Jamming along with the cruise control set at 100 mph and the instant fuel economy reading 23 mpg, you start wondering: how General Motors can be in any sort of trouble? The bright yellow Corvette Z51 is beyond calm, cool and collected at this three digit speed. The tachometer’s barely indicating 2,400 rpm. And get a load of these beautiful gauges. I’ve seen chintzier dials on Tag Heuers. You know what? Forget the instrument cluster. It’s all about the heads up display. Which not only indicates speed, but rpm, temp, pressure and… Wait a second– why does one speedometer read 100 mph and the other 99 mph? And why are there three different rattles buzzing in my right ear? And what is that smell?
Before we return to the inside of the 2009 Corvette, let’s spend a moment with the outside. It’s tough to have fruitful debate about such an iconic shape, but I dig C6 ‘Vettes. Especially when compared to the C5. Nice job Chevy on shaping such a taut, muscular form that doesn’t automatically scream, “I Heart New Jersey.” Moving on…
Here’s what I’ve come to realize. Corvettes are designed by people that have never sat inside a Porsche for people that never will sit inside a Porsche. That’s the only possible explanation for such inattention to detail. The seats are crummy, the shifters covered in crummy leather and there are some extremely low-rent plastics in frighteningly obvious places. Like the fake-aluminum steering wheel inserts. This particular car actually sets a new record for tackiness: fake carbon fiber on top of fake leather. Seriously guys, that sucks. Especially when Holden (who you own) is so fully capable of building world class accommodations. One nice thing? The pedals are in the right place
Of course no one buys a Corvette for the interior (Chevy just throws that in for free). It’s all about the engine. Let me introduce you to latest in a long line of bitchin’ Chevy small blocks, the mighty LS3. 6.2-liters. 436 hp. 428 lb-ft torque. Blood pumping numbers for certain, especially if you like to dabble in the aftermarket. Because the LS3 is essentially the LS9/LSA minus some fancy pieces and a blower. But what if you leave the engine as is?
Thanks to all that muscle and a low weight of just 3,273 pounds, the Z51 assaults 60 mph in 4.1 seconds and attacks the quarter-mile in 12.4 seconds (at 117 mph) on its way to a top speed of (probably) 190 mph. Nuts. And unlike certain turbocharged cars I can think of, the Z51’s power is everywhere. Floor it in first (with the nanny off) and the back tires turn to smoke. Floor it in sixth gear and it pulls, hard. It is my firm belief that if this engine were in more vehicles, GM would be in better shape. Naïve? Sure, but the LS3 is fully, 100 percent excellent. An homage to America’s love affair with power.
The Z51 package does two things (besides raising the price by $1,700). The first is an all-new suspension set up with stiffer springs, firmer dampers and fatter sway bars. You also get better brakes and tires, as well as additional cooling. This setup changes the Corvette’s day to day behavior from “nearly intolerable” to “pretty damn good.” Long gone are tooth-damaging thuds and chronic bump-steer over less than ideal macadam. This is the first C6 I’ve experienced with a livable ride.
All these new goodies help with the left-right stuff too, as I got the g-meter to read 0.99g around one memorable right-hander. Sure, there’s still plenty of USDA prime numbness when it comes to steering feedback, but the car’s grip inspires so much confidence that the former doesn’t matter.
The other thing the Z51 package does is make the Z06 obsolete. I just don’t see $20,000+ more value in the (now) middle tier Corvette. Besides, you can spend a little of the money you save on a blower and easily achieve (if not surpass) LS7 power levels. Hell, that’s what Chevy did with the ZR1. Unless you’re actually racing, you won’t notice the performance gap between the Z51 and Z06. But maybe you should skip Corvettes altogether and buy– oh I don’t know– a Porsche 911?
I spent over 1,000 miles inside the Z51 trying to answer that question. Just when I found an attribute that thrilled me — speed! — I found another that horrified — radio! How can a car hold the road with the best of its competition, yet squeak and rattle like something from behind the Iron Curtain? Sort of like how the country that produces the best doctors in the world doesn’t allow 20 percent of its citizenry access to them. The Corvette is America, both in glory and failure.
