The 1997 Chevrolet C5 Corvette Really Pushed Our Buttons

From the February 1997 situation of Car and Driver.

Chevrolet has introduced new Corvettes which have stimu­lated our cranial synapses with unique new expertise, ele­vated our pulses with bump-and-­grind styling, and despatched our adrenal glands into overload with tire­-scorching efficiency, however this new 1997 mannequin is the primary Corvette that presses all of our livable and helpful buttons with its relentless consideration to element and meticulous engineering.

Dubbed the C5 as a result of it’s the fifth-generation Corvette, the brand new mannequin makes use of a construction that’s 4 occasions as stiff because the C4 chassis. Its pure frequency measures 23 hertz, near the Mercedes E320‘s and the Oldsmobile Aurora’s, that are among the many stiffest vehicles on the planet. Furthermore, this stiffness solely drops to 21 hertz when the roof panel is eliminated.

The stiffer construction does a lot to scale back the squeaks and rattles which have at all times plagued Corvettes, however chief engi­neer Dave Hill did not cease there. From day one, he assigned an engineer to do nothing however optimize the design and meeting of each half to remove undesirable noise. Among the objects eradicated had been 34 per­cent of the whole variety of elements in the C4. By utilizing fewer, bigger elements, the C5 is inherently extra strong.

Despite the discount within the variety of elements, the C5 has grown: barely on the surface, considerably inside. In addition to providing extra room for big individuals, a decrease sill and a taller roofline make it simpler to enter and exit. The pop-out roof panel is now hooked up with three hand levers relatively than 4 bolts and a ratchet wrench. Meanwhile, baggage house has doubled to 25 cubic toes, greater than a Saab 900’s.

Completely new suspension geometry at each ends has significantly decreased the C4’s tendency to be pummeled by potholes, deflected by topped roads, and upset by truck grooves on the street. The new mannequin appears glued to the street, with out transmitting all floor imperfections to its occupants.

As worthwhile as these enhance­ments are, nonetheless, they’d be nugatory had they been achieved on the expense of per­formance. We’re completely happy to report that within the pursuit of their kinder and gentler priorities, Dave Hill and his workforce haven’t forgotten that velocity is central to the Corvette expertise.

Despite a softer launch at Atlanta Dragway than we nor­mally obtain at our sticky take a look at monitor in Michigan, the prepro­duction 1997 Corvette hit 60 mph in 4.9 seconds and 100 mph in 11.4 seconds and swallowed up the quarter-mile in 13.4 seconds at 108 mph.

We had been solely capable of attain 130 mph inside the brief confines of the drag strip, and that determine got here up in 20.5 seconds, however Chevrolet claims a high velocity of 172 mph. Jim Ingle, a Corvette growth engineer and recognized straight shooter, assured us that he is seen 175 mph on the 7.5-mile Transportation Research Center’s oval in Ohio.

The quickest LTl-engined C4 we have ever examined wanted 13.6 seconds at 104 mph to cowl the quarter. The quickest one topped out at 161 mph. Even the hotted­-up LT4-engined automobile we examined final 12 months may solely run 13.7 at 104 and high out at 168. In reality, we have examined comparatively gradual ZR-ls that might barely sustain with the brand new CS. Despite its newfound consolation and practicality, the CS is, with out query, one of many quickest Corvettes ever.

This mixture of velocity, utility, and solidity is clothed in fully new physique­work—nonetheless fiberglass, in fact—that’s each modern and harking back to previous Corvettes. To many eyes, nonetheless, there are just a few styling genes from the Mazda RX-7 and Pontiac Firebird evident in its low, rounded, twin-nostriled entrance finish.

In profile, the CS is low in entrance and just a little heavy within the rump, as if it had been mid-engined. Practically talking, the low nostril enhances ahead visibility and the excessive tail reduces drag and will increase lug­gage house, however the look takes a little bit of get­ting used to.

