I Drive The C4 Chevrolet Corvette - My Least Favourite American Car 

agreed. I also like the Lamborghini Countach for that reason.

@@ranekeisenkralle8265 the original Countach

@@richarddobreny6664 Of course! I wasn't evne aware they made a newer one.

@@ranekeisenkralle8265 sorry but till i dove one i thought the same but after its the worse car ever built it drives worse than a renault 4L or a citroen 2CV , sorry i'm wrong those cars i refer drive perfect if compared with a contauch , it don't seem possible that the same brand a decade earlier built the Miura , in all upgrades they did to the contauch maybe the only car in history that one neefs a 5 year degree in a university to drive it and the last two years to learn how to drive it in reverse , from the same years the renault alpine is a real sport car compared with the poorly built contauch , in Portugal we say pretty are the puppies if contauch isn't a pupie or a sport car , what is that , were they snorting cocaine for several several days before saying " this goes here , that goes there , oh ... ... !where we put the steering wheel ?and the driver ?oh,....! we forget the back window!theres a tiny place there, ...! we almost forgot , but it looks nice! , nice is what your nose look like , Ah, Ah! yours its not better, let snif one more kg , okay at least we did it"and so was born in the 70's in the white mist the wonderfull contauch,that was suposed to be a car and a evolution of the old at the time Miura

@@ranekeisenkralle8265 they all look like...!

@@T0RP newsflash: you can still like a car despite being able to point out its faults.

Sounds to me like it’s the car you hate to love?!

Why didn't you like the looks before? I don't get what people dislike about it. I own a '92 and I've always thought that it was gorgeous. I do like the '92-'96 a lot more than the '84-'91 though.

My personal favourite version was the 3rd gen stingray

The C4 is definitely different

@@SpecialAgentBuzz my favorite it´s a split bumper 71 or 2 ,but sold it after buying a firebird second generation ,it was the fastest car in the world till mercedes tune one of the cars they were selling to left the pontiac/chevrolet behind

@@jean-marcandjoshua-petsjournal the most beautifull corvette ever is the C4 ( had c3 , forgot the first model),for a reason they were sold from 68 to 85, this came after being sold at the same time for a year, it´s totally diferent from all other cars not this one

c4 is actually the best corvette its a v8 gokart unrefined like a 348 its perfect.

Silver Bullet - Collector Ed 96. Even better with one yr only screaming fast engine LT4. Cheers!

No it’s not it’s ugly

AGREED!! The 92-96 is my favorite years of corvette and the 96 grand sport is my all time favorite car!! Then throw in the callaway supernatural!!! Life doesn't get much better than that!!!

Especially the zr1 with the 315s

84-89 have the best exterior, agreed.

Yes, that and the C6 have the most (mako) shark-eye tail lights!

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They are real cool when one breaks and sticks up. This happens all the time.

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@@petermuller161 And when they do it is a 10 minute repair where you simply upgrade to brass units from the stock nylon gears.

not just pop ups mind you but roll over pop ups (I purpously roll mine over when entering meets just for looks) - none cooler (when in good working order lol)

Agreed.

They drive fucking great. Especially a well maintained 90-96 zf6 lt5/lt1/lt4 car

@@brandonherrera2891 Yeah, the LT5 was absolute overkill lmao. I knew a guy who owned a 420 hp model, still looks stunning.

@@Corvolet5 Must be a Dunn Heads car.

I work at a used car lot and we've sold a few of them they handle fairly well as good as anything I've ever driven you will be let down though on the power side if you've driven anything modern with some power. I mean it's not Mazda Miata slow more like fox body mustang slow. I had to keep telling myself that it's a 25-year-old car. We had an 85 automatic that I wasn't too impressed with that ironically was snow white with red interior he had the digital dash and an automatic transmission and the car was fun to throw around but it was not fast. The next one we sold was a 1995 maroon coupe with a manual transmission and it was a lot faster and I like the dash better it wasn't all blocky and square with cheesy 80s digital gauges. But I have a supercharged 2017 mustang GT and so even the 95 Corvette felt slow after getting out of my mustang. Like I said fox body mustang or LT1 powered f body fast. If I had to compare it to a car that somebody would know about somewhere else in the world I would say even though it drives completely different maybe N/A 911 of the same era fast.

