2015 Chevy Corvette Z06

Chevrolet engineering is working overtime to eliminate barriers to Corvette ownership. They've replaced its low, flexy, uncomfortable chairs with proper magnesium-framed buckets offering a choice of sport or competition levels of support. The Fisher-Price dash plastics have given way to rich, soft-touch, stitched materials wrapping practically every surface. Now with the introduction of the Z06, a single Corvette can meet the needs of less-than-identically matched couples. The Z06 will be offered with your choice of seven-speed manual or a spanking-new GM-built 8L90 eight-speed torque-converter automatic, in a removable-roof hatchback coupe or one-button convertible soft-top configuration.This convertible is 20 percent stiffer than the former fixed-roof Z06 was in torsion. Surely a bolted-in roof would make this new Z06 even more rigid. It is true that fastening the removable roof into the hatchback model improves its torsional rigidity by a further 20 percent, but because the new top's latches fasten rigidly in three axes, the bolted-in mounting solution used on the C5 or C6 Z06 wouldn't buy any more rigidity, and raising the soft-top contributes nothing.