I learned something about the Coupe at MECCA II. It's Awesome!!!
(Little humor for you How I Met your Mother watchers which is in itself Legendary. )
Here are some informational items I picked up at MECCA II about the Coupe. These are all items I personally tested or asked GM individuals at the MECCA II event for confirmation on.
Most important I fit with my helmet on!!! I have shorter legs with a longer upper torso so I represent one of the oddest sitting positions. Short legs with the seat way forward making it higher on the rails.
I also pass the broomstick test with the Coupe roof panel removed.
Mike'sSon also fits with it on as well and he's 6'5" tall.
Cars will be produced and start shipping to dealerships Jan 2009
The Coupe only weighs ~20 lbs more than a Convertible of the same type (Classic or GXP)
As designed the current part that is the Coupe will not just fit on the Convertible. Like the Torque Beam it can be done but will require a lot of cutom fabrication and work
The Coupe roof uses a magnesium primary roll bar for the B pillar for lower weight overall and to keep the center og gravity low. This helped keep the car within the weight of the Convertible.
The Coupe will provide better roll over protection, but because it's a Targa and not a true Coupe it's not rated as a roll over protection device.
The soft top addon will be available from GM parts at launch of the Coupe.
In it's current prototype state the soft top addon looks pretty bulky as Ripple and myself discovered on the one in the Silver show car. We were told it will be made smaller by release since it will fold more, but we'll see.
The Silver color on the Coupe show car is a special color jut for the show car. It's a very deep and beautiful color but not slated for production.
The roof weighs 31 lbs as is and is also made of magnesium to help reduce weight and lower center of gravity.
The roof uses one rear primary latch you push a button to release. If you do it wrong it's really hard to push, but if you push up on the latch itself and then push the bottom it's a breeze. It also uses two front latches like our current one front latch. All three can be easily reached when sitting in the car.
Depending on where you sit the rear quarter windows may or may not be visible. Where ripple sat in the car he could see them and he could possibly use them to check blind spots. Where I sit though I can't even see them at all.
Roof noise is negligible compared to the Convertible. Also with the roof panel out it's still quieter than the Convertible.
Since the rear end is now connected to the cabin and in essence a large resonance chamber GM has beefed up the sound deadening in the rear end to prevent it from being too loud. You can slightly hear the noise but it's still quieter than the Convertible overall top up or down.
When you pop the rear hatch it sounds like the buttresses being popped. Loud sound that resonates in the cabin. If you're used to that you'll be used to this.
Rear visibility will take some getting used to. The rear hatch is a very small opening to look out of. Having sat in a BMW Z4 Coupe it's almost identical to that. BMW did an optical trick to fool owners though in to not thinking it's as bad as it is. Their mirror is very small and shaped exactly like the rear hatch window so all you see in the mirror is the rear glass.
Having sat in the Coupe with my helmet on I'm glad to say having the helmet on did not detract from the rear visibility.
With the top on the the sill of the windows is about an inch lower than the Convertible's door sill. If you're going from a Convertible to a Coupe you'll have to adjust or you'll bonk your head many times learning.
Items I forgot to ask...
If the show car rims will be an option or not.
If the Z0K packages will be available or not on the Coupe. Pretty sure it will be but I wanted to get 100% verification.
Stage II release date.
Items not necessarily only for the Coupe.
Not only Coupe related but it was in a Coupe. If you paid attention in the black engineering Coupe it's radio had a USB port. Slated for a future radio version it'll offer USB connectivity to memory sticks and other devices that hold MP3s I bet like other radios that have USB ports can do.
Also GXPs starting some point in the future will have blacked out upper headlight areas like the Coupe show car has.
Put your drink down Moms. I think the SSB/T2 stripes look like GM bought them on eBay and slapped them on those cars... I love the gradient change of them but the design itself just looks like one of those cheap eBay graphics packages.
That's all I recall right now, if I remember more I'll post again. If you were there and picked up any other Coupe tidbits please post!
::EDIT::
Items added after the initial posting.
2008.05.11 - The rear decklid overhangs the rear lights slightly, why? The rear decklid covers the rear lights because it covers the mounting hardware that holds the back end of the decklid to the frame. If the decklid stopped at the edge of the lights you would be able to see the fasteners. Therefore the decklid overhangs to cover them.
2008.05.11 - Why are the rear quarter windows so small? Ripple and I asked them directly about this, and once they point it out it's very obvoius. Along the bottom and the right side of each quarter window are frame members. It looks from the inside and outside that they could have made them twice the size but once they showed me the actual frame members you realize you can't.
2008.05.11 - The breaking up of the trunk shape will make it so certain very long items like camping chairs wont fit down in the bottom area anymore, but you can still fit them flat in the trunk space. They state space is up over the convertible but it's hard to tell till I try to fit all my racing gear in one.
2008.05.11 - The trunk floor is lower than the Convertible thanks to the evap canister being moved to the right side of the trunk instead of being on top of the fuel tank.
