[MostlyHarmless]

Originally Posted by Nabush

Note that i'll have to buy the cars cash since i don't have any credit history...so 20k more cash from my wallet is quite big... (i'll have to dig to see if despite having no credit history a loan would be possible for me since i have some savings...)

Nabush

Welcome to the forum and welcome to the US :-)

I am not going to pick up on the Corvette v Camaro discussion as you have some great advice here. I have owned both and agree with all the comments on this thread.

My comments are related to finance. I am an ex-pat Brit that moved to the US 4 and a half years ago. Same problems you are going to face - 42 years old and perfect credit in the UK and then moved to the US and suddenly no-one cared as I had no credit history in the US. Has taken some time to build up my credit history here to get to the point where people will lend me money :-)

So a few quick tips:

- Make sure you get a Social Security number and local State driving license ASAP. These will be critical for determining your identity with the credit ratings agencies. Even then it took me about 5 months and lots of phone calls/emails before the 3 main credit agencies agreed that I was real and lived in the US.

- DO NOT try and get a loan from a dealer until you have verified that all 3 credit agencies (Experian, Equifax and Transunion) can identify you and you can run a successful credit check against your own name. In your state you will find that one of these agencies is used more than the others (in Maryland Equinox is the default.) Dealerships will tell you they can get a deal for everyone - this is NOT true. When they say that they assume you are a fully functioning American with a live credit history. So they will unsuccessfully ping loads of finance companies trying to get you a loan and fail. Those credit requests will set you on the back foot and make it harder to get a loan as it looks like you are desperate in trying to borrow money. The dealerships don't care, they just want to sell you a car. Find a good quality dealer (use recommendations from forums like this) and explain your status up front so that they understand not to try a lot of pulls on your credit file - a good dealer will help you.

- CarMax (a large used car supermarket chain in the US) will give a loan to people with poor or zero credit rating. As long as you have a driving license, Social Security number and a bank account then CarMax will lend to you. Their rates are a bit higher (about 5-8%) but it is a great way to get a car and once you have a car loan your credit history will build much faster. Myself and many other ex-ats I know bought our first cars from CarMax to get us on the credit ladder when we moved to the US.

- There are some secured credit cards (Bank of America is the best example) where you put a deposit on the card and they give you a credit limit the same size as the deposit. So you give them $1,000 and they will give you a $1,000 credit limit. That sounds crazy right, why give your money to a credit card company and get nothing back? The secret is that even though you are borrowing your own money back, each month when you pay the bill Bank of America reports the bill payment to the credit agencies and it helps to build your credit rating much faster.

I learnt all this the hard way, and there is no user manual that helps you with this :-) Feel free to drop me a PM if I can be of any help on Finance stuff when you move. Happy to talk about cars too - I love the Megane 275!!!

Mark

[Nabush]

Originally Posted by MostlyHarmless

Nabush

Welcome to the forum and welcome to the US :-)

I am not going to pick up on the Corvette v Camaro discussion as you have some great advice here. I have owned both and agree with all the comments on this thread.

My comments are related to finance. I am an ex-pat Brit that moved to the US 4 and a half years ago. Same problems you are going to face - 42 years old and perfect credit in the UK and then moved to the US and suddenly no-one cared as I had no credit history in the US. Has taken some time to build up my credit history here to get to the point where people will lend me money :-)

So a few quick tips:

- Make sure you get a Social Security number and local State driving license ASAP. These will be critical for determining your identity with the credit ratings agencies. Even then it took me about 5 months and lots of phone calls/emails before the 3 main credit agencies agreed that I was real and lived in the US.

- DO NOT try and get a loan from a dealer until you have verified that all 3 credit agencies (Experian, Equifax and Transunion) can identify you and you can run a successful credit check against your own name. In your state you will find that one of these agencies is used more than the others (in Maryland Equinox is the default.) Dealerships will tell you they can get a deal for everyone - this is NOT true. When they say that they assume you are a fully functioning American with a live credit history. So they will unsuccessfully ping loads of finance companies trying to get you a loan and fail. Those credit requests will set you on the back foot and make it harder to get a loan as it looks like you are desperate in trying to borrow money. The dealerships don't care, they just want to sell you a car. Find a good quality dealer (use recommendations from forums like this) and explain your status up front so that they understand not to try a lot of pulls on your credit file - a good dealer will help you.

- CarMax (a large used car supermarket chain in the US) will give a loan to people with poor or zero credit rating. As long as you have a driving license, Social Security number and a bank account then CarMax will lend to you. Their rates are a bit higher (about 5-8%) but it is a great way to get a car and once you have a car loan your credit history will build much faster. Myself and many other ex-ats I know bought our first cars from CarMax to get us on the credit ladder when we moved to the US.

