Tuesday 30th August 2011

Driven: Corvette Grand Sport Convertible

Grand or deluded? Unpack the prejudices, says (fanboy) Andy Craig

---

When I received the 'phone call from Morgan telling me they'd had to cancel the Three Wheeler I was supposed to be taking to Wilton House, I don't mind admitting that I was gutted.

A belt-driven, two-cylinder, super-lightweight, three-wheeled car may not sound like the kind of thing to make a keen driver giddy with anticipation, but I was so looking forward to driving one that I'd cancelled my birthday celebrations in order to pick it up from Malvern and had even made plans to borrow the obligatory aviator's goggles and leather jacket. Alas, it wasn't meant to be...

Chris-R must have sensed my disappointment because; aware of my fondness for plastic American cars with 'aloominum' V8s he suggested that I bring a Corvette instead. One 'phone call to Bauer Millett later and use of this white Grand Sport Convertible was mine. I suppose that now is a good time to confess to you all before we go any further that I, silversixx, am a card-carrying Corvette fanboy.

I like the fact that they offer bona-fide supercar performance but without all the expense, impracticality, and servicing intervals that can be measured in feet. I like the handling too (more on that later). They just work in a blue-collar, rough-around-the-edges sort of way.But even so I won't make any excuses for their shortcomings. You can only get them in left hand drive for starters. The interior is at best dull, and at worst plain unacceptable in such a car. Comfort itself isn't an issue - there's plenty of space and ample adjustment in the seats and steering wheel - it's just that you can't help but wonder why they didn't spend a little more time and effort trimming them a bit better. There is a leather option for the top of the dashboard and the doors which helps a great deal... so why not just make it standard in the first place? Oh and lateral support from the seats is woefully inadequate.

When I picked the car up there was another problem - one which would be an issue at Wilton House - and that problem was noise... or an acute lack of it to be exact. You'd expect a car with the 'Vette's appearance and a 6.2 litre V8 to sound heavenly, but this Grand Sport didn't have the vacuum-actuated exhaust bypass valves, so even though the induction noise under load was pleasant enough, there was no discernable note from the exhaust to accompany it, which is frankly a waste of a V8. Thankfully, Bauer Millet have now rectified this with a new system.

The Grand Sport is, if you like, a Z06 'lite'. You get the wide body and the Z06 suspension and brakes (6-pot calipers on the front) but the frame is steel, not aluminium, and a dry-sumped version of the 6.2 litre LS3 V8 replaces the hand-built 7.0 LS7. Compared to the Z06 weight is up and power is down, but with 436bhp and 428lb-ft to drag around 1500kg the GS is still a properly fast car.

But Corvettes have been churning out big horsepower for decades. What GM have managed to do in recent years though is to make them handle, as the current list of Nurburgring lap times for road cars proves. Of course the list is changing all the time, but that the Americans have built not one, but two cars which have lapped quicker than the vast majority of European cars ever made (and every car from Japan) simply cannot be ignored. That they've done so with two-valve, pushrod motors and a leaf spring spanning the rear uprights almost adds insult to injury.

The Grand Sport, despite its significant shortcomings, gives you access to the kind of neutral handling that's put the Z06 and the ZR1 near the top of the list. On the way back from Wilton House I left the motorway early and pointed the GS at a twisty section of undulating A-road and selected 'Competitive Driving Mode' which allows a little bit of wheel-slip before the electronics take over to help prevent you from binning it.

Push hard into a corner and the car displays epic levels of grip, thanks in part to the Magnetic Ride Control (which at this point had been switched from Touring to Sport). Push harder still and the front tyres will begin to lose grip shortly before the rears follow-suit, but frankly to regularly breach this cars' grip limits on a public road you'd have to be a borderline nut-job.

Jump on the brakes and the effect of having separate brake pads for each piston (...six leading edges acting on each front disc) are that if you are a borderline nut-job you've every chance of scrubbing-off speed before your nut-jobbery gets you into trouble. The only handling gripe is a slight woolly feeling to the steering when in the dead-ahead position on a less-than-perfect surface. Other than that, it's all good news.