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Once a lorry, always a lorry, still a lorry.
The base and just-up-from-base Corvettes have always been excellent cars. Yes, you could get a Z06 or ZR1, but the base cars ride better, aren’t as mechanically stressed and cost a lot less. It’s a lot less likely to kill you, too. Unless you’re racing or a certified alpha, this is more than enough.
This really is an amazing piece of work, especially discounted as it is. Unless you must have a Miata (for the purity), a Mustang (for the looks and the modicum of practicality) or a 335i (for the holistic experience and the extra two doors), there’s no reason not to get this car.
Yeah, the interior has a few crappy pieces. It’s a four hundred horse car that can pull 1.0G and weighs 3300lbs. And costs CAD$60K. That’s about the price of an S2000 or base Boxster, or three oil changes for a Ferrari. At least it’s not egregiously bad, as it was in the C5.
The Corvette is America, both in glory and failure.
True. It shows that, when GM really wants to, it can build a really good car. It also shows that, most of the time, GM doesn’t really want to. Where Toyota is the determined student that gets B+’s and A-’s across the board, GM’s the flighty genius that splits between a few A+’s in the subjects it cares about, a fleet of C-’s and more than a few D’s in those where it barely shows up to class.
If they put half the effort into the Cavalier and Aveo that they’ve put into the Corvette, they’d own the low end market.
Here’s what I’ve come to realize. Corvettes are designed by people that have never sat inside a Porsche for people that never will sit inside a Porsche.
Should be “…that have never said inside a Porsche OR for people that never will…”
Otherwise couldn’t agree more, and I also agree that Corvette owners don’t care about the interior.
Yep – the C6 is just one good interior designer away from greatness.
Admittedly I’m biased, but I have absolutely no problem with the C6’s interior. If there were a car that could even come close to the Vette’s performance for the price AND had a better interior, then all the complaints might make sense. But if costs have to be cut somewhere, then GM cut them in the right place. Cost issues aside, I’m no less comfortable in my 2006 C6 than I was in my Lexus GS400. I’ve taken many 10+ hour trips in the C6 without complaint. The roof might squeak a bit but that’s more than a fair trade-off for a targa top that lets you experience open-air motoring without having to buy a convertible
Also, I’m having a hard time understanding your praise of the Z51 package’s ride. I’ve got the base suspension on mine, but from everything I’ve read from other ‘Vette owners, it seems like the Z51 package’s ride is much more stiff than the base version, and suffers a lot more from the bump-steer that you mention.
My only major complaints about the car are the fact that the turning radius rivals that of a monster truck, the lack of steering feel, and the fact that you have to go to a Chevy dealer for service. Otherwise the car is almost perfect
Surely, if GM survives they will replace the interior. The Cobalt SS gets freaking Recaros! Why not the Corvette?
Personally I’ve always thought that GM should have marketed the Corvette at a lower price point. After all, 60K might be a bargain for the performance, but it’s not for the quality. That’s why it will be interesting to see how the Camaro SS stacks up – after all, it too will have that glorious LS3 (if you get a manual, which is standard equipment – are you listening Chryler?). The SS will also have modern underpinnings, good brakes, and most importantly a price that is a full 20K lower than a base Corvette. Let’s just hope it makes it to production, and actually turns out half decent – a baby Corvette, not a Mustang challenger.
Good read Loverman.
You’d think by now they would have a better tiller for this thing. It’s pretty sad that I can find a better steering wheel in an Altima or Mazda6.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I really liked driving my C5 convertible. Loved the head’s up display; bright blue, easy to see in all but the earliest morning or latest afternoon direct-sunlight.
That car had a really nice shape. Even that big caboose wasn’t all THAT bad. And the interior on my C5 was all leather; no cheap fake aluminum or fake wood. The car had class!