- There are some secured credit cards (Bank of America is the best example) where you put a deposit on the card and they give you a credit limit the same size as the deposit. So you give them $1,000 and they will give you a $1,000 credit limit. That sounds crazy right, why give your money to a credit card company and get nothing back? The secret is that even though you are borrowing your own money back, each month when you pay the bill Bank of America reports the bill payment to the credit agencies and it helps to build your credit rating much faster.

I learnt all this the hard way, and there is no user manual that helps you with this :-) Feel free to drop me a PM if I can be of any help on Finance stuff when you move. Happy to talk about cars too - I love the Megane 275!!!

Mark

Thanks for the tips

My compagny offers me American Express card with their liability to build my credit history.
I know that i musn't ask for credit for some months.

Quite annoying to restart from zéro at 35 ....

[glamcem]

Originally Posted by Nabush

Thanks for your opinion. How does the 1LE compare to the C6 GS if you don't take in consideration the technology. Just pure driving. Thanks

The C6 GS was also an option but i find it feels old now...

I haven't driven or purchased the 1LE yet (hoping to get mine in spring) but I am pretty sure it will feel a lot better than my C6 GS because of the more advanced suspension tuning, e-diff and bunch of other goodies that wasn't available to the C6 GS. Performance metrics of the new car also show that.

I also considered getting a C6 GS and build for the track but since those cars are not that cheaper than the new 1LE, I decided to go with a track ready car and don’t deal with all that hassle. I trust GM engineers a lot more than those aftermarket suspension manufacturers to be honest (cannot say the same for other cars). Motortrend claims that the new 1LE feels like a Miata with a lot of power. Now, that is a bold statement! If that claim holds true, the 1LE will be the best of both worlds; power and overall balance/handling feel with not so much added weight for being a coupe. I think what I felt with my Corvettes was “cross talk” that many people refer to (due to leaf spring design). For some reason rear never gave me confidence or felt planted like my other cars. It may not be the case for the C6/C7 Z06 with Z07 package or the new GS with the Z07 package since they’re tuned more aggressively.

With that said when I drove my friend's Z51 everything felt better than the previous Corvettes, either I owned or drove. The smaller steering wheel, seats, and the overall steering all felt better than the previous ones. That might have to do with the aftermarket coilovers, track alignment, or wide NT01 tires of course He put a lot of thought on that process of building a reliable track car and he pays attention to the detail... a lot , he has a lift in his garage also. He changed the suspension, seats, steering wheel cover, aftermarket wheels to fit wider tires, big brake kit (that comes standard on the 1LE) ..etc . So it is very possible he may have created a better track car than the base GS or even the GS Z07. I am ,on the other hand, just so tired of buying and modifying cars, especially new cars that IMO should be ready for the track use.

I do love Corvettes don't get me wrong, but unlike in the past the gap between the GrandSport and Camaro is not that much even with the advantage of sticker tires and the carbon ceramic brakes. Camaro 1LE is definitely a lot better performance value and if you ever feel “it is not powerful enough” you can always go with lighter wheels/rotors, add some power (header/intake/tune) but I bet it won’t be the case if it will be your first V8

Looks are all subjective, both cars look great and Corvette has the removable targa top advantage and it looks rare of course. If you want to own a Vette and only plan to attend a few events, you may as well consider getting a Z51 for a lot less money but if you’re serious about your track times and planning to track often below are the possible scenarios that I came up with (whether or not apply to you):

• - Get a new C7 Z51 and follow my friend’s track build –
• - Get a C7 GS with Z07 package and only change the tires/wheels (needs to be custom or previous gen OEM wheels maybe) and sell the Carbon ceramic rotors and pads to save on cost (still need to change the seats with competition seats, get a suede steering wheel and shifter, pay for the aero package..)
• - Get a base C7 GrandSport and purchase an aftermarket MR tuning to accommodate more aggressive tires, plus all the other mods that are required for the Z07 package that I listed just above
• - Get the new 1LE and get a 19” wheel/tire combo (Apex wheels are dirt cheap and correct size for the 1LE, also about 6-7 lbs lighter than the OEM wheels), replace pads and fluids and nothing else
• - Additional option : Get a ZL1 for cheaper than a base GrandSport do the above mods for the 1LE and beat everything above 
  

Good luck with your decision

[Nabush]

Originally Posted by glamcem

I haven't driven or purchased the 1LE yet (hoping to get mine in spring) but I am pretty sure it will feel a lot better than my C6 GS because of the more advanced suspension tuning, e-diff and bunch of other goodies that wasn't available to the C6 GS. Performance metrics of the new car also show that.

