C6 Vette vs. Porsche 911S

[9ball]

I think this is an interesting comparison and although I may not have looked hard enough, I haven't found any vette/911 comparisons. So, which is faster, better to drive, better value, better built and so on? I've been watching a bunch of Top Gear episodes on the computer and although it's my favorite show, I'm sick of how harsh they are on American cars, so I'd like to see these two put head to head.

[BlackGT2000]

There was a comparo somewhere last year. It was close and I think that the vette ended up slightly outperforming. I know the big factor was that the vette cost much less than a typical 911. Both are awesome cars.

[NISSANSPDR]

If it was the regular old C5 Vette vs. the 911 Carrera S, I'd say Carrera S. But since it's the new C6 which is IMHO much better than the C5...I say C6 and you save alot of money. Only thing you dont get is a nicer interior and the name brand Porsche.

[BlackGT2000]

The comparo I saw was the C6 Vs the latest evolution of 911. The whole premise was that they were both "totally redesigned" but that they were more of refinements of the original car rather than totally new cars with the same namesakes.

[sv650s]

Originally Posted by 9ball

I think this is an interesting comparison and although I may not have looked hard enough, I haven't found any vette/911 comparisons. So, which is faster, better to drive, better value, better built and so on? I've been watching a bunch of Top Gear episodes on the computer and although it's my favorite show, I'm sick of how harsh they are on American cars, so I'd like to see these two put head to head.

yeah i hate when they're too harsh on american cars but all they had to say about the corvette was it's leaf springs. i'll have to say the corvette is better than the porsche since the 911 has only a few more horsepower than the corvette which you could easily get out of the LS2 with only a few small mods and if you can afford the 911s why don't you spend a little more money and buy a ferrari?

[drunken monkey]

it's not really "a little more money"
porsches start at around £60,000.
these days, the base ferrari is at least £110,000

[9ball]

Well, the S model is up to 355hp, still 45 less than the regular C6. The factory says it'll get to 60 in 4.6 seconds which is great for a 911 and should be right in line with a C6. I think the better comparison (taking price into account) is the 911 S vs. the new Z06, where the Z06 should just run off and leave the 911, but the closer performance comparison is the regular vette.

So if anyone from Fifth Gear or Top Gear is browsing this forum, put these cars against each other!

[sv650s]

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

it's not really "a little more money"
porsches start at around £60,000.
these days, the base ferrari is at least £110,000

this porsche is over 100,000
http://fast-autos.net/porsche/porsche996turbos.html

[drunken monkey]

yes, i know that a 911 turbo S costs more than £105,000, it being the top end 911 model but as i said, the base 911 costs around £55,000 these days and the one the one in the title of this thread starts at £65,000.

put another way.
if you're looking at buying a top end 911, you might also be looking a ferrari for prety much the same money.
if you're looking at buying a carrera s, then a ferrari isn't just "a little more money".
yes?
no?

[sv650s]

damn! i guess you're right, i mistook 911s for 911 turbo s (not that much of a porsche guy)

[DinanM3_S2]

The 911 Carrera S is nowhere near the price range of the cheapest bone stock F430 (least expensive Ferrari in production). You'd be looking at $170,000 for a F430, while you can get a 911 Carrera S for around $80,000. On top of that the Porsche should be nowhere near as expensive to maintain as the Ferrari. So really the 911/911 S (which we are talking about) is about half the price of a Ferrari these days.

I really have a tough time comparing the 911 to the Corvette any more. They have grown further and further apart. The Corvette is a pure bred fire breathing sports car. It is no frills, no compromises, just straight up fast. It is by far the fastest car in a straight line under $60,000, and the Z06 is one of the fastest car in a straight line for less then a supercar. Supposedly the handling isn't even as bad as you would think coming from leaf springs. It is very tough to beat the Corvette in terms of performance, especially when you factor in the price. The downside of the Corvette is the lack of an interior. It is absolutely terrible. When you pay $45,000 for a car you don't want to pay another thousand bucks to fix your back after driving it for too long. The Corvette has possibly one of the worst interiors sold in a sports car today. I have driven in Miatas that I was more comfortable in then the Corvette.

