Astounding C8 Corvette comparison

"dieseldub" (dieseldub) 07/23/2019 at 23:11 • Filed to: None

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No, it’s not an actual comparison head to head on a track or anything exciting . But, just to illustrate how far technology has come, I wanted to illustrate some specs between two cars from different eras. One was literally a poster on my wall as a kid.

The 1990 Lamborghini Diablo vs. 2020 C8 Corvette.. or is it Stingray? Guess we’ll find out.

Curb Weight:

Diablo: 3,474 lbs
C8: 3,366

Horsepower:

Diablo: 492 @ 7000 RPM
C8: 495 @ 6450 RPM “with performance exhaust”

Torque:

Diablo: 428 ft-lbs @ 5200 RPM
C8: 470 ft-lbs @ 5150 RPM “with performance exhaust”

From there, that’s where similarities end.

The Diablo used a 5.7L DOHC V12 with 4 valves per cylinder and port fuel injection

The C8 uses a 6.2L OHV/pushrod V8, 2 valves per cylinder, but has direct injection allowing much higher compression.

Speaking of:

Diablo: 10:1 compression
C8: 11.5:1

Both are mid engine rear drive layouts, longitudinally mounted. Though Lamborghini’s traditional V12 setup since the Countach is still rather unconventional where the transmission is effectively between the two seats, thus making the car weirdly wide. And it only had 5 forward gears. And only offered with a manual transmission early in the Diablo’s production run. The Corvette as you’ve heard, uses an 8 speed dual clutch automatic.

Now, we don’t have much in the way of acceleration or top speed numbers on the C8. When the Diablo was new in 1990, it was “the fastest production car in the world.” Of course, that didn’t last long as the Jag XJ220 and very soon thereafter the McLaren F1 both blew the Diablo out of the water.

It is interesting to note, however, that from a standstill to 60, the Diablo was in the 4 second range. The C8 is being touted as sub-3 seconds to 60.

The real kicker? The Diablo was $250,000 when new, which in today’s money translates to almost double that (just shy of $490,000). Corvette base price starting at under $60,000. That’s insane. You’re getting Lamborghini Diablo performance from a Corvette for about 1/8th the price.

And the Corvette probably doesn’t feel like it might kill you every time you drive it. Though that’s part of the fun of Lamborghinis, I suppose.

wafflesnfalafel > dieseldub 07/23/2019 at 23:33

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yep - what happens when you meet your heros?  Maybe, just maybe, you beat them off the line and then start to slowly pull away, even with two golf bags in the trunk.

atfsgeoff > dieseldub 07/23/2019 at 23:53

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Don’t forget that more C8s will be built in the first month of production, than the total number of Diablos ever built.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > dieseldub 07/24/2019 at 00:16

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The Corvette was also designed with much more advanced CAD and simulation software than Lamborghini could ever dream of having access to back in the 1980s when the Diablo was conceived.

gettingoldercarguy > dieseldub 07/24/2019 at 00:22

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Fun comparison, thanks!

CRider > dieseldub 07/24/2019 at 00:46

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The Diablo would be a lot faster 0- 60 if it had the same modern rubber as the C8, though the transmission would still hold it back. 

CRider > wafflesnfalafel 07/24/2019 at 00:47

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I think the 8 speed DCT  Corvette would do more than slowly pull away from a 199 0 Diablo.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > dieseldub 07/24/2019 at 01:11

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amazing what 30 years will do.

you can buy a USB flash drive with faster, and more memory capacity than a high end desktop computer’s storage hard drive, for less than 50 dollars.

The inflation adjusted price of that high-end personal computer might approach 5000$ in 2020-era dollars.

Oh, and by the way, that smart phone in your pocket has many times the computing power, memory, connectivity speed, and application versatility of that desktop, too.

90s Supercar in your driveway, 90s supercomputer in your pocket.

Grindintosecond > dieseldub 07/24/2019 at 02:11

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The Diablo sounds so much better.

superdave847 > dieseldub 07/24/2019 at 04:52

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Great point about inflation. By that standard the Huracan is a bargain!

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > atfsgeoff 07/24/2019 at 06:07

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And none of those first month builds are going to be as cheap as sixty grand either. But at least they'll still be cheaper than a Countach!

