Corvette Stingrays in the Desert - A Roadtrip Experience

The thought struck me today to share about a recent experience I had in the new Corvette Stingray - similar to what I posted on the Corvette Forum. It's a car that now truly stands in the competitive set with Ferraris and other exclusive SuperCars, regardless of price. Plus, I'm on a 4+ hour flight, so I'll warn you right now - this is going to be a long one. If you don't have time to read my proverbial novel-like writing style, well check out now and come back when you've got that glass of wine, cup of coffee, etc. 'Cuz here I go in stream of consciousness form on my iPad from seat 7C.
So please excuse my amateur nature - I'm a driver, not a journalist...

As many of you know, I don't get much time to spend out here on the FC site anymore. Trust me, I wish I could as I miss it here but life has become so busy... But apparently not so busy as to avoid sharing said impressions of a road trip in the new Corvette Stingray.

I am currently serving as one of the pro-drivers and presenters on the Corvette Stingray launch program at Spring Mountain and hope to see some of you from the dealerships across the country (if I haven't already) soon as you come to the program. Truly, I have met some great people in the week the program has been stood up.

There are plenty of people that are or will be talking about the excellent performance of the new Stingray, so I won't focus on that here even though it would be easy to do so. Of course it's good - it's a Corvette! What I want to share is an experience that I had the other day when we needed to "mile up" some of the cars to get them closer, if not past their proper break-in point of 500 miles. As you can imagine, when they asked for volunteers to drive the car(s) on public roads to mile them up, several of us drivers were more than ready to take on this extracurricular activity. Payment for the duty was getting to take a 4-hour cruise in one of these new cars on the street with a great group of people; and getting the nice surprise of having the dinner tab picked-up (thanks again Todd & Vic!) That was more than enough for every one of us, trust me. But I digress...

When I first arrived in Pahrump, I knew that it was a desert town, having been to the track before. This day was typical. It was hot, dry, dusty and breezy on the afternoon that we left for our journey. We left Pahrump and headed even deeper into the desert with our destination being Death Valley in 8 similarly configured Stingrays of various colors; almost all of them 3LT (highest trim level) and Z51 with the NPP dual-mode exhaust options. I had the pleasure of driving a Laguna Blue car with a Brownstone Napa leather interior, albeit needing a wash job on the outside due to said dust.

Having owned, raced, taught & coached others, and provided some development feedback on previous generation Corvettes, the majority of my experience in these cars has been on track. Even my own street Corvettes spent at least 50% of their lives with me on a track somewhere. So I was very curious about how this car would perform as a street car, having spent all my time in the newest version on a track or performance course somewhere on the Spring Mountain property or at VIR.

We set off while the sun was still relatively high over the surrounding mountains at around 6:30pm local time. Having never been very far away from the track, much less on a road trip to Death Valley, I have been quite impressed with the scenery and this was no different. The glorious view of the sun setting amongst the clouds over the mountains in the desert gives one a good idea where the 'majesty' word comes from in that so-familiar song. The road, while paved can be relatively narrow yet remains unfettered by abundant traffic. This allowed us all to really enjoy the beauty of cruising in such a fine machine.

I can tell you this: I didn't get 30 minutes into the drive before thinking "$#|+, I'm in trouble!" This car is NICE!! The new seats are not just supportive, they are incredibly comfortable! The ventilated seat option is downright awesome and has me willing to move up to the 3LT package from the lighter weight and significantly less expensive 1LT trim level that I thought is all I'd want; thinking simply about performance. The interior is truly driver-centric and I felt very connected to the vehicle in more ways than simple driving feel. The interior quality rivals, if not exceeds that of the comparison cars we have in the program that are of German heritage. When you sit in the Stingray and look around, you might as well be sitting in a European or Japanese car of the highest caliber. What once was purely a performance car that gave up much in the way of interior experience is now authentically world-class. The Napa leather has a nice suede look and feel. The dash is finely finished in a leather like, or leather material depending on what section you touch. And that touch is of very high quality. If it looks aluminum, carbon fiber, or leather - it IS. There is no posing going on here.

