While the Corvette’s 61-year history has included some spectacular cars, aspirations for the 2014 model are the highest yet. The Stingray badge evokes the beloved second generation. More Photos »Imagine, if you will, that an unnamed manufacturer just released an all-new sports car. It rockets from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 3.8 seconds, pulls more than one lateral g on the skid pad and has a carbon-fiber hood and roof. The interior includes dual high-resolution screens, top-quality materials and the option of racing seats. The manual transmission, with 7 forward speeds, will execute rev-matched downshifts, and it’s mounted at the rear of the car for optimal weight distribution. Other serious performance hardware include a dry-sump oiling system (which keeps the engine lubricated during neck-straining cornering maneuvers), an electronically controlled differential and magnetic ride-control suspension. All of this is concealed beneath bodywork that’s thoroughly dripping in exotic, low-slung menace. If Porsche made such a car, it would cost $125,000. If its fenders wore Ferrari badges, it would cost $200,000. But we’re talking about a Chevy with a starting price of $51,995. And this fact blows our minds just a little bit less because the car is a Corvette. Where that particular vehicle is concerned, we’ve come to expect outrageous returns on our dollar. The Corvette has a long and often glorious history. But that continuity, stretching back to 1953, means that every new generation of the Corvette tends to be viewed through the prism of its predecessor. And it’s tempting to think of this seventh-generation Corvette Stingray (in ’Vette lingo, the C7) in terms of the sixth-generation Vette — it’s like a C6 with better seats, more power, better behavior at the limit. But then you start itemizing the list of aspects that are different, both quantifiable and subjective, and you realize that the C7 isn’t much like a C6 at all. The new car’s ambitions are fundamentally loftier, a point underscored by the return of the Stingray name. (Chevrolet is surely hoping to evoke the world-beating 1963 Sting Ray rather than the 1976 model — a fixture of the “Boogie Nights” era — that last wore the badge.) Start with the handling. “Handling” was never something the old ’Vette was overly concerned with, as long as its lap times were low enough. The car’s breakaway behavior was a particular problem, as it would let go suddenly and with great drama — the C6 Corvette is the only car I’ve ever spun on a racetrack with the stability control system engaged. If Khrushchev and Kennedy had been that twitchy, we might all still be eating canned peas in our fallout shelters while watching “Leave It to Beaver.” The C7, though, is friendly and controllable all the way to the limit. The Z51 performance package includes an electronically controlled differential (called eLSD) that allows fine modulation of the car’s rear-end behavior, instantly adjusting from locked and stable to open and nimble, depending on the requirements at hand. After spending some quality time sliding around the Black Lake testing area at General Motors’ proving ground in Milford, Mich., I concluded that buying a ’Vette without the Z51 package would be like getting a puppy without a leash. If you spend a little bit more for a leash, you’re going to have a lot better control of that puppy, right? And the Z51 package is a bargain. For $2,800 you get performance gearing, a transmission and differential cooler, bigger wheels and tires, bigger brakes, a firmer suspension, the dry-sump oil system and the pièce de résistance, that magic differential. I would also opt for the magnetic ride control system with performance traction management, which goes for $1,795. And the multimode performance exhaust costs a not-insignificant $1,195, but is worth it for the wonderful sounds, if not the five extra horsepower that it uncorks. So equipped, you have a $57,785 car that has everything you need. The Corvette Stingray is not a case where the base price is merely a teaser and the car you really want costs 50 percent more.
Behind the Wheel | Chevrolet Corvette Stingray: Stingray Returns With Styling à la Mode
While the Corvette’s 61-year history has included some spectacular cars, aspirations for the 2014 model are the highest yet. The Stingray badge evokes the beloved second generation. More Photos »Imagine, if you will, that an unnamed manufacturer just released an all-new sports car. It rockets from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 3.8 seconds, pulls more than one lateral g on the skid pad and has a carbon-fiber hood and roof. The interior includes dual high-resolution screens, top-quality materials and the option of racing seats. The manual transmission, with 7 forward speeds, will execute rev-matched downshifts, and it’s mounted at the rear of the car for optimal weight distribution. Other serious performance hardware include a dry-sump oiling system (which keeps the engine lubricated during neck-straining cornering maneuvers), an electronically controlled differential and magnetic ride-control suspension. All of this is concealed beneath bodywork that’s thoroughly dripping in exotic, low-slung menace. If Porsche made such a car, it would cost $125,000. If its fenders wore Ferrari badges, it would cost $200,000. But we’re talking about a Chevy with a starting price of $51,995. And this fact blows our minds just a little bit less because the car is a Corvette. Where that particular vehicle is concerned, we’ve come to expect outrageous returns on our dollar. The Corvette has a long and often glorious history. But that continuity, stretching back to 1953, means that every new generation of the Corvette tends to be viewed through the prism of its predecessor. And it’s tempting to think of this seventh-generation Corvette Stingray (in ’Vette lingo, the C7) in terms of the sixth-generation Vette — it’s like a C6 with better seats, more power, better behavior at the limit. But then you start itemizing the list of aspects that are different, both quantifiable and subjective, and you realize that the C7 isn’t much like a C6 at all. The new car’s ambitions are fundamentally loftier, a point underscored by the return of the Stingray name. (Chevrolet is surely hoping to evoke the world-beating 1963 Sting Ray rather than the 1976 model — a fixture of the “Boogie Nights” era — that last wore the badge.) Start with the handling. “Handling” was never something the old ’Vette was overly concerned with, as long as its lap times were low enough. The car’s breakaway behavior was a particular problem, as it would let go suddenly and with great drama — the C6 Corvette is the only car I’ve ever spun on a racetrack with the stability control system engaged. If Khrushchev and Kennedy had been that twitchy, we might all still be eating canned peas in our fallout shelters while watching “Leave It to Beaver.” The C7, though, is friendly and controllable all the way to the limit. The Z51 performance package includes an electronically controlled differential (called eLSD) that allows fine modulation of the car’s rear-end behavior, instantly adjusting from locked and stable to open and nimble, depending on the requirements at hand. After spending some quality time sliding around the Black Lake testing area at General Motors’ proving ground in Milford, Mich., I concluded that buying a ’Vette without the Z51 package would be like getting a puppy without a leash. If you spend a little bit more for a leash, you’re going to have a lot better control of that puppy, right? And the Z51 package is a bargain. For $2,800 you get performance gearing, a transmission and differential cooler, bigger wheels and tires, bigger brakes, a firmer suspension, the dry-sump oil system and the pièce de résistance, that magic differential. I would also opt for the magnetic ride control system with performance traction management, which goes for $1,795. And the multimode performance exhaust costs a not-insignificant $1,195, but is worth it for the wonderful sounds, if not the five extra horsepower that it uncorks. So equipped, you have a $57,785 car that has everything you need. The Corvette Stingray is not a case where the base price is merely a teaser and the car you really want costs 50 percent more.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment