The Red 2014 Corvette Stingray Convertible
The Rear End of The Red Corvette Stingray
Its 60-year run as a roadster in 1953. Other than the span from 1976 to 1985 and the first year of the C5 in 1997, buyers have always had the option of a folding soft top -- which continues with the 2014 Corvette Stingray.
The convertible debuted at the Geneva motor show on Tuesday, the same place the '06 Corvette convertible and the '90 "King of the Hill" Corvette ZR-1 made their world debuts. Chevy chose Geneva for the roll-out because the left-hand-drive Stingray will be sold around the world (Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Japan).
U.S. buyers, the open-top Corvette arrives in showrooms late this year, about three months behind the coupe. In recent years, about one of every four Corvettes sold was a convertible, although that ratio rose to one in three last year with the addition of the 427.
The Stingray's mission of more luxury, all 2014 Corvette convertibles have a power top (C6 buyers could choose between a manual or power-operated cover). Operation is completely automatic -- the driver no longer needs to twist a handle to release or secure the top of the windshield header. A button on the key fob lets you raise or lower the top outside the car, and it can be opened or closed at speeds up to 30 mph.
The three-ply fabric top includes a layer of sound-deadening material and a heated glass rear window. The top is designed to minimize the appearance of support bows. All Corvette convertibles since 1986, the top stores underneath a hard cover behind the seats. In the 2014 Stingray, that cover rises and moves toward the rear to make room for the top. In a styling touch, panels behind the seat headrests on the hard cover are painted metallic black. The convertible Stingray also keeps the waterfall -- a body-colored panel that covers the gap between the seats and wears the Crossed Flags emblem.
But the Stingray convertible still uses rear-mounted heat exchangers to cool the automatic transaxle and electronic limited-slip differential in the Z51 Performance package; air for the coolers is scooped up from underneath the car and exits through vents at the edges of the rear fascia.
The Corvette Stingray convertible gets the same drive-train as the coupe: a 6.2-liter V8 with variable valve timing and cylinder cutoff, making at least 450 hp and 450 lb-ft of torque. As with the coupe, buyers choose between a six-speed automatic and seven-speed manual transmission.
No released curb weight for the coupe or convertible. It says the horsepower-to-weight ratio is nearly identical for each body style, and the frame did not need structural reinforcements for the transition to a convertible. Nor is there any indication of a price.
The Rear End of The Corvette Stingray Split-Window - Preview
A new Volkswagen Golf comes around nearly as often as a presidential election. So it is with the seventh-generation Golf, the latest in a string of
cars that has been with us since the Ford administration, arriving for
its North American debut Wednesday at the New York auto show. Hail to
the chief, for it's the Golf A7. Light, scalable, interchangeable and infinitely flexible, VW has bet the proverbial farm on the mega-platform.