The wrap-around experience that the driver perceives feels less like a cockpit of an aircraft and more like a luxury refined, fully appointed race car. The passenger has their own climate controls easily within their reach on their side of the dash - again speaking very clearly that this is a driver's car. The seats are multi-way adjustable beyond the simple fore-aft, up-down, and recline. There's power bolster (yes!) and lumbar adjustments, as well as the front and back of the seat bottom can be raised or lowered independently. Many German manufacturers believe it should be enough to simply lift the back of the seat when you pull on the button to raise the seat, resulting in a higher viewpoint from simply tilting one forward. Sorry, but in my opinion, that just sucks. The Stingray seat allows much more customization of seating position to get even the most picky driver (guess who?) happy with their piloting position.

The console is fully featured and yet it doesn't follow the so-often found trend of what I call a "button fest." It's relatively easy to find what you want without having to take your attention from the road for too long. It seems other brands result in searching for the infamous needle in a haystack represented by a sea of buttons. The new navigation system is beautiful compared to what Corvette or previous generation GM cars have had. The MyLink system screen is also customizable by simply long-tapping followed by a drag-n-drop. Very intuitive and it's about time a car manufacturer finally got this. How long has our other info devices been doing it that way?

Not all is heavenly in the world according to Chuck with regards to the new Stingray though - please don't get me wrong; I'm not being compensated or enticed to write all these praises. In fact I'm taking this up on my own accord and no one outside of you, the reader and me even know that I'm penning this. With that being said, I'll be honest when I say that while the audio system looks pretty; the sound quality leaves a good bit for me to desire. Many people will say that the audio system should be the exhaust note (and damn this car's exhaust note is AWESOME!) or that they are not an audiophile and it doesn't really matter to them. Well, I am an audiophile with a history in the industry of recording arts and high-end consumer gear (another chapter of my life...)

The car I was driving had the 10-speaker audio system that includes a sub-woofer mounted in a 15 liter box. Apparently, the designers did not take time to do any math around acoustically fitting the sub to the payload area, or tuning it to its cabinet size. That or they must have simply thought bigger is better and that's it. The system, with tone controls set flat sounds enormously boomy and the bass response is as floppy and inaccurate as a bowl of el-dente noodles. If you like big, blurry bass to the point that your license plate holder is rattling loud enough to be heard inside the car, or you're one of those people who immediately and automatically turn up the bass without even listening to the system and no regard for anything else in the song that's on, then you might enjoy this system. I ended up turning the bass down about 1/2 to 2/3 of its adjustable range and it still sounded boomy and inaccurate to me. Any lower than that and it immediately went anemic. Last week, a GM engineer told me that the audio team wanted more space for their boom box sub but were told no. Good call... I can't imagine what they were thinking.

I did get in a different car at the track that did not have the boom-box sub option and its system sounded adequate. Not fantastic but better than the more expensive system with the sub.

To be fair, the system does give you lots of source options (3 USB ports) and a confusing array of sound modes (normal, driver, etc.) There is no CD player, showing that GM is staying with the times. I still like a CD player for simplicity and because I'm too lazy to convert my huge library but there's an SD card slot in the center console that will allow one to take many CD's worth of music in the space of a postage stamp, so no complaints from me here. All this while being fairly simple to operate via the MyLink touch screen. As well, it did a nice job of seamlessly integrating with my iPod right on-screen. I spent no appreciable time listening to traditional AM or FM radio, so I can't speak to those abilities.

I took my 5th gen iPod Touch along with me on the trip so I could switch between satellite radio and my own tunes. I am also a person with what I consider to be no musical taste - I like it all. On my trip I listened to everything from Barenaked Ladies to Train, to Warren Haynes (how could I NOT listen to 'Man in Motion'?) to Shpongle, as well as Indian and Western classical. Once the bass was somewhat in control, it was reasonably tolerable. For the price of this vehicle, I was left wanting in this one area of sound quality. Sorry but I just have to be honest here...

Back to a more positive note... As the sun set over the mountains, it created an almost Monet mosaic in the sky that was befitting of why we were there. I used the Driver Mode Selector to put the car in Eco mode, shifted up to 7th gear and turned on those glorious ventilated seats as we set our speed around 70 or so MPH. The two-way radio chatter between the cars didn't take long to center on a topic of how we were getting close to, if not over 30MPG! This is a world-class sports car with performance that rivals most Supercars and we're comfortable as a baby being rocked while getting econo-box fuel economy. For the price of about 1/2 or less of one of those other Supercars (notice I said other..) How can you not love this?! Amazing!

There was one long lonely stretch that was too enticing for us to not squeak up the speed a little. I was curious what the HUD would read with the car in 7th gear at 2000 RPM. 94MPH - at 2000 RPM!! No wonder this car is getting such great fuel economy. And with so many gears to choose from, you're never left wanting for any situation you might encounter. To be honest, I even slid it into 7th in town at around 40MPH - and the car just took it in stride. That's what I'm talking about! An honest to goodness everyday driver Supercar!

Once we started entering the mountains, needless to say the elevation began to climb, as did the incline but there was no less feeling of power. One thing that did reduce was the width of the road as well as its straightness (if that's a real word.) At no point did I feel insecure about the car's ability to safely negotiate a very thin piece of twisty road with NO run-off in many areas. I switched the Driver Mode Selector to Sport and let the pavement be eaten with a sinister grin from ear to ear. This is just more fun than humans should be allowed to have.

Thanks to some serious storms that have been rolling through the area almost daily for the entire week I've been in Pahrump, there were several places in the road covered in rocks and sand washed there from said storms. The car-to-car radio chatter went up warning the group of the hazard but this did not stop us from traversing the area. The car seemed to notice nothing much different - it just took it all with a grain of sal... shall we say sand - without hesitation. At one point the road was pretty much totally washed out, complete with deep holes and mounds. We surmounted the obstacle at a crawl of pace but not one car that I know of bottomed out or even hiccuped at the thought that this was impassable. And the ride remained smooth.

The road on our trip was occupied by more than just us, albeit not many brave souls. And almost unanimously heads were turned, phone cameras pointed, smiles and thumbs were seen. There was one car parked on the side of the road filled with 'dudes' who once they saw us coming and how many were in our group started actually piling out of their car to gaze upon the beauty that passed them like a desert wind. It was almost humorous but at the same time instilled a feeling of pride. This is what cruising is all about! It was flat out cool!

I am reminded again at the moment how comfortable those seats truly are as my butt is killing me sitting in this blasted US Airways A321 seat. Argh, or aahhhh... I don't know which to feel. I think I'll stay in my daydream of remembrance in hopes that at least my ass will go numb...

We arrived at Dante's Point overlook at around dusk. Since this is at an elevation of around 9000 feet, the light was above dusk level where we were but below was blanketed in shades and shadows, looking like a painter had swept the area under a talented brush. The temperature had dropped from a dry 96+ to a dry 74 Fahrenheit. The sight seers at the scenic lookout did not take long to swing their cameras away from the mind blowing view of the valleys all around to the mind blowing Chevy parade that had just raided their picture party.

We had our phones, cameras, etc. out as well as it was simply impossible to avoid taking pictures of both the scenery and the cars parked in it. Once I get to where I can upload some of said photos (I am NOT a pro photog - especially when armed with a phone or iPod Touch) that I snapped, I'll do my best to get some up here (it might take a few days...be patient with me) This place is fantastic and the trip here seemed short and easy, thanks to the amazing step up GM/Chevy has made with the interior of the new Stingray. For those of you thinking "it's about time," while you are correct, the wait is truly and finally over.

The air here is as clean and crisp as the exhaust note of the NPP system with the valves opened and one can see for seemingly ever. The colors of the landscape mixed with the ball-like desert plant life resemble what it might be like to stand on Mars with dull green/gray foliage. While vastly different and caused by different circumstances, not since I was atop the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, known to be the premier site for optical observatories have I experienced such a raw and natural sight line from so high up. This should be a ubiquitous bucket list check box.

Because the sky was so beautiful and the temperature perfect, it only took one of us to start an epidemic of roofs flying out and being mounted in the cargo areas of well, every car in the group. Incidentally, you can actually store the roof and still have room for stuff underneath! Event some luggage!! Another great improvement. Did I mention that the new Stingray looks absolutely perfect with the top out? No? Well it does. Personally, I'm not a yellow car kinda guy but the new Stingray in yellow with black wheels and accents is simply stunning - especially with the top out.

The car rides quite nice in lidless form as well, thanks to a dramatic increase in frame stiffness over its predecessor. The wind noise is there but kept to a manageable minimum, moving my mostly empty water bottle around in its reasonably well thought-out cup holder quite entertainingly. I did notice some significant buffeting that took quite a bit of roll-down of the windows to alleviate but then the thought hit me - if you have the top out, why would you want the windows up?! To stop that bottle from entertaining a right-seat passenger? Nah - it's open air time, roll those puppies down and get the full experience!

