Test drive Chevrolet Corvette C5 compartment 1997 - 2004 coupe

Chevrolet Corvette

Corvets-trunks were used for reconnaissance. Changing the ocean spaces to the high -speed highway, the corvettes remained true to traditions. General Motors rolled many technical innovations on Chevrolet Corvette
3 innovations distinguish the fifth generation of cult for the United States of the 1999 Sports Coupe of the model year. Two so far as AHS and Hud options. If you translate from a bird's tongue to normal, then this is Active Handling System (electronic traffic stabilization system) and Head Up Display (projecting information on windshield). Unique tires are included in standard equipment.
RECONNAISSANCE. The HUD system will issue pale blue numbers to the windshield, the tachometer, speedometer, as well as fuel levels, coolant temperatures, oil pressure, etc. It has the opportunity to choose a combination of indicators he needs, for example, only a speedometer. All other information will continue to be displayed on an analog dashboard, but at the right time in HUD mode a warning signal will appear on the windshield.
 
AHS is a complex electronic system, the circuit includes acceleration sensors, brakes, the angle of rotation of the steering wheel and in which ABS and the clutch control system are involved. Having predicted the moment of disruption of the car in the ski, for example, on slippery asphalt, AHS carefully interferes with the control process. Correcting the trajectory of movement in the bend, the system slows down too hot the driver using either the brake system or braking with an engine.
But on the automatic transmission selector there is a Performance position in this position the suspension is even harder. By disconnecting the control system for clutch with the road, in this mode you can drive a car in the most risky style.
Intelligence by fighting. The car behaves amazingly on the road, and the phrase merging of a person and a car is not an empty phrase in relation to Corvette. Even with an automatic gearbox, it accelerates evenly and powerfully, literally in a second, gaining maximum engine speeds and immediately reacting even to minor displacements of the accelerator pedal. And a hard sports suspension and a low center of gravity allow even at the time of maximum acceleration to perform rather risky maneuvers left-right in a fairly dense city stream.
Such responsiveness The result of the perfect weighting between the front and rear axles: 50 to 50. The company's engineers achieved this, using the original design of the Transaxe transmission from it excluded flange joints with leading wheels. The engine and gearbox are combined into one block with the rear bridge. In the serial automotive industry, such structures are practically not used by anyone.
Comparing the frantic temperament of Corvette and a threateningly small distance between the asphalt and the front apron (only 9 cm) with the state of Russian roads, it seems, we can conclude: the car will live to the nearest potholes on the asphalt. Practice shows that this is not so. Corvette uses a fairly interesting system of independent suspension with a transverse sheet springs from composite materials. As a result, the case of the machine is practically not susceptible to keblane pitching when intersecting obstacles such as swollen tram tracks. Naturally, such escapades are accompanied by a rather sensitive shaking, but the seals from the teeth do not jump out. Moreover, the driver and passenger located almost in the middle of the body feel these tremors from afar.
DATA TRANSFER. Communication with the machine begins with a running line on the on -board computer Corvette by Chevrolet. And the computer itself deserves a separate mention. It displays not only data on the flow and the remainder of the fuel, the fuel temperature, but also about the state of lubrication and cooling systems. Through it, numerous alarm functions are controlled. And the computer also displays data on tire pressure on the display, which is very important on Corvette. It does not fundamentally provide for a spare wheel, since special Hoodyear Eagle F1 EMT tires are installed on this model. The last three letters are deciphered as Extended Mobility Tires, and they replace you with a spare. The tires are designed in such a way that even with a puncture on them you can drive about 100 km at a speed of 80 km/h. And about reducing pressure, radio ditters mounted in the wheels and sending a signal to the computer will tell you. Such attention to timely information about the work of all the nodes of the car shows that we have not just a sports compartment, but a serious device for serious drivers. This is also evidenced by the lobe resistance coefficient of 0.29 one of the best indicators in its class.
Headquarters car. Corvette has always been created as an exclusively sports car for two. The rear seat simply does not exist in it, so as not to develop an inferiority complex among passengers. Moreover, the fifth generation Corvette developers took care of the possible systems of the driver. Corvette reads one of the lowest serial machines, and a pressing ceiling can give an impetus to the development of claustrophobia. For the prevention of this disease, a removable metal roof is provided in the body of the compartment, and another glass is attached to the kit. In the trunk, which in size is compared with the trunk of a large sedan, there is a place for its attachment, if in good weather there is a desire to ride with a breeze.
Curious observation at the end. Statistics claim that the average age of the CHEVROLET Corvette buyer is 45 years old, and the annual income of $ 90 thousand is the situation where the Americans, the main consumers of Corvette, family ties begin to weaken and the love of adequate is being replaced by the desire to live for themselves.
 
Text Nikolay Kachurin, photo Dmitry Novokreshhenov
 

Source: "Autopilot"