jsaylor

Moosetang nailed it. The Mustang's interior could be better but it isn't out of line with what you can expect to find in other 'budget minded' sports coupes. (the 350Z's interior is terrible) Ford might be pushing their luck a bit in the GT500, but the upgrade does get you do get something on the inside, and that something includes very good seats and obviously improved appointments/ materials in certain areas.

In constrast the Vette's interior doesn't even cut it in the base model. Even worse, upgrading to a 65k dollar Z06 still wont get you any better than the base models crappy seats and poor materials. Sure, GM offers an interior upgrade now, but it costs almost as much as Ford charges you to upgrade from a GT to a GT500 and what you get still isn't up to par even in a base Vette....and that is simply ridiculous.

Ford could learn something from how GM does the Vette but this road goes both ways and the GT500 gets plenty right the Vette still struggles with.

AnotherMustangMan

Have you always been a fan of making stuff up? Or is that something recent...

The Corvette interior upgrade is a $4k option. If you can get a GT500 for that much over a GT, let me know.

jsaylor

So I can spend 4k over the price of a base Vette and get.....oh wait, no I can't. The 4LT package the consumer has to select to get the upgraded leather material and uber-special center console trim in question is contained within the 4LT option package which adds 8.5 g's to the price of a standard Vette Coupe.

Perhaps you feel that the Vette has been slighted since 4LT is an amalgam containing all the juicy interior tidbits found in the 3LT package that costs $4500 less. In the spirit of fairness let us take a peek at what 3LT offers. A HUD, heated 'sport' seats with a power passenger seat, a telescoping steering wheel which is wrapped in leather, and an upgraded stereo. For the extra $4500 mentioned above 4LT adds leather on the dash and door panels, etc and the above-mentioned uber-special center console trim to the mix.

Unfortunately enough for GM, and your argument, what the above really means is that for 8.5 g's GM will happily give you upgraded seats which are still terrible, a telescoping steering wheel a car with a 46k price of entry should have anyway, a HUD GM is forced to bundle to move, leather materials which still aren't good enough even for a base Vette, a power passenger seat, a leather steering wheel, and an upgraded stereo. You'll excuse me if I lack your obvious sense of excitement at GM's latest invitation for Vette owners to bend over.

If either you or GM believes that this is going to do anything to convince people who have previously walked past the Vette to a M3 or Porsche Cayman/911 to give the Vette a chance then you are seriously deluded. 4LT is nothing but another box to be checked by people who would have bought a Vette anyway. Only now, they can get leather that looks almost as good as their girlfriends pleather skirt.

As I stated earlier, the C6 is a good deal, but only if you avoid most options that don't say Z51 on them. The LT series of interior upgrades are virtually all grossly over-priced and oddly conceived while the likewise expensive Z06 package exclusively addressed the one thing that the Vette pretty much got right to begin with.

AnotherMustangMan

Wait, you're telling me that car companies make huge profits on options? And that they're not a good value for consumers? News...

I was merely taking the time to remind you that even if we use your $8.5k figure, that's a hell of a lot more than the $15.5k between a GT and a GT500. The moral is, as in the case with the stripper 'Vette vs. a loaded one, the Mustang GT is a hugely better value than the GT500.

jsaylor

I don't disagree...to a point. I agree that the Mustang GT is a better deal than the GT500, but I would say that this is only the case so long as that GT has a sticker around 28-29k. So yes, in this respect I think the Vette and Mustang GT have some commonality, each begins to lose some appeal as the options mount.

That said with the exception of those sub 30k GT's the GT500 is, IMO, the obvious runner up value standout in the Mustang lineup. Also worth worth mentioning IMO is that the GT500 package does make the Mustang a better car even if it isn't quite the deal the standard GT is. This is a feat I would argue that almost no Corvette option package aside from Z51 can claim to accomplish in any significant way, including Z06.

As for the difference in price markup between 4LT and the GT500 'upgrade' for a Mustang. I think it is pretty obvious that the GT500 makes a much better case for itself than does 4LT since Ford gives you upgraded brakes, revised suspension, genuinely better seats, DOHC heads, a supercharger, a higher displacement short block, a 6-speed manual transmission, body upgrades, and several features that would be optional on the GT model as standard for your 15.5k. Compare that to the 4LT package I discuss above and the GT500 looks like the deal of the century.

boduke0220

i agree,somewhat.
i think at both base prices its a good deal. but whne you start adding markup, taxes and things like that it slowly gets anoyying and un-wothwhile

clockworks

Ehh, all opinions. I love the Vette's interior and love the seats. The only things I don't like are the radio/hvac buttons and control ****. They stick out like a sore thumb.

I like the 350Z's interior. The Mustang interior has good aethetic design, but crappy materials.

I'm curious now to go check out an GT500's interior. I always thought it was just a Mustang GT with a roots sc, stiffer suspension, some cosmetic changes and 600 extra lbs.

While the Mustang GT is certainly a great value (one of the best, imo), I don't think the GT500 is at all. I say this because you can get a car that will outperform it on a drag strip and on a road course for the same amount or less money.

As for the ZR-1 not standing out enough... again a matter of opinion. As long as people in the know know, I'd be happy. Ha, as if I'll ever get to own one!

jsaylor

Of course, these are all opinions. But I think even most people who like the Vette's interior know and admit, if grudgingly, that the Vette's interior is controversial to say the least and that, for the class, it is at the low end of the spectrum.

Actually, I am not a big fan of the Mustang's interior design. It is pretty sound ergonomically, but in places the styling is a bit overwrought and the materials could be better. That said, the 350Z's new interior is terrible IMO and the old one was near criminal.

It isn't far off, although the seats are much better, as is the shifter.

That is a loaded comparison. You can buy some new cars and mod them to outrun a stock GT500 in a straight line and on a road course for less than the GT500's price of entry, including the Mustang GT, but then the same could be said of both the Z06 and upcoming ZR1 without question.

The problem here is that you have to consider just how a modded GT's dynamics will measure up to the GT500 not to mention the cheap and easy modability of the GT500. For example, the GT500 is not a difficult car to coax well out of 650hp and more out of while retaining a measure of reliability....and for a surprisingly low sum of money. Also, despite what people like to claim the GT500 can absolutely burn up a back road as Car and Driver's recent Lightning lap comparo proved..likely to their chagrin. The bonus here is that the GT500 is also very comfortable and dynamically sound representing exactly what you would expect of a proper GT. I would argue that an owner would be hard pressed to duplicate what the GT500 delivers all around for similar money, particularly if the GT500 in question is lightly modded. If you want a powerful and comfortable GT with good modability the GT500 is without peer.

Finally, my problem with the ZR1 has nothing to do with the new uber-Vette's low key nature (although I am uncertain how a car with a transparent hood panel can be called low key) My issue with the ZR1 is that it is just one more example of GM throwing several million dollars at the one thing the Vette already did really well.

clockworks

I was talking stock vs stock. ..but I agree with your last point. The Vette is a great value, but the Z06 isn't as much cuz of diminishing returns: are the upgrades that the Z06 offers really worth 20k?

Fair enough and good point.