And full experience I got. As we quickly descended down into the valley on the winding road we'd climbed with fun and vigor; making a left to head down to the dry lake basin that is so world famous, the temperature began to rise along with our excitement. We were to be thwarted by a sign that said the road was closed/out due to those previously mentioned erosion causing storms. So we opted to detour to an area with the word "furnace" appropriately placed in its name - Furnace Creek. And sure enough the temperature really started climbing then. By this time, it was darkening to the point that Saturn was putting on a great show in the sky and the Xenon headlights were guiding our way. And those headlights, while not steerable do a nice job for street driving - illuminating the area with a white light that keeps colors of things ahead looking natural. There is no fog light option on the Stingray because, well there's just no good place to put them. Besides - you don't need 'em. The LED and Xenon combo looks very nice on its own without the clutter of additional lighting that is usually used for; well, let's face it: show only.

OK, so it's night and it should be getting cooler - right? Negative. The further down we went, the higher the temp climbed. Again, our two-ways were lighting up with call-outs of what the MyLink system was displaying the outside temp to be in each car. Seriously, the sun is gone... WTF? 96, 99, 101, 103, 106, 110!!! All in the span of about 10 minutes! Holy crap! Why did I take the top out?! What was I thinking?! Crank up the fan speed and aim those vents back at me; I don't care if the air is blowing directly on me! (Something I personally really just don't care for in a car - it's just too dry and cold in one spot) Bugger my quirkiness - point those vents over here! Did I mention how wonderful those ventilated seats are? Well they were a blessing right about now. Even they were struggling to keep up though - wow it's hot!

We stopped at, as far as I know the only restaurant in the Furnace Creek area; the Furnace Creek Resort. Really?! People "resort" in this heat?! C'mon! It's 9pm and 110 degrees... Insane people maybe. Did I miss the sign for the Furnace Creek Asylum? Wow! And the "breeze" blowing was even like 10 degrees hotter! Could someone please turn off that hair dyer that's pointed at me while I walk to the restaurant door?

The burgers here (Triple Angus, whatever that means) are absolutely some of the best I've ever had. Great little restaurant, seriously. There were lots of people milling about. I'm not sure why anyone would want to vacation here but I was told that many do. Did they miss that word "furnace" in the name? I'd resort to leaving after about a day.

Those that were milling formed a line of amazement as we rolled in with our tops out and glorious exhaust notes singing. Again, even though it was dark, cameras were a-flyin'. That just doesn't get old.

Oh, and by the way: Those of you out there *****ing about the tail lights of the new Stingray... you clearly have not seen them at night. I can't think of a word of praise that I haven't used, so I'll just say they look fantastic. There's really no Camaro going on here. It's all 21st century Corvette and as bad-ass spaceship, 3D looking as it gets. Plus, GM has changed the styling of the new Camaro's tail lights altogether (you'll see soon enough), so stop your griping already.

Once dinner had been completed and we were making our departure through the impromptu amateur paparazzi (with my top back in and AC back in a more 'normal' operation and vents pointed indirectly), we set off for 'home.' There's nothing like seeing a string of Stingray tail lights stretched across the desert night on straight and narrow road. Scenes of the train-like cars from the old Speed Racer show popped in my head as again I could not resist a big toothy smile.

This car is as much a luxury vacation cruiser as it is a sports car. Even though we were driving pre-production models, I suffered no rattles, creaking, or otherwise familiar noises from past generations of Corvettes traversing a relatively unfriendly surface. When we arrived back at Spring Mountain at around 10:30PM, I truly felt I could have spent another 4 hours in the seat and still been completely refreshed upon arrival. Switching between all the Driver Select modes revealed an immediately recognizable change in personality. The only mode I did not use while on the drive was Weather mode because the only inclement weather we suffered was HOT and I'm pretty sure the guys back at Michelin were not intending HOT to be the cause of reduced traction on the street. Certainly it wasn't in our case. The track-worn Pilot Super Sports were confidence inspiring without being harsh or noisy.

In fact, I can't think of anything about this car that is harsh.

