"LJ909" (lj909) 08/13/2020 at 17:29 • Filed to: Corvette C8

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Finally saw the new Corvette in the wild for the first time today . Brand new. It of course was piloted by a senior.

boredalways > LJ909 08/13/2020 at 17:43

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Was it Biden?

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > LJ909 08/13/2020 at 17:46

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I’m not sure the actual statistics back up your bias. Most of the hardcore C7 guys at my Auto-X events are in their 20s and 30s.

Even for “new Corvette” owners both the median and the mean are well below “senior citizen”, so although you’re free to hold whatever bias you want, the stats actually don’t back you up.

Overall, average Corvette o wnership age is trending down currently, not up, which is the opposite of Porsche for one. Affordability is a large driver of this— the Corvette continues to break new ground in “ bang for the buck”.  Going mid-engine will continue this trend, as Corvette brings younger owners into the fold.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > LJ909 08/13/2020 at 17:53

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Too bad they didn’t make a pretty car, they had a clean slate and they did that...

Nom De Plume > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish 08/13/2020 at 17:54

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Maybe he implied a HS Senior.

Ageist Hydrogen shill, lolololololol

wafflesnfalafel > boredalways 08/13/2020 at 17:56

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if he wins, I hope he does some donuts on the White House lawn...

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > Nom De Plume 08/13/2020 at 18:01

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! Caught me!

fintail > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish 08/13/2020 at 18:09

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Non-anecdotal data on those numbers? I don’t see much out there.

I suspect many of the luckyboomers will cling to their chrome wheeled C6-C7s, which will indeed change stats for the C8 vs prior models. Also, 55 is considered a “senior” to many :)

I did find a few things, but nothing particularly recent or exceptional:

http://www.macmulkincorvette.com/2016/12/01/think-youre-too-young-to-afford-a-corvette-think-again/

https://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/corvette-oldster-problem-173431426.html

And similar.

Same thing exists for the MB SL - grandpa’s cruiser, but some younger people own prior models.  Or Harleys, boomer fashion accessory but there is a younger contingent out there.

QCGoose > LJ909 08/13/2020 at 18:19

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Having seen a few of these on the road now, I can’t get over how akward the proportions are and how it looks like a completely different design  committee drew up the rear of the car but failed to communicate with the other crew about the front half .

I feel like this design will age about as well as a gallon of milk sitting out in the summer sun.

Poor_Sh > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish 08/13/2020 at 18:20

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Just wondering where you got your info from, genuinely lol I know it would seem like I’m biased based on my name and photo. But what I can find says up to 2019 Corvette average age 59, Porsche 911 52, Lamborghini 48, Ferrari 47. That's actually interesting. 

BaconSandwich is tasty. > LJ909 08/13/2020 at 18:26

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I spotted a red one for the first time a week or so back.

It’s not bad looking, but I do find it to be a bit... over-styled.  It was driven by a middle-aged (or older) guy.  Definitely the target market.

boredalways > wafflesnfalafel 08/13/2020 at 18:47

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And on every tRump property 

LJ909 > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish 08/13/2020 at 19:04

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From what I’ve heard a lot of those younger guys aren’t first owners of the car. They are usually second or third. After the first ones drove the cars 5-10k miles and got rid of them. But personally? I’ve never seen a Vette owner under the age of 50. Even when I used to sell GM, only interest  we had for them were older gentlemen.

SiennaMan > LJ909 08/13/2020 at 19:23

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The only thing I find odd about the characterization of it being an older guys car is with older guys knees I'd expect to see them mostly in what I see them in around me:  SUVs by Cadillac,  Lexus and BMW..

LJ909 > QCGoose 08/13/2020 at 19:38

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I actually think the rear of the car looks better than the front. But it will age well. I think they could use this design for another 10-12 years and it would still look current. 

GoodIdeaAtTheTime > LJ909 08/13/2020 at 19:59

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There are a few around here, some colors look better than others.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > LJ909 08/13/2020 at 20:07

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I saw one of these today too! I was approaching a 4-way stop and he was coming from the left of me, turning into my direction. He barely stopped, then floored it as he made the turn, came over the yellow line, almost lost the rear end (traction control saved him...) and then floored it off past me....

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > fintail 08/13/2020 at 20:56

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!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Maybe. Generally “senior citizen” has applied to the “over 65 crowd”, with its  ‘of retirement age’ implications. I’d be surprised if 55 wasn’t still considered “middle aged” especially as the Feds move retirement age closer to 70.

I’d still stand on the point that the average (at least mean and median) isn’t quite as old as LJ909 said it was for new Corvette owners. Clearly GM wants to move that figure down— and a mid-engine American Lambo seems like a reasonable start.

