"But, Dad, I wanna stay home and play Halo 2."
"You're going for a ride in a new Corvette convertible — and you're going to like it!"
Ah, such is the challenge of being a parent in the new millenium. Where once the prospect of riding in a brand-new sports car was enough to entice even the most ADD-challenged of children, a bright red 2005 Chevrolet Corvette must compete with Xbox games, Rokenbok construction sets and the latest Star Wars special-edition DVD.
But not to worry. Taking inspiration from the Judge Smails' school of parenting, I "encouraged" my 6-year-old son to hop into the Corvette's passenger seat. Then I unhooked the latch in the center of the windshield header, hit the power-top button, and retracted the canvas roof beneath its hard tonneau cover in less than 20 seconds.
Total elapsed time from point of entry into Corvette convertible until smile forms on 6-year-old's face: 21 seconds. Not bad — I think the average Xbox game's opening title sequence takes longer than that.
Powerful and Primordial
If the new Corvette's sleeker body proportions and power-operated top can't get a child's pearly whites showing, the sound of its 6.0-liter, 400-horsepower V8 surely can. The folks at Chevrolet deserve credit for keeping the pushrod viable in 2005, as this stalwart engine continues to be the Corvette's greatest asset in an ever complex and high-tech world. Of course it can propel the 3,200-pound drop top to 60 mph in just over 5 seconds. But it also produces a deep, guttural roar that even the most capable of home theater systems can't recreate.
It's only when the tach nears its 6,500-rpm redline, and the need for a rapid upshift occurs, that the first signs of the Corvette's "quaint" design show themselves. The long throws between each gear are only part of the problem. The real killjoy is the extra resistance — and excessive clunkiness — felt through the shifter as each cog is swapped. Thankfully, my young passenger is oblivious to such elements. Yet the stopwatch during instrumented testing was not. With the 2-3 upshift proving particularly challenging, we'd estimate a good two-tenths of a second were lost in that transition alone.
The primitive shifter combines with a slow and somewhat cumbersome steering wheel to keep the Corvette well beneath the BMW M3, Lotus Elise and Porsche Boxster on the "intuitive steering" scale. If you've never driven one of those cars, you'll probably think the Corvette's steering response is "fine." But sports car aficionados know we're well past the era of having to settle for "fine" steering.
Still Blazing After All These Years
An adversarial shifter and antiseptic steering should be enough to torpedo any sports car's chance of success in the modern world, so how does Chevrolet manage to sell more Corvettes than Boxsters, Elises, Vipers and 911s combined? Obviously the starting price of around $45,000 is a key factor ($52,000 for the convertible), but that's only part of the car's continued popularity. There's also a 50-plus-year tradition as "America's Sports Car," a title the newest version seems to wear more confidently than ever before.
No, this isn't the refined precision machine you'll encounter in Porsche dealerships, yet it isn't the back-alley V10 brawler they're fawning over in the local Dodge showroom, either. The Corvette effectively straddles the vast gulf between these extremes, offering enough refinement to keep you on the neighbors' Christmas card list while sporting enough attitude and muscle to feel as American as a pro wrestling pay-per-view event.
And, in the end, the Corvette remains a capable performance machine that can hang with anything from a Honda S2000 to a Ferrari F430 if conditions (and the driver's skill) permit. The levels of lateral grip provided by the Goodyear Eagle F1 tires give the car a confident feel when hurtling between apexes, despite its relatively large dimensions and 3,000-plus-pound curb weight.
What's more, it can serve duty as a near luxury, high-speed conveyance that will keep you and yours contented for hundreds of miles, something neither the Honda nor the Ferrari can convincingly claim. At highway speeds the ride quality, even with Z51 upgrades (includes larger brakes, performance-tuned suspension and stickier rubber all around), is comfortable, damping out expansion joints and generally quelling pavement imperfections. We were further impressed by the cabin's lack of wind or road noise with the top up, even at near triple-digit speeds. Top-down air management isn't quite as placid, as wind buffeting is relatively high (by modern standards) once you go above 45 mph. But if you're a die-hard ragtop fan you'll likely not even notice.
