Ah the c4 corvette. What a car, what a contraption.

You know, the C4 corvette was one of the first reviews I wrote back in 2023. It was fever induced, rage filled tirade about just how shit my friend’s C4, and this car in general, can be.

And from that, I might’ve to have slightly nudged a bit of a nerve with the c4 community last time.

So what’s different now? Why the hell would I subject myself to the displeasure of another one of these? Simple, a friend of a friend read the review, laughed his ass off, and then handed me the keys saying I didn’t shit on it enough.

And with this in mind, oh god, I’ve got to drive another one…

This C4 existed in a different state of mechanical atrophy. While the last one I drove was constantly being repaired and still could only be driven for about 10 minutes while looking show room ready, this one… well it wasn’t that.

That’s not to say this car is mechanically sound. This C4 has stranded it’s owner many, many times. Nor is the exterior awful, you saw the picture, it’s perfectly fine. What this c4 offered was a chance to actually feel the car and talk with an owner who willingly cursed himself with this 80’s red rocket. The last experience was more of a short drive with a car actively trying to commit suicide while learning about how much of a pain the car is to work on from a friend who was midway through convincing the car not to jump. Welcome then, to the C4 Corvette, a little more proper!

Getting into the car, you first have to navigate the door sills. These things are about as tall as an early carbon monocoque without any of the rigidity or weight savings, before dropping off like a cliff into the these finely aged leather sport seats (Mmm… squishy).

I go for first, notice the shifter is a lot better feeling than the last c4, and release the clutch. The car doesn’t move. Turns out I’ve just encountered some patented GM bull-fuckary! The handbrake was left on, as the gauge cluster kindly tells me. Cool… where the hell is it!? Lets put our fingers in our ass and our heads into he mind of its designers eh?

Human Factors (HF) Lead: Ok, we’ve maximized cabin space for the transmission to human ratio, but in doing so we’ve run out of room in the center console for the handbrake, and we can’t cut into the center console since the airbag has already taken up too much front storage. Any suggestions?

Engineer 1: We could maybe do a floor pedal?

HF Lead: No, too confusing, and you’ll mistake it for the clutch. NEXT!

Engineer 2: How about we just tell owners to leave the car in first? Plus one less thing to break right?

HF Lead: You think the older clientele will have the mental capacity for that?

Janitor: What if it was to the left of the driver?

GM President: But won’t that impact egress?

HF Lead: Perfect! I’m sure no one will be confused by this. Next order of business… battery placement…

*the committee of board members erupts in applause*

Yea, so on your left is the handbrake. But to make getting in and out easier, once it’s engaged, you can put it back down to remain flush-ish with the floor. Done worry though, the aforementioned dash light is there to remind you it’s once since it’s not within your peripheral vision…

I’d love to know how many people get frustrated when that light goes out.

Anyways, take two: pull and release the very stiff handbrake, get into first, notice the shifter is nice and notchy, release the weighty clutch, and we’re off!

Let’s get right to the highlight of the car: the LT1. The engine produces torque whenever your greedy ass wants it, and delivers it with a decent punch through your spine that sends this fiberglass wedge shaking forwards. And you’ll find yourself wanting to use whatever is left of this car’s original 300 horses quite often. Between the torque and sound, the old vette will manage to entertain you time and time again, and is the sole reason this owner has yet to sell the car (despite the many… many times the car decided it had better things to do than drive). And the throttle response was immediate, making rev matching in this vette particularly easy and fun to do.

Now that’s outta the way… back to the drive:

Turning onto the world renown Bellevue Ave, I go to grab second gear and with the might of finals anxiety, ready to unleash old angry agai- and it grinds. Clutch is definitely fully engaged so what the fuck?

Well even with the clutch pedal fully depressed, the car, probably out of spite, grinds when going into gear sometimes. Quirk of the car I guess. I’m sure it’ll never happen again.

But there’s no time to contemplate just what state of mechanical disarray the synchros are in, as this road has something unusual for Florida: corners!

Grind first, get second, hold third into the first corner, and watch as it holds its line. Rears find grip, power, track out, and down a bit of straight road to the next two turns as the airport next to us blurs by. Fifth, fourth, third, turn in and the car finds grip it refuses to elaborate on. And it does the same thing for the next corner too, repeatably.

The C4 handles in a weird way. Good for 1980’s I guess, passable by modern standards sure. There’s not a lot of body roll, and the steering is very communicative. However, while the steering doesn’t shut up about giving you feedback, the rest of the car is reluctant to tell you what it wants. You’ll know with pretty decent accuracy what the front wheels are up to, but the rest of the car feels like a game of telephone between the rear tires, suspension, chassis, and my ass. It was the kind of experience were you turn in and just trust it has grip, and although it does find it, the car prefers you to learn that after the fact.