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > Poor_Sh 08/13/2020 at 20:56

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I’m surprised, frankly, how “young” the Ferrari guys are...

Nauraushaun > fintail 08/13/2020 at 21:20

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Interesting when Ferrari do stuff like this - pretending there are young men and women  who are buying Romas to parade around in. I mean sure...it’s possible...

Poor_Sh > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish 08/13/2020 at 21:41

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Had the same thoughts but in my head if you assume a bell curve of when people get wealthy by age, I imagine people in the middle (likely late 20s to early 50s) get wealthy early enough to still buy cars for status and that’s what a Ferrari and Lambo is. Then, older wealthier people see Porsche as a classy sports car whereas the Ferrari and Lambo is more flashy. Conversely, the Corvette is more for the middle-age or retired person who had to save all their life to afford buying a 50k car. These are all generalizations but they make sense to me! lol

fintail > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish 08/13/2020 at 22:37

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No doubt, or as socio-economic trends continue to devolve, many won’t be able to retire at all, or until much later, unless on a citizen deluxe public sector subsidized pension etc. 60 is the new 50 and all that, but stereotypes die hard and often have some root in reality.

I agree the C8 will have a lower average age simply due to the greybeard whiners being put off by the modern design (and it has merit too, I like the car and am glad GM is moving the car into the modern era) , but it’s a long road to make a real impact, a decade or more of change will be needed to move away from the jorts. white sneakers, and fannypack image, not to mention the numbers (were there actual stats? I can’t find any for C8, only from the earlier days of C7). GM wants to move the figure down, or have the model become H-D with a fading fanbase and a somewhat toxic image.

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > Poor_Sh 08/13/2020 at 22:40

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Oh, I think you’ve hit it pretty well. My main point was just “all new Corvette buyers aren’t actually in their 70s, nor even of retirement age”.

Half the buyers are in their 40s and 50s— which is clearly still “middle age”.

I suppose the perception of “Ferrari owners are all new money” is probably borne out by this data, too.

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > fintail 08/13/2020 at 22:45

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If the “911, or Ferrari or C7 Corvette” is indeed the Dream Car for various groups, yeah it’s interesting that the Corvette buyers trended older— a lot older in fact than that Ferrari owner— but I still contend that the data says “not all new Corvette buyers are in their 70s spending time on the golf course”. That was true in the C7 group and I’d fully expect the C8 to trend even more sharply younger, once the older repeat buyers who got early build slots are satisfied.

And, yeah, face it, nobody really “cross-shops” a Ferrari to a Corvette— it’s a completely different segment, despite the bang for the buck on the Corvette.

I see AMG GT’s and SLRs all the time in Montecito... I have no idea who buys those, but I suspect there’s some hedge funds involved.

Poor_Sh > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish 08/13/2020 at 23:07

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Agreed. I wish wages for normal jobs allowed more people to buy such great cars, I think driving enthusiasm wouldn’t be so rare now if that were the case.

fintail > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish 08/13/2020 at 23:28

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It makes sense, as the Vette wasn’t an old man’s car 50 years ago when the lucky generation was drooling over cool cars, and old memories last. I’d need to see data to be sure about it, but I’d wager the C8 difference isn’t huge yet - maybe in 5 years if the world doesn’t end before then, several years might come off that age. Maybe current C8 buyers are in their late 50s and early 60s spending time at the golf course? :) Most of the modern Ferraris and 911s I see locally seem to be driven by guys who resemble George Costanza, but 15 years older, not much different than new Vettes. These have been midlife crisis cars for a long time. Get into prior gen though, and the age goes down, as they are easier to afford, and eventually become attainable to people without high incomes. And all that being said, if I wanted a brand new low slung 2 seat performance car and had ~70K burning a hole in my pocket, I’d be looking at a C8 too - but I tend to lower the age stats of anything I drive, heck, I bought the fintail in my teens and a 126 in my 20s, I am not turned off by old man cars.

From local anectodal observation, an AMG GT might skew a little younger, 40s-50s perhaps, but I see a Corvette-ish demographic in SLS/SLR, maybe as those guys were in their 50s when they bought the cars new, 60s now.

I see a number of 20 year old looking twerps in late model Lambos, Ferraris, McLarens etc, I suspect dirty offshore money is involved, as residency is for sale, and not even that expensive.

Discerning > LJ909 08/14/2020 at 10:20

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So I first saw them at the petit le man in 2019 and I liked them there. Even got to sit in it (didn’t like the interior or the visibility).

But now seeing them in the wild has had a different effect for some reason. The front end looks too tall and disproportionate somehow. I think they jacked up the body line for a bigger frunk and it looks sort of peculiar. Can’t put my finger on it.

I'll still be looking out for them when the dealer prices settle down and they start selling for MSRP or a touch below with discounts.