Want All the Toys? You Must Pay to Play
Our test car was loaded with every modern convenience, from a DVD navigation system to a premium Bose audio system (with XM Satellite Radio) to a head-up display that included a lateral G-force meter — proof that even the Corvette knows how to do cutting-edge technology…when it wants to. Those options were in addition to the standard leather interior, dual-zone climate control, heated glass rear window and active handling. You do have to kick in an extra $2,000 for a power top, and another $1,700 for the Z51 Performance Package. Add in the $1,300 polished wheels and our test car topped out at just under $63,000.
At first glance, it might seem like the 'Vette's "value equation" just vanished in a cloud of Goodyear tire smoke. But we'd remind potential buyers that you won't find this level of luxury equipment on any of the competition for a similar price (much of the competition doesn't offer many of these features at any price).
We still aren't thrilled with the interior's material quality, though it's a vast improvement over the C5's. And despite an increase in structural rigidity for the C6, we could hear the dash creaking as we navigated tight corners and bumpy straightaways on our favorite test loop. That was unfortunate, because there were no other signs of structural flex in the Corvette's confident back-road behavior. Too bad the car's squeaky interior kept advertising the issue.
Attention GM: Don't Let This Icon Die
Ten years ago there was another Chevrolet model with similar traits: iconic nameplate, powerful V8, plenty of performance for the dollar despite a clearly aging design. It was called the Camaro, and we hope Chevrolet isn't setting the Corvette up for a similar fate….
In the meantime, it remains a near ideal balance of poise and punk, sobriety and savageness. And it still makes a fabulously visceral alternative to the latest high-tech forms of entertainment.
You don't have to be a child of the new millenium to appreciate that characteristic.
"You're going for a ride in a new Corvette convertible — and you're going to like it!"
Ah, such is the challenge of being a parent in the new millenium. Where once the prospect of riding in a brand-new sports car was enough to entice even the most ADD-challenged of children, a bright red 2005 Chevrolet Corvette must compete with Xbox games, Rokenbok construction sets and the latest Star Wars special-edition DVD.
But not to worry. Taking inspiration from the Judge Smails' school of parenting, I "encouraged" my 6-year-old son to hop into the Corvette's passenger seat. Then I unhooked the latch in the center of the windshield header, hit the power-top button, and retracted the canvas roof beneath its hard tonneau cover in less than 20 seconds.
Total elapsed time from point of entry into Corvette convertible until smile forms on 6-year-old's face: 21 seconds. Not bad — I think the average Xbox game's opening title sequence takes longer than that.
Powerful and Primordial
If the new Corvette's sleeker body proportions and power-operated top can't get a child's pearly whites showing, the sound of its 6.0-liter, 400-horsepower V8 surely can. The folks at Chevrolet deserve credit for keeping the pushrod viable in 2005, as this stalwart engine continues to be the Corvette's greatest asset in an ever complex and high-tech world. Of course it can propel the 3,200-pound drop top to 60 mph in just over 5 seconds. But it also produces a deep, guttural roar that even the most capable of home theater systems can't recreate.
It's only when the tach nears its 6,500-rpm redline, and the need for a rapid upshift occurs, that the first signs of the Corvette's "quaint" design show themselves. The long throws between each gear are only part of the problem. The real killjoy is the extra resistance — and excessive clunkiness — felt through the shifter as each cog is swapped. Thankfully, my young passenger is oblivious to such elements. Yet the stopwatch during instrumented testing was not. With the 2-3 upshift proving particularly challenging, we'd estimate a good two-tenths of a second were lost in that transition alone.
The primitive shifter combines with a slow and somewhat cumbersome steering wheel to keep the Corvette well beneath the BMW M3, Lotus Elise and Porsche Boxster on the "intuitive steering" scale. If you've never driven one of those cars, you'll probably think the Corvette's steering response is "fine." But sports car aficionados know we're well past the era of having to settle for "fine" steering.
