Chevrolet Corvette

While the exterior design of this past generation model of the Chevrolet Corvette still manages to make a lot of sense, the interior cabin layout fails to hide its age. The cabin looks very sporty for the driver-oriented layout it gets – it is just that it doesn’t make you go gaga as other modern-day sports car cabins.

The flat bottom three-spoke multi-functional steering wheel with a large center boss and round-themed part-digital instrument console with traditional looking dials make a sporty yet old school driver’s cockpit. The center console, which is slightly tilted towards the driver, has a wraparound design and houses an almost vertically laid touchscreen infotainment system in the center, with a single AC vent above it and an array of buttons for the music system and climate control below it. The co-driver seat too gets two AC vents focused towards it on the central layer of the dashboard.

The cabin of the Chevrolet Corvette is high on special features like a 10-speaker BOSE audio system, performance data and video recorder, heads-up display, Nappa leather upholstery, powered, heated and ventilated front seats with memory function for the driver’s seat, dual-zone automatic climate control and push-button start with keyless entry.

While the home market of Chevrolet in the USA has already got the latest eighth-generation model, this seventh generation model of Chevrolet Corvette on sale in the Philippines still manages to be a hot looker. The very exotic and aerodynamic design of the Chevrolet Corvette looks racy even on standstill, which makes it a great attention magnet.

The front profile of the Chevrolet Corvette looks sleek and stylish, with the sloping front bonnet having a smooth contoured bulge in the middle of it. The curved and sloping down headlamps do come with modern-looking L-shaped daytime running LEDs and LED projector bulbs within them. While there is not proper grille as in most of the exotic supercars, the Chevrolet Corvette does with a wide air dam on the front bumper which has rounded edges on all four corners.

The Chevrolet Corvette has got wide haunches above the front as well as rear wheel arches, which do have nice and gorgeous looking black finished 19-inch front wheels and 20-inch rear wheels. The wide door-mounted rearview mirrors, as well as sleek air passages on the front and rear fenders, are a couple of cool-looking traditional sports car bits.

At the rear, the Chevrolet Corvette has got a hint of Camaro in its design, thanks to the quadruple layout of LED tail lamps with sharp and angular kinks on their outermost edges. The large rear bumper with diffusers and quad exhaust ports in the middle look outrageous in a welcoming way.

The Chevrolet Corvette is slightly bulkier for a modern-day fast supercar but is still enticing enough with ample amount of agility, courtesy its unequal length A-arm setups at both front and rear, which are tuned on a stiffer edge. The magnetic ride control system and high performance ventilated disc brakes from Brembo take the performance quotient of the Chevrolet Corvette on a whole new level.

The Chevrolet Corvette is one of the very few top-spec supercars to feature a naturally aspirated petrol engine even in today’s times. The engine in question here is a 6.2-litre V8, which belts out 460 PS of power and 621 Nm of torque. The power is channelled to the rear wheels of the car via an 8-speed automatic gearbox.

The Chevrolet Corvette gets a decent amount of safety features as standard, such as front and side airbags, heads-up display, ABS with EBD, electronic stability control, panic brake assist, traction control, stabilitrak system, curb view front camera, reverse camera, front and rear parking sensors and tire pressure monitoring system. This version of the sports car misses out on the advanced driver assist systems which are gradually making their way on all the premium cars.

In terms of visual appeal, outright performance and desirability, the Chevrolet Corvette is as good as other higher priced supercars from its European peers. However, it still lacks in a number of modern-day features as well as extreme agility on corners like most of its competitors, and the new eighth-generation model already introduced should solve these niggles.