Yahoo Autos Chevrolet Corvette Convertible Road Test Review | Mountain road after a blizzard. What could go wrong?
COUGAR, Wash. – Somewhere in the mountains south of Mount St. Helens, there is a serpentine road with sharp twists and scenic sweepers. It's lined by dense ferns with conifers overhead, and it's almost certainly damp. Then, at some point, there's a large turnout that provides a vast, unencumbered view of the infamous stratovolcano — the side that was less blown up in 1980.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure where that "somewhere" is. It's a distant memory, but if I was ever going to find it again, a Chevrolet Corvette Convertible seemed like the perfect tool. Sure, it was February, but the 'Vette was wearing winter tires. What could go wrong? You see, I first stumbled upon that road and lookout in late 2009 during the Suzuki Kizashi press launch. Probably not a car you expected to be referenced in a Corvette review, but there it is! The road in question provided a challenging tableau for the agile little sedan, while that lookout served as a scenic driver change point complete with a box of Voodoo Doughnuts the Suzuki reps brought along to fatten us up. I have since had my share of Tangfastics and Maple Creams, but that road has remained a mystery despite my move to Portland three-plus years ago.
V8 fired up, the exhaust's deep, nasty rumble is regrettably far more noticeable outside the Corvette than inside – something I noted a year ago in the C8 first drive review. This would be a point in favor of the Corvette Convertible's retractable hardtop roof. Though I planned to eventually put it down in order to enjoy that V8 music and satisfy the requirements of reviewing a convertible, temperatures were in still in the 40s with rain always possible. Pushing a button to restore the roof is a much better solution than what you get with the Corvette Coupe's removable roof panel: get out of the car, open the trunk, pull