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > CRider 07/24/2019 at 06:08

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Especially when there’s no guarantee that the Diablo these days would start in the first place...

dieseldub > CRider 07/24/2019 at 10:17

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If I recall, the Diablo could just barely get to 60 in first gear.

I’m sure the C8 has some sophisticated launch control programming as well whereas with the Diablo it’s all on the driver’s ability, which was part of the attraction, that bit of f ear factor that you can screw things up.

RedPir8Roberts > dieseldub 07/24/2019 at 13:10

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I think the cost of running a C8, including maintenance and gas mileage, is also a big advantage for the Chevy. Even if you don’t buy a car like the Diablo for gas mileage, it is still somewhat guilt-inducing to know that you are getting single digit fuel economy much of the time. And not only the cost, but the hassle of having a Diablo worked on is a huge negative compared to even normal high-end cars. The Diablo IIRC is the one that had separate, old-school programming based computers for each bank of cylinders. On the plus side, Liz Hurley as the Devil in Bedazzled had one. I’ve always been interested to see what reactions cars get from small children; it’s very gratifying to have your car get an approving smile from one, a question as to what it is, or even an “I like your car!” I don’t know how the Corvette C8 will fare there, I think it probably isn’t that much of a standout from other sporty cars , but even though current-day’s kids seem not to notice most cars, I think the Diablo, particularly in a vibrant color and with its trademark doors , will still make an impression on them.

dieseldub > RedPir8Roberts 07/24/2019 at 14:55

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Very true. Lamborghini, all the way back to the Miura, have always had a certain shock value that gets your attention. And since the Countach, the wild wedge shape has been basically synonymous with Lambo. It’s certainly what attracted me as a kid, just the fact that it was so radically different from any other vehicle I had ever seen. Off the charts wild in every regard in terms of performance and looks for its time.

A C8 Corvette will absolutely be a far more rational choice, but when buying a sports car, there’s not much about it that’s rational! It’s all very feeling based from looks to performance to simply how it makes you feel when driving it.

And in the greater automotive landscape, the Corvette is never that practical of a vehicle either, but in typical American fashion, it’s just affordable enough to make many people think about going for it if they have the tendency towards wanting a somewhat impractical but fun sports car.

It is pretty wild to think that what was once considered a super car has been matched (and in some ways exceeded) by a far more plebian sports car. Do we now have to call the C8 Corvette a super car too or have the goal posts moved for that label?

Even wilder still to think that we’ve already had recent Corvettes that could give a Ferrari Enzo a run for its money. Corvettes with more horsepower than even the mighty McLaren F1, but lacking the gearing and aerodynamics to beat it for top speed (that and the pushrod lump has a pretty significant torque drop off at the upper RPM reaches where the multivalve V12 just kept pulling).

And, just to top it all off, the Corvette will be significantly cleaner than just about anything from the early 90s. Cleaner, faster, more efficient and cheaper.

On the multi-ECU front, that’s not an unusual practice with an engine that has 10 or more cylinders. My V10 Touareg has two ECUs. All the VAG W12 engines have two ECUs. Many BMW V12s too. I’m sure they’re a bit more sophisticated than what the Diablo was using in its day, but still dual ECUs nonetheless. At least in the more modern context, I haven’t experienced too many issues relating to having dual ECUs other than having to think a little more about electrical diagnoses and tracing wires. Double check the wiring diagrams closely!

RedPir8Roberts > dieseldub 07/24/2019 at 19:18

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I was just looking at some Aventadors at a nearby dealership today and admiring the firing order diagram emblazoned on the cross-braces above the V12. I was also fortunate to see a McLaren F1 at a concours over the weekend, gold trimmings on the engine bay and all. Now, tuning THAT up is a project. Somewhat smaller in the metal than it appears in pictures. Price no object though, and despite how much of a blast the F1 would be to drive, there was a blue over tan leather Lamborghini 400GT that was my pick of the litter as far as I was concerned .

I argued for calling the base C8 the benchmark above which you have to rise to potentially qualify for being a supercar in reply to Kristen Lee’s review of the GT350R. We do live in amazing automotive times, though despite all of the advances, it does feel like the era is coming to an end with all of the self-driving (what a misnomer) tech getting so much attention. It’s as though the arc of history is saying, Here are your Dodge Demons, your Bugatti Chirons, your midengine Corvettes, Ferarri LaFerraris and McLaren P1s and Porsche 918s, 430 horsepower Mustang GTs ...now go sit in a car-pod and let a machine take you places.

dieseldub > RedPir8Roberts 07/24/2019 at 20:07

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Oh man, I love the 350 and 400 GTs. Very classy looking GT cars and somewhat obscure for those who aren’t automotive supernerds like many of us.