2008.05.11 - There are little cubbies behind each seat in the wall between the trunk and seats. There are "cylindrical container" holders in each one. These are not officially cup holders, they're meant for canisters of tennis balls or Pringles chips. It is not GM's fault if you decide to put cups in these holders since they are not officially cup holders.
2008.05.18 - Per conversations from several people there, the roof structure "significantly" increases the rigidity of the Coupe over the Convertible.
2008.05.18 - GM is currently not working on a transparent roof panel for the Coupe.
2008.05.26 - Any color available on the Convertible will be available on the Coupe. I don't have any information on any new special colors for then though. Metallic Flash will have been run out by then since I believe it is a 2008 only color. Wicked should be out then as well as the replacement colors.
2008.05.26 - Crawling under the Coupe the holes in the frame rails are exactly the same as a Convertible, as is the differential, and the floor of the trunk area. The rear fascia is the same as well on the Coupe as the Convertible.
2008.05.26 - Talking to the GM people at Mecca II they indicated the exhaust was the same as far as they knew, and as I mentioned above the rest of the components appear to be the same. So any after market cat-back that fits a Convertible should fit a Coupe.
Oh yeah also I got an explanation for two of the design items on the Coupe people were confused on.
The rear decklid overhangs the rear lights slightly, why? The rear decklid covers the rear lights because it covers the mounting hardware that holds the back end of the decklid to the frame. If the decklid stopped at the edge of the lights you would be able to see the fasteners. Therefore the decklid overhangs to cover them.
Why are the rear quarter windows so small? Ripple and I asked them directly about this, and once they point it out it's very obvoius. Along the bottom and the right side of each quarter window are frame members. It looks from the inside and outside that they could have made them twice the size but once they showed me the actual frame members you realize you can't.
The breaking up of the trunk shape will make it so certain very long items like camping chairs wont fit down in the bottom area anymore, but you can still fit them flat in the trunk space. They state space is up over the convertible but it's hard to tell till I try to fit all my racing gear in one.
The trunk floor is lower than the Convertible thanks to the evap canister being moved to the right side of the trunk instead of being on top of the fuel tank.
There are little cubbies behind each seat in the wall between the trunk and seats. There are "cylindrical container" holders in each one. These are not officially cup holders, they're meant for canisters of tennis balls or Pringles chips. It is not GM's fault if you decide to put cups in these holders since they are not officially cup holders.
[*]As designed the current part that is the Coupe will not just fit on the Convertible. Like the Torque Beam it can be done but will require a lot of cutom fabrication and work
I haven't looked into the Torque beam retrofit but i thought that actually mounted to the casting of the newer diff... that being said, does 'as designed' mean that there is no obvious mounting hardware on a vert's body for the top or is there more to it? Welding a bracket in would be a snap if that is all it took.
You forgot about the detail channel that runs into the rear brake lights for water flow when it rains. Also the two non connected covered storage areas that are located in the rear.
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Would you say the targa roof section is around the same size as the one that was on the Honda DelSol?....I had one of those back in the day(ok,..stop laughing at me)and it was a little tricky to remove at first, but after a while you get the hang of it...
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I will add this however... I tend to sit tall in the car and prefer the seat nearly all the way back, which also limits how much I can recline.
In this position, i found with the top in place on the coupe, that the side door windows are not as tall. The fixed roof sits lower on the sides than the ragtop's roof. As such, the bottom of the roof is very much in my field of vision when I would look or scan out the side of the car. It is an area that I think might be very distracting for me, and cause a lot of difficulty due to infringement on outside visibility to the sides. I think if I were to sit lower, it wouldn't be a big deal. In the time I had to play in the cockpit, however, I was unable to find a comfortable position low enough where the roof wasn't in my natural field of vision to the sides.
I haven't looked into the Torque beam retrofit but i thought that actually mounted to the casting of the newer diff... that being said, does 'as designed' mean that there is no obvious mounting hardware on a vert's body for the top or is there more to it? Welding a bracket in would be a snap if that is all it took.
Thanks for the write-up
The Coupe has more bracing built into it to accommodate the attachment of the roof just like the diff and transmissions are different to fit the torque beam. If you wanted to spend an inordinate amount of money doing a lot of custom fabrication. It can be done but it's going to be a nightmare.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Squirrel Boy
Would you say the targa roof section is around the same size as the one that was on the Honda DelSol?....I had one of those back in the day(ok,..stop laughing at me)and it was a little tricky to remove at first, but after a while you get the hang of it...
Larger than the DelSol roof if I remember it's roof correctly. Ours looks to be a bit wider in both directions. Looking online I see a couple references to it weighing 24 lbs where ours is 31 lbs and it's lighter weight magnesium instead of aluminum.
The Corvette C6 roof panel is around 20 lbs and I'm not sure how it compares size wise.
Location: Yuba City, California .... The BIG Cowpie!
Dr. Professor Brentil Sir,
You are my hero. Thanks for all of the great information. You covered all the bases. Love the black-out lights on the coupe show car and look forward to seeing those make production. I definitely want that on my car.
Thanks again for the thorough, thoughtful information.
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