At the rear, this bodywork terminates in a pointy crease that appears incongruous with the rounded contours elsewhere. The essentially tall rear fascia is properly damaged up by 4 oval taillights close to the highest and an array of slots close to the underside. Unfor­tunately, the 4 flat-black exhaust suggestions just about disappear when seen from a distance. Just a few sq. inches of polished stainless-steel would discover a good residence right here.

Despite these nits, we do not dislike the look of the CS. It simply does not knock our socks off. But fairly is as fairly does, and the brand new physique boasts a wonderful drag coefficient of 0.29—a helpful enchancment over the C4’s 0.34 determine.

Some of this profit is offset by the better frontal space, a results of the C5’s being 1.4 inches taller and a couple of.9 inches wider than the C4 (it is nearly as broad because the dis­continued ZR-1). Allowing for this improve, the C5 nonetheless produces about 8.5 % much less aerodynamic drag than its pre­decessor. Lift—and the ensuing excessive­-speed instability that it may possibly provoke—was by no means an issue with the C4, however insiders report that the C5 physique is about 30 % improved by that measure as nicely.

This coachwork covers a very redesigned chassis that was conceived to lastly give the Corvette the strong founda­tion it wanted to shed its repute for a jittery trip and low-quality meeting. Greater inside house, simpler entry and exit, and a extra strong mounting for the suspension items had been additionally excessive on the brand new chassis agenda.

A folded-steel spine—roughly 12 inches excessive, 9 inches broad, and 4 toes lengthy—varieties the center of this body. With a backside plate hooked up by 36 bolts turning it into an enclosed tube, this construction professional­vides immense torsional rigidity.

The sheetmetal flares out at every finish to tie into the C5’s second main structural aspect: a pair of hydroformed rectan­gular-section metal rails that run the total size of the automobile, simply contained in the entrance and rear wheels and kicking out to type the door sills subsequent to the passenger compart­ment.

These galvanized-steel parts start as six-inch-diameter tubes. They are first roughly bent to form after which inserted right into a set of dies. The tubes are then full of water at a strain of 5000 psi, which forces them into their four-by-six-inch rec­tangular configuration. They present a lot of the C5’s bending stiffness.

A metal roll-bar construction is welded to the rear intersection of those body rails and the spine body. At the entrance inter­part, two rectangular metal tubes jut upward to supply mounting factors for the aluminum windshield construction.

Featherweight items are all over the place on the body. The steering column is sup­ported by a magnesium casting. The detachable roof panel additionally makes use of magnesium for its body. The ground boards are a com­posite of fiberglass and balsa wooden. No one can accuse Hill and his workforce of taking shortcuts within the design of this chassis.

One may, nonetheless, come to a dif­ferent conclusion after a primary look on the new LS1 engine, which superficially seems to be one other rehash of the 31- year-old small-block V-8. But the LS1, which we completely mentioned in Tech­nical Highlights final October, shares nothing however its 4.4-inch bore spacing with its forebears.

The light-but-strong philosophy that pervades the CS is obvious within the LS1 engine as nicely. Its new aluminum block extends nicely beneath the crankshaft cen­terline and makes use of six bolts (4 from the underside and one from both sides) to retain every main-bearing cap. Each aluminum head attaches to this block with 10 bolts in a symmetrical four-bolt sample round every bore, relatively than the normal five-­bolt array. These bolts thread into the block down close to the main-bearing net to attenuate distortion of the cylinders bores when they’re tightened.

These new heads make use of equally spaced consumption and exhaust ports relatively than the normal siamesed sample. The gentle­weight plastic consumption manifold takes benefit of this transformation with tuned consumption runners and clean inside surfaces.

The LS1 engine marks the debut of the Corvette’s first drive-by-wire throttle. Instead of a mechanical linkage from the accelerator to open and shut the throttle, the LS1 makes use of an electrical motor. This motor is managed by a pc that reads the place of a sensor on the accelerator pedal. It additionally incorporates the cruise-control system and communicates with the engine-management pc and the traction-control system to limit engine output when wanted. By combining all these features, it’s really less complicated and lighter than the traditional setup.

