2006 Chevrolet Corvette - Review

 

 

 

In everyone’s life, there are moments you’ll always recall with a special clarity: a moon walk, a presidential assassination, your wedding day, the birth of your first child. My list also includes the first time I ever sat in a Corvette.

 

They were a familiar sight in my house, where both parents routinely tuned into that “Nick at Night” favorite Route 66. But it wasn’t until they took me to the 1964 New York World’s Fair that I actually got to see a real Corvette, sit in one, and pepper the very polite General Motors spokesman with questions.

 

Sadly, by the time I was old — and just barely affluent — enough to afford a Corvette, my interests had wandered. “ America ’s sports car” just couldn’t compete with the likes of the Porsche 911 or so many other high-performance imports. Not until recently, at least, when Chevrolet pulled the wraps off the sixth-generation ’Vette.

 

The C6 redefined Chevy’s classic; notably shorter, significantly more refined, and decidedly more powerful, it seemed painfully close to pulling off a coup, but the 2005 model just wasn’t quite there yet. Now, for 2006, the automaker is back with what a lot of folks are calling “the ultimate Corvette,” and for good reason, as I discovered during nearly a week of driving the new Z06.

 

Evolution in action

 

The “base” C6 was what stylists like to call an “evolutionary” design, carrying over most of the prior-generation’s visual cues, including the low-slung nose, arching, cat-like, towards the massive rear deck. Most distinctive were the aero-flush headlamps, which replaced the pop-ups that had been a Corvette signature since my youth. What was less obvious was the fact that the new sports car was six inches shorter, making it roughly the same size as the 911.