There is an age old rivalry between the Porsche 911 and the Chevrolet Corvette. Which is odd, as the two cars couldn’t be any more different. One has two seats, the other four. One has a huge, 6.2 liter V8 engine in the front, while the other has a much smaller flat-six sitting over the rear axle. The differences go on and on.
Chris Harris recently took a trip from rainy old Britain to Chuckwalla Raceway in sunny Southern California to see if the comparison between Corvette and 911 is still valid. Â It would be easy to dismiss the comparison, seeing as the Porsche starts at the better end of $90,000 and has optional extras which tally up to the total cost of the C7 Corvette, but the cars are pretty much equal performance wise.
So what kind of positives and negatives does Chris conjure up about two of the most appreciated sports cars on sale today? Watch below to find out.
Comments
The Porsche, to me, is not a very good looking car. I do like seeing it go around those curves and corners though. I was sort of hoping we would get a 0-60 comparison, and a lap time out of the video. I can’t wait to see the new season of Top Gear and hopefully, they test the new Corvette and like it as much as everyone else does. (not that it matters all that much, it’s just I like the show). Well done to the people who design and build the Corvette.
Top Gear has already given the C7 their stamp of approval – they LOVE the new Vette. I too am curious to see how that translates into the show. But in the magazine and on their website – nothing but love.
In fact that’s how things go for most of the motoring press in Europe. It seems the only ones who don’t get that the Vette is about giving you the go fast and none of the “presumptuousness” of the elitist performance cars are those who review it in it’s home market.
I guess when your frame of reference is “if you are poor/common, no fun for you” the idea that there are cars built for average joes – that run with [and crush] “upper class” machines for a fraction of the price; it makes sense that European gearheads are drawn to a common man’s car like the Corvette. Not only drawn to it, but they APPRECIATE what it’s about and love it.
A quick follow up; Even Chris Harris said repeatedly in the video “it doesn’t make sense to compare the two cars, but for the money I can’t think of an argument that justifies paying more for the performance”
Or in other words; a base Vette at (60 grand) is so damn good NOTHING can touch it until you spend nearly TWICE the money! That’s a triumph of engineering and focus on the part of GM. That ANY car maker is willing to design and engineer a car with super-car performance and then price it for hardworking guys who normally would not be able to attain such performance brand new off the show room floor.
It’s oozes with one of the core philosophies of the American ideal. That one doesn’t not need to be born rich or of a privileged class to obtain or achieve the extraordinary.
A defining trait of America’s Sports Car!
There is bigotry on both sides as many on the Vette side do not understand the 911 and those on the 911 that do not understand the Vette.
They are two different mind sets and approaches to performance and both are icons. I never really liked a 911 or understood them till I put a few thousand miles on one. I learned with this car the true art making going fast feel slow. The car would not feel like you were going all that fast and then you look down and see really who fast you were going. The Vette in the past always felt like it was 40 MPH faster than it was in the c3 and prior age.
Now today the Vette has mastered that art of slowing things down and making fast feel slow. This is a hallmark of a great car and the C7 has just advanced that even more.
The 911 is a different car and for those in love with it they can look past many of it’s odd quirks. To them many of them are badges of honor.
To me while there may be a few things a 911 might do better the C7 also will do many things better then the 911. In the end of the day it comes down to status and price.
The 911 cost more and there are less of them so it gives you a little more exclusivity but a good car. On the Vette side it is a more volume car so less exclusive but you can get as good or better car for the money.
The Fuzzy bunnies love their exclusiveness and more power to them but for the price and for the car there is nothing near the C7 for what you get. At this point we are only seeing the base model so things will only improve from here.
Having a lot of 911 time and Vette time I get it with both cars but if I had to chose I would take the C7 first and if I had the money I would have one of each. So in my book the Vette wins
I don’t understand the practice of test drivers ‘drifting’ around curves on test drives. What does it prove? It’s not the fastest way to get around a track. Nor is it acceptable on the street in the real world. Lots of smoke and noise for the video, I suppose.