That is, when it wasn’t in the shop for stupid stuff, like window or door lock motors, or that infamous steering wheel lock problem that it needed two or more visits for. Or the problem with the remote lock key fob that every dealer in town claimed was “working as designed,” even when I was able to demonstrate the problem for them.
I rarely was able to get anything fixed correctly the first time, and without any collateral damage to something else.
The six-speed was a lot of fun, even with that confusing “skip gear”, and the car was well-behaved on the road. But eventually I decided that the constant trips to the repair shop were draining me of valuable personal and work time, energy, and spirit.
I had to let it go. I didn’t swear off GM just yet, though. But it didn’t take more than another week of driving another manufacturer’s car to realize that I had devoted far too much of my soul and life energy to General Motors.
I’m not minding the interior so much in its latest iteration. And the steering is also much improved over pre-2008 cars, if still not ideal.
My #1 problem with the 2008 Corvette: an extreme amount of tire roar over some road surfaces in the coupe. Perhaps they’ve improved this for 2009?
On the reliability front, TrueDelta has no data yet. But we’re just a few owners short for 2006, 2007, and 2008. So, if you know someone who owns one, please send them here:
http://www.truedelta.com/reliability.php
That’s why it will be interesting to see how the Camaro SS stacks up – after all, it too will have that glorious LS3
The Camaro is going to weigh a lot more. If you extrapolate from what we know of the G8, and that two-doors don’t generally come in any lighter, you’re talking about a car that’s between five and seven hundred pounds more massive (and has far worse aerodynamics) than the Corvette.
Ouch.
If I wanted an LS-series engine, I’d be choosing between this (if I didn’t need a back seat) and the G8 (if I did). Even the CTS-V is a difficult value proposition.
the Camaro will suck. I sat in one at a recent auto show. Terrible visibility through teeny slit windows. And terrible cheapness in the interior. The inside door panels were injection molded one-piece plastic–gold, sparkly plastic!
From the Pontiac site, a manual G8 GXP costs $38,990.
Compared to this Corvette tested, with the GXP you’d be down a bit on power, get no HUD, have worse handling, no Z51 upgrades, no 2-mode exhaust, and no 56 year history. What you do get though is $24K in savings. Is all that extra stuff worth it?
I know the GXP and the Corvette don’t compete with each other, but if the LS3 is the best part of the Corvette, then I think the GXP is the better deal.
The Corvette has always been the biggest performance bang for the buck and still is. When I drive mine I’m not wondering how many hides it took to complete the interior nor would I care. I’m too busy enjoying the feeling that I get when you can accelerate and force your eyeballs into the back of their sockets! When we get together for different events the talk about our cars Never centers around the interior of the cars and our group consists of Corvette , Porsche ,and Ferrari owners.I drive Corvettes because I love Corvettes and my friends drive their cars for the same reason.Most enthusiasts that are in the market for a high performance sports car know what they are going to buy ahead of time based on performance preference. As for squeaks or rattles,the best solution for that is a good high performance exhaust system. I’d much rather listen to the LS engine breath more thsn anything else!
All that, and I still want to drive one…just once! I do like the tighter shape of the C6 compared to the larger C5…
The problem with the 911 is Porsche has managed an extraordinary feat: they’ve made the world’s ultimate sports car boring.
“Sort of like how the country that produces the best doctors in the world doesn’t allow 20 percent of its citizenry access to them.”
There’s a limit on the number of words in a TTAC piece. Yet you felt it necessary to devote 24 of them to an irrelevant and misleading slur on our country.
No way I’d every buy one
* How does this handle heavy snow in Chicago? Probably worse than my STi
* If I want to go fast alone, I have a bike that is high 10’s quarter @ 120′ish, and if I want something in the 9’s @ 140-150′ish it costs me 1/4 the price of the vette new.
* If I want to go fast with the wife, she always beats me after (in the STi which is much slower than this vette)
Also: Who cares about the interior (as long as things don’t actually break)? If you are looking at the interior you aren’t actually driving the car :)
threeer :
If you’re anywhere near Boston, you can drive mine. Seriously, I love to share my love of this car with fellow enthusiasts
50merc – I couldn’t agree more. Well said.
