Review Car

2011 Chevrolet Corvette

Riding in The 2011 Chevrolet Corvette with the top down is very pleasant and lots of fun with much aural feedback. There’s very little buffeting at speed. Low doorsills and narrow side rails make getting in and out easier than before. The seats are comfortable and there’s plenty of room for driver and passenger, though there isn’t a lot of space for stuff. Front seat space in the three models is pretty much the same. The power seats have a memory function and the handsome analog gauges are easier to use and more satisfying than the old digital displays. The manually operated convertible top stows neatly under a body-colored cover that folds flat at the forward edge of the trunk lid. The soft top is very nice. It’s made of high-quality material and the rear window is glass.

You’ll need a demonstration or a trip to the owner’s manual to figure out how to lower the top the first time, then it’s quick and easy. We’ve seen no evidence of leaking in hard downpours nor at the car wash test, though we did notice some wind noise at the top of the driver’s window at super-legal speeds.

The 2011 Chevrolet Corvette is not a quiet car, but the rattles and stress squeaks that have haunted Corvettes for so long have largely been eliminated. We noticed more road noise and engine noise in the convertible than in the coupe, and even more comes through in the Z06. However, this is a sports car, and noise, particularly the calculated growl of that terrific V8, is part of the deal. Rearward visibility is a little limited. The rear window is a narrow slot. The side mirrors are wide, but not tall, and work fairly well. Put the top down and the convertible offers the best visibility, as if you needed another reason to drop the top on a spring day. The 2011 2011 Chevrolet Corvette comes with a real trunk. Arriving at the airport after a trip halfway around the world, we were able to cram two huge duffel bags into a coupe.

The coupe’s trunk can hold 24.8 cubic feet of cargo, considerably more than the convertible’s 13.9 cubic feet and the hardtop’s 13.3 cubic feet. The convertible’s trunk sits on top of the rear deck. It’s an efficient space with a flat load floor. It’s easy to pack the trunk, though you need to lift high and over to load baggage. You can get your clothes dirty leaning over the rear body work on rainy days if you’re not careful. Thankfully, the convertible top doesn’t seem to take up much of the trunk space when lowered. The view out of The 2011 Chevrolet Corvette is good, helped particularly by the small quarter windows that split the rear pillars. The creases on the hood are useful for judging just where the front of the car is, which in turn is handy for parking a big car in compact spaces.

The rear deck lid seems high, however, so care is required when backing up. Handling is surprisingly quick and sharp. A monster dashboard bulkhead made of light and strong magnesium further enhances to the Impala’s rigidity, giving the car a robust feel. The engine cradle and dashboard structure lock the steering shaft down tightly, so there are no excess wiggly movements.