Don't listen to him. Only motoring journalists who drove Porsches and Lotus' were the ones who pretended to hate it. 90% of petrol heads would and would've bitten your hand off for one of these. Trouble was one thing.. if you could have a small 4x4 Escort or Sierra Cosworth (0-60 in 5.4s) that could do 30mpg mixed, 35 on the highway with our 7-9$ a Gallon fuel prices you went for the Cossie . But make no mistake we love the look and sound of these. I don't know who he's talking to, to think 'Europeans don't like American cars'

@@realMaverickBuckley Is a Cossie going to go 150k+ before a complete engine rebuild? Methinks not.

if production length of the C4 had been halved like you say they should have, we wouldn't have the LT1/LT4 which made it a way better car than the 80s C4s. That and the beautiful facelift

Nailed it

World- beater!

You can achieve ~510 HP on the stock cams and stock displacement through simple breathing improvements and a flywheel change. Port matching, free-flowing exhaust, and an aluminum flywheel and you have yourself one hell of a car.

@@vomErsten right, they are a little choked from the factory. Tons of potential in the stock head castings and being able to dial LSA with the dohc heads

I totally agree. 8 also seem to remember that it came with 2 different keys. 1 full power key for the owner and 1 low power key for workshop/valet/ young son use. I think i still have a UK CAR-magazine somewhere in which they did a test drive of a yellow ZR1.

The reality is, Europeans envy the Americans and their cars...in the 80s a blue collar Worker could afford this car, while in Europe, at the time, a blue collar worker could afford an Opel corsa gsi, a Renault 5 gt turbo or a Peugeot 205 gti... Nothing more than crappy econoboxes with some sporty stickers...Here, only the elites have powerful cars.

@@ArbitraryFilmings ,I didn't say an ordinary person could easily buy a vette. I said it was possible. If one worked hard, and make sacrifices to save money, a Corvette was a dream that could come true. In Europe, it was just impossible for an ordinary person to buy a 300hp sports car. And that still stand true today. A basic c8 corvette 1lt with 490 Hp costs 60.000 dollars. What mid engine sportscar with 490 HP can you buy in Europe for 60k?

@@v8berenguer372 NOTHING

@@v8berenguer372 The difference is that up is not the primary measure used by Europeans, or even Australians like me. Despite having owned 1 American car meant years ago, I have no desire to own one. The typically low quality, poor depth of engineering and overall cubic inches over dynamic feel approach just has no appeal. Except maybe for a Cadillac CTS-V. But since it isn't sold here in Australia because of no RHD and the high cost if it ws s just makes it irrelevant.

....hp not up

I agree. A stunning looking car. The wheels are gorgeous 😍

I am split on the looks of the 2 bodies of tye C4. I like the front and "gills" on the 84-90, but I like the rear of 91-96. The 1990 ZR1 has the magical combination pf both body styles

The C4 is bar non my favorite gen Corvette from a style standpoint. I agree exactly with your assessment on the design.

Verts with the rare hardtop look pretty ace.

I wonder what brand could that be, what brand is it

@@NeurodivergentSuperiority lololol

bad gas mileage with no power, and interior made out of cheapest plastics

De Tomaso?

