Category: Exotic Sports 
Price Range: No data available
Performance from roaring V8. Handles pretty well too. Should be well equipped and good value
Doesn't feel as well built as a 911. Left-hand-drive only. Manual gearbox industrial, auto 'box poor. Interior quality not up to European standards.
A proper sports car with a lot of character. Practical enough for daily use.
Generally, the Corvette lives up to the promise of its sharp looks. Use the immense performance and you'll find suspension, grip and brakes are up to the task.
The steering is quite direct, although there's a little slack around the straight-ahead, but feel is largely absent. The chassis has impressive roadholding, and reaches the limits progressively. The stability programme has a 'competitive driving' mode, which allows the car to slide a little before stepping-in if you get crashably sideways. The edge of grip is usually signalled by a small amount of stabilising understeer, but once you're at that point you can always add extra power to move the balance to the rear and make a tyre smokin' exit to corners.
The standard European-spec damping set-up is fairly stiff, necessary to control body movements of this fairly heavy car (around 1,500kg). Optional is the Magnetic Selective Ride system, which alters the damping rates and has comfort and sport modes. Its purpose is to provide a comfier ride than usual, and if we're honest, it's not worth the money; the regular set-up, although firm, is actually fairly good at bump absorption.
We did some track work in the Corvette, where it shows itself to be capable, although a bit on the heavy side, and we suspect that a 'Vette wouldn't see which way a similarly powered Porsche 911 went. Brakes showed themselves to be just about up to the job, though starting to fade after a couple of laps.
Think the hard-edged rolling thunder of a NASCAR stocker on the banking. Think massive torque and a hammer-like throttle response. That's the Corvette V8 in a nutshell. It'll dribble through town at three-figure rpms, and then pull like a train when you bury the long-travel throttle. Gradually the train turns into a jet on a runway and you cannon forward at true supercar rates: 62mph arrives in just 4.1 seconds, and the 'Vette will take you on to 186mph. That wonderful exhaust beat shakes your chest cavity and sets your hair on end, and the engine just keeps hauling to its 6700rpm cut-out. No, that's not a stratospheric limit, but when you realise how hard it's been charging since 3000, you've got a huge range to work with.
That low-rev torque is key to its surprising economy. At 70mph it's doing just over 1500rpm in top gear, and that sort of lazy gearing helps stretch the tank. We don't have official European numbers yet, but in the US it avoids the gas-guzzler tax.
So it's a five-star engine, but it's let down by its transmissions. The six-speed manual gearbox has been improved from the last Corvette's. The throw is shorter and more precise. That's not saying a lot, though. Compared with a 911 or BMW M-car, it's clunky and there's too much flywheel action and driveline shunt to let you be smooth between the lower gears. There's gearbox noise, too.
But don't think the auto option would help. It's worse again, an old four-speeder. The changes aren't too smooth, and the shifter is a horrid sticky lever with no tiptronic function. GM is developing a modern six-speed auto but it's two years off at least.
