What’s set America apart from the rest of the world is a bigness that stops just short of overkill, a physical, spiritual and emotional craving for all things grandiose, dramatic and exceptional.

We love the majestic, the sensational and the spectacular. We conceive of and create what the rest of the world never could:

The Grand Canyon.
Fourth of July fireworks.
The New York skyline.
The Quarter Pounder.
The space program.
Bruce Springsteen.

The rest of the world buys fuel in liters, we buy it by the gallon, even if costs three bucks each.

If you’re American, Making a Statement matters.

I say that because sitting in my driveway as I write this is a bright red 2005 Chevrolet Corvette convertible, 400 horsepower and 3,199 pounds of sound and fury signifying everything that matters about American values and sensibilities.

It is Big in the classic American sense of the word.

It’s not physically large, mind you — it’s actually slightly smaller than the previous-generation Corvette — but for what it is, what it does and what it says, it’s a monster.

It’s the fastest production Corvette ever made, with a top speed of 186 miles per hour. Zero to 60 mph acceleration takes just 4.3 seconds and it will blast down a quarter-mile dragstrip in 12.6 seconds at 114 mph.

With its blindingly bright victory red paint and matching interior, it has all the subtlety and understatement of a Victoria’s Secret lingerie model at a convention of elementary-school teachers.

Thanks to its optional Z51 performance package, with steamroller-sized Goodyear tires, cross-drilled four-wheel disc brakes and special suspension parts, it handles like a race car, with absurdly high levels or cornering and braking capability.

And with the top down and your right-foot buried to the floor on a heat-thick Southern summer night, it imbues one with an almost limitless sense of the possible as the speedometer blurs towards triple digits.

This car is the ultimate emotional amphetamine, a high-octane shot of raw electricity delivered straight to the adrenal gland. Keep the hammer down and you’ll be slapped back in the seat and upside the head. And I guaran-damn-tee you you’ll smile. Big.

And as messed up as the American automobile industry is right now — and it’s messed up on a lot of levels — the new Corvette is proof positive that GM can still build phenomenal cars when it tries. If the typical European and Japanese sports cars are target pistols, the Corvette is a double-barrel 12-gauge shotgun.

The 2005 Corvette is the sixth-generation of the fabled American icon, known in ‘Vette shorthand as C6. Though all-new, compared to its forebears, the C6 features both and evolutionary and revolutionary changes.

The good news starts under the hood with the new LS2 small-block motor. The aluminum-block 6.0-liter engine produces both 400 horsepower and 400 foot-pounds of torque, with a wide power band.

The long and short of it is this engine always seems to be in the sweet spot of the horsepower range and it pulls authoritatively. It feels and sounds exactly like a Corvette engine should.

Mated to this great engine is a vastly improved Tremec 6-speed manual gearbox with shifter throws that are 10 percent shorter than in previous Corvettes.

Unfortunately, it still has the silly 1-4 shift at low speed — under light throttle, the transmission shifts directly from first to fourth gear to generate better fuel mileage numbers.

Three suspension packages are offered on the C6 ‘Vette, the base package, which is plenty good in most applications; the F55 Magnetic Selective Ride Control, which features magneto-rheological dampers able to detect road surfaces and adjust the damping rates to those surfaces almost instantly for optimal ride control; and the Z51 Performance Package, which was on our test car.

All three chassis packages come standard with anti-lock braking, traction control and active handling to help the car stay pointed in the right direction under hard driving.

I’ve driven many Corvettes over the years and this one had by far the best balance of exceptional handling and acceptable comfort. The C6 corners like it’s on rails, but no longer does one have to tolerate a kidney-punishing ride to get the grip.

A word to the wise: The C6 ‘Vette has phenomenally high levels of road holding. If you lose control of it though, chances are that it will be at a speed high enough to do severe damage. It can handle most ham-fisted drivers, but, alas, even the C6 cannot overcome the laws of physics — it just lulls you into thinking it can.

In terms of styling, the C6 draws high marks. It’s five inches shorter and an inch narrower than the C5 and as a result looks more purposeful and less bloated than the old model.

The fact that the C6 is the first ‘Vette since 1962 not to have hideaway headlights initially was controversial, but in truth is no big deal. The new design works, plain and simple.

The interior is even more of a quantum leap forward.

Cleaned up, toned down and with higher-quality materials than before, the Corvette finally has an interior that’s up to par with the car’s mechanical bits. Believe it or not, you can actually order the Corvette with OnStar and, for the first time, an onboard navigation system.

Personally, given the speeds at which this four-wheel rocket ship can fly, I find the value of nav system debatable at best, but, hey, to each, his or her own.

Despite the diminutive size of the C6, head and leg room is excellent, and the trunk will swallow two golf bags or enough luggage for a getaway weekend. The optional power top is a breeze to operate. The only bummer is that the Corvette sits so low that it’s difficult to get in and out of for those of us no longer in our twenties. Or thirties.

The bottom line?

There aren’t enough superlatives to describe the all-new2005 Chevrolet Corvette. Its performance is as spectacular as it is remarkable, and its utility is greatly improved. It is a triumph of American-car vision and execution, a car that could not be made anywhere else but right here.

And that’s not all, folks.

For 2006, the Z06 Corvette will return, this time with a 427-cubic-inch, 505-horsepower engine. Heaven help us all when that bad boy rumbles down Main Street, U.S.A.

Scorecard: 2005 CHEVROLET CORVETTE CONVERTIBLE
BASE PRICE/AS TESTED: $51,445/$61,205
ENGINE: 6.0-liter V-8
HORSEPOWER: 400
TORQUE: 400 foot-pounds
WEIGHT: 3,199 pounds
ZERO TO 60 MPH: 4.3 seconds
¼-MILE: 12.6 seconds/114 mph
TOP SPEED: 186 mph
FUEL MILEAGE: 18 city/28 highway

(this article was taken from speedtv.com)

This entry was posted on Monday, August 22nd, 2005 at 9:43 am and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.