This one is £69,995, and despite the on-track heroics of Corvettes at both LeMans and the 'Ring (to name just two areas where they've handed the competition their backsides), there will always be some people who see that as too much for a plastic American car. But make no mistake; if you're serious about accelerating, braking, transferring weight, cornering, and top speed you'll have to look hard to find anything that can out-do one.

...and if you do it will be a lot more expensive and less-practical.

Pix: Dom Romney/Influx

[Schnellmann]

I think the quality of the interiors is because Americans expect their cars to be cheap (and they are) so there is probably no budget to make them better.

With respect to the lateral support of the seats....perhaps with the shape of the average American (which is rapidly becoming the average for Brits/Europeans too) then having flat seats is probably an advantage.

Although the LHD puts people off in the UK, here in Switzerland Corvettes are very popular. I can see the appeal and appreciate the bang for your buck, but personally I don't like the looks.

[British Beef]

No photos with the roof up???

In this country this is where it is most spend most its time and for me a convertible need to look good roof up & down.

I too dont understand why they do not spend a little more money on the inside to make it look and feel more of a quality item. As performance wise it has most things in its price group well licked, a quality interior would surely tempt more presopective owners from the Italian & German alternatives.

[akeithj]

I have a Z06 and agree about the interior, but you get used to it after a while and everything is there its just not up to European standards.

[toppstuff]

American cars are much maligned. Wrongly in my view.

Corvette is a cracking motor. And the complaints about the interiors are a little overblown in my opinion.

Was in chicago recently and hired a Buick SUV thing. It was nice. Thirsty as hell, but in real world use it was a decent car and the interior was just fine. At least as nice as a Volvo Xc90/ Merc ML etc...

[Dagnut]

White does it no favours, and I don't think 70k is that cheap really when you consider they cost 55k US dollars

[205007]

At the risk of bringing up old news - 70k and plastic panels? no thanks (and cheap bendy plastic at that)

And the brakes - 6x piston or not (the pads are about the size of a custard cream) are not good enough for any serious use with a Z06

The engine though that is the ticket

[GFWilliams]

Loving this shot

[thewheelman]

White has been played out now, in this car it makes it look cheap. The hardtop Corvette i quite like, but please, stop painting cars white! White used to be my favourite colour for many cars, but since it became trendy, i'm really starting to dislike it.

[ESOG]

If this Vette was a woman I would PHuck her brains out!

[thewheelman]

Dagnut said:

White does it no favours, and I don't think 70k is that cheap really when you consider they cost 55k US dollars

Doing a direct currency conversion would be a little naive way to judge the car's value. Look at the cost of the cars that are mainstream in Europe & how much cheaper they are in the states. When you look at the kind of cars that it beats that cost many times more, then you see the value. The Vette it seems is like the Nissan GTR, it'll have its haters, but for me it's a lot more interesting than the played out cars that the Vette manages to humiliate.

[JuniorJet]

dream car right there...

thewheelman said:

White has been played out now, in this car it makes it look cheap. The hardtop Corvette i quite like, but please, stop painting cars white! White used to be my favourite colour for many cars, but since it became trendy, i'm really starting to dislike it.

agree.. I think yellow always worked with the Vette

Edited by JuniorJet on Monday 29th August 15:47

[Stu R]

I grew very attached to the yellow one parked in the Mandalay Bay recently



Never driven a GS, but driven a Z06 and loved it. Hoping to pick one up next year if the Porsche bug doesn't bite too hard.

[anonymous-user]

Quite honestly when you can wander into the dealership with the price of an Italian sportscar in your wallet and come out with one of these and £100,000 in change there really isn't very much to complain about. Especially with bomb-proof reliability and very low running costs.

On the other hand if you're happy sitting on a crowded beach there are more than 1,300 Porsche 911s for sale in the PH classifieds.

[PaulFontaine]

Inevitably there will be the detractors of this car without ever having driven it. Consider what it competes against costs far far more than it. Yes the interior is a bit ordinary but still functional. Most of the cars this company produces are simple and must be affordable enough for the working class man or woman and hence that is where their interior skill set lies. Really this is one of the few cars out there that has a blend of accessible performance, reliability, comfort and practicality and can be used daily. The only negative I have to say about it is the proportions take a while to get used to and I would say while it is good and easier to drive fast than the 911. The german car is still the benchmark but substantially more.

