A new Corvette is quite an event in the US sports car world, and the C6, as the 2005 model year Corvette is known, is no disappointment. It is a very controllable hot supercar.
With a slightly larger engine, a shorter body, firmer suspension, and a drag coefficient of only 0.28 - very much top class - the new car will be worth waiting for. New for Chevrolet is a roadster, with an automatically raising and lowering soft top - well, not quite new as there was one about 40 years ago!
Also new is a 7.0 liter model - coupe only - which is the basis for GM's assault on the various racing championships including the FIA GTA class.
There's also an option of automatically adjusted damping - a true innovation.
Droop nose, high tail and low drag
Visually, this is instantly recognizable as a Corvette, not least because of that huge rear wrap-around window and the high wide tail. The nose now droops down more, and the lower apron seems to almost sweep the road. There is a wide, shallow air intake at the front, and fashionable teardrop headlamps.
Presumably to reduce wind resistance and give adequate trunk space, the tail is higher than it used to be, and from most views the car looks rather heavy at the tail. Nonetheless, the C6 follows the Corvette line and remains the true American supercar. The roadster looks more balanced than the coupe, somehow, particularly in light colors.
Curb weight is pretty good for a car of this size: 3,245 lb (1,470 kg) which gives a very good power-to-weight ratio. That's the coupe; the convertible, to give the roadster its official name, is lighter at 3,199 lbs (1,451 kg) because the C6 was designed as a roadster form the outset. These weights compare very favorably with some more exotic supercars.
V-8 engine bored out again - and 7-liter version!
To give the Corvette a bit more oomph, the venerable LS2 V-8, which despite having been in production more or less since the year dot in Corvette terms, has an aluminum cylinder block which has been refined further. The capacity has been increased a little to a nice round 6.0 liters, and despite looking more appropriate for a weighty sedan than a sports two-seater, it manages to crank out 400 bhp at 6,000 rpm. Not bad for a pushrod ohv mill with just two valves per cylinder - and they're not even in the right place for maximum power.
The new 7.0 liter engine develops 500 bhp at 6,200 rpm. Maximum torque from this mammoth engine is 475 lb ft (644 Nm) at 4,800 rpm. This is a stunner with a top speed of about 195 mph and 0-60 in under 4.0 seconds.
Actually, the power output and torque are just about the same as the current Z06, so performance will be just great, and no doubt accompanied by that nice burble you get with a big V-8.
To get plenty of weight at the rear - the weight distribution is 51% front and 49% rear which is pretty near ideal - the gearbox is mounted at the rear with the axle gears as a transaxle. Either a Tremec six-speed manual box or a four-speed slush-pump automatic can be specified. Quite a difference in character. If this Corvette were coming from anywhere other than the USA, I would expect the automatic to have five-speeds.
Aluminum suspension
Although the suspension specification sounds the same, everything is new. In redesigning the suspension, the Corvette engineers remained faithful to the double wishbone arrangement with a composite transverse leaf spring front and rear. The result is a simple, lightweight system that gives more roll stiffness - resistance to roll - than coil springs. Also, the spring rate is progressive, so it irons out big bumps in the road almost as easily as little ones.
To save weight, the double wishbones front and rear are aluminum; of course, the composite leaf springs are light, too. Leaf springs of this tyoe - just one leaf - are actually quite advanced technology as they don't locate the wheels.
Big brakes are part of the package, as are ABS, traction control and Active handling stability control. More and more sports cars have active handling to help you keep in control, and the Corvette is keeping apace.
Sensational new automatic damping
The new Corvette has the most innovative and advanced dampers in the business - the Magnetic Selective Ride option. These are a new type of damper that are automatically adjusted according to the road conditions. This is done with a remarkable new fluid which is called a magneto-rheological substance. Other supercars may have continuously adjustable dampers, but not like these.
There are tiny iron particles in the fluid and a magnetic flux can be applied to turn them. As the magnetic flux increases, so does the damping force. Sensors determine the conditions, and adjust the damping force continuously. Formidable!
Head-up display option
Inside the car, is a neat fascia with the option of another innovation, now finding its way into the more expensive cars - head-up display. The speed and other relevant information are shown on the windshield so the driver doesn't need to keep looking down.
As before, the structure is based on a steel frame, with a pair of deep beams running back each side of the cockpit. Instead of pressings, the members are made from hydroformed tubes, which is ideal for low-volume manufacture. Not quite as advanced as an aluminum space frame, but a step in the right direction.