In distinction to this innovation, you could be stunned to see that the LS1 engine retains the normal pushrod, two-valve design. But light-weight valves, intensive use of curler bearings, and opti­mized valvetrain geometry have decreased friction whereas sustaining a lofty redline of 6000 rpm.

Moreover, the LSI is distantly associated to an upcoming new truck V-8, which will probably be inbuilt enormous volumes. That family tree could nicely have dictated the pushrod setup in addition to the tight bore spacing that forces the LS1 engine to have a smaller bore and longer stroke than the previous V-8.

But with 345 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque, a lightweight 532-pound weight, compact dimensions, and professional­jected EPA fuel-economy figures of 18 mpg metropolis and 28 mpg freeway with a handbook transmission, it is laborious to fault Chevy’s design selections.

This engine feeds its output to the rear wheels through an all-new driveline that posi­tions the transmission within the tail. A torque tube that’s 5 inches in diameter and 4 toes lengthy connects the engine rigidly to the brand new rear-mounted transaxle. The total meeting attaches to the chassis through a hydraulic mount beneath the transaxle and a motor mount on both aspect of the engine block.

With a handbook transmission, the hydraulically operated clutch is bolted to the engine’s flywheel. The clutch in flip twists an aluminum-and-ceramic-matrix driveshaft. The gearbox is a variation of the Borg-Warner T56 used within the Chev­rolet Camaro and Dodge Viper. For use within the CS, its guts are strengthened with triple cone synchronizers within the decrease gears and stuffed into a brand new case that bolts to a Getrag limited-slip differential.

If you are being choosy, this is not actually a transaxle, because the transmission and the differential every have their very own discrete instances and don’t share lubricants, however aside from costing just a few kilos and possibly an inch in size, that is not a drawback.

If you specify an computerized, the association is way the identical besides that the torque converter is mounted within the rear with the transmission, a Hydra-Matic 4L60-E, which is a repackaged model of the C4’s four-speed computerized.

By transferring the transmission from the entrance to the rear, Hill and his engineers cre­ated extra space for wider footwells—six inches wider on the passenger aspect. Moving the transmission aft additionally helped restore the burden distribution to almost even—it was 51.4/48.6 on our take a look at pattern—after such measures as pulling the rear wheels again, transferring the gasoline tank ahead, and eliminating the spare tire had elevated the entrance weight bias.

The eager reader can have seen the implications of the hydraulic mounting of this differential. Since 1963, when Corvettes first obtained unbiased rear suspen­sions, their differentials had been at all times solidly mounted as a result of the half-shafts fashioned the higher suspension hyperlinks. On the CS, that is not so.

Instead, the rear suspension consists of unequal-length aluminum higher and decrease management arms with a rear-mounted toe-con­trol hyperlink. The decrease management arms mount to a cast-aluminum subframe that’s bolted solidly to the chassis. The higher management arms connect to the hydroformed aspect rails. The half-shafts at the moment are a splined design to accommodate the size variations imposed by suspension motion. A transverse plastic leaf spring is the one aspect even vaguely recognizable from the C4.

The suspension geometry was con­ceived to supply minimal monitor and toe modifications because the wheels transfer up and down. The toe-control hyperlink is crucial to reaching this, particularly because the bushings enable the wheels to maneuver rearward barely to assist take up small, sharp bumps.

In entrance, the design philosophy is sim­ilar, with unequal-length management arms and a transverse plastic leaf spring mounted to a different giant cast-aluminum subframe. In place of the toe-control hyperlink, you may discover GM’s Magnasteer II setup.

Magnasteer II is a refinement of the rotary electromagnetic variable-assist power-steering system that made its debut on the Aurora. The pc that controls this electromagnet now seems to be at velocity and lateral acceleration to supply a extra secure, progressive really feel on the steering­-wheel rim.