GM has set a new bar; not just for Corvette but for all things Sport and Super car. Are there some things that we'll find to pick on? Yes but I've yet to encounter anything that's perfect, much less a car. I could do without the blur-meister bass sound system, and the 'adult-proof' door locks (if you're going to lock automatically, then unlock when I set the parking break, please!) but honestly, as I said about my first 30 minutes into our drive - I'm in trouble. I can't see how I'm going to get out of owning one of these... As a street car, this would be hard for me to walk past in the garage without getting in it to drive anywhere, no matter what time of year it is or what weather is stirring. Granted, I live in Charlotte, so the winters aren't too terrible. Perhaps if I lived in an area harder hit by colder clime's, I'd think differently about that weather thing. Especially since it will only come from the dealer with Summer tires mounted. If you want Winters, you'll have to purchase them separately. But I drove my previous 'Vettes in up to 8" of snow with no issues... I can't imagine this will be anything but better.

All I know is that I'll be starting to save some of that pay for working the launch program effective immediately. Until then, the guys back at the shop will have a permanent volunteer when it comes time to 'mile up' these babies as I can't wait to make another road trip in one. Where to next time, boys? Anywhere's fine with me... Hoover Dam? Red Rock Canyon? Mount Charleston? Shoot, I'm in for another trip to Dante's Point and Furnace Creek - even with the heat! I'll just remember to drive up there with the roof out and put it back in upon descent into the furnace.
__________________
Cheers & See you at the Track!
C

Chuck Hawks,
Pro-Driver, Coach, Instructor & Facilitator
rEvolution Performance

 

@Nurburgringer:
I did not do an actual MPG calculation (next time, I will - great idea, thanks!). We drove right at 150 miles though and I used less than a quarter of a tank (18.5 gal tank.)

The wind noise with the top off and windows down was quiet enough to easily have a conversation with a passenger (although I did not have a passenger on this drive to do an official test) without raising one's voice or shouting. With the windows up and the top out, the buffeting was quite significant and downright annoying. This says the car is built nice and tight but I can't imagine anyone wanting to drive that way. I remember the C5 being the same way and an aftermarket company actually coming out with a device that held the rear hatch very slightly open while accommodating the latch mechanism to avoid "trunk open" messages from the car. I can only imagine that that same opportunity will be fulfilled in this market for those who do wish to cruise topless and windows up in a coupe.

The car I was in did have the FE4 magnetic ride option. Each mode selected had obvious distinctions in ride stiffness, body roll, and overall comfort. In "Track" mode - which really is meant only for the track, the ride was as you would expect - not jarring but very stiff. In "Touring" - the default mode, the ride was soft enough to satisfy the most discerning mother-in-law while still avoiding the family car style lean. Every step from Eco, Touring, Sport, to Track is immediately noticeable as there are no less than 12 parameters that change with each twist of the knob in an FE4 car. Very satisfying, indeed - truly an all-purpose daily driver sports car!

All seats right now are the base seats as the Competition Seat is still not at a quantity to make it to the line. Rumor (and that's all it is, so take it as such) has it that the Comp seats will begin showing up in cars in about a month or so.

The HUD is VERY nice and a significant improvement over my experience of C5 and C6 HUDs. First, it's color. Next you can change the info and style of tach you want to display there, as well as its position. I know those are not new but it just seems more refined. Ironically, I've never been a habitual HUD user even when I had a 'Vette with the feature installed as a personal car but I found myself referring to this unit more than I remember doing so in the past.

Hope this helps!

 

OK guys and gals, here are the promised photos from the trip. Please remember that I'm not a pro-photog and I did not take time to make any adjustments (not that you can on an iPod Touch) to exposure, etc. or touch these up after the fact prior to uploading them.

Enjoy!

Cheers & See you at the Track!
C

Chuck Hawks,
Pro-Driver, Coach, Instructor & Facilitator
rEvolution Performance
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I think you'll find that the belt line and window are consistent with others, being too high to comfortably rest one's arm on - unless you are tall or long torso'd. Honestly, I didn't test this as I'm a pro-driver... hands are mostly at 9 & 3 unless making an adjustment to something or changing gears and it feels downright uncomfortable when otherwise.

Cheers & See you at the Track!
C

Chuck Hawks,
Pro-Driver, Coach, Instructor & Facilitator
rEvolution Performance

 

Funny you should mention the Pahrump Winery as I have been and will spend most of my time in a Cottage at the Pahrump Winery RV Resort where the office is physically attached to that restaurant. I'd heard and seen good things about it but haven't gotten there yet. Will soon I'm sure. Thanks for the tip!


~C