Fast Lap: 5 Things To Know About The 2011 Corvette Grand Sport

Image via Complex Original

The new Corvette Grand Sport (GS) can be viewed in a couple of ways. Introduced last year, the GS can be seen as a revival of the storied model produced by Chevrolet back in 1963. Or you can look at it as an attempt by Chevy to cake off by throwing on some bits from other Corvettes to create a seemingly different and independent model. Or you can think both and be right. But is there anything wrong with that? We don't think so. On paper it looks as if you can have the Corvette with an array of go-fast parts, a better stance, and a meaner look for only a couple Gs more. To find out if that translated to the road, we took one out. Here's what we found...

At the heart of the latest Grand Sport lies the venerable LS3 engine. Yeah, it's the base engine for the current crop of Vettes, but for the GS, Chevy upped the power by a couple horses, bringing it to an even 430 hp. If you check the box for the optional exhaust system, that number goes up six ticks to 436. Not that you really need all that power (burnouts are possible in second gear). It's a lot of engine, and sometimes you can feel it: Revving is laborious at times. But for driving around the city, the engine is remarkable, leaving you to never have to go higher than second or third gear.

To go along with its new go-fast bits, Chevy gave the Grand Sport some go-fast looks as well. Most of the pieces came courtesy of the Corvette Z06, its faster and more expensive sibling: Wider front fascia with a Z06 lower lip spoiler, wider front fenders to replace the stock pieces, a Grand Sport badge atop the dual vertical gill, and functional rear break cooling ducts replace the regular Vette rear fenders. It's how every Corvette should look.

Compared to its competitors—the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Porsche 911s— the Corvette is great value for the money, but once you sit inside, you begin to realize where the cost-cutting went down. There's nothing (besides the Corvette logo on the steering wheel and dash) that tells you that you're operating a high-performance car. However, upgrade to the $7,705 4LT Premium Equipment Group and you get what we had: adjustable, leather sport bucket seats, a cool heads up display, and a navi system. Throw in another 2K and you can get the Grand Sport stitching in the headrests. Still, it's about time Chevy gave the Vette a decent interior.

As raw as it is, the Corvette Grand Sport, like most other Corvettes, is a sports car you can drive on the regular. Its four-wheel independent suspension handles bumps and potholes in the road as good as most sedans and larger people-movers. The Grand Sport also features a user-adjustable suspension dial (shown above) that lets you pick sport mode, which firms up the suspension for more aggressive driving, and tour, for regular driving. Its ridiculously low ride-height still makes it hard to drive through NYC, but that's not what this car is made for.

The power figures may not have bugged when compared to the regular Corvette Coupe, but the Grand Sport's performance is certainly improved. You can feel the most obvious improvements, like the 0-60 time that's 3 seconds quicker, the increased grip, and the bigger brakes that bring it back to zero. The other changes, like the dry sump oil system for better lubrication and lower center of gravity, and a battery relocated to the trunk for better weight distribution, won't matter unless you're on a track, but it's nice to know they're there.

Say what you want about the Corvette, but there's no better bargain on the market. Even without the extras, with the Grand Sport you have a $55,000 car that can compete with exotics double its price. Yeah, we wish the interior was of a higher grade (something that didn't look like it came out of a '97 Malibu), or that the transmission tunnel didn't get warm enough to melt your ice cream on the way home. But that's not why you buy this car. You buy it because it can let you corner at insane speeds, and, though it's not considered an exotic on our lands, still manages to turn heads. It's not as raw as the ZR1 or the Z06, but it's easier to the live with. Dare we say, this may be our favorite current Corvette?