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| Originally Posted by thepolarfoxqx GM had to let LT5 die - first off - it was expensive - not of in-house origin - and also - at the time, the plan included a version of the new "NorthStar" V8 to come to vette eventually. I guess for development costs they decided to enhace LT1 into LS1 and LS6. GM really needs to get with everyone else and use overhead camshafts. Corvette would be truly world class if GM:
Got rid of the leaf-spring suspension (they have done good things with it, think what could be done with coils, all of the magnetic and autoride tech in the world can't fix funadmental design.
Use a NorthStar. The Northstar are some of the most advanced and powerful engines of their type built - they are truly on par with their european and japanese counterparts - in many ways superior. If they were to bore it out to say 5.0 - 5.5 - give it the VVT and VIT from the new 4600 - and tweak it a bit - 450 -500 hp is no stretch. It would deliver more efficency - better refinement, more power - and a flatter torque curve.
Get a new interior. The current one looks like someone melted down legoland to build it. It is efficent - kinda sleek - but not classy or sophisticated (or luxurious). They have some good things going, but a more upscale design and better materials would go a long way.
Otherwise, I see very few big flaws in vette. |
Some interesting points you've made. However, I have to disagree with you.
As far as the leaf springs in the rear suspension, yes it sounds low tech, but why fix something that really isn't broken? The Corvette is one of the best balanced sports cars in the world, so incredibly easy and instinctive to drive even when you're pushing the limit, and GM has achieved all of the handling benchmarks they set for themselves when they designed the C5. So what's wrong with it? That said, I hear the 2005 Corvette, when it's unveiled, will see major changes in suspension design.
As to the LS1 vs. NorthStar issue, again, what is the point of fixing what's not broken? General Motors reached a crossroads in the Corvette program in 1993 when they were designing the C5 and had to decide whether to use a second generation LT5 motor using the multivalve dual overhead cam design or evolve the small block pushrod V-8 yet again. GM figured out that by simply using some of the design characteristics applied to the multivalve motors on the pushrod motor, they could enable it to breathe nearly as well as the multivalve design. The pushrod design offers infinitely better value, absolutely outstanding power (2001 and newer LS1s develop 350 horses, just 25 less than the 1990-1992 ZR-1, and 375 lb.-ft. of torque, equal to the '90-92 ZR-1), and a much simpler design with lower maintenance costs and better reliability. The LS1 offers an enormous amount of low end grunt, with 300 lb.-ft. of torque online at just 1200 rpm, and peaking at 2100, holding 375 lb.-ft. all the way up to redline at 6000. It's the most rev happy pushrod engine probably ever to find its way into a production car, and that's thanks to all the work the GM engineers did on making it breathe like a multivalve.
The LS1 is not a descendant of the LT1. It's a different design, deep skirt aluminum alloy block, shorter stroke, and totally different porting and breathing characteristics. The only thing the LS1 has in common with its ancestors is the fact that it has 8 cylinders and it's built by GM. It's not even a true 5.7 liter. It's a 347 cubic inch or 5665 cc displacement engine.
The NorthStar is a smaller engine, it probably couldn't be bored all the way out to 350 cubic inches and I think General Motors will drop dead before they put a 5.0 in a Corvette, if you get what I mean. If they had wanted to use a multivalve engine, they would have developed a second generation LT5. Also, for the record, General Motors and Lotus developed the LT5 together--GM owned Lotus at the time--and the engine was built by Mercruiser in Stillwater, Oklahoma because the low volume of LT5s built was not enough to justify a dedicated production line at GM's engine facility in Flint, Michigan. It was more cost effective to contract out the production.
The deep skirt 350 pushrod design that GM gave birth to for the LS1/LS6 has plenty of potential left in it, it delivers outstanding performance, and world class value, and it's true to Corvette tradtition. Oh, and did I mention it gets decent gas mileage.
As to the interior, I agree with you that it would have been nice to see some nicer materials used in some areas, however, aside from that, I think the interior is very sleek, has some very nice retro cues, and things like trunk size and seating position make the C5 as wonderful a car to take a long road trip in as it is to smoke a Boxster on the boulevard or attack some twisty back road.
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