The base suspension has gas-charged, single-tube shock absorbers throughout. Optional is the F45 variable-damping system that gives three cockpit settings. Each setting corresponds to a distinct professional­gram that selects from an infinite number of damping curves based mostly on wheel journey, steering-wheel angle, and calculated lat­eral acceleration. Called Selective Real Time Damping, the system can change the shock settings as usually as 100 occasions per second.

Finally, for dedicated efficiency lovers, there’s the Z51 possibility that comes with bigger (1.8- versus 1.4-inch diameter) gas-charged shocks with a single setting (stiffer than any of the F45 supply­ings), together with stiffer springs and bigger anti-roll bars.

As on the C4, there are vented disc brakes and aluminum calipers at every nook. Although the entrance rotors are barely smaller in diam­eter than beforehand, they’re sub­stantially thicker, as are the rears. Furthermore, the 2 openings within the C5’s entrance fascia feed cooling air through four-inch ducts to the entrance brakes. Anti-lock management is professional­vided by a Bosch ABS V system that’s built-in with the usual traction-control system.

All this chassis {hardware} com­municates with the pavement through Goodyear Eagle F1 GS EMT tires—P245/45ZR-17 in entrance and P275/40ZR-18 within the rear. You will discover that for the primary time in Corvette historical past, the rear tire is bigger in diameter than the entrance, for look and since the ensuing longer contact patch professional­vides some stability advantages.

You may additionally discover that each tires are one measurement narrower than the C4’s, though we had been informed that the brand new automobile achieves 0.92 g on the skidpad in contrast with 0.89 for the previous one. With ample grip, the narrower tires present higher steering really feel and better tolerance of imperfect pavement.

Sliding behind the wheel of the C5 definitely calls for much less human origami than earlier than, and the better view out from the cockpit makes the C5 really feel extra like an Acura NSX than the C4 with its considerably buried perspective.

Ergonomically, the C5 is difficult to fault. The wider footwells professional­vide room for a wonderfully positioned useless pedal. The wipers are managed by a stalk sprouting from the proper of the steering column. The steering column itself is adjustable for angle, though not attain, and comes with a fats, grippy rim and spokes nicely positioned for palms on the three- and 9­-o’ clock positions. The shift knob is not more than a hand’s breadth away from the rim. The ignition change is on the sprint relatively than the steering column.

And to our immense reduction, the C5 has a full set of correct, spherical, white-on-black devices which can be neither a weak imitation of an arcade recreation nor stricken with any needles that fall because the temperature rises.

Not that there is a whole absence of razzle-dazzle. When you hearth up the C5, the needles on all of the devices flick full scale and again, and a driver-information heart makes use of an alphanumeric show to speak all kinds of data, together with the person strain in every of the C5’s 4 tires (good to know as a result of an inattentive driver won’t notice when the run-flat tires are underin­flated).

As you accumulate miles within the C5, the claims concerning the improved rigidity grow to be totally credible. Bumps professional­duce single, muted thumps with no quivers, no rattles, and no aftershocks. There’s additionally no signal of the C4’s fondness for steady tiny vertical shakes that made us really feel as if we had been sitting on the tip of a springy diving board. Finally, the C4 suspension’s tendency to show vertical bumps into small, lateral vibrations—occa­sionally even on a straight street­—is totally absent.

The preproduction examples we drove did, nonetheless, exhibit extra driveline noise than we anticipated. In one, the engine buzzed calmly between 3000 and 5000 rpm. In one other, there was some rattling in first gear. With the C5’s sophisti­cated driveline isolation, we hope these vibrations will probably be exorcised earlier than vehicles arrive at dealerships.

When you begin pushing the C5 laborious on a winding street, the physique strikes up and down as wanted to soak up the bumps and grinds of the pavement, however the 4 tires really feel as in the event that they’re magnetically hooked up to the pavement.

