VetteNV

Here are some excerpts of "The Real McCoy," an article by Hib Halverson
about the 2005 Corvette, which will be posted at the Corvette Action
Center about 15-min. after midnight tomorrow.

"Chief Engineer, Dave Hill, took the stage; I was pumped. I was finally
gonna see, up-close, the sixth-generation of America's Sports Car. Hill
talked a bit, then a car cover snapped back revealing a stunning, Daytona
Sunset Orange, 2005 Corvette Coupe. Holy crap! I thought, Is that sucker
bitchin¹ or what?"

"Yep. It's a Vette. Little doubt of that. But wow! In your face, fixed
lights. Five inches shorter and an inch narrower. Just a little bit
lighter. Noticeably C2/C3-ish. New base engine with fifty more
horsepower. All new suspension and steering. New Goodyear tires, 18s in
the front. 19s out back. Nicer interior. Cool, new electronic gadgetry.
Whoa...welcome to Cee-freakin'-Six, people!"

"Personally, I think the '05's headlights look pretty damn cool and are a
refreshing change from 42 years of pop-up lights. Having them fixed
finally gives Corvette lighting with which to go fast in the dark along
with a ³flash-to-pass² feature. Both those attributes are very useful
improvements whereas the old pop-ups, while loved by designers, were
about as useful as Paris Hilton at an engineering seminar."

"While we have yet to test a 2005 *that opportunity will not come until
the car's "second" press preview to be held this coming May*we're going
to guess that the first characteristic a sporting driver will notice
about a C6 compared to a C5 is that the car performs just a bit better
but achieves that better performance in a more refined and quieter manner.

"Considering the C6 Z51's weight (probably around 3200 lbs), that it has
the '01-'04 Z06 transmission ratios, that it has 50 more horsepower and
it's got better tires on the back, we'll say it should do the quarter
in..."

If you want to see the whole article, check out:
http://corvetteactioncenter.com/specs/2005/intro.html