[Motorrad]

Brilliant cars, no doubt some muppet who runs a crappy diesel repmobile will be along in a minute to slate the build quality and handling without ever having driven, seen or sat in one.

[thewheelman]

Gaz. said:

thewheelman said:

Doing a direct currency conversion would be a little naive way to judge the car's value. Look at the cost of the cars that are mainstream in Europe & how much cheaper they are in the states. When you look at the kind of cars that it beats that cost many times more, then you see the value. The Vette it seems is like the Nissan GTR, it'll have its haters, but for me it's a lot more interesting than the played out cars that the Vette manages to humiliate.

He has a point though, Vette's used to be £40k, just over £50k for a Z06.

Was that £50k for a new Z06? If so, that is one hell of a bargain for the amount of go. I didn't realise the price had gone up by that much.

[thewheelman]

5 USA said:

Quite honestly when you can wander into the dealership with the price of an Italian sportscar in your wallet and come out with one of these and £100,000 in change there really isn't very much to complain about. Especially with bomb-proof reliability and very low running costs.

On the other hand if you're happy sitting on a crowded beach there are more than 1,300 Porsche 911s for sale in the PH classifieds.

I'd love a Vette next, i've only ever seen a few on the roads. I've done the Porsche thing & now i'm bored of them. I must look into running costs etc, i saw a red Z06 last week, & must admit it really stood out from the crowd.

[Slickskid]

205007 said:

At the risk of bringing up old news - 70k and plastic panels? no thanks (and cheap bendy plastic at that)

And the brakes - 6x piston or not (the pads are about the size of a custard cream) are not good enough for any serious use with a Z06

The engine though that is the ticket

I've heard various people complain about the brakes. I've never decided if that was just random bhing or if the issue is that, for track use, the brakes just don't keep up. Certainly they are more than up to anything other than track use.

The plastic body panels is a red herring. The BMW M6 features plastic body panels (the front fenders at least are plastic). It has a lot more to do with perception vs reality. The interior is somewhat similar. If you actually look at the materials up close you find that they are just as good (or bad if you will) as those in the Porsche Cayman. The panel gaps are just as tight (the Cayman isn't a leader here). The panels sound just as plasticy, the soft surfaces are just as soft and the controls move just as smoothly. Basically GM spent just as much money. Where they failed is the interior just doesn't look special. With only a few changes you could envision that same basic layout in a 2005 Toyota economy car. The economy car would substitute hard plastic for soft touch surfaces but you can't tell that in a picture. The radio in the Corvette is bespoke. That's really sad. It looks like a parts bin radio but it isn't. That means GM spent money for a bespoke radio but didn't get the cool styling benefits.

In the end the interior isn't actually cheap. It doesn't actually feel cheap. However, it does look cheap and that hurts. Given how much better GM's newer interiors are (the Vette came out in late 2004, note the Buick SUV comment above) I suspect the next gen Corvette will have a no excuses needed interior.

Perception is a bh. Just as the engineers about the rear leaf spring. The funny part is no one moans about the FRONT leaf spring (yes all four corners are on leaf springs).

[chilled901]

I did see a white 'vette a few days back. It looked a lot nicer in person than it does in these pics.

[Dagnut]

thewheelman said:

Dagnut said:

White does it no favours, and I don't think 70k is that cheap really when you consider they cost 55k US dollars

Doing a direct currency conversion would be a little naive way to judge the car's value. Look at the cost of the cars that are mainstream in Europe & how much cheaper they are in the states. When you look at the kind of cars that it beats that cost many times more, then you see the value. The Vette it seems is like the Nissan GTR, it'll have its haters, but for me it's a lot more interesting than the played out cars that the Vette manages to humiliate.

I'm not ragging on the Vette at all or doing a direct currency conversion ...a direct currency conversion comparison like the grand sport convertible at 34k...I don't think the price is justified at 70k, it may still represent good value against competitors but it should be cheaper.