In vehicles outfitted with the adjustable F45 suspension, this supple character prevails in all three settings, though the extent of trip management will increase progres­sively as you dial the change from “tour” to “sport” to “efficiency.” But even the tautest setting is much much less harsh than it was on, say, the 1995 FX3-equipped fashions.

Such a secure platform encourages laborious charging. The exact and progressive management responses will assist all C5 drivers imitate Alain Prost. The prolonged shift linkage communing with the rear­-mounted transaxle feels pre­cise and correct. The cease­ping energy of the sturdy brakes varies linearly with the strain of your foot on the cast-aluminum brake pedal. Furthermore, there is a good gradual onset of braking when your foot first begins urgent the pedal, making you look clean even once you stab the brakes to deal with an over-­the-rise shock.

The steering proves equally pleasant, though at first we felt that the trouble was just a little too heavy. But as we professional­ceeded to assault the winding and hilly again roads of Ken­tucky, the steering turned fully clear. There appeared to be a seamless con­nection between the motive force’s mind and the C5’s entrance tires with out the necessity for any con­scious thought. You can eat up pavement in a short time and simply on this automobile with out ever breaking a sweat or sliding a tire. However, we got the chance to do each at Road Atlanta racetrack. We had been critically within the C5’s habits on the restrict, as a result of the C4 was notably forgiving when pushed flat out. Despite its excessive limits, you possibly can lean laborious on it, protected within the perception that it might break free steadily and maintain its tail in line.

We quickly developed the identical confidence within the C5, though with the brand new automobile’s larger grip, it positively takes extra velocity earlier than it slides. Through the 70-to-90-mph esses at Road Atlanta, the CS solely steadily relinquishes its grip on the asphalt. Unlike the C4, the brand new mannequin does slide first on the tail, however after oozing out just a few levels, it sta­bilizes in a slight drift. Easing off the throttle a tiny quantity brings the automobile proper again into line.

In slower turns, such because the right-angle, second-gear nook main onto the again straight, you will get the tail out large time if you’re even barely overaggressive with the throttle—with the traction management turned off, in fact. Not even the Dodge Viper GTS calls for as a lot respect in comparable turns.

As it seems, Corvette engineers plan just a few modifications previous to manufacturing to attenuate this habits. A five-percent-stiffer entrance spring will improve understeer barely, and a change within the rear-tire compound is predicted to extend cornering grip when the facility is difficult on.

Those who perennially hope for a smaller Corvette will probably be dissatisfied, however there is no query that the CS makes use of its bulk nicely. Moreover, it’s not chubby for its measurement or efficiency. The now-defunct Nissan 300ZX Turbo weighed 300 kilos greater than this new CS, and the Toyota Supra Turbo and the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 are heavier than it as nicely. Only the far smaller Porsche 911 undercuts the CS’s weight—after which by lower than 200 kilos.

Which brings us to a different Corvette custom that the CS upholds: exotic-car efficiency at a average value. The least costly manufacturing automobile we have examined that may outperform the CS within the quarter-mile is the Dodge Viper RT/10, which prices $6S,260. Although ultimate CS pricing has not but been introduced, Chevrolet plans to cost it not a lot larger than the C4’s $38,000 base value.

Corvettes, in fact, have at all times delivered large efficiency for the buck. But purists have tended to dismiss this worth by reciting the litany of high quality and refinement shortcomings that accom­panied it. With the CS, that listing is immediately very brief certainly.

Contributing Editor

Csaba Csere joined Car and Driver in 1980 and by no means actually left. After serving as Technical Editor and Director, he was Editor-in-Chief from 1993 till his retirement from lively responsibility in 2008. He continues to dabble in automotive journalism and LeMons racing, in addition to ministering to his 1965 Jaguar E-type, 2017 Porsche 911, and trio of bikes—when not snowboarding or climbing close to his residence in Colorado.