- Finally, new seats in all Corvettes. They'll be like the ones in the Centennial Edition.
- New Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires for the ZR1 and Z06 are basically street-legal race tires.
- 2012 Chevrolet Corvette production begins in July.
DETROIT — Many of the changes on the 2012 Chevrolet Corvette have already slipped out, but today Chevy clarified a couple details: All 2012 Corvettes get new seats, while the Z06 and ZR1 models get a brand-new set of Michelin tires.
The 2012 Corvette, which goes into production in July at Bowling Green, Kentucky, makes its public debut this weekend at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green.
The tires are available as part of the PDE High Performance package on the 2012 Corvette ZR1 and the Z07 Ultra Performance package on the Corvette Z06, and they're newly developed versions of the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup. Chevy describes them as "essentially street-legal versions of a racing tire." Intended for owners who take their car to the track, the new rubber reportedly helps boost lateral acceleration, shorten braking distances and ultimately trim lap times.
The Michelins, sized 285/30ZR19 in front and 335/25ZR20 in the rear, are mounted on new Cup-style alloy wheels with either a machined or satin black finish. Chevy says these wheels are stronger and lighter than last year's 20-spoke alloys.
The other headline here is that all Corvettes for 2012 get the revised seats and steering wheel seen in the Centennial Edition Corvette. You'll also find new padding on the armrests and center console.
Finally, in a nod to fuel economy, Chevy has put taller ratios on 5th and 6th gears in the ZR1's manual transmission, resulting in a claimed gain of 2 mpg in highway mileage. Fifth and 6th are overdrive gears on this transmission, so this change merely moves the ZR1 closer to the aggressive 0.74 and 0.50 overdrive ratios on the Z06. Don't like it? Well, don't upshift then.
Inside Line says: Really? New seats for the Corvette? We'd begun to think this day would never come. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent
Add A Comment »
tonybravo says:
07:25 PM, 05/01/2011
Mrgold78 you said it,and you hit the proverbial nail on the head, and i thank you very much . You should be able to stay in your seat when driving a car with that kind of performance.You're right they should have taken note of the Recaro Seats that they put in the CTSVS,and go on from there . I don't know though, are those seats Recaros in the 2012 ? And will you say on the drivers side,and not slide over to the passengers side when pulling Gs on a corner ?
ambee514 says:
07:03 AM, 04/30/2011
Hey alright classin up the vette a bit!
mrgold78 says:
10:53 AM, 04/29/2011
It's about time on the seats! Only took practically 10 years of complaining and 2 generations (C5 & C6) and now they finally got to it. GM should have just put in the nice Recaros from the CTS-V. They could have solved the problem years ago.
higcorners says:
09:17 AM, 04/29/2011
I don't get it, why no Recarros? These seats don't look like they provide enough support in tight corners.
bruceleroy81 says:
09:31 PM, 04/28/2011
Love the Interior. Better seats!!! Now that's more like it. I would take it exactly like that.
cz_75 says:
06:28 PM, 04/28/2011
Supposedly, GM didn't want to fix the seats because they spent a good bit of change engineering them for all the airbags, etc. and didn't feel they could justify replacing them mid-model. That was the "old" GM thinking, which would rather lose credibility with buyers than spend a few (million) bucks to fix a f--k-up and a persistent one at that, since the C5 had crappy seats too. I wonder if these can be retrofit to older C6s? The physical dimensions should work, but the electrics and airbag harnesses might not.
hopster says:
05:06 PM, 04/28/2011
Finally, a step in the right direction. I hope that the next gen will be less wide and have a less massive rear haunches. The C6 certainly doesn't feel as small on the street as it's dimensions indicate.
sniperruff says:
03:12 PM, 04/28/2011
A 2008 Malibu still has better interior...
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/11/21/2008-chevy-malibu-bowing-in-january-interior-pic-released/
wikiwiki says:
01:25 PM, 04/28/2011
sranger,
There is never a need to justify buying a Porsche over a Corvette. When I buy a bottle of wine, the clerk does not ask me why I don't buy grape soda instead. And if you throw in all of the required gold chains and tanning salon appointments the Corvette becomes as expensive as an import.
wikiwiki says:
01:23 PM, 04/28/2011
Does new steering wheen really mean new detachable steering wheel?