Mid-Engined Vette? Yeah Right…
According to Motor Trend, none other than Maximum Bob Lutz (or his mouth, which is independently operated) was behind plans to convert the C7 Corvette to a mid-engined layout. And from certain perspectives (albeit not the traditional one) such a move would have made a lot of sense. Besides putting Ferrari on notice, a mid-engined ‘vette would be easier to convert to a fuel-saving cylinder shutoff system, since the current front-engine, rear-transaxle layout necessitates a seperate clutch to disengage cylinders. The extra weight of a mid-engine cowl and the complication of reeingineering the entire platform has killed plans for a mid-engined Corvette, and GM has pushed the C7 model release back to 2014. In other words, unless GM seriously gets its shit together ASAP, the current ‘vette could be the last model ever made. In any case, the C6 will likely be the last V8-only Corvette, since CAFE standards will likely necessitate a V6 base engine. And you thought a mid-engined Corvette was sacrilege…
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"Or you could have just bought a proper manual in the first place instead of getting a sports car with a slushbox." It's funny because this comment pretty much epitomizes the manual-nazi crowd and how mis-informed/uninformed they are about contemporary transmissions in general. MANUAL tranny Vettes have the skip shift. You would have to pay the 20 bucks to remove it no matter what transmission you have. It locks out the 2nd and 3rd gears forcing you to go straight to 4th. And btw it's the year 2008 guys, transmissions (both manual and automatic) have changed a lot; move out of the 1980's and give em a try. Edit* Looks like Berkowitz beat me to it. But I thought automatic Vettes have skip shift too? Am I wrong?
Qusus: To the best of my knowledge, only the manual cars have a skip-shift. Although I'm sure the automatic cars upshift pretty quickly if you're not aggressive with the throttle
Popular Mechanics had a good post on the future of the Corvette. http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4278611.html