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Corvettes are an American institution. Truly the American answer to the European sports car, they are the thing of dreams. When a new model, like the Grand Sport, comes out, it’s an excellent opportunity to experience a new form of driving exhilaration in a test drive.

Grand Sport Replaces Z-51

The Grand Sport is a new option package that is designed as the replacement for the Z-51 style of Corvette.

Of course, with Corvette, nothing stays the same and the Grand Sport turns up the heat on the Z-51. Chevrolet manages that by incorporating several things from the Z-06 including the wheels, tires and brakes and front splitter. In addition the wider body work of the Z-06 is added to the mix.

While the Grand Sport features some of the parts used on the Z-06, it isn’t the exact same car. For one thing, while it resembles the Z-06 in a lot of ways, it includes an open top (either removable top panel or full convertible) experience. The Grand Sport doesn’t have quite the high performance of the Z-06, but still has an impressive 430-436 horsepower, depending on the configuration.

Braking

When talking about high performance cars people often address the quick acceleration. How well a car brakes at high speeds is extremely important, though. The braking is what keeps you safe at the higher speeds. That makes it crucial. The brakes on this car are designed with a high performance concept, just like the rest of the vehicle, and it pays off in terms of stopping power. It also performs in terms of holding the speed down for turns.

Steering

The steering is right in line with the rest of the car’s performance. That means it’s precision steering, making it easy to get this car to go right where you want it to.

Launch Control

All manual transmission Corvettes come equipped with something called “launch control.” This is a feature that allows for the car to optimize its systems for the best acceleration time. In our case it managed to trim two tenths of a second off our 0-60 time.

Pricing

While the Grand Sport is priced higher than the Z-51 (by around four to five thousand dollars) it is considerably less expensive than the Z-06. In fact, if you want the Z-06 it will cost you around $20,000 more than a Grand Sport.

 

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