Vehicle Reviews
2008 Chevrolet Corvette
The great American sports car. edited by Mitch McCullough
Driving Impressions
The Chevrolet Corvette is a lot of fun to drive in any iteration. The LS3 V8 engine sounds great, and its low, throaty roar is accompanied by thrilling acceleration. Stand on the gas and even the automatic will chirp the rear tires when it shifts into second.
The LS3 V8 has been updated for 2008 from last year's LS2. It now displaces 6.2 liters (376 cubic inches) and generates 430 horsepower and 424 pound-feet of torque. To put this in perspective, that's 25 hp more than the previous-generation Z06 engine.
The Corvette can accelerate from 0-60 mph in 4.2 seconds and cover the standing quarter-mile in 12.5 seconds. That's quicker than a Porsche 911 Carrera or Jaguar XK8 and comparable to a Ferrari F430. There's lots of torque at all engine speeds, and throttle response is even more willing for 2008. Stand on the gas and the Vette goes. The 2008 Corvette can lap a racing circuit nearly as quickly as the old Z06, and it boasts a top speed of 190 mph. We haven't experienced 190 mph, but on a tight racing circuit we found the current Corvette much easier to drive than older models. Today's Corvette is easier to drive hard in the turns, braking hard, then powering out under hard acceleration.
The Corvette is happy cruising around, as well. It gets an EPA-rated 16/26 mpg City/Highway with the manual, 15/25 mpg with the automatic.
The six-speed automatic and six-speed manual are each appealing in their own right, so choosing between them comes down to priorities and personal preference. We're here to tell you the manual is a viable option as a daily driver. It shifts easily and the clutch is easy to operate smoothly. For fuel economy purposes, Chevrolet includes a mechanism that forces you to shift from first to fourth gear when accelerating slowly. We find this annoying, but adjusted to it. This fuel-economy strategy can be avoided by revving higher and waiting longer to shift. Fifth and sixth gears are both overdrives, again to improve fuel efficiency. Shifting through the gears is a lot of fun and it's easy to brake and downshift using the heel-and-toe method when approaching a corner (actually by braking with the ball of the foot and blipping the throttle with the right side of the foot). In short, it's a modern, easy-to-operate manual; we'd own one.
The automatic is best for commuting in stop-and-go traffic, and it gives up little to the manual in performance. The Paddle Shift automatic offers manual shifting via steering-wheel levers and an electronic controller with more computing power than the typical PC had 10 years ago. The relatively close ratios offer good performance and smoothness by allowing the engine to run at optimal rpm more often. First gear has a high ratio, delivering impressive acceleration off the line. Yet both fifth and sixth are overdrive gears, allowing quiet cruising and good highway mileage. If ever a sporting car were suited for an automatic transmission, it's the Corvette, with its big, torquey V8. The automatic does not sap all the fun out of driving the way automatics do in small sports cars with small engines. It's responsive to the driver's intent, shifting hard and fast when you're getting with the program, but shifting smooth and soft when cruising.
In the handling department, the Corvette is agile and easy to toss around, benefits of its light weight, trim proportions and refined suspension. The coupe weighs a trim 3,217 pounds. Three suspensions are available.
We liked the standard suspension and would not hesitate to order a Corvette so equipped. Ride quality of the C6 is firm but quite pleasant, not harsh. It offers great handling, even on a racing circuit. There's almost no body lean when cornering hard. In short, the cheapest, most basic Corvette is a great car.
The Z51 package makes the Corvette even more fun on a race track. Z51 is a substantial upgrade that includes special brakes, shocks, springs, anti-roll bars, gear ratios and tires. The Z51 setup offers excellent grip in fast sweepers, with just the right amount of body lean. We found it easy to roll on the power coming out of the turns. It can generate 0.98g on the skid pad, quite a bit more than the standard suspension's 0.92g. With the Z51, you feel and hear bumps more (Thwack!) and there's more road vibration in the cockpit, but it's quite livable. Around town, we found it handled bumpy neighborhood streets well and didn't feel harsh. For competition or hard driving on back roads, a serious enthusiast would prefer the Z51, but most drivers will be perfectly happy with the standard suspension and will never feel like they're missing out.
The F55 Magnetic Selective Ride Control covers both ends of the spectrum, offering the best of both worlds. The driver can switch between Touring and Sport modes, each of which adjusts shock damping automatically according to driving conditions. In the Touring mode, the suspension varies damping from very soft when poking along to something close to Z51 stiffness when driven hard. These adjustments in damping happen very rapidly; and a similar setup is used on Ferrari's most expensive models. Touring mode felt a little softer to us than the standard suspension on a country road. It filters vibration well, but it verged on feeling a tad floaty in some situations. Switching to Sport mode raises the floor (but not the ceiling) in terms of firmness, so you feel road vibration more. Still, it's not harsh. All in all, Magnetic Selective Ride Control is a great setup. It comes with fade- and moisture-resistant cross-drilled brake rotors. Choosing between the standard and electronic suspensions is stressful only because they give us a choice. If they gave us one or the other, we'd be perfectly happy. True performance junkies will prefer the Z51 setup.
The brakes are smooth, progressive and easy to modulate. The Corvette is very stable under hard braking and it doesn't get unsettled when braking and turning at the same time. Be advised, however, that the engine has so much power that the rear end can break loose if the gas is applied too hard in a turn.
The Z06 is the most powerful production Corvette ever, boasting 505 horsepower. Its LS7 V8 displaces 7.0 liters, or 427 cubic inches, just like the famous 427 Vettes of the late '60s. Yet the original 427s were big-block engines. While the LS7 generates big block torque (470 pound-feet), it's actually a small block V8, so it's lighter and much more compact than the original 427s. Yes, it's still an overhead-valve engine, and in certain respects it has more in common with a heavy-duty Silverado pickup than a Ferrari. Yet the LS7 is impressively tuned and highly refined. The Z06 features a host of racing technologies that enhance durability, including dry sump engine lubrication and separate cooling systems for the oil, power steering, rear axle and six-speed manual transmission.
The springs and shocks in the Z06 suspension are about 15 percent stiffer than those with the optional Z51 performance suspension for the standard Corvette. The cross-drilled brake rotors are larger, with high-performance six-piston calipers in front and four-piston calipers in the rear. The Z06 has a fixed roof, rather than a removable panel like the standard coupe, for a bit more overall structural stiffness. Its frame is made entirely of lightweight aluminum and magnesium, rather than high-strength steel, and its fenders are lightweight carbon fiber rather than fiberglass. As a result, the Z06 is substantially lighter than the standard Corvette coupe, even though its engine, transmission and other super high-performance components are substantially heavier.
The Z06 might be the best supercar value in high-performance automotive history: 0-60 mph in 3.7 seconds, 11.7-second quarter mile, 200-mph top speed, and 1.04 g constant lateral grip, according to Chevrolet. These numbers surpass those generated by European sports cars that cost twice as much as the Z06 during clearance sales, and all but a handful of low-volume, $500,000-plus specials built in small workshops around the world. And here's the real stunner: The Z06 does all that with nothing more than a slightly stiff ride on really bad roads when driven around town. There's nothing finicky in this monster. Yet, with impressive EPA mileage numbers of 15 mpg city and 24 highway, the Z06 doesn't even get a Gas Guzzler Tax.
Still, the standard Corvette is easier to live with every day than the Z06, with a smoother ride on rough roads and a lighter clutch pedal.