We do definitely live in amazing times for automotive technology. But I’ve definitely noticed the creep of increasing autonomization in the last 15 years. Starts with simple things like blind spot warning, lane assist and radar or laser guided cruise control and cars that parallel park themselves. People are foolish to think Tesla is the one who came up with all this. Most of the tech to accomplish has already been developed and put to market as separate assistance systems, just no other automaker is dumb enough to market it as a fully autonomous car just yet. They’d rather let it creep in and let people play beta tester much more quietly and limit their risk (see where Tesla gets repeatedly sued because people blame their crashes on auto pilot malfunction rather than take the blame themselves for not paying attention...).

It has started to become too much in a way. As safety and especially emissions regulations tighten, cars have more and more become expensive and difficult to diagnose and repair and as they age they become more easily discarded than ever before because they’re just too much of a headache. From the mid 90s through the mid 2000s is the sweet spot as far as vehicle simplicity, reliability and longevity is concerned. Many of those cars can be kept on the road with less difficulty than most new cars for decades to come (battling rust aside in those areas more prone to it).

The regulations will continue to tighten, one of two things will happen, either automakers figure out how to simplify some of these processes to make vehicles more reliable and cleaner again, or they end up giving up on internal combustion altogether because the regulations will become too unrealistic. But, what happens then? Will the infrastructure exist to make it viable for everyone to have an EV? Will we be able to extract the resources necessary to produce the batteries and other components to achieve those production numbers in a short period of time?

Times are a changin, but we’re definitely at an odd crossroads where some people say EVs are the future and the change needs to happen now , but there are some of us who remain skeptical for the reasons listed above because we know just how complex of a challenge this is and know for a fact the change cannot happen as quickly as some of the pie-in-the-sky types are wishing for. Not that they’re wrong for pushing things that way, but a big picture approach is definitely needed to temper the enthusiasm for the change itself.

Electric cars like Tesla specifically are hugely impressive to drive in daily use. The practicality especially on long highway trips isn’t there yet, but things are continually being improved on in that arena. Will definitely be an interesting decade coming up as some believe the shift will happen rapidly, others aren’t so convinced. Weather patterns are also getting pretty noticeably wacky and I think for some becoming more difficult to deny that climate change is a thing.

I do hope it never comes to law makers outlawing our personal transportation devices (and the choices we have therein) as a whole and forcing us to use their approved methods of transport, whatever that may be in the future. But if things get bad enough, that just might happen.

CRider > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 07/24/2019 at 23:29

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Itake would start, there's just no guarantee that the fires would be contained to the cylinders. 

CRider > dieseldub 07/24/2019 at 23:38

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It was probably geared so that you can hit 60 in first on purpose. The C6 ZR1 was like that; it was faster in the long run to shift earlier than that, but in order to hit the claimed 0-60 time you had to really wring out first. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Diablo (and a lot of manual cars) are geared similarly, although the 5 speed  necessitates longer gears than an 8 speed.

The fact that the DCT in the new Corvette can supposedly shift while maintaining torque output to the wheels means that long gearing and shifting tricks aren’t needed. Over a 1/4 mile when a few shifts are thrown in, the DCT advantage will become quickly apparent.

dieseldub > CRider 07/25/2019 at 16:57

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Right on the money with that observation. More torque and launch control systems combined with more modern tire compounds and tread design (albeit not quite as wide tires, 305s in the rear of the Vette vs. 335s for the Lambo) definitely play into the C8s favor on top of having the dual clutch auto able to make lightning fast shifts.

The Diablo VT could be an interesting comparo too with AWD, but it also weighs quite a bit more. I was surprised at how close the curb weights were between C8 and original RWD Diablo.

CRider > dieseldub 07/25/2019 at 19:42

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The comparison between the C8 and the orginal Diablo is a good one, on paper they are very close. It perfectly exemplifies how far cars have advanced in the past 30 years. If the C8 had a manual option, and you put some fresh tires on a Diablo (which definetely isn’t going to be using original 30 year old rubber any more ... I hope) it would  have been a close race.