The Porsche 911 enthusiasts on our sister site Rennlist are talking about the new Corvette and they have some interesting insight.
Recently I wrote about how rare it is to see a Corvette and a Porsche 911 sharing a garage. But there are plenty of folks that do own both, or have at least experienced both. And while the two sides may not agree 100 percent of the time, both are car enthusiasts of the highest order. It is tough to find more passionate owners than those in the Corvette or 911 camp. With that in mind we paid a visit to our sister site Rennlist. For those not familiar that is the leading Porsche enthusiast site. If you are looking for 911 enthusiasts, that is the place to find them. And as it turns out, they have some thoughts on the latest C8 Corvette. And what they are thinking over there may surprise you.
Recently Rennlist member eddie513 started a thread titled: C 8 Corvette. The thread asked the simple question of how people felt about the feel, handling, fit and finish of the C8 Corvette. For some additional context the thread was posted in the 991 Turbo sub forum. These are model years 2014 to 2019 in the U.S. The Turbo and Turbo S models that are discussed here originally sold for at least $100,000 over the price of a base C8. With that said, you would expect perhaps a lot of negative comments about the Corvette. Or folks to look down on the car. And while there is understandably a Porsche preference on Rennlist, there is a decent amount of Corvette love out there. So, for fun let’s take a look at what the 911 enthusiasts are saying about the C8.
Experience
One thing I should call out at the jump is that a lot of the comments in this thread are from folks that have real experience with the C8. Several that posted have a C8 of their own. Others have at least driven the car. The point is that the comments are not from people making assumptions about the car. Some of the commenters have owned several Corvettes over the years. That should lend a bit more weight to the comments that are made.
Bang for the Buck
This should probably not come as any sort of surprise. But most of the positive comments were centered around the bang for the buck that the C8 offers. Many folks commented that the C8 they bought cost them less than half the price of their 911 Turbo. And while the Turbo still has more outright speed, the amount of performance that the C8 offers is truly impressive. The caveat is getting the car at MSRP. Most folks felt that once an ADM was tacked on the Corvette it lost all appeal to them. A $70K C8 is a deal. At $100K, not so much. Thankfully the C8 prices are starting to come back to earth.
Direct Comparison
One commenter is brand new to Rennlist as he has just traded in his 2021 C8 3LT Z51 for a 2015 911 Turbo S. He loved the Corvette and said it was a very good performance car. He thought the styling was striking, it handled well, and was well built. The fit and finish was well above that of previous generation Corvettes according to this poster. But he felt that the Porsche was the better overall car despite being 6 years older. The quality, the interior, the ride, and performance over the same roads were all in the 911s favor according to this owner anyway. Keep in mind that back in 2015 the base price of a 911 Turbo S was about $183,000.
Styling
The way a car looks is always subjective. But there was a common theme among the Porsche 911 enthusiasts. That was that the car was a bit of a mixed bag in the looks department. Most of the criticism was leveled at the car looking too long in order to accommodate golf clubs. Folks also didn’t really care for the rear view of the C8 and the square exhaust pipes pushed out to the corners. Nobody hated the way the car looked, but folks were not drooling over it either. Then again, a Porsche 911 Turbo still has hints of the VW Beetle so take the looks comments with a grain of salt.
Sell the Porsche?
Most commenters were really impressed with the Corvette. But no one sold their 911 Turbo to get one. Some folks added the Corvette to their collection, and they were thrilled to do so. But, there was no talk of anyone saying the C8 was outright superior and would replace the 911. This should be expected on a Porsche enthusiast site. And again, we can’t lose sight of the fact that the Corvette is so much less expensive. Special editions aside the 911 Turbo models sit at the top of the Porsche 911 price range. And yet the Corvette is very well respected even on the home turf of the people that own these flagship Porsche cars. That can only be viewed as an impressive achievement for Chevrolet. And to add just one final thought. The 911 Turbo folks are quite interested in the Z06 and E-Ray. Once those become more available we may start to see more 911 owners switch teams.
Images: Rennlist Forum
Keyword: Behind Enemy Lines: What Porsche 911 Enthusiasts Are Saying About the C8 Corvette