So this week I learned about putting a Prius engine in an Echo, and swapping the intake cam…and wow that thing flies.
As a biker with no bike lanes I detest them both
Drivers didn’t spend over 50 years secretly buying and dismantling public transit, forming zoning boards, and lobbying Congress to build car-centric infrastructure using tax dollars from everyone, including non-drivers; billionaires and corporations did those things. If you’re going to detest people, detest them. The people driving are just doing their best to get by using the only system they’ve ever known.
As a daily Corvette driver I virtual fist bump every shit box owner out there. I’ve been there and I love you guys. And to every Prius owner giving me the evil eye? I’ll make out with every one of you because your a better person than me. And total cost of ownership of my Corvette is half that of my friends Model S and it isn’t a bore to drive either.
Also, fuck GM, their never getting a dollar from me again after their superPAC donations. And old men vette owners are REALLY WEIRD.
Vette’s are basically just a Chevy small block with wheels and a fiberglass shell. They’re very fast and they corner extremely well with such a low center of gravity. They are a pain in the ass to maintain though.
The new ones corner well. The old ones, well, pull up some of the old top gear episodes where they tested vets on their courses.
They handled well for the time they were manufactured. Comparing old cars to new ones like that isn’t really fair. Even a modern Honda Accord could outperform a C3 or older Corvette in every category. The difference in aerodynamics, suspension, and materials technologies, plus computer control, makes that big of a difference.
Matter of fact, if I remember correctly, a modern Honda Accord Sport has a faster Nurburgring lap time than an R34 Skyline, which was one of the fastest production cars of the 90s. That’s how quickly car technology advances.
Also tires, whatever came on a c3 is way worse than modern tires are. Its a huge difference.
I feel like the corvette is the worst of every world. Pricy/frequent repairs, not particularly quick acceleration, weird stigma. Compared to many cheaper electric cars with surprising oomf, it feels silly to go with gas for fun. If you have the ability to charge an electric car, anyway
Nah, definitely Ferrari. Tires are like $50K. An oil change is like $2-3K. Just buying one is a huge hassle. You can’t just walk into a dealership and buy one, you have to agree to buy a few used ones first, then they’ll allow you on the waiting list for a new one.
it feels silly to go with gas for fun
Fun is about more than just speed. Top speed, zero to sixty, Nurgurgring lap times, those are all just numbers on paper. Having fun is about more than that. Fun is a sum total of the sensations a car can provide you. If you’ve never rowed through the gears of a roaring V8, listening to the RPMs climb and crescendo into the smooth thunk of the shifter, you should really try it some time. It’s a uniquely satisfying sensory combination that electric vehicles just can’t replicate. A Model S can’t have supercharger whine, a blowoff valve, or even induction noise. Those things might not be sensible, or even practical, but they are sure as hell fun.
I honestly prefer the silent acceleration of an EV, all the sounds are annoying. I have fun accelerating from every traffic light to 50 km/h in a blink of an eye. I can have fun on my commute, save money and as a side effect “save the planet”. Without annoying everyone around me.
If only McLaren brought back the body of the F1 with suitably blistering electrics, I’d overthrow a few small nations to get one…
If they manage to fit the engine in such a flat vehicle, I’d be impressed. The only company going as low as a corvette is aspark, and I don’t even know when or if they’re actually going to deliver those things. And they cost 3kk usd each.
Electric cars just aren’t entertaining. They’re not entertaining to watch race, and they’re not entertaining to drive.
I don’t find any races entertaining to watch. Electric gets me from point a to point b extreme rapidly, and that’s where I find my fun. In instantly flying past the doofus ahead who’s driving 10 under the limit and arriving at my destination without aggravation. Doubling my speed to catch the next green cycle. Hauling what I need without worrying about space. Never hearing “oh, you’re a ___ guy.” It’s just a fast car with trunk space to me. Romanticization of cars is utterly absent in me.
You sound like a reckless driver. Remind me to stay at home when you’re driving.
Please do. Sitting behind slow moving, hesitant, unpredictable drivers is agony. I imagine you choose not to use your blinker, seize the gap, or follow the flow of traffic like everyone else in this godforsaken city.
If I see you crawling down the freeway on-ramp at half the speed of the drivers you’re attempting to merge between, I will transfer to you the aneurysm you planted within me by sheer force of will as I pass by you.
What car a “car person” buys is not because of a numbers games, or its features, or its practicality, it is just because certain cars give a sort of “emotion” that connects with them. As someone who has driven loud but genuinely slow cars like Toyota Chasers, RB20 swapped Silvias, forged billet built 4g63 evo’s, but then something like an Audi E-tron GT, the etron of course is faster, more comfort, more festures, but they feel “sanitized” where as the others you have to conform to the car. EV’s are amazing cars, but give you no connection to the car or the road, there is no personality. If you’re not into cars, it sounds dumb, but as much as corvette owners, or dodge demon buyers will tell you the 0-60 times, the 1/4 miles trap speeds, the power of the car, the real reason is it conveys an emotion that connects with them that a Tesla doesn’t, a Porsche Taycan doesn’t, a ioniq 5 N doesn’t, etc, they’re great amazing cars, but they don’t let you turn your brain off the world and needing you to focus on driving, like listening to your favorite song does, some songs are just noise, but some let you forget about the world and just focus on the moment
I vaguely understand what you mean, but it’s impossible for me to fully grasp, as someone who sees cars as a means of conveyance with utility in speed solely owing to the ability to avoid frustration on the road. Frankly, the idea feels so alien to me that I am absent of questions. Which is rare for me.