@@JayEmmOnCars That works too. I was thinking of the 348

yes it´s good that remark ,i remenber buying in U.S. a toyota celica supra because i had not seen one in Europe ,the same hapened the first time i saw a kind of inflated 240Z ,maybe called 300Z that it was huge compared with one i had from 72 that was the normal size of a sport car in Europe and this nissan was costumized , but i purchase the two in the U.S. at the time i was making good money with a friend from the netherlands that we imported cars from the U.S. to sell in Europe but when we started we thought that we might be without money and several good U.S. cars without selling one but the first time we wwere still in our 20´s and i told a girl that she would tell some interested guy´s from diferent countries in Europe , that we would have some models to sell this to see if anyone was interested ,i send to her by telex a list of the cars we shipped to Europe, at night i phoned her (the phone calls were really bad in sound and one paid a lot for 5 minuts of talk) but worried i phoned from the bar in a hotel because after work me and my friend from the netherlands would go out in L.A. at night with the guy who help us buy the cars that he told us he knew the city and where to go , i asked the girl by phone if she talked to anyone interested in a car she for my surprise told me that all cars are sold ,bring more, i felt like i should if going out at night with a feeling of weightless and happy when i told my friend that was also my partner in business and he started jumping like crazy we only had drinked a couple of dimple whiskey that cost us a fortune there, it used to say that we party till the night after and spent a fortune with the places i went but even today i don´t remenber where i had been in two days not me not my friend and not the guy from L.A. that after many deals we become friends , the only car that i couldn´t find at the time was a galaxie 500 coupé but a special version that i don´t remenber the name but i found more than one coupé 500 but not the model i´ve seen in magazines, but once i was changing chanels on tv and there it was a galaxie 500 like the one i never found but it was maybe 5 years ago, we also didn´t find a cadillac someone wanted to buy , when younger i liked a cadilac coupé with huge fins ,from 58 or 59 the car in the early 60´s kept the design but the fins were smaller but i wanted a big fins cadilac and a two doors if possible and manual transmition, the guy from L.A. told me that was impossible there aren´t cars like you asked with manual ,cadilac uses automatic since ever, but in 74 he already had a car just like i imagined but in Portugal when going to my mothers house the car couldn´t fit the street and at the begining of the street there was a big snack-bar and all the people inside went to see the cadilac, no one had seen one in all their lifes and i parked along the sidewalk and the people in the bar would see if anyone toutched the car, i didn´t ask but they ofered to take care of the car, those were the best years, young and lot´s of money ,some say a bad recipe and later i understand why, but some cars from toyota, datsun and mazda only found them in the U.S. as an example the huge datsun GT or nissan that i had never seen one till a day on the streets of L.a. i watched a car parked that i didn´t knew and when going to see it , it was a Datsun by Nissan as it said in the back, regards

you are in the minority. I have one and I can't even give it away. 48,000 mile convertible 4 speed good to vg condition no accidents. offered to 3 nephews didn't want it. Carmax didn't want it - said they could offer $1250. Have seen people paint them with truck bed liner they have so little value. Truthfully they are slow as an old dog. You have to ream them to keep up with a yellow school bus today and that is not hyperbole. so honestly, c4s are kind of a joke.

My thoughts exactly !!

i did saw that movie ,it´s a parody mainly the japanese car trown from a plane with what is suposed to be computers inside or the arab guy with a rolls royce and his slave a famous T.V Pivot that he paid and drove the rolls while the arab guy goes in the back, Dean Martin with Samy Davis jr. as priests, even james bond is there (Roger Moore), making the relation as in his real life with his Mother of being a Secret Agent, this in the movie

in a straight road , if in a circuit the Lotus and the Porshe with very litle engines ,would leave it by far without any possibilitie of handling it on turns and other type of maneuvers and i have them 3 but the Europa is a bit dificult to me because i grew up for the sides when 49 and bought it cheap or i wouldn´t have it. I buy cars that no one wants them and after some decades they sell for a good amount of money, but i´ll never sell my porshe 928S (70´s)or my Lotus europa (70´s) or my C4(80´s)

@@RUfromthe40s this is strictly wrong. The C4 was stomping porches and lotus into the ground in ALL racing events. Including circuits. Look it up.

@@metalmike105 - You’re right. It’s amazing how so many folks have no idea what they’re talking about. Doesn’t anyone get embarrassed anymore?

@@RUfromthe40s - My God, you couldn’t be more wrong. It’s not possible.

