lov-n-life
Well-known member
Ok, after last night I can say with absolute positivity that Corvette=average Joe's super car!!!
I over at a friend's Halloween party. We all usually get together every Saturday night, and seeing that I am one of only 2 non-drinker's, when something runs out, I'm the one that runs to the liquor store. I always seem to take the same person with, the cute neighbor... too bad she's married
... but that's another (off) topic. So she, my ex-girlfriend (who was with me when I bought the car), and my best friend, are the friends that have had the opportunity of riding in the Vette. Last night during a lull in the vestivities one of the other guys asked if I had installed the Z06 exhaust yet, because it sounded great when I pulled up. Nope, that's "just stock" and he was pretty impressed. First time he had even heard the car running. Well he wanted a ride and since there wasn't anything better to do at that moment, I enthusiastically obliged!
Now then. I have not "pushed" the car yet, and in fact I haven't even purposely "warmed up the tires"
yet either. Which of course was the first order of business... 1st....didn't move far before approaching redline... 2nd... moved a little bit before approaching red line... 3rd... half way to redline I left third and skipped to 6th so we WOULD exceed 30mph. WOW!!!
So I take him out on one of my favorite back roads and as soon as we are clear of the residential area, I hammer it in 2nd, and we're off! Just as we rounded the first corner I start getting a spit on by the overhead clouds, so I switched out of Competitive Mode and back to Normal. I hit 3rd gear around 70MPH on an upshift. The tires chirp, traction control catches and releases. Upon release we're at 80 and take off like a rocket. I hit 4th a tad early at 100MPH... the tires chirp and traction control catches and releases (WOW!!! 100MPH and an upshift to 4th induces wheel spin... did I mention SUPER CAR!!!!) Somewhere in the lower triple digits we approach the first corner, a right hander at the very base of a valley. I smoothly bring the car down to about 60, hit the uneven bridge, turn in and back on the throttle. It's like we were on rails, even with the poor transition at the two ends of the bridge! WOW!!! AGAIN.... The Z51 suspension is AWESOME. The rest of the 3 mile stretch of road is pitted, 90% of the corners are off camber, there is no smooth section to the road after the initial 1/2 mile approach to the bridge. Even so, the car behaves impecably, although I'm not really pushing it just yet as I want to inspect the road for hazards and debris on the run out of the valley.
We get to the end of the road, make a quick turn around, and now knowing the road ahead is clear, I start pushing the car. A note, at the point the clouds start to drop a little more dampness on our parade. Not so much rain, as a very light drizzle. So I keep the active handling and traction control system in Normal and use this run as a test of the system. I won't push the car anywhere near it's limits or my limits with a passenger, especially with lower traction.
The return run is absolutley awesome, I pushed the car just enough to induce a little bit of wheel spin and drift in the smoother corners and this is where the electronics of the car amazed me! I expected that with the electronics kicking in, it would take a large amount of the fun out of driving the car near limits. However, I found that with the damp road conditions (mostly dry really, just more humid, if a road can be humid), the computer was making the car do exactly what I wanted the car to do! Every other bump in the road, or hard, uneven corner we went through, either Active Handling or Traction Control was flashing up on the DIC! If it had not been for the visual information, I would not have even known it was "interferring"! Completely unobtrusive! Now, it may have been a little more obvious to me, had I been pushing the car more than I was (i.e. perfect road conditions, dry, no passenger), but in those conditions I would have had the system in comp mode anyways. Just one more aspect that makes this a super car!
At the end of the ride, my friend was completely amazed and thrilled at the ride. Throughout most of the ride he was constantly stating how well the car handled, and that it wasn't just a straight line car. I am also amazed at this machine! I can't wait for an opportunity of perfect conditions to see what else this car is capable of! My first Corvette was great, as long as the road was good. My Boxster was great, it just lacked brute acceleration and long ride comfort. The C5, WOW... it is refined in daily driving, comfortable enough to take long trips in, has the brute power I missed in the Boxster, and handles about as well as my Boxster, even over bad roads! To get this kind of performance in any other supercar is going to cost you... and not small change either. Bang for the buck, it can only be Corvette! Now... someone want to loan me a Z06 for comparisons?