I’ll need you to boot up your favorite racing game and try to understand how incomparable a 2 ton EV that zips straight is to a sports car. Driving dynamics of EVs suck and will continue to suck until they can get battery weight down.
I mean, I’m cornering fine in the city and easily placing myself in any location within eyeline when I choose to be there. On a track, it’d have me beat. Running from the police as well. But on tax payer roads, dividends are small. The second set of brakes make it feel much more manageable, as well.
not particularly fast
Everything I’ve heard about the ZR1 is generally positive. I was under the impression that it was very competitive with other “super cars” often for substantially less money.
Agreed. Not sure what this guy is talking about. Are they perfect? No. But for an ICE car, it’s really fast. Electric have the benefit of all the torque available without the need to rev.
That’s my point. Electric does the same for a lower price with better optics and more storage space and range. If you want to get slammed into your seat, a 50k usd electric is going to do just that, and it will last longer, and it won’t yield any “corvette guy” vibes, and it probably won’t break down anywhere near as frequently. (Obviously model specific, and it goes without saying but fuck Tesla)
I’d love a used model s p100d, but then I’d be in a Tesla.
Eeeeeh, I’m scared to ride one. Their doors cutting out during an accident is absolutely horrifying. Neat car to play with on a track with a fire crew handy, though. Just not one I’d choose to use more often than that.
Shit talking the corvette based on straight line speed then talking about a track toy… are you delusional or what?
The corvette is an excellent track car for the price and would be far more enjoyable than an EV for that purpose.
You understood none of what I wrote if you think this expresses that anyone should ever drive a Tesla for any reason. I call a car a death trap requiring a standing fire crew and you interpret that as a track toy? There is phenomenal bravery in your incredibly obvious misinterpretation.
And of course a corvette would beat comparably priced evs on the track. Most can’t corner. Do you want a cookie for taking high school physics and economics 101?
Also they tend to be the more reliable sports car too certainly cheaper to maintain than anything Italian or German.
They are on crack, ignorant, and trying to pull an ’ ACHKTUALLY the Tesla/byd is faster’ argument.
I’ve only mentioned teslas to disparage them and I don’t actually know what a byd is. Feel free to ctrl f.
Damn they are ignorant on electric cars too
Apologies, I don’t track Chinese car brands. I can tell that knowing the names of Chinese car brands is very important to you, but it is not to me.
China numba one
3 second 0-60 on the base model and 2.5 seconds with the sports package. Thats right in there with the sportier electrics, but the sportier electrics (broad, I realize) go from 50-120k usd and the zr1 from 70-120k usd. Thats not bad, but corvettes are notorious for maintenance needs and issues
The zr1 is 0-60 in 2.3 seconds with a top speed of 233 miles per hour.
The C8 is 0-60 in 2.8 seconds, with a top speed of 194. the electric is 0-60 in 2.5
These aren’t slow, not even close to being slow.
The corvette is literally one of best price per performance cars in 2026
I never got the “top speed” thing. The fastest I’ve ever gone in a car was 110 mph, and that felt like far too much on a freeway.
But I never said slow, it’s just not particularly jumpy when compared with electrics. I should have clarified acceleration, you’re right.
I know older Corvettes are a pretty good starting point for getting into stock car drag racing
Source: I drag raced my family’s 15-seat Chevrolet Express, and synced the video to the audio of a Corvette that got exactly half my quarter-mile time XD
The Chevy Express is such a good van dude. What year?
Dream van
I think I know what went wrong with the van. You probably forgot to paint flames on it.
It’s because the attention is more important than the oomf for these kinds of people.
If they could easily modify an electric car to make a ton of noise when revving, they’d probably switch.
You could not be more misinformed here. I say this as someone who drives an electric. The modern corvettes are insane value for a sports car, extremely moddablr and reliable, as quick or quicker than an ev while annihilating most evs on top speed.
You sir, are the worst kind of incorrect. You are confidently incorrect.
Their reliability is comparable to a new Tesla, and their parts are pricy as hell. Who’s telling you these things?
I don’t know enough about cars to join this conversation but I feel like the people arguing with someone calling themselves Gullible are probably wearing uranium horseshoes.
Shhhhhh, you’ll ruin the bits and confuse the ones where it’s not a bit
This is nonsense. You know nothing about corvettes or sports cars. The reason it’s popular is that it’s more engaging and more fun then just about everything at its price point while being reliable even after modding. Nobody in the space gives a fuck that they are fast in a straight line or you can spend a million dollars for a hypercar that that actually can’t make out through a full length event.
The ignorance in your comment is one of the best cases I’ve seen in a while of confidently incorrect 🤦♂️.
You are a nerd who has missed the point entirely.
This reads almost like an ad for a matchbox car. I’m a nerd calling your hobby silly, not misinformed
My silly FR-S is pretty fun, cheap-ish on gas, and was only like $11k with 56k miles. When I was looking there weren’t many fun electrics in my price range.
I loved my FR-S (after a chip tune to smooth out the torque dip). I put a Borla cat-back on it and it sounded amazing. I loved how you could rev third all the way out and not be going ridiculously fast. Parking lot drifting was so easy with the LSD too. Oh, and I loved how it used the standard Toyota cruise control stalk; that one is one of my favorites. Great car.
56k miles on a 10 year old car?? Damn, I need your search skills! But yes, the secondhand market is rough for electrics. It’s like they’re made of gold, the way the price refuses to dip.
It’s okay you are allowed to just say you don’t like ICE cars
I shouldn’t feel this nostalgic for ancient bait setups. Your bones hurt too?
C8 also looks like derivative trash
C5/C6 forever
