the oval ones found on C5. (Photo © 2003 Jim Dunne/Popular Mechanics)


----------------------------------------------------------

By WES RAYNAL

CAN YOU FEEL IT?

The buzz? It’s building: In eight months Chevrolet will finally unveil the next-generation, 2005 Corvette at the 2004 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, before it is launched in fall 2004. Between now and then, the C6 rumors and hype and anticipation will no doubt reach feverish levels (in plenty of circles it already has).

And now we have the exclusive photos to go with it.

We’ve been chasing C6—the sixth-generation Corvette—information for months. Ace spy photographer Jim Dunne finally caught up with four “Beta” prototypes near Brighton, Michigan. Despite the camouflage on the nose, tail and part of the front quarter-panel, the pictures are revealing, with the doors and its entire greenhouse in the clear.

This new Corvette’s overall length is slightly shorter than the C5’s 179.7 inches, and the C6 will share the Cadillac XLR’s 105.7-inch wheelbase, 1.2 inches longer than that of the C5.

Though the look isn’t a huge departure from the C5, the C6’s overall shape is edgier, the nose more blunt and the windshield more upright. The C6’s rear end is more tapered than the C5’s—that should please most Corvette fans, though those who favor a radical restyle won’t be too excited.

This new Corvette’s headlights are fixed units, not hideaways, for the first time since the Sting Ray of 1963. The reason is for aerodynamic advantages and to reduce wind noise. “Those [exposed headlights] will be debated ’til the cows come home,” a GM design source said.

C6 will share the XLR’s hydroformed frame rails and its magnesium, aluminum and high-strength steel cockpit structure. The body panels are made of SMC, the same plastic as the current body.

We’re told cutting weight was critical to GM engineers this time around, and the C6 should weigh in the 3100-pound range, about the same as a C5, and less than a Nissan 350Z, one of which was seen traveling with the group of prototypes Dunne photographed.

Most sources tell us the base model’s 5.7-liter V8 will produce more than today’s Z06, which makes 405 hp. Call it 410 to 425 hp.

There’s a next-generation Z06 engine under way as well. That engine’s displacement and horsepower figures are still being determined, a source said, while powertrain engineers sort out compatibility with the transmission—expect more displacement, torque and power when the Z06 comes out a year after the first C6s are launched. Stronger brakes are expected as well.

The C6 also will share Magnasteer, StabiliTrak active handling and magnetic ride control with the XLR.

Software engineers will be just as important as mechanical engineers in the distinction between the XLR and C6: The Corvette’s steering and suspension will be tuned much more toward performance than is the XLR’s.

 

So I am guessing the LS6 will be the standard/base engine now. Makes sense, because the CTS-V will wear it at a 400HP version. Which means that the base Vette will make slightly more. So 410-425 HP makes perfect sense.

From a previous rumor, I have heard that the 6th gen. Z06 will be close or above the 500HP mark. Man oh man.

 

See, I think the existance of the XLR helps the C6. Why?

Reading the final comment about the steering. GM is thinking with the C5 we were trying to kill 2 birds with one stone. There are people that wanted a Vette with "average-accuracy-and-precision-steering" and there were people that wanted "M3-style-steering". Now, GM says, we have 2 cars for 2 different types of market-segments (or 2.5 cars counting the Z06 as half a car since now it will differeniate itself even more from the base car it sounds like). Yes, certainly the XLR market-segment is totally different than the C5 segment, mostly due to pricing, but still, there was ONE car for all of that. Now there are 2.

That is why, now C6 designers had a LOT more room to make the C6 closer to a sports car, than a non-luxury GT which the C5 was. And that is a good thing. You want a luxury GT, take the XLR, you want a non-luxury GT which is close to a true sports car, here is the C6, you want a sports car exotic for half the money of a European exotic, here is the C6 Z06. Makes a lot more sense for covering the market better.

 

I hope they don't do away with the pop up headlights.

 

Headlights will not be pop up with the C6. One of the reasons that the article is not stating (and it's a huge factor in Europe lately due to legislation) is that pop up lights are (edit) pedestrian killers. So for passenger safety reasons, lights of sports car went to fixed in the past 10 years. I know that that was the major reason for the NSX to go fixed with the front lights. It sells better in Europe than here. And this C6 is bound to sell in Europe much more aggresively than the C5 (the C5's sales were pathetic, the term sales should be in quotes actually....it was that bad).

 

What do you mean "passenger killers"?

 

Sorry, I meant pedestrian killers. Man!

 

What do you mean pedestrian killers?

 

Hmmm... this makes things interesting. Early C5 prices are coming down enough so that I've been looking at the 'verts as a summer only car. Once the C6 comes out, I'm sure there'll be alot of people looking to upgrade, and they'll be a bigger supply of used C5s, hopefully lowering prices further.

The C6 (what we can see of it) looks pretty good IMHO. I'm glad that they're getting rid of the popup headlights ('bout time, what took so long), and the elongated rear window looks pretty good on the coupe (reminds me of some of the mid 70's - early 80's coke bottle fendered vette's rear windows).

With the improvements that the C6 has over the C5 (hp, etc), one has to wonder what the car will sticker at. Seems that the best bang for the buck 'vette, might be in for a price increase, especially if they up the HP on the Z06 (which starts at about $52K now).

Looks good, and it looks like the C6 'vette might have raised the bar for some of it's more expensive competitors (911, NSX, etc).

 

simply beautifull. I was never a big fan of the vette, i always liked them but always thought they were kind of cheesy, until my dad got one. I know have ALOT of love for that car. The thing is just simply amazing, hopefully we'll be having a C6 in the garage when they hit the floors.

 

I'd rather be hit by a car with smooth edges on the front end rather then being cut to bits by some damn popup headlights anyday

 

prices are going down? That's an understatement man, they are hitting the floor. I've been looking at 99's w/ less then 50K for the mid 20's!

 

i hope it gets a better interior...

 

We all do

 

Yeah, I kinda sugar coated it, huh ??

I've seen some 98's and 99 for about the same here on the east coast (24.5K for a 30,000 mile 6spd coupe). There are some smucks that are still asking big $$$, but the ads are in the paper for months.

I've been looking at 911's (87-89 mostly) which go for about 18-27K, which is in the same ballpark as the C5's (which are newer and have more hp).

The Z06's haven't really dropped much yet, but they've only been out for a couple of years (since 2001 ??). Once the C6 comes out the prices on Z06s should start to drop.

 

Exactly

 

It will for sure get a better interior, but I am guessing not as good as it should. Then again, I am thinking of Porsche interiors and I am thinking, interiors dont make a great sports car. Chassis dynamics do.

 

and expect to add a big # to the price.



there is a reason that the corvette is the cheapest car in it's class. The car is not about the interior. Drive one and you won't even notice it.

 

I hope they "clean up" the styling of the fender vents. If they look like the first pic in this post, it'll look great, but I never was a fan of the C5 style vents.

 

What I hope for is they make the base car feel a lot more like a sports car. And if they dont do that, I hope they make the Z06 feel like a true sports car. They now have enough cars to play "here and there" (XLR-C6-C6 Z06).

 

i always thought the reason was because all the other cars in its class were overpriced.

 

i like it, but not as much as the current vette. Time will tell though.

WHERE IS THE CAMARO!?!?