Come, on context please. You mean the C4 won three years of these incredibly short lived, niche events that were the Showroom Stock GT/Super sports car class. There was a bunch of different classes, C4 was in GT then redubbed 'super' for 1986. In nobody's mind was/is the C4 a 'GT' car. There were few modifications allowed, no bigger fuel tanks for the races, you could alter suspension however for heavier duty units and other details that played into the hands of the C4. Let's be clear, this wasn't a class where the C4 beat rows and rows of world class, well funded and organised comparable entries packing the best versions of sports car competitors. No. The only realistic rival it actually faced in the category was the 944 Turbo with a 2.5 litre four cylinder turbo. Unsurprisingly this being one of the most crappy stock Porsches ever built, the C4 dominated. Select other contenders allowed to enter the class were the Mercedes 190E. This is a four door saloon, the biggest available petrol engine was just 2.5 litres. The Ferrari 328 which nobody would use since they were too expensive. The Lotus Esprit Turbo - also expensive, small 2.2 litre turbo, relatively unknown and rare for parts etc in the USA. The BMW 635Csi, this is an actual LARGE GT car not even remotely the same type as a C4, with a much smaller engine of 3.5 litres. Crippled by U.S emissions regulations, down over 70 horsepower. There is a theme here. The 911 Carrera, but not the 930 Turbo since it was not on sale in the U.S at the time. The Turbo would probably have demolished the Corvette. However when reintroduced later to the U.S market emissions regulations significantly restricted performance compared to EU models, over 40 horsepower down. The Porsche 928. This was the only rival with a realistically sized comparable power unit. Problem being this was also crippled by emissions, losing over 70 horsepower up until 1986, and still down in models afterwards. Not to mention it is also a big heavy luxury GT car with a cost comparable to the Ferrari. Yes, somehow the organisers felt these bizarre cars were comparable to a purpose built low slung two door sports car like the C4 with major domestic manufacturer support and homegrown familiarity. So after looking at this in context by 1987 the only entrants were the C4 and the little 944 Turbo. As you can see, this was a well balanced, competitive and smartly run significant series. Erm. Nah. If you had just had the C4 face properly prepped European rivals in comparable classes it would have been destroyed quite frankly.

Well me and my sister were born in the 90s and we still LOVE the way they look

I think people are coming around because of how of the era it looks. Kids born in the 2000’s love the loll because pop culture has idolized the 80’s for the last decade or so and there’s nothing more 80’s than a cheese wedge corvette lol

When the car came out it was actually pretty controversial because it looked so different from the beloved stingray. It didn't look like a "corvette." Funny though as now the C4 is the shape that is generally associated with it

I have owned a '93 ruby red convertible for about a year and have received the best compliments from a 65 year old woman and a 13 year old boys. They absolutely love the pop up headlights.

90s kid here, still love it. It wasn't over styled so it still looks like it could have been from the late 90s

But not many if any reviews from a UK perspective.

Yep, I've been worrying about too many people becoming aware of these cars and the prices getting pushed up. I live in the Caribbean and would love to import one, so naturally I'm hoping the prices can stay low. Import duties here are murder. On the bright side, it seems that the C4 still gets a ton of hate (based on the comments here & elsewhere), so the prices may not inflate too much...which is fine by me.

@@Stinger430 In truth, i'm not as worried about this car, nor the Saab 900, which also seems to be getting a lot of You Tuber love. Both are as hard to find as an honest politician. At this point, you're more likely to find a C5 or C6 for reasonable money. But the C4 had a more advanced suspension, seems like.

Stinger, wassup?! Which island, Barbados, Antigua, St.Lucia ?? ( ask me how i know ... )

@@chrisfranklin2104 hahahaha....I'm pretty sure it's the logo on my hat. I'm in sunny St. Lucia.

To wit, the C4 is the LAST generation of Corvette to have styling that is properly resolved at the rear end. The C5, C6, and C7 all took the approach of just slicing it off at an angle and cutting holes for the lights, crudely satisfying aero demands at the expense of the styling. C8 does largely the same thing, but with some terrible shapes thrown in to exacerbate it.

You're right, here's some of the story - The Vette utterly dominated the podium in the Playboy and then Escort Endurance Championship from 1985-87, relegating the Porsche 944 Turbo to a cameo role in the series. “The Corvette beat Porsche 29-0 from 1985 to 1987,” says John Powell, who ran a racing school at Canada’s Mosport track in Ontario, Canada, and campaigned Vettes in that series. Corvette fans were happy, but the Vette’s dominance threatened race participation by other brands, as well as fan attendance. And so, after the 1987 series, the SCCA booted the Corvettes.

It's the false humility of them having to make do with small engines with little torque, and enormous fuel prices.

They're also physically smaller and lighter for their capacity than DOHC engines.

It's about efficiency in terms of size and weight and also the general level of technology - Europeans just see basic tech as old fashioned and when pushrods began to be phased out in the '50s in Europe it always seemed odd that someone would still be using that tech many decades later even on a high performance car. As for the Corvette C4, the designers wanted it to have a more modern engine but it wasn't possible for budget reasons. They then equipped it with one when the ZR-1 came out but it was no longer an affordable car.

