ZLE A10 or Base C8
 

Hi folks,

When the C8 goes on sale in fall/winter 19, would you consider buying a base C8 (GM advertised under $60k) or a ZLE A10 with all the creature comforts that it comes with (price might be a deal?)?

The back seats in camaro, however miniscule, can still fit kids thus making it somewhat a "family" car on occasion is my initial rationale...

Your thoughts?

ZL1 or ZLE is equivalent to 3LT Z51 trim on the vette plus 150 hp. The Z is a vastly superior car to the base vette.

Buy a Z now and upgrade to a Z06 c8 in 2 years. Best of both worlds!

:happy0180:

Once you factor drive train loss between the 2 the difference in power is gonna be more like 90hp at the tire and the C8 is quite a bit lighter(3-350lbs) with a transmission that will power through the shifts.

That being said,

If leaving stock. C8

If planning on modding. ZLE A10

C8

How do you figure a 650-495 = 155 difference drops to 90hp?

I get (650*.85) - (495*.85) = 553-421 = 132 hp


And the A10 powers through the shifts just the same as the C8's DCT (both cut fuel/spark momentarily on 1-2 and 2-3). No argument on weight tho :biggrin:

The DCT is going to be much more efficient and will not suffer as much power loss as the A10 will. Plus the engine being further back means even lesser losses since there won't be the long driveshaft that we have on our ZL1s. And most likely those LT2 engines are closer to 520 HP than 490. So I suspect the C8s will be putting down mid 400s to the wheels. Like 440-460. The ZLs typically put down mid 500s to the wheels. Like 520 to 570. So there will be around 90-110 RWHP difference between the two cars.

People say that they can fit a baby seat in a Camaro "just fine" or that their children fit in the back seats "perfectly fine". What I think that means is that those things just fit but definitely not "perfectly fine". I don't see any way in hell that you can be comfortable in the back seat of that car unless the driver is like 5'5". If children are an issue then I personally would never consider any of these cars except maybe a Charger Hellcat. With that said...

The C8 does not seem to be ideal or even reasonable for you because you need back seats. I say between the two, get the ZLE. Regardless of what the C8 does, the ZL1/ZLE will still be monsters in their own rights and definitely nothing to scoff at.

I'm starting to wonder if the Base C8 just might edge out the standard ZL1 and the C8 Z51 might just match the ZLE. I don't think the ZLE will be vastly superior.

Yeah but maybe 3-5% more efficient... (1% per u-joint and 2-3% for the TC) no more than that. It's still got the EDIFF rear axles and tires, so drivetrain loss isn't the big winner for the C8.

What puts the power down is the weight over the rear axle. And I have no argument there. For those who haven't seen the Engineering Explained video on why, I highly recommend it.


Depends on whether they can keep the back end from kicking out under power -- a problem with the C7. Sure there's more weight over the tires, but it also means there's more weight in back to contain. Time will tell.

One thing for sure is that the C8 will eat a set back tires for breakfast, another for lunch and a third for dinner.

:happy0180:

My vote goes to the Corvette, because personally I would never pay that kind of money for a Camaro/Mustang/Challenger

Possible Unpopular Opinion: I won't be surprised if a C8 Z51 is nearly as quick as the ZL1 1LE! It's going to be a game changer, I will personally be waiting to see the more high performance/track oriented variants before I jump on the C8 train, but I 100% see myself in a C8 eventually!!!

Price
 

I tend to agree with this statement, especially with the c8, with the c7 its a tougher call imo especially when you consider base c7 money can get you a zl1. The base c7 without the z51 package just never did it for me, could never get over the rear trans and diff cooler vents being fake without the z51 pack. Fake vents suck, fake vents on a 50k+ car even more so lol.

Having said that, a highly discounted zl1 or good used deal zl1/zle can be an exception.

I currently can fit a car seat in my regular SS 1LE which is ok room wise, but really hard to install and remove as well maneuver the kid in it. It would the same story in the ZLE. The C8 has no back seats, and who knows how much would the z51 package equipped one cost. I also agree that the ZLE and C8 z51 will be similar performance. As someone mentioned, can a great deal be had during winter months on a ZLE? Very likely which will tip the scales in its favor...
Or may be I should wait another year and pick up a lightly used F90 M5 for about the same money (of course budgeting at least $3k/year for warranty)...

C8 has a newer design, and the Plusses of ME consfiguration and superior DCT. C8 would continue, apparently the Camaro is coming to an end soon.

I’m sure the zle will feel more race car...the c8 will be more plush. They are so different it should be easy based on your needs and wants