The 911 Carrera S isn't as good as the C6 Corvette in terms of pure performance. It isn't as quick in a straight line, which should give the Corvette the ablity to beat it on most tracks. Just looking at numbers, a car with more power that weighs about the same and costs almost half as much should be a no brainer, but it isn't. On everything except straight line performance, and price, the Porsche wins. The 911 is a GT car, not a sports car. It is a car that performs very well on track day, but manages traffic as well. It looks great inside and out. The transmission is a big plus compared to the Vette. The steering is "telepathic." I would also say that the 911 is going to handle a bit better then the Corvette. I think that overall, the 911 is a much more enjoyable car then the Corvette. It won't win on a drag strip, it might not win on a track, and its quite a bit more expensive, but I'd take the 911 over the Corvette anyday.

If all you are interested in is having raw performance, the Corvette is your car. If you want a great all around car, I'd say the 911 is the better bet.

[drunken monkey]

..going slightly off topic now....
(which seems to be a forte of mine....)
you mention that the 911 seems to have moved away from its original intentions as a no-nonsense sports car and having not so slowly turned into a GT car. How do you feel about the cayman, a car that just so happens to be about the same size and weight of a 993, eventually being stripped out RS/Clubsprt style and filling the gap of being porsche's no compromise sports car?

going back on topic a bit, i've never fully understood why the use of leaf springs in a Corvette would equate it to it being automatically worse than any other car.
i mean, that component is only one part in a rather complex system of control bars, wishbones, dampers and whatnot. If the behaviour of the leaf spring set -up is fully understood, why would it be inhenrently worse than a (not so) modern coil spring, especially if the car was designed around them in the first place?
is there something inherently worse about the behaviour of leaf springs that can't be rectified in the rest of the set up?

[Jaguar D-Type]

GM's main reason for using the transverse leafs, front and rear, on the C5 (applicable to the C6 as well) is, believe it or not, space.

To do a proper coil-over suspension, the shocks on the car would need to be mounted at a more vertical angle. This would require not only redesigning the lower control arm (no big deal) but also the upper shock tower (big deal.) Said redesigned shock tower would cut into the rear storage compartment (no big deal) and, up front, the engine compartment (REALLY big deal.)

The leafs allow the shocks to be mounted at a slightly more horizontal angle, thereby lowering the shock tower and not cutting into interior space.

As for advantages vs. disadvantages, there aren't many at all. Seperate coil-overs offer you independent wheel adjustments, allowing you to change the spring rate on the front right wheel without affecting the rate on the front left, if you desired. Over-all, the 4 coils may actually be a tad bit lighter than the two big leafs. In reality, those are the only two advantages coil-overs have.

[DinanM3_S2]

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

..going slightly off topic now....
(which seems to be a forte of mine....)
you mention that the 911 seems to have moved away from its original intentions as a no-nonsense sports car and having not so slowly turned into a GT car. How do you feel about the cayman, a car that just so happens to be about the same size and weight of a 993, eventually being stripped out RS/Clubsprt style and filling the gap of being porsche's no compromise sports car?

I think the Cayman has the potential to be very good, but Porsche just hasn't realized that potential yet. After watching the Top Gear on it, you just feel that it should have been better then it is, but Porsche didn't want it to compete in performance or beat the more expensive 911. The fact that it is lighter then the 911, and is mid-engined makes the Cayman a big threat to the 911, so Clarkson felt that they toned down the Cayman to protect the 911 as the performance benchmark, thus making the Cayman less appealing and less of a competitor. I like what the Cayman is trying to do, but I want to see it executed properly. I would love to see a stripped out Cayman w/ a turbocharger, but we havn't seen much evidence of something like that so far.