@@varmastiko2908 Your small displacement DOHC turbo engines can actually be just as big and heavy as a GM small block.

@@JohnSmith-wx9wj Can be, but usually not and also in the '80s you normally had either turbo or multivalve. But performance per gallon will always be better with say, a 2.5 liter vs a 5.7 liter. There are reasons for both arguments. I'm merely saying why Europeans see it weird to have such basic tech on performance car. In Europe high tech is also prestigious just because - it's gives a message that expense was not spared and the customer gets their money's worth.

The cockpit feel is awesome.

Thanks for clearing that up, I thought James was talking bollox with the 300hp comment. I too thought they were 205 initially then 245 near the end.

@@neilturner6749 well he was probably talking about the last version of the C4 (1992-1996) he was driving, the Mk II if you will. Also just to add that Crossfire injection, which was dual TBI's, first debuted in the 82' Corvette and made 195 hp.

All manual 96 models had the 330hp LT4

@@kaldarleifar I stand corrected. I'll keep an eye out for that red intake plenum on non-GS & Collector Edition (w/6 spd) C4's. My late Dad bought a brand new 96' Collector's Edition but sadly it had an autotragic. I also wished he would've opted for the red interior but that was too loud for my late Dad's personality 😅

@@kaldarleifar yup. In 96 if it was a manual, it got the criminally underrated "330hp" LT-4.

No such thing as a 6 speed c4 Vette

ZR1?

​@@questionauthority7377 The later models got rid of the Doug Nash 4+3 and went to a regular 6 speed ZF

@@questionauthority7377 my 1994 6-speed just doesn't exist then

It actually was designed from the beginning [C4 onward] to be a targa or convertible, though perhaps the perceived results weren't great. I wonder how well the rigidity actually compares to its contemporary rivals.

@@jamesengland7461 It was not. The original concept was a t top, no convertible. GM executives decided at the last minute to change it to a full open targa and thus the flex present in the convertibles and when the roof panel is not installed.

i own a c4, and taking the targa top off makes it handle like shit

Uh, every corvette is a targa. There are a few with a hard roof but the top comes off on almost every corvette ever made.

There is no better value for money in a sports car than a c4.

Dave McLellan took over from Zora Duntov as Chief Corvette engineer. Dave made things happen and used to be with early Camaro development Dave is a friend, retired years ago.

Henry Cole is a good guy. Have you read his autobiography? Worth a read if not

Closest looking thing to this would be the Lotus Eclat. Aside from that, we had big bruiser Astons, Bentley barges, Jag were still making the XJS...

Yea partly because the pandemic, but the C4s are starting to become classics

@@johnennis4586 That's painful.

1.54 here

@@johnennis4586 I can run E10 I just get less mpg out of it which defeats the point of having better emissions if the car has to use more fuel to adjust for the ethanol. It's a con, it always was. We pay more for fuel then we ever have and yet we get less mpg out of the fuel we buy. If they actually gave a shit about the environment they would invest in the infrastructure and improve local public transport. Considering they just axed the Leeds HS2 route their intentions are obvious to anyone with a brain cell. The problem is most of the people that live in this country don't have a brain cell so expect things to get much worse.

No, originally the corvette was just a ripoff of English sports cars that GIs were bringing back stateside after the war. There was a host of many yankee would be sports cars during this time.

The o.p. is correct. Having said that, I'd take a C4 ZR1 over a C8 any day everyday.

@@my1vice always supposed to be? I don't think they even considered mid engined until around the time of c2/c3

@@my1vice I couldn't agree more. To me, a mid engine vette is like a front engine Porsche 911...

The Corvette was originally meant to be a styling and technology exercise, targeting wealthy individuals who wanted a car that made a visual statement. Duntov, who is the godfather of the Corvette but not its actual father because he wasn't even involved with its conception, is who turned it into a sports car and wanted it to go RMR. So, respectfully, the C8 is far from the first "proper" Corvette.

it´s funny because Clarkson also hated the 911 but he never mentions that 😂

The C5 is an alternative with sleek lines but curvier than the C4.

@@FrancoisTCS ....which is the "problem". It is exactly the angular look that I like.

@@FrancoisTCS By "curvier" you mean melted bar of soap, right?

@R400TVR yep; about 2 hours up the road from me