I over at a friend's Halloween party. We all usually get together every Saturday night, and seeing that I am one of only 2 non-drinker's, when something runs out, I'm the one that runs to the liquor store. I always seem to take the same person with, the cute neighbor... too bad she's married
... but that's another (off) topic. So she, my ex-girlfriend (who was with me when I bought the car), and my best friend, are the friends that have had the opportunity of riding in the Vette. Last night during a lull in the vestivities one of the other guys asked if I had installed the Z06 exhaust yet, because it sounded great when I pulled up. Nope, that's "just stock" and he was pretty impressed. First time he had even heard the car running. Well he wanted a ride and since there wasn't anything better to do at that moment, I enthusiastically obliged!Now then. I have not "pushed" the car yet, and in fact I haven't even purposely "warmed up the tires"
yet either. Which of course was the first order of business... 1st....didn't move far before approaching redline... 2nd... moved a little bit before approaching red line... 3rd... half way to redline I left third and skipped to 6th so we WOULD exceed 30mph. WOW!!!So I take him out on one of my favorite back roads and as soon as we are clear of the residential area, I hammer it in 2nd, and we're off! Just as we rounded the first corner I start getting a spit on by the overhead clouds, so I switched out of Competitive Mode and back to Normal. I hit 3rd gear around 70MPH on an upshift. The tires chirp, traction control catches and releases. Upon release we're at 80 and take off like a rocket. I hit 4th a tad early at 100MPH... the tires chirp and traction control catches and releases (WOW!!! 100MPH and an upshift to 4th induces wheel spin... did I mention SUPER CAR!!!!)
Somewhere in the lower triple digits we approach the first corner, a right hander at the very base of a valley. I smoothly bring the car down to about 60, hit the uneven bridge, turn in and back on the throttle. It's like we were on rails, even with the poor transition at the two ends of the bridge! WOW!!! AGAIN.... The Z51 suspension is AWESOME. The rest of the 3 mile stretch of road is pitted, 90% of the corners are off camber, there is no smooth section to the road after the initial 1/2 mile approach to the bridge. Even so, the car behaves impecably, although I'm not really pushing it just yet as I want to inspect the road for hazards and debris on the run out of the valley.We get to the end of the road, make a quick turn around, and now knowing the road ahead is clear, I start pushing the car. A note, at the point the clouds start to drop a little more dampness on our parade. Not so much rain, as a very light drizzle. So I keep the active handling and traction control system in Normal and use this run as a test of the system. I won't push the car anywhere near it's limits or my limits with a passenger, especially with lower traction.
The return run is absolutley awesome, I pushed the car just enough to induce a little bit of wheel spin and drift in the smoother corners and this is where the electronics of the car amazed me! I expected that with the electronics kicking in, it would take a large amount of the fun out of driving the car near limits. However, I found that with the damp road conditions (mostly dry really, just more humid, if a road can be humid), the computer was making the car do exactly what I wanted the car to do! Every other bump in the road, or hard, uneven corner we went through, either Active Handling or Traction Control was flashing up on the DIC! If it had not been for the visual information, I would not have even known it was "interferring"! Completely unobtrusive! Now, it may have been a little more obvious to me, had I been pushing the car more than I was (i.e. perfect road conditions, dry, no passenger), but in those conditions I would have had the system in comp mode anyways. Just one more aspect that makes this a super car!
At the end of the ride, my friend was completely amazed and thrilled at the ride. Throughout most of the ride he was constantly stating how well the car handled, and that it wasn't just a straight line car. I am also amazed at this machine! I can't wait for an opportunity of perfect conditions to see what else this car is capable of! My first Corvette was great, as long as the road was good. My Boxster was great, it just lacked brute acceleration and long ride comfort. The C5, WOW... it is refined in daily driving, comfortable enough to take long trips in, has the brute power I missed in the Boxster, and handles about as well as my Boxster, even over bad roads! To get this kind of performance in any other supercar is going to cost you... and not small change either. Bang for the buck, it can only be Corvette! Now... someone want to loan me a Z06 for comparisons?
