http://magazine.windingroad.com/windingroad/200709web/?folio=29

Ponder this: the small-block engine in the new Corvette now makes more power and torque than the old Z06 engine. The new 6.2 sports 430 horsepower versus 400 in last year’s base car, and torque goes up to 424 pound-feet from an even 400.
To feel what the added power does for the car, we drove a 2008 Corvette with a six-speed manual and the optional Z51 performance suspension package ($1695)—the baddest Corvette you can buy this side of a Z06—for a long day on the country roads near General Motors’ Proving Grounds in Milford, Michigan.

You can feel the difference in the first thirty feet of travel. The new small-block 6.2 has more power and torque everywhere from idle to its 6600-rpm limit. First-gear acceleration, which is what most people buy it for in the first place, is of a whole new order. This thing will bombard all your senses, clean out your ear wax, curl your toes in ecstasy, and make your companion grab for something to hold onto. Chevrolet says the new number is 0-60 miles per hour in 4.3 seconds with the paddle-shifted six-speed automatic ($1250) and 4.1 seconds if you’re handy with a six-speed manual.

Up through the rest of the gears, the torque just keeps on coming, and the combined sound of the intake and exhaust will give you visions of Le Mans. They’ve fitted the LS3 engine with a new option, a valved muffler system similar to the one on the Z06, with software that monitors throttle opening and engine rpm then opens all four pipes. It makes better music than Vivaldi. If you order it ($1195), you get 6 more horsepower and 4 more pound-feet of torque, because the system has a whole lot less back pressure than the standard exhaust system. It sounds so good wide-open that we’d order it even if it made less power and torque.

The transmission that goes into all new Corvettes is much improved, the Tremec TR-6060 six-speed, with new ratios, quieter gears, and a shifter that qualifies as the best gear-changer ever fitted to a Corvette. If you plan to race your new Corvette, you will love pulling this handle; if you’re not, you will still love it.

There are two gearsets available in the TR-6060 transmission. The MM6 version has higher ratios and is more suited for general driving and fuel economy. The MZ6 version has ratios that are 10 to 16 percent lower in the first three gears, obviously better for drag racing or getting out of pit lane. The range of axle ratios runs as high as 2.56:1 and as low as 3.42:1 depending on the model. Our Z51 test car had the MZ6 transmission and the 3.42:1 axle, which accounts for its blazing launch behavior.

The 2008 Corvette Z51 steers and handles even better than previous C6s. While the Z51 package includes stiffer springs and shock absorbers, bigger stabilizer bars, and standard Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar EMT run-flat tires, all new Corvettes will have a high-precision steering box, a stiffer intermediate shaft, and a new calibration in the power steering controller. All that adds up to amazingly quick left-right-left transitions, excellent steering feel, and a ride that won’t part you from your fillings, although it is noticeably stiffer than the F55 suspension package ($1995).

There’s more standard equipment and some new options. OnStar, XM radio, and auto-dimming mirrors with compass are now standard. The base wheel is a split-spoke alloy in a painted finish. Competition Gray ($395) and chromed aluminum wheels ($1850) are optional. There’s a new remote-access key fob, new sill plates, a standard iPod or MP3 jack, and a new optional leather package ($695) in Sienna or Linen—a package that wraps everything inside in beautiful premium leather and stitching.

The LS3 engine starts with the new 6.2-liter truck block with 20 percent stronger bulkheads and new machining to accommodate the cast iron cylinder liners. The bore goes from 101.6 millimeters to 103.3. The bigger flat-top piston has some additional oil-control holes and makes 10.7:1 compression. The wrist pin is tapered for strength and weight, and the rod bolts are the same grade as those used in the 7.0-liter 500-horsepower engine.

The cylinder heads are all new, with bigger, hollow-stem intake valves, completely new intake and exhaust port shapes, and offset intake-side rocker arms to clear the pushrods. The intake ports flow 17 percent more air than the old heads. The camshaft that goes with the bigger valves has the same basic profile as the old cam, with more lift and less overlap. A new intake manifold flows more air more quietly than before, and the fuel injectors are borrowed from the Z06 engine. Put all that together and you get 430 horsepower all day long.

Prices start at $45,170 for the coupe, $53,510 for the convertible, about a grand higher because of the new standard equipment, and about the most performance you can get for the money, period.

Magazine Issue: Winding Road Issue 24