UR TV CAST

The steering is accurate and consistent, if a little light at speed.This is as good a high-power, point-and-squirt driving experience as you could want; plenty of grip but the ever-present opportunity to provoke a little powerslide, the ESP lurking in the background to stop things getting out of hand. You can feel the Corvette’s balance in any briskly-taken corner, because the cornering line almost always tightens as you apply power even if a slither does not ensue. This is a gearshift attached to hefty pieces of machinery, contained within a rear-mounted gearbox to give an even weight distribution. And off we rumble, the engine smooth at first, taking on a harder-edged V8 beat as speed rises. With engine duly erupted, and lots of activity confirming eight cylinders ready for action, I can check the display on the windscreen above the instrument panel. It covers speed, engine revs and even, when the ESP system is turned off, a meter for cornering g-force.Into gear.

Then you notice that the tail is stubbier and the wheels are bigger The car looks neater, tauter, more agile. As before, the lightweight roof panel unclips and can be stowed in a surprisingly big boot; a full convertible version arrives next summer. The composite panels are beautifully finished and fit as snugly as any steel ones would.The doors open by means of electric solenoid catches, like a TVR’s, to reveal a snug cabin almost entirely trimmed in soft-touch materials. There are exceptions; the shiny, grained plastic that forms the rear-view mirror casing looks cheap, the four-spoke steering wheel is ugly, and the assorted boings and beeps relating to lights, unextracted key, open door, as-yet-unfastened seatbelt and so on are as irritating as they always are in American cars.Starting is a matter of depressing the clutch and pressing a button, because this is a Mercedes and Renault-style keyless entry and starting system. It is also cleaner and uses about half as much fuel.You can tell a new Corvette from an earlier model by its lack of pop-up headlights (killed by legislation). And because today’s horsepower measurements relate to real-world power with the engine installed in the car, instead of running on a test-bed with an open exhaust and no ancillary components to drive, this latest engine really is more powerful. But today’s version has an aluminium block and cylinder heads, and is clean and efficient.

It passes Euro IV emissions tests without any technical cleverness such as variable valve timing. This efficiency is shown by its 402bhp output from its 5,967cc capacity. This ample horsepower-count is on a numerical par with the most potent past Corvettes, those that used the now-dead “big-block” engine. Beneath this body is a backbone chassis and, since 1963, Corvettes have had all-round independent suspension by means of transverse leaf springs. Nowadays the springs are of layered composite, like a ski.Four round tail-lights have been a Corvette motif since half way through the first generation, and most Corvettes have been powered by the small-block Chevrolet V8 engine. With 90 million small-blocks made since 1955, it is the world’s most-replicated engine.

That does not mean today’s Corvette uses 1950s engine technology, though. The basic architecture is the same, with old-fashioned pushrod valvegear (which makes the engine simpler, with just one, central, camshaft, as well as more compact), and the cylinders are spaced as they have always been so Chevrolet has not had to alter the machining parameters on the assembly line. And those ingredients are? Corvettes have always had plastic composite bodywork. For years this has been formed out of stamped, pre-impregnated composite sheet, so the panels are smooth on both sides with the resin fully encasing the glass fibre. We are talking the pace of high-end Porsches, Ferraris and AMG Mercedes, but the Corvette will sell for about £45,000 – in relative terms, a bargain.In the past, Corvettes have been let down by a lack of sophistication. Floppy structures, a rock-hard ride and cheap-looking fittings prevented the Corvette from being taken seriously. But while the basic ingredients stay the same, the execution has been transformed.