Worth every penny

A quick take on my 2006 Corvette convertible that I have now had for approximately two weeks and just under 1000 miles--400 of which were a trip from Sacramento to Los Angeles. The car lives up to the rave reviews. I have owned two prior model Corvettes--a 2000 coupe and a 2001 convertible. Although those were both nice cars, the 2006 is a vastly improved machine.

First, the looks---as is evident from the photos, GM did a great job in improving the looks by shortening the length of the car by 5 inches, and taking another inch off of the width, all without giving up any interior space. The wheelbase was lengthened an inch, which helps contribute to the very comfortable ride.

Speaking of comfort, the seats on the 2006 are quite comfortable--not the most comfortable seats I have ever driven in, but better than most--you can easily drive all day and be less stiff and sore than you would with most other cars.

The car drives absolutely fantastic. You feel totally confident in taking corners at unbelievable speed--and yet it is smooth enough to use as a daily commuter. This car also gets decent gas mileage--on my 400 mile trip from Sacramento to Los Angeles I averaged just under 27 mpg--with an average speed of around 75 mph. BTW, my car has the 6 speed automatic with paddle shifters, and it works quite well--smooth shifts for normal driving, and more aggressive shifts in sport mode during more aggressive driving. My only complaint with the way the car drives is that it is not very nimble--it drives like a car much bigger than it is--you really have to manhandle it to get it to perform.

I have a few quibbles:

The interior--although better than past Corvettes, it has a long way to go for a car in this price range (Mine was $61000--a $2265 discount off of the MSRP of $63265. By way of comparison, the interior on my other car--a 2006 Subaru Outback--blows away the Corvette--and its price was only half that of the Corvette. The dash and center console in the Corvette still look too plasticy, and the leather on the seats--although it looks okay--gives the impression that it will not wear well.

The Steering Wheel--this is my biggest gripe. Supposedly the Steering wheel for the 2006 models is better than that on the 2005--the 2006 wheel is smaller. Even so, it still feels too big, and, more importantly, it is slippery as all get out, which is not a good thing for such an otherwise sporty car---again, by way of comparison, the steering wheel on my Subaru Outback looks and feels much more sporty, and has gobs more grip.

The Radio/Nav--My car has the Navigation system, which works well. One very very cool feature is that it is integrated with the heads up display, so you see turns coming up on the HUD--very very cool indeed. But the system has the radio/cd player integrated into it, which means you must use the NAV touchscreen to set/change radio stations--and the icons on the screen are too small--you must hit them exactly right or nothing happens, and it is extremely distracting to try to nail one of these things while driving--a much better setup would be to do as most cars in this range have been doing for years--integrate controls for the stereo into the steering wheel.

Run Flat Tires--this is my final gripe---although the car rides reasonably well, the run flat tires are very very noisy. I don't hear them when I drive with the top down, which is most of the time, but on those occasions that dictate top up driving, the road noise from the tires (especially the rears) is horrendous.

Although the car could be improved with some rather simple and inexpensive changes, as outlined above, overall it is still an incredible value. The performance of the engine and transmission is almost unbelievable, the car looks and drives great--it truly is an American Icon.

I will update this post in a few months after I have some more miles on the car--for now, I think that this car, although expensive, is really a bargain considering
what you get.

UPDATE: I NOW HAVE APPROXIMATELY 3,000 MILES ON THE CORVETTE AND HAVE FORMED A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CAR. HERE ARE MY OBSERVATIONS:

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE WAY THIS CAR DRIVES--IT NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME THE WAY GM HAS MARRIED INCREDIBLE HANDLING WITH A DECENT RIDE THAT DOES NOT BEAT YOU UP. ALSO, THE SEATS ARE VERY COMFORTABLE--THIS IS A GREAT CAR FOR A LONG TRIP.

THE THING I "HATE" THE MOST ABOUT THIS CAR IS THAT THE SEATBACK ADJUSTMENT IS MANUAL---THE SEAT BOTTOM GETS POWER ADJUSTMENT, BUT THE SEATBACK REMAINS MANUAL--IT IS EXTREMELY IRRITATING--NOT TO MENTION DANGEROUS--TO BE DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD AND HAVE TO TRY TO WORK THE LEVER AND MOVE THE SEATBACK JUST ENOUGH TO MOVE ONLY ONE ADJUSTMENT NOTCH--A CAR IN THIS PRICE RANGE SHOULD HAVE POWER SEATBACKS.

ANOTHER ONE OF MY "HATES" IS THE NAVIGATION SYSTEM. IT IS MEDIOCRE IN PERFORMANCE AND CAUSES A GREAT DEAL OF ANXIETY/STRESS WHILE DRIVING BECAUSE THE RADIO PRE-SETS ARE INTEGRATED INTO THE NAV SCREEN. THE PRESET ICONS ARE SO SMALL ON THE TOUCH-SCREEN THAT IT IS LIKE THREADING A NEEDLE WHILE DRIVING TO TRY TO HIT THE RIGHT ONE--AND THIS EXERCISE IS FURTHER EXACERBATED IN TOP-DOWN DRIVING IF THE SUN IS OUT BECAUSE THE ENTIRE SCREEN BECOMES WASHED OUT BY THE SUN.

IN SUMMARY, I STILL THINK THIS CAR IS WORTH EVERY PENNY--ALTHOUGH IF I COULD DO IT OVER I WOULD SCRATCH THE NAV AND SAVE A GOOD DEAL OF FRUSTRATION IN TRYING TO CHANGE RADIO STATIONS.