C&D archive review: 1999 Corvette FRC
Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 7:17 pm
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/199 ... est-review
They also have a PDF of the article available.
This is awesome! C5 enthusiasts recognize the 99 FRC as the precursor to the 2001 Z06. FRC stands for fixed roof coupe, and it was lighter, stiffer (structure) and cheaper than the hatchback. It was also available only with a manual transmission. They all had Z51 suspension. How cheap? We're talking like $38k MSRP.
Another interesting C5 factoid (not applicable to the FRC, however) was that GM debuted their magnetorheological shocks in the 1998 Corvette (RPO F45 as opposed to F55 which was the 2nd gen system available on 2003 C5s). GM also had other goodies not available on the FRC such as dual zone auto climate, HUD and power telescoping steering wheel. That's some history.
To give an idea of how light the C5 was, the article states it was 400 lbs lighter than the Nissan 300ZX Turbo, which was evidently some kind of benchmark. 3,180 lbs, if we're counting (if I recall, the 2001 Z06 ended up a touch lighter than this, even).
What got me, though, was how blazingly fast this car was! Even the regular C5 was fast, but the FRC kind of blew my mind. I mean, it's a bit faster than my CTS-V. 0-60 in 4.8 and the 1/4 mile in 13.2 @ 110 mph! And still capable of 30mpg+ highway.
So who wants a used C5?
They also have a PDF of the article available.
This is awesome! C5 enthusiasts recognize the 99 FRC as the precursor to the 2001 Z06. FRC stands for fixed roof coupe, and it was lighter, stiffer (structure) and cheaper than the hatchback. It was also available only with a manual transmission. They all had Z51 suspension. How cheap? We're talking like $38k MSRP.
Another interesting C5 factoid (not applicable to the FRC, however) was that GM debuted their magnetorheological shocks in the 1998 Corvette (RPO F45 as opposed to F55 which was the 2nd gen system available on 2003 C5s). GM also had other goodies not available on the FRC such as dual zone auto climate, HUD and power telescoping steering wheel. That's some history.
To give an idea of how light the C5 was, the article states it was 400 lbs lighter than the Nissan 300ZX Turbo, which was evidently some kind of benchmark. 3,180 lbs, if we're counting (if I recall, the 2001 Z06 ended up a touch lighter than this, even).
What got me, though, was how blazingly fast this car was! Even the regular C5 was fast, but the FRC kind of blew my mind. I mean, it's a bit faster than my CTS-V. 0-60 in 4.8 and the 1/4 mile in 13.2 @ 110 mph! And still capable of 30mpg+ highway.
So who wants a used C5?