I also considered getting a C6 GS and build for the track but since those cars are not that cheaper than the new 1LE, I decided to go with a track ready car and don’t deal with all that hassle. I trust GM engineers a lot more than those aftermarket suspension manufacturers to be honest (cannot say the same for other cars). Motortrend claims that the new 1LE feels like a Miata with a lot of power. Now, that is a bold statement! If that claim holds true, the 1LE will be the best of both worlds; power and overall balance/handling feel with not so much added weight for being a coupe. I think what I felt with my Corvettes was “cross talk” that many people refer to (due to leaf spring design). For some reason rear never gave me confidence or felt planted like my other cars. It may not be the case for the C6/C7 Z06 with Z07 package or the new GS with the Z07 package since they’re tuned more aggressively.

With that said when I drove my friend's Z51 everything felt better than the previous Corvettes, either I owned or drove. The smaller steering wheel, seats, and the overall steering all felt better than the previous ones. That might have to do with the aftermarket coilovers, track alignment, or wide NT01 tires of course He put a lot of thought on that process of building a reliable track car and he pays attention to the detail... a lot , he has a lift in his garage also. He changed the suspension, seats, steering wheel cover, aftermarket wheels to fit wider tires, big brake kit (that comes standard on the 1LE) ..etc . So it is very possible he may have created a better track car than the base GS or even the GS Z07. I am ,on the other hand, just so tired of buying and modifying cars, especially new cars that IMO should be ready for the track use.

I do love Corvettes don't get me wrong, but unlike in the past the gap between the GrandSport and Camaro is not that much even with the advantage of sticker tires and the carbon ceramic brakes. Camaro 1LE is definitely a lot better performance value and if you ever feel “it is not powerful enough” you can always go with lighter wheels/rotors, add some power (header/intake/tune) but I bet it won’t be the case if it will be your first V8

Looks are all subjective, both cars look great and Corvette has the removable targa top advantage and it looks rare of course. If you want to own a Vette and only plan to attend a few events, you may as well consider getting a Z51 for a lot less money but if you’re serious about your track times and planning to track often below are the possible scenarios that I came up with (whether or not apply to you):

• - Get a new C7 Z51 and follow my friend’s track build –
• - Get a C7 GS with Z07 package and only change the tires/wheels (needs to be custom or previous gen OEM wheels maybe) and sell the Carbon ceramic rotors and pads to save on cost (still need to change the seats with competition seats, get a suede steering wheel and shifter, pay for the aero package..)
• - Get a base C7 GrandSport and purchase an aftermarket MR tuning to accommodate more aggressive tires, plus all the other mods that are required for the Z07 package that I listed just above
• - Get the new 1LE and get a 19” wheel/tire combo (Apex wheels are dirt cheap and correct size for the 1LE, also about 6-7 lbs lighter than the OEM wheels), replace pads and fluids and nothing else
• - Additional option : Get a ZL1 for cheaper than a base GrandSport do the above mods for the 1LE and beat everything above 
  

Good luck with your decision

I'm done spending 15k$ in mods in a car. Too much money loss. A least for the next 5 years.

Only light mods now.

I haven't decided yet which road to take. But i will be between 1LE and base GS a light mods.

[FNxR3DNECK]

Originally Posted by Nabush

I'm done spending 15k$ in mods in a car. Too much money loss. A least for the next 5 years.

Only light mods now.

I haven't decided yet which road to take. But i will be between 1LE and base GS a light mods.

The biggest difference in these two in my mind is the pure driver focused cockpit in the Vette (especially the GS). I love how the car is basically built around the drivers seat, and if you love that too and can spare the coin I say go with the GS and you really won't need to mod it unless you are like me and want to do some small personalized cosmetic mods. But if you want to do a little more modding I think the 1LE is the better platform, plus keep in mind the extra $10-15k you will have left over.

[Cam 6]

Originally Posted by FNxR3DNECK

The biggest difference in these two in my mind is the pure driver focused cockpit in the Vette (especially the GS). I love how the car is basically built around the drivers seat.

This was the deciding factor for me.

I go 6'0" and 160 lbs and the GS cockpit fit around me like a glove. I had already driven both a 2SS and a Stingray at the end of summer with plans on pulling the trigger in the Spring.

I ordered a 2LT GS at the end of December, but there is no wrong answer. The 1LE is a great car, too.

It's just a matter of personal preference.

