C7 Corvette Stingray
Discussion
A quick write up on hiring and driving a surprisingly good car... the 2014 Corvette Stingray
460bhp
6 speed auto with manual paddle shifting ability - apparently carried over from the c6
targa roof (manual lift out)
wheels - standard 5 spoke I think 19 inch.
the looks, the best part of the package as far as im concerned. It looks epic. I love the front and rear lights and genuinely the Mrs mistook c7's driving past us as Ferrari f12s once or twice. its a stunning looking car in my view.
quality of interior... this is the let down I suppose. fairly basic and not particularly special materials. he seats are ok in support but certainly don't look sexy nor have been upholstered in a basic pattern.
the button door release is perhaps a disaster waiting to happen but a bit gimmicky. things like the head up display was pretty good and the large digital speedo very useful for long geared high speed acceleration.
I believe the car had the z51 handling package as this was the area that surprised me most about the corvette. this one can actually corner! I took the car out some challenging roads outside of Los Angeles including Angeles Crest highway (what a road) and was astonished at how well balanced the car was round the mid speed corners. Im not a racing driver but have peddled plenty of fast cars and this was pretty good. Steering feedback is a bit lacking but not bad.
Ive driven a new m4 coupe bmw recently and to be honest, I would say the corvette is a better performer and was much more "fun"
the noise...
well no sports exhaust so it is muted. I saw a few with exhausts and it generally does sound good. the standard car is still quite a nice roar when its reved out although the gearing is long which means this doesn't happen as often.
gearbox - I mainly stuck with Sport or track mode and it certainly is more responsive in these settings. changes are "automatic" and therefore lazy ... well lazy in comparison to dct, pdk etc but you could live with it. Clearly an auto is still an auto so not really what a supercar should be sporting but for all round conditions of traffic and highways in the USA it works for the conditions.
One big issue was length of gearing, I saw something like 84mph out of 2nd gear and I think 3rd might have touched 130mph... this is just too long and meant any serious reving out on even the highway let alone the back roads, was giving serious law braking speed which is a bit off putting.
Everyday use.
yes its pretty low but the front end seemed to cope with most gradients etc. the boot arrangement is a pain though, the hatch back is nice but its not a deep boot so you have luggage moving around and only a net to secure down so its probably best to travel very light! Certainly it is very easy to use
I imagine fuel consumption being a 6.2 v8 means UK is an expensive place to run a corvette. I think we were doing about 16mpg in traffic and heavy right foot use.
traction off the line was again very surprising given the bhp and rear wheel drive, the auto defaults to 2nd gear unless in manual you opt for 1st, but I really struggled to see the rear light up. I was expecting to get bogged down with wheel spin but it coped well. Basically it gets off the start line on dry roads very quickly without trouble.
I would say pound for pound its an impressive car and actually makes an interesting proposition in comparison to the usual Euro choices. the corvette is not a joke any more, I will fully respect it now!
I will be interested to hear thoughts from other corvette owners and c6 owners.
460bhp
6 speed auto with manual paddle shifting ability - apparently carried over from the c6
targa roof (manual lift out)
wheels - standard 5 spoke I think 19 inch.
the looks, the best part of the package as far as im concerned. It looks epic. I love the front and rear lights and genuinely the Mrs mistook c7's driving past us as Ferrari f12s once or twice. its a stunning looking car in my view.
quality of interior... this is the let down I suppose. fairly basic and not particularly special materials. he seats are ok in support but certainly don't look sexy nor have been upholstered in a basic pattern.
the button door release is perhaps a disaster waiting to happen but a bit gimmicky. things like the head up display was pretty good and the large digital speedo very useful for long geared high speed acceleration.
I believe the car had the z51 handling package as this was the area that surprised me most about the corvette. this one can actually corner! I took the car out some challenging roads outside of Los Angeles including Angeles Crest highway (what a road) and was astonished at how well balanced the car was round the mid speed corners. Im not a racing driver but have peddled plenty of fast cars and this was pretty good. Steering feedback is a bit lacking but not bad.
Ive driven a new m4 coupe bmw recently and to be honest, I would say the corvette is a better performer and was much more "fun"
the noise...
well no sports exhaust so it is muted. I saw a few with exhausts and it generally does sound good. the standard car is still quite a nice roar when its reved out although the gearing is long which means this doesn't happen as often.
gearbox - I mainly stuck with Sport or track mode and it certainly is more responsive in these settings. changes are "automatic" and therefore lazy ... well lazy in comparison to dct, pdk etc but you could live with it. Clearly an auto is still an auto so not really what a supercar should be sporting but for all round conditions of traffic and highways in the USA it works for the conditions.
One big issue was length of gearing, I saw something like 84mph out of 2nd gear and I think 3rd might have touched 130mph... this is just too long and meant any serious reving out on even the highway let alone the back roads, was giving serious law braking speed which is a bit off putting.
Everyday use.
yes its pretty low but the front end seemed to cope with most gradients etc. the boot arrangement is a pain though, the hatch back is nice but its not a deep boot so you have luggage moving around and only a net to secure down so its probably best to travel very light! Certainly it is very easy to use
I imagine fuel consumption being a 6.2 v8 means UK is an expensive place to run a corvette. I think we were doing about 16mpg in traffic and heavy right foot use.
traction off the line was again very surprising given the bhp and rear wheel drive, the auto defaults to 2nd gear unless in manual you opt for 1st, but I really struggled to see the rear light up. I was expecting to get bogged down with wheel spin but it coped well. Basically it gets off the start line on dry roads very quickly without trouble.
I would say pound for pound its an impressive car and actually makes an interesting proposition in comparison to the usual Euro choices. the corvette is not a joke any more, I will fully respect it now!
I will be interested to hear thoughts from other corvette owners and c6 owners.
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