Best American Handling Car (80s Retro)

[kevm14]

Chrysler's investment in FWD evidently paid off:

Rich Ceppos: "This car is a delight to drive hard. The turbo lag is imperceptible from 3000 to 5000 rpm. A little ruffled on hard braking and a bit rough on ride, but quite the canyon car." Csaba Csere concurred: "Damn good car! Feels incredibly good. I can get everything out of it that it has to offer. Engine makes nice power, has much less lag than the Mustang's turbo." Jean Lindamood: "Fun car to drive because it feels a little nasty, a little macho. Lots of action for the driver."

This car wasn't half bad. Imagine that.

I would also argue that FWD wasn't as big of an impediment in the 80s due to the sad powertrains.

[kevm14]

Our foray on the Angeles Crest Highway proved conclusively that the Corvette is the fastest point A—to—point B American-made car—at least when the way is filled with zigs and zags. At speeds that had the other contestants screeching, bouncing, sluing, and clawing for traction, the Corvette bulled its way around corners without even sliding a tire—as if it were a giant slot car. Its adhesion is an order of magnitude higher than that of anything else on the street. "Awesome" was penned in the Corvette's logbook more than once to describe its cornering power.

Mixed with the Corvette's road-wrinkling grip was a liberal dose of orneriness—a collection of feints and darts that scare you into thinking danger is imminent when you're well below the spin-out threshold. Part of the problem is the Z51 combination of fast steering and no-nonsense tires. The chassis is so responsive to the wheel that you have to be careful not to change lanes every time you blink.

Ultimately, the Corvette is a difficult car to drive hard and fast because it just doesn't talk to you. Understanding the messages it sends up through the seat of your pants and through the numb steering is a long-term learning process.

There's a lot to talk about in there...

[kevm14]

I'll admit I am surprised by the Camaro.

The Z28 remained collected, controlled, and maneuverable at the limit even in the face of adversity. We encountered corners sprinkled with grit, cracked and broken pavement, and decreasing-radii bends that demanded heavy braking; the unflappable Camaro ate up the route and spit expertly processed highway out the back. "Have we complained about the harshness of the Z28's ride in the past? Forget it," said Lindamood. "The suspension was thoroughly recalibrated for 1984. It works!"

[kevm14]

On a related note, C/D did a "Best Handling Import," in which the Porsche 944 won. They pitted that against the Z28 in this review:
http://www.thirdgen.org/besthandlingame ... r-oct1984/

[kevm14]

A commenter on C/D says:

I had a then new 1986 Mustang GT during that period, and the Z28's handling was simply in a whole different league beyond 7/10th's or so. The Z28's were brilliant right on the edge of adhesion, with nicely controlled 4 wheel drifts being readily available in the hand of a moderately skilled amateur with some natural talent.

[kevm14]

Go on...

Chevy offered an optional factory handling suspension packaged named "Gymkhana" in C3 Corvettes from the 1974 - 1982 model years. The RPO code was "FE7".

It was $7 option in 1974, yet only a small percentage of cars were so equipped.

http://www.rogerscorvette.com/specs/74.htm

[kevm14]

It is impressive how well the Z28 does against the 944 considering the base price is nearly twice the Z28.

[bill25]

These were pretty good for their time period. I am really surprised to not see a lot more LS swaps on these. They are relatively light: 3,086.5–3,362.0 lb. compare to the gen 5: 3,750 lb, ~400lbs.

[kevm14]

It would be interesting to read how the 4th gen compared to the 3rd.

One thing I will say about the 3rd gen that I always thought is that they don't age well. And I'm not talking interior. I'm talking chassis. The 4th gen had a new front suspension with steering rack, for example.

[bill25]

Performance wise, it isn't close. The Gen 4 towards the end had 315 HP, some dyno pretty close to that at the wheel compared to the 180-190 in the 3rd Gen.

I think the Gen 4 is almost 2 seconds to 60 faster.


I saw a picture of an IROC, and it definitely had drum brakes in the rear. That would have to go. I also wonder if the newer ones (89-92) were upgraded to rear disk. These would have to be LS swapped. I wonder if the 89-92 were fuel injected and had digital gauges. If so, this LS swap might be a lot cheaper than the Monte.