[Bosse'sBoss]

MT's Randy Pobst was faster in the SS 1LE at Laguna Seca compared to the Z51. But on C&D's Lightning laps the Z51's lap time was better than the SS 1LE. Probably would depend on the type of track and/or who's the driver. Stingray Z51 lighter, lower, more aerodinamic vs SS 1LE with wider wheels & tires, same engine, Z51 7 speed VS SS 1LE 6 speed manual transmissions.

Laguna Seca
Corvette Z06 (C7) w Z07 1.33.05
SS 1LE 1.37.78
5th gen Z28 1.37.82
Stingray Z51 1.38.28

VIR
Corvette Z06 w Z07 2.44.6
Corvette Grand Sport Z07 2:47.10
5th gen Z28 2:50.9
Stingray Z51 2:53.8
SS 1LE 2:54.80

Willow Springs
Corvette Z06 w/ Z07 1:25.00
6th. Gen Camaro ZL1 1:26.16
Corvette Grand Sport Z07 1:26.28
SS 1LE 1.28.29
5th gen Z28 1:28.30

Camaro ZL1 1LE cuts 3 seconds time of ZL1 at Milford

[Bosse'sBoss]

Originally Posted by formoutofchaos

Since I have actually owned both, recently c7 and now 1le i would say z51 c7 is still another class up from the camaro. The view and feeling is a bit more refined , a z51 is not much slower that a GS if you stuck those tires on a z51 and added CAI, and some tuning you wouldn't be off .

Interesting wich shifter was better, Stingray's 7 speed or 1LE 6 speed shifter?

[mcsoul]

I think getting into and sitting in a c7 GS everyday would be a similar sensation to sitting on the toilet at night and not knowing the seat is in the up position.

[Bosse'sBoss]

I was expecting a more technical explanation

[RB185AFM]

I'm a track rat that went Gen 5 1LE to 17 GS. I seriously considered the gen 6 1LE but ended up GS. If you can swing it, the GS is a no brainer. Just for the grip and dry sump. If you go GS don't get the Z07 package. Replacement for the Carbon Brakes is 8k for all 4 rotors. One off, and you could be out serious money. Pick up a regular GS for 60k. The regular Z06 brakes with just pads are amazing. And if your fast you will still go through CC rotors every 5 to 10 track days. Buy some 18 track wheels. Run 315/18 and 345/18 tire combos, add DSC controller, change brake pads, destroy hyper cars on track! The difference in grip from GS to 1LE is astounding!

[glamcem]

Originally Posted by RB185AFM

I'm a track rat that went Gen 5 1LE to 17 GS. I seriously considered the gen 6 1LE but ended up GS. If you can swing it, the GS is a no brainer. Just for the grip and dry sump. If you go GS don't get the Z07 package. Replacement for the Carbon Brakes is 8k for all 4 rotors. One off, and you could be out serious money. Pick up a regular GS for 60k. The regular Z06 brakes with just pads are amazing. And if your fast you will still go through CC rotors every 5 to 10 track days. Buy some 18 track wheels. Run 315/18 and 345/18 tire combos, add DSC controller, change brake pads, destroy hyper cars on track! The difference in grip from GS to 1LE is astounding!

It's a great looking car and I agree with you; stock vs stock, it should outperform the 1LE in all performance metrics. The only problem with the base GS is that it's almost Z06 money and even with the price tag it lacks some essential features such as PDR, Recaro seats, HUD, and sticky tires so I have to invest on some good wheels like you did (good looking CCW corsair wheels btw or Forged line maybe ) so that I can have wider tire selection. And at that point I already spend more than a base Z06 (with discounts I saw them going high $60Ks ) and nowhere near close to a ZL1 1LE.

1LE on the other hand, is the best value for performance. I am still behind about 2 seconds behind my friend's track build C7 Z51 but that's not something a small HP bump can fix

[MATTY-1LE]

anymore c7 drivers coming to the gen 6 ss 1le and or vice versa? impressions?

[5senna5]

Originally Posted by MATTY-1LE

anymore c7 drivers coming to the gen 6 ss 1le and or vice versa? impressions?

I had a ‘17 SS 1LE last year, did about 20 track days with it. Bought a Grand Sport 1LT over the winter and did 3 track days with it this year. With factory tires and track alignments on both, I was 1 second quicker at my local track (low 1 min lap times). I’m 6’2” and didn’t fit well at all in the GS. My helmet hit the roof unless I pulled the seat forward and ghetto-leaned the back, which I hated. It was a nice car but the interior of my Camaro was better. Sold the Grand Sport two weeks ago and am sitting an a plane to Dallas now, going to pick up my new ‘18 SS 1LE. 95% (or more) of the performance for 60% of the price, plus I fit in it.