Other features include the cored composite floors, enclosed center tunnel, and aluminum cockpit structure. To save weight the front and sub-frames are also aluminum. In line with Corvette tradition, the body panels are all composites.
Sports package for the track
Where does the Corvette fit into the world? Well, it's got to be a supercar, and of course, there are plenty of tuners who've shown that you can get tremendous power from that V-8. The brakes are larger than before, and there's a sports package which includes stiffer suspension, closer ratios and oil coolers - this is the basis for a track car. GM is certainly keeping the US supercar flag flying with this one.
Corvette on the road
The Corvette C6 is one of those cars which you slide into, make a couple of adjustments to the seat and steering wheel position, and just drive off, feeling that everything is right. The instruments are clearly visible through the wheel, and you can see those muscular front fenders showing you where to point the car – and you need that help as this is a wide car, despite being a little narrower than the C5. More to the point, you still feel exactly in the right place and comfortable an hour later.
I'm driving a left-hand drive Corvette in England, which is not the easiest combination s we drive on the left here, so you need to plan overtaking a bit in advance to see round the car in front. It also makes you more conscious of the width with the steering the wrong way round. There won't be a right-hand drive version, which is no problem in most places but a disappointment in the UK, Australia and Japan amongst other places. If the car is worth driving that is.....
The first impression is that the steering seems a bit low geared, even if the weight feels right. That all changes once you get the chance to put your foot down! I came to an unknown road where there is just a short straight, pressed the loud pedal and immediately the Corvette came alive. I hadn't pressed hard, but that big 6-liter engine started to rumble, pushing me back into the seat. Promising, and showeing that it has some supercar attributes already..
I turn onto the motorway where the traffic is quite heavy, and am soon cruising in the outside lane with a Porsche 911 GT3 on my tail. The Corvette behaves well, riding comfortably on the good surface, and cruising quietly along using hardly any power. Good.
After a few miles, I turn off the motorway in search of better roads. First, I thread my way slowly through a village that seems to be full of bends with cars parked all over the place, as if the roads weren't quite narrow anyway. At last the open road, no one in sight.
Sitting with the car in third gear, I give the Corvette the gun. From 2,500 rpm she gathers her skirts, and at 3,000 rpm she's off. And I mean off. The rumble turns into that delightful ragged, raucous, roar as the power builds up thrusting this fairly light car forward at a terrific pace, straight as an arrow on quite a bumpy road.
On these roads the hard ride is evident, but owing to that long wheelbase, the ride is not at all harsh, and really quite supple.
Well, you expect a 6-liter engine to push out some poke, but this is a modest pushrod ohv job, admittedly designed for good response, but the acceleration is little short of sensational. You look down at the speedo and are surprised how fast you've accelerated to in just a short time. You get to 50 mph in first, over 70 mph in second and it is geared for about 110 mph in third, so you've always got plenty of power. In fact if you're in a hurry, you just leave the Tremec six-speed box in third, so wide is the power band, with stacks of power from 50 mph upward, making the occasional shift into second.
Basic but fast
Make no mistake, this mill might have humble beginnings but it can make some pretty exotic stuff look decidedly ordinary, and it has that terrific noise to go with it. A bit later on I accelerate hard on the wet road in first, and the traction control allows me to get a bit of wheelspin and some slideslip before cutting in, just to remind me how much power I had under my right foot.
Soon I found some roads I'd driven on before. These are mostly fast with a series of curves, and pretty good surfaces. The Corvette continues to perform well, cornering very flat without a trace of understeer, despite the wet roads.
Controllable oversteer
Approaching a series of tighter bends, the behaviour is still exemplary, the large car being easy to place and turn through the bends. The Corvette has a rear-mounted gearbox, and the engine is well back, so weight distribution is 51% front to 49% rear. No wonder, then that when you enter a corner turn in is sharp. No hesitancy, no understeer to kill. Directional stability on poor surfaces does not seem quite as good as on some cars, I'n thinking, but there is no tendency to wander.
At last, I get some space entering some pretty slow corners with plenty of room, and the Corvette adopts its waltzing style. Go in at a reasonable speed, and accelerate, and the tail comes out, but not far, and off you go. Go in a little faster, and you get the tail out and hold it there till you straighten up and accelerate hard ahead.
That's the Corvette: a hard-charger with a fabulous amount of speed almost anywhere in the rev range, great power sliding potential, and good, safe oversteer when you want it. For the most part, the handling is neutral, and of course there is a stability control to help. I didn't have time to switch it off, and feel the unbridled Corvette C6, but you'll just get a bit more of the same. Great fun.