Yet you felt it necessary to devote 24 of them to an irrelevant and misleading slur on our country.
50merc…it’s called a ’simile’. And it’s the truth.
50merc: Hell yes.
My dad had a ‘76 ‘Vette. It squeaked more than a mouse at a cheese convention. It had an 8-track player. It rocked.
With about 300 more horses, I can see how this new ‘Vette would be a lot of fun to drive around for 1,000 miles. That said, I can’t understand why the squeaks haven’t been fixed after 30 years of development. Every other car made has found ways to eliminate them – how come not these guys?
There’s a limit on the number of words in a TTAC piece. Yet you felt it necessary to devote 24 of them to an irrelevant and misleading slur on our country.
Yet still accurate.
Just like GM, America needs to acknowledge problems and fix them, not label anyone who complains as whiny, disloyal or treasonous. Just because someone’s point doesn’t agree with your ideology doesn’t make them wrong.
Why do people insist on calling this car a “Corvette Z51″? Z51 is an option code, it simply means that the car has a stiffer suspension spring and different shocks…THAT’S IT. If it had the dual roof panel option C2L you wouldn’t call it the “Corvette C2L”. Or the “Corvette F55″ (adjustable suspension) which is acually superior to the Z51. Or the “Corvette UV6″ (HUD). I find it laughable that owners of corvettes with the Z51 option code seem to think that their car is so much different from a base model that it deserves its own designation. Perhaps it’s Z06 envy that causes this.
netrun :
The squeaks come from the removable targa top. I have never sat in another car with a similar roof (there are only a few cars produced with that kind of roof) but I would imagine they all squeak to a certain extent.
“how come not these guys?”
There’s no way a fiberglass body-on-frame car with such high performance is not going to squeak. It’s the nature of the beast.
It’s a truly American car. For many, it makes all the right tradeoffs. The foremost of which is affordability. For that, we love it. What could be more American?
Having fixed all the squeaks on my car (t-tops) I’ll give you a hint. Felt Tape. Shit does wonders. I bet if you got a $5 roll of the stuff and went around the targa with it squeaks would be gone.
At 1700rpm, the Corvette is doing exactly 68mph! I must admit I wondered about the same thing; it seemed unimaginable that it would be geared so that it was basically idling at 60 mph in sixth gear.
And on the “slur”, surely one can believe there is a failing in one’s country of residence, one’s car or one’s spouse and not be guilty of a “slur” against that thing or entity. What’s up with that? Compared to my wife, I’m a slob; when she says it, it’s not a “slur”, but the truth from her perspective.
I’ve been in and around sports cars continuously since before I could drive. My ownership history includes one Corvette, and another car derived from Corvette’s chassis and many mechanicals. One good reason Corvettes are designed for people that never will sit in a Porsche is that there are a lot of sports car drivers who do not fit in a Porsche. It’s baffling that in a world with a solid correlation between height and general affluence peaking at about 6′4″, many fairly expensive cars cannot accommodate that person’s frame.
Even if I liked the 911 (it’s not even remotely possible for me at 6′3″ to fit in a Boxster or Cayman) or thought it was a good idea to pay for the excess engineering required to compensate for locating the big weight way out back, I couldn’t comfortably drive one for more than 20 minutes. Having owned a Corvette that I drove well over 100,000 miles, much of which was accumulated five hours at a time, I am totally sold on Corvettes as long-distance machines. Five-hundred or a thousand miles in a Corvette — invigorating and refreshing. I’ve arrived at destinations less fatigued than when I left!
As for the squeaks, compare like for like. The standard Corvette is a targa. I’ve scrunched myself into the passenger seats of numerous friends’ Porsche Targas over the years and heard at least as many squeaks and rattles as any Corvette. And don’t get me started on the interior din of every 928 I’ve driven. My Corvette convertible was no chattier than a similar vintage Porsche droptop. You want fewer extraneous noises? Try a Z06. The roof isn’t detachable and guess what? It sounds like a coupe — i.e. quieter. If the Corvette driven here was shod with run-flat rubber, you’d be guaranteed some buzzing and squeaking when those rock sidewalls are combined with the stiffer bushings in the Z51 suspension.
