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The Clarkson review: Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible (2014)

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#1 ·
The Clarkson review: Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible (2014)
You betcha, Hank, this beauty really can do corners
The Sunday Times
By Jeremy Clarkson
Published 28th July 2014

Corvettes have always been good-looking but this one is a masterpiece. Yes, it has four huge exhaust tailpipes and a bonnet that’s more sculpted than the Himalayas. So I’ll agree it’s childish, but what’s wrong with that? The Lamborghini Aventador is childish. The Ferrari 458 Italia is childish. The Jaguar F-type is childish. And the Stingray looks as good as any of them. Better, in fact, from some angles. It’s one of the most beautifully proportioned cars I’ve seen.

Under the skin it’s like a greatest-hits album. Because what Chevrolet has done is to take all of what’s good from the best of Europe and Japan and put it in its car. It has the same sort of unpronounceable suspension and electronic differential that you get in Ferraris, the same sort of throttle-blipping technology that you get in a Nissan 370Z, the same sort of head-up display that you get in a BMW M5 and a system that shuts down half of the cylinders when they’re not needed. The same as you get in a Bentley.

With all eight cylinders engaged, the bellow when you accelerate is intoxicating, and this is a car that behaves like a Mercedes SLS. It’s happy only when there’s 40 degrees of opposite lock up front, a grinning driver in the middle and enough smoke pouring off the rear tyres to hide a battleship.

A similarly quick Ferrari will cost more than twice as much, so £64,540 for a 180mph convertible that looks this good and drives this well is still the bargain of the century. I mean, a Jaguar F-type V8 is almost £16,000 more, for heaven’s sake. And I’m sorry but it’s not as good.

*Full Article at Link
 
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#2 ·
The C7 clearly brings the WOW factor back to the Vette line.
 
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#3 ·
Kerbeck haas five grand off stingray z51 convertibles.......but not the z51 coupes...

I think the awesome yet polarizing styling of the coupe is grabbing more buyers...

Stunning new generation corvtte.
 
#27 ·
Kerbeck haas five grand off stingray z51 convertibles.......but not the z51 coupes...
They have a lot more convertibles in stock than coupes, and the convertible buying season is rapidly coming to a close here in the Northeast... Not to mention, so is the end of the model year, and they have to get those 2014 convertibles moving. The coupes will sell all through the fall & winter...

The jabbing at America is getting old. I know he's being playful. I get the schtick. It used to be enjoyable but now its just dumb. And I'm a fan of British humor/comedy and a fan of Clarkson. As Americans have become more worldly the last 20 or 30 years, the old stigmas from across the globe haven't changed. Now the shoe is on the other foot.
It's like a comedian who tells the same joke for 30 years; It's simply not funny any more. I like a little more wit in my wit...

Plus you can't dislike a guy who punched Piers Morgan.
This is true... But let's not give him too much credit. It's the duty of any sane individual to punch Piers Morgan square in the face, if given the chance.

It's as if Americans couldn't put it together without looking for help from the Europeans.

As far as the suspension... MRC? GM. Differential, no idea.
Throttle-blipping? No idea what he's talking about unless it's rev matching which, okay, fine.
HUD? Pretty sure that's a GM first, too.
Cylinder deactivation? Pretty that's a GM first, too.

The entire article is a left-handed compliment meant to begrudgingly compliment a car he has no choice but to.
This was my take on the article as well. Just give the beer drinking, bible thumping, gun toting American cavemen credit for at least introducing some of the technological advances that are part of making the Corvette so extraordinary, instead of simply stating that the European supercars use similar systems and inferring that they had invented them.
 
#4 ·
I've been waiting to see if this review would ever happen.

I'm really amazed that Clarkson said the new F-Type isn't as good as the Stingray. He loved the Corvette, but just couldn't bring himself to give it 5 stars.

Can't wait to see the review on Top Gear.
 