Still Blazing After All These Years
An adversarial shifter and antiseptic steering should be enough to torpedo any sports car's chance of success in the modern world, so how does Chevrolet manage to sell more Corvettes than Boxsters, Elises, Vipers and 911s combined? Obviously the starting price of around $45,000 is a key factor ($52,000 for the convertible), but that's only part of the car's continued popularity. There's also a 50-plus-year tradition as "America's Sports Car," a title the newest version seems to wear more confidently than ever before.
No, this isn't the refined precision machine you'll encounter in Porsche dealerships, yet it isn't the back-alley V10 brawler they're fawning over in the local Dodge showroom, either. The Corvette effectively straddles the vast gulf between these extremes, offering enough refinement to keep you on the neighbors' Christmas card list while sporting enough attitude and muscle to feel as American as a pro wrestling pay-per-view event.
And, in the end, the Corvette remains a capable performance machine that can hang with anything from a Honda S2000 to a Ferrari F430 if conditions (and the driver's skill) permit. The levels of lateral grip provided by the Goodyear Eagle F1 tires give the car a confident feel when hurtling between apexes, despite its relatively large dimensions and 3,000-plus-pound curb weight.
What's more, it can serve duty as a near luxury, high-speed conveyance that will keep you and yours contented for hundreds of miles, something neither the Honda nor the Ferrari can convincingly claim. At highway speeds the ride quality, even with Z51 upgrades (includes larger brakes, performance-tuned suspension and stickier rubber all around), is comfortable, damping out expansion joints and generally quelling pavement imperfections. We were further impressed by the cabin's lack of wind or road noise with the top up, even at near triple-digit speeds. Top-down air management isn't quite as placid, as wind buffeting is relatively high (by modern standards) once you go above 45 mph. But if you're a die-hard ragtop fan you'll likely not even notice.
Want All the Toys? You Must Pay to Play
Our test car was loaded with every modern convenience, from a DVD navigation system to a premium Bose audio system (with XM Satellite Radio) to a head-up display that included a lateral G-force meter — proof that even the Corvette knows how to do cutting-edge technology…when it wants to. Those options were in addition to the standard leather interior, dual-zone climate control, heated glass rear window and active handling. You do have to kick in an extra $2,000 for a power top, and another $1,700 for the Z51 Performance Package. Add in the $1,300 polished wheels and our test car topped out at just under $63,000.
At first glance, it might seem like the 'Vette's "value equation" just vanished in a cloud of Goodyear tire smoke. But we'd remind potential buyers that you won't find this level of luxury equipment on any of the competition for a similar price (much of the competition doesn't offer many of these features at any price).
We still aren't thrilled with the interior's material quality, though it's a vast improvement over the C5's. And despite an increase in structural rigidity for the C6, we could hear the dash creaking as we navigated tight corners and bumpy straightaways on our favorite test loop. That was unfortunate, because there were no other signs of structural flex in the Corvette's confident back-road behavior. Too bad the car's squeaky interior kept advertising the issue.
Attention GM: Don't Let This Icon Die
Ten years ago there was another Chevrolet model with similar traits: iconic nameplate, powerful V8, plenty of performance for the dollar despite a clearly aging design. It was called the Camaro, and we hope Chevrolet isn't setting the Corvette up for a similar fate….
In the meantime, it remains a near ideal balance of poise and punk, sobriety and savageness. And it still makes a fabulously visceral alternative to the latest high-tech forms of entertainment.
You don't have to be a child of the new millenium to appreciate that characteristic.
Add A Comment »
kenno2 says:
09:06 AM, 02/16/2012
THE REPUBLICANS WANTED TO DESTROY GM AND THE CORVETTE. (BANKRUPTCY) OBAMA SUPPORTED THEM. FOR THIS I WILL NEVER VOTE FOR THE REPUBLICANS AND I WILL VOTE FOR OBAMA.