Maybe it’s shy, maybe GM’s “unique” suspension set up (in a minute I promise) just isn’t up to the task, or some other issue inherent to the platform… or it’s a 40 year old car. Choose the one that makes your heart the happiest.

Pedal feeling was good, both throttle (that throttle response was great) and brakes in letting you know how much pressure is actually being applied, unlike a car that should know better… C8 Vette…

So is it a good car? Uh… Well…

The car might handle better than any Vette prior (which is an accomplishment for at the GM, sure, but that’s like saying the Focus RS out handles an SE, congrats you just bullied the slow kid. And GM has the resources and talent to actually produce good sports cars when they give enough of a shit to try). The chassis rigidity might be up compared to prior cars, it’s also not perfect. In some infinite wisdom, there was a last minute to choice to make the car a targa top vs T-top, which means the car was lacking some of the rigidity you would’ve otherwise expected, more so with the roof off.

And again with the handling. Even with the roof on, you feel the car still shake around like some shit 2000’s convertible. Furthermore, I wish I knew why the chassis wouldn’t talk as nice as it should’ve. My guess is suspension, both worn bushings and the absolutely genius idea to have a fiberglass swaybar – leaf spring instead of traditional coil springs. You can’t always argue weight savings for every little stupid component of the car. I could care less about this car’s apparent Motorsports prowess when an equally aged e30 sedan or crx talks to you better from the ass of your seat.

The interior is still wrapped in that finely aged tar they tried to pass as leather and plastics. Those bits must’ve come from GM’s time travel plan. The one where they built a time machine to buy up their cars from a junkyard 40 years after being sold in the future and reuse the plastics to cut cost. Anyways, the idea of a driver focused interior is mostly there (bar some stupid decisions like the handbrake. And yes I know it’s not unique to the c4), the gauges are cool to look at, the wall of buttons all scream “PRESS ME YOU SPAZ” and the 2 spoke steering wheel feels nice in your hands, as does the seating position…

…uhrm Mostly.

You’re still sharing real estate with the engine and transmission, since this is the car to have properly introduced the front-mid engine layout to corvettes, but didn’t use a transaxle like the later generations, so fuck your legs I guess. It’s not too bad as a driver but the passenger will definitely notice. Now, getting back to the interior, it’s like making fun of the speed of a Prius at this point, we all know it’s shit quality. We joke about it now, but I could see people being disappointed when this car was new.

And to touch on some more dumb design choices for a minute. Last time i mentioned the fuel tank placement, which was up its ass by the tail lights behind the rear wheels. Great for handling and crashes I’m sure. I also mentioned the fuel pump service, battery position and replacement, and lack of a trunk… so what’s more to cover…?

Well this owner kindly started pointing out things that pissed him off with this car the moment I showed up (2 for 2, is this a common theme?). For one, the motors for the pop-up headlights are positioned perfectly so that water will seep through the cracks and do funny things. The optispark distributer died randomly. One a hot day the parking brake got jammed and then the coolant hit 240°F. Continuing one, he’s had a myriad of electrical gremlins, the digital coolant sensor failed, and the car refused to start many times, just to name a few. “Awesome car when it runs right, a total bitch when the car’s in a bad mood.”, he said.

These dumb cars are riddled with more than enough problems to safely say that it’s “full of character”. However, like I mentioned in the last review, you can tell that the underpinnings for something quite good are here. Buried under the corporate weight of General Motors sure, but all the right ideas are present. And some of them are actually being executed decently (the powertrain is genuinely fun to use finally). But the car still doesn’t feel right to me in the way that all these c4 owners seem to have just become one with their turd. That’s fine though, I have my own vices too.

And personally I don’t care much that it has an interior so cheap it makes a Hyundai blush, I mean I come from Subaru and 20 year old BMW land (mmm… vinyl). A good time is almost always better than a “fancy” time.

I liked the drive but I’m still not really sold on the car. Fun, yea very, flawed yes and acknowledge it, but it just hasn’t meshed with me like other cars have. The lack of communication was one reason, paired with the design choices that leave me laughing at the car and not with it. I went into this with no expectations other than the expecting a running car this time (which is the kind of baseline the last c4 I drove set). And that low bar aside, I did enjoy driving the car, even if it wasn’t for all the reasons GM had intended. It’s a manual, analog RWD v8, how could you not fun? But I wouldn’t buy one though, no matter how cheap. I’ve heard enough maintenance horror stories every time I go near one of these things.

If a c4 vette is the ideal sports car for you, great! I’m happy you’ve made it to this point. Maybe my automotive pallet is spoiled or tainted by some of the other cars you’ll see reviewed here. At the end of the day cars are often a matter of preference, and I prefer to not own one of these things. Also I’m more of a Camaro guy anyways.