#5 ·
The jabbing at America is getting old. I know he's being playful. I get the schtick. It used to be enjoyable but now its just dumb. And I'm a fan of British humor/comedy and a fan of Clarkson. As Americans have become more worldly the last 20 or 30 years, the old stigmas from across the globe haven't changed. Now the shoe is on the other foot.

Now, if GM could only but 80% of the effort they put into the Stingray into EVERYTHING they produce, they'd have something.
 
#8 ·
Meh, I usually get a good laugh about it. We still joke that the Brits are stuffy, and have bad teeth and bad food.

My favorite quip of his was when he was reviewing a ZR1 after a 458.

"This 458 engine is made by highly trained Italian mechanics from Maranello. And this Corvette engine is made by a fat man in Kentucky."

Then while enjoying driving the ZR1: "Nice job fat man from Kentucky!"

Plus you can't dislike a guy who punched Piers Morgan.
 
#10 ·
Corvette in USA is a steal for what you get. Driving it you can't miss it.

Mine just got 28.0 on a tank (roadtrip) where it was almost entirely cruise set at 81, w/occasional blasts up to get around stuff.
w/the ac, seat coolers & radio on.
 
#11 ·
Naturally, behind the hi-tech exterior some things remain resolutely backward. The gearbox is mounted at the back for better weight distribution, but it comes with the traditional Corvette weak synchro crunchiness when you’re going into second or third. You also get a pushrod engine with just two valves per cylinder, because four is communist. And the body is still fibreglass because carbon fibre is a pinko plot. So, yes, it’s a Silicon Valley software geek, but it still knows how to kill a deer.

He has to mentioned that:D:D.
Isn't 7 speed gearbox a new one? What is this "synchro crunchiness" between second and third mentioned above?
 
#13 ·
He liked the car, though I find that many European car fans (European as in that is where they are from) are heavily biased against American and Australian cars. He tries to give credit for many features of the C7 to Europeans. It is as if he doesn't know that the magnetic shocks were a GM design, that this new diff. is an all GM piece of hardware. That the Corvette has had a HUD since the C5 era which means 1997 and that GM has a pretty long history with cylinder deactivation going back to the Cadillac Allante. Though I have seen them do this to other performance cars even some made by Japan try to give all of the credit to the British. It is a bit silly if you ask me that they seem to have to do this.
 
#19 ·
He still gave the car 4/5 stars after saying it was the bargain of the century and the next nearest sports car costs 16,000 more and isn't as good. Crazy brit, he's either the most strict reviewer on the planet or being American was worth -1 point. All the communist talk made me laugh though.
 
#23 ·
Why does the Corvette and other American cars cost so much more in Europe? Does the price include the Value Added Tax, if so this still doesn't make up the difference. Why not sell it at the same profit margin and let a lot more Europeans enjoy the car?

While I'm at it, why not make right hand drive versions of cars sold in the UK and other countries where they drive on the other side of the road? It just doesn't seem GM is committed to selling the Corvette, or any other vehicle in these countries.
 
#24 ·
I mean, a Jaguar F-type V8 is almost £16,000 more, for heaven’s sake. And I’m sorry but it’s not as good.
No worries. In five years the Jag will be worth half as much.
 
#32 ·
The C7 is what the general is capable of doing when it decides to make only the best. It should be the benchmark for every damn car in the GM empire. Just a magnificent piece of engineering.
 
#43 ·
waiting for the first idiot who says 'but still nobody buys Corvettes'
 
#47 ·
J Clarkson raved about the C6 Z06 as well.
 
#48 ·
"This 458 engine is made by highly trained Italian mechanics from Maranello. And this Corvette engine is made by a fat man in Kentucky."

Then while enjoying driving the ZR1: "Nice job fat man from Kentucky!"



While trying to be funny, Mr. Clarkson botches the joke. Although installed into the ZR1 at Bowling Green, Kentucky; the LS9 was hand-built at The Performance Build Center in Wixom, Michigan. Fat man or otherwise. Cheers!!
 
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