New Vette

["Graydon D. Stuckey" <graydon@apollo.gmi.edu>]

Guys,

	I drove a new '97 Vette today for an hour or so.   It was a 
6-speed, and it had all the toys including the dual zone climate control 
system (which was why it was anywhere near my department.)

	That's an impressive car.  First off, its geared very high - 1st 
gear seems like it would take you to 50mph.  The next thing that really 
struck me was that they tuned the exhaust so that even at 2000rpm, the 
engine sounds like it is really working hard.  Subconsciously, it kept me 
from really flooring it (for at least 30 seconds :-)  )  That reminds me, 
I didn't even get the 1-4 forced upshift until my wife got in the 
car!  Tells you how I was driving it! 

	That new aluminum V-8 is a very nice engine though!  Very smooth,
high revving, and refined.  It runs smoothly right up to the redline at
around 6000rpm.  It makes about 350 hp, but the car weighs a fair bit, so
the performance was great, but not the fastest I've ever driven.  Just
made me think that luxury cars, sportscars, prestige cars, etc, should have a
minimum of 300hp just to start off.  That's enough to get out of your own
way at least.  :-)

	The handling was good as long as the shocks were set to "Sport." 
Any other setting produced weird undulations in the suspension.  The
brakes were fantastic, and even the 6-sp was pretty good. 

	One of the most interesting parts of this car is the fly-by-wire
throttle.  There isn't even a back up cable from the pedal to the throttle
body!  This is also how they accomplish their traction control - the ECU
has full control of the throttle (you can turn it off,) so the ECU merely
reduces throttle when it senses slip.  The TC wasn't too bad - I could
completely floor the pedal while the car inched away in first gear on some
thick snow.  Pretty good considering the tires (245/40-17 Fr and 275/45-18
rear!) and the overall configuration of the car, but my 5KCSTQ would have
had little trouble in the really slippery stuff.  However, even in wet
traction conditions, there was tremendous grip there.  It would take an
AWD sportscar with equal wheels and tires and power-to-weight to beat this
Vette even in semi-slippery conditions. 

It was lots of fun - some days I love my job!  :-)   :-)   :-)

Later, ---------------------------------------------------------- 
Graydon D. Stuckey 	'85 Mazda RX7 GS, no toys 
graydon@apollo.gmi.edu 	'86 Audi 5000 CS Turbo Quattro, has toys
Flint, Michigan USA	'89 Thunderbird SC, lotsa toys