I’m not sure where the “fake leather” is in the Corvette interior. The seating surfaces are leather and as in most cars some of the vertical seat upholstery surfaces are not. Common, if lamentable, practice for many years throughout the industry, even in more expensive cars. The touch points — steering wheel, shift knob, e-brake handle — are leather in every Vette I’ve seen recently. Plastic? Sure. Show me a car that doesn’t have plastic for some interior surfaces. You can buy more leather from the options checklist, but most people appreciate that the money went into evolving the mechanicals. We who own / have owned Corvettes really don’t see the problem. And since the car sells in market-leading numbers for its category most years, the market doesn’t either.
I don’t see the difference between fake carbon fiber and real carbon fiber for cosmetic surfaces. They both suck but the aesthetic infects numerous cars. I wish it didn’t here. Unless said carbon fiber is structural as in portions of the ZR1, it offends. At least the fake stuff costs less, leaving more for the mechanicals, and it doesn’t turn yellow.
Now clearly, a Corvette isn’t for everyone, nor should it be. It’s a far more visceral car than most people want or can assimilate. It’s a sports car so NVH will be alarming to someone socialized to sedan serenity. It appears too dramatic and low for some tastes. Such people can buy something else. It’s the very nature of sports cars to not be perfect. They are highly flavored experiences with specific trade-offs chosen by each maker, and anyone who doesn’t like extraneous noises should never buy a targa or convertible with a stiff suspension. Which means everything Jonny is complaining about is irrelevant to the sector.
Phil
After review, it seems the ‘vette was actually turning 2,400 rpm at 100 mph. Text amended.
Hahahahahaha oh Lieberman you scamp. I was wondering how many replies there would be before someone took umbrage at that last bit. I think the comparison was apt, I’ve no complaints. Hee hee I do love a scandal, thanks for getting people a little bristly.
That said, YER A DAMN AMERICA HATER saying our healthcare system doesn’t work right is a treasonous slur.
Also, despite the niggles of interior squeaks and such, I think the ‘vette is a hot hot car and would be quite happy to own one rather than a Porsche, largely out of patriotism.
Bostonian or People from Massachusetts love this car and the Mustang.
I don’t undertand why people who complain about the interior.
I mean I don’t see any bad things about the interior the NAV system is just the right size, the gauges are pretty cool, the stick is short shifter with a compartment on the passenger side.
I mean BMW doesn’t even make good interior and people buy them which I don’t understand is it the name or just status symbol.
When you buy a corvette it is not a status symbol and it means only one thing You like “fast American car”
Corvette is USA
People who drives Vettes think only one thing how fast can they go with this car.
I Like the blue covrvette better on Autoblog
BY THE WAY TOP GEAR DROVE THIS CAR AND THEY LOVE IT.
Especially Jeremy and he owns one. They never complaint about the squeaky sound doing 150 mph on their track
Brilliant Jonny. Especially the last paragraph. Glory and failure indeed.
About squeaking sound, you put a penny on the cup holder and then drive the car. every time the car hits a hole You will think that the whole car is squeaking.
Put something on the door panel a small pin and that small pin can create big sqeaking sound.
If the corvette got good quality audio system with high Bass that will make the panel to shake or make squeaking sound.
Common now FOLKS ALL CARS SQUEAKS
50 Merc: +1
Johnny L…..the flame nanny may get me, but if you could leave the political agenda on the side in these reviews, I think people would enjoy them more.
Johnny L…..the flame nanny may get me, but if you could leave the political agenda on the side in these reviews, I think people would enjoy them more.
It’s only a political agenda if you don’t agree with it.
psarhjinian said:
Where Toyota is the determined student that gets B+’s and A-’s across the board, GM’s the flighty genius that splits between a few A+’s in the subjects it cares about, a fleet of C-’s and more than a few D’s in those where it barely shows up to class.
I do not agree.
Toyota still gets more A+’s. Just that GM’s A+’s are more noticeable in a sea of C-’s.
People tend to over-emphasis a bad student’s potential, while equating hardworking to lack of ingenuity. That’s a very common, and wrong, stereotype. There are many hardworking genius out there. Toyota is one of them.
God Help Me! I’m going to agree with Phil.
The Corvette is a great car. Sure there are things to quibble about, and there are real faults, but none of the quibbles or even the faults diminish the functionality of the car.
Dollar for Dollar, Yen, or Euro, nothing else out there outperforms the vette. Although I’m a Euro-car guy, I’d still love a Vette, even knowing all the things I would’nt like about it.
We forgive old English cars their electrical systems and their oil leaks, and we forgive the Italian cars their “ain’t gonna run today” foibles, and the Japanese cars their lack of soul.
Sure, she may rattle a little, but she’ll still beat your time around the Ring, unless you took at least 75K more out of your bank account first.
Finally, at the end of the day is this old truth:
If you laid all the girls who’ve been picked up in a Porsche end to end, the line would stretch half way around the world…. but you couldn’t lay all the girls who’ve been picked up in Corvettes.
‘Nuff said.
Mark: How is that political? American schools produce the best doctors in the world, hands down, and 40,000,000+ Americans do not have health insurance.
That’s a statement of fact.
Lokki: I’m with Phil, too.
I did give it four stars, after all.
I would like to report abuse. All caps is YELLING.
Next QOTD: Top 10 things you can tell about some one who types in all caps on a web forum. Flame nanny be darned.
Lacking health insurance does not disqualify you from seeing a doctor, so the statement is just inaccurate.
There are 1,001 programs uninsured people have to access healthcare, and all of them are free or cheaper than the health insurance we unlucky saps have to pay for.
Otherwise, thanks for the review.
you don’t need a blower to approach z06 power levels.
Even the olde tymey LS1 in the C5 could hit 500 hp with bolt ons, heads and cams (~$5000).
How tall can you be and still fit in a vette. I am 6′4″ and the last time I sat in one I was badly scrunched. I certainly couldn’t drive it. Not sure what performance car I do fit in, really.
Casual Observer: Ah ha ha ha ha ha!
great review, jonny. the doctor thing is interesting. at first i was annoyed that you were going off topic but then i realized that it was a perfect analogy. our country has just spent 8 years equating criticism with anti-americanism. time we got over it…
back to the corvette thing… does anyone know if there are any companies that specialize in upgrading the interior of a corvette at a reasonable cost? there are so many after market tuners boosting the mechanicals but i’ve never read anything about just upgrading the interior.
the last time I sat in one I was badly scrunched. I certainly couldn’t drive it. Not sure what performance car I do fit in, really.
My brother-in-law was visiting and needed to use a car. He is 6′-5″ and said he would prefer not to drive our weeks-old BMW, but would take my wife’s S2000 instead. He sort-of got into the car and started laughing – he couldn’t get his knees below the dashboard because the space between the seatback and the dash was shorter than the distance from his butt to his knee. The S2000 is a great car as well, but if you’re much over 6′-0″ or long-legged, look elsewhere.
Jonny made a good point, by the way. He gave the ‘vette four stars and I’d count that a thumbs up. I would never have considered any previous-generation Corvette as they just looked too big. The current model is gorgeous and every car has its compromises, even the hallowed 911.
@phil
It’s baffling that in a world with a solid correlation between height and general affluence…..
Is that true? Damn, 6′2″ and I’m still rollin’ in a 5 year old car. Thanks for the bring down.
“If you laid all the girls who’ve been picked up in a Porsche end to end, the line would stretch half way around the world…. but you couldn’t lay all the girls who’ve been picked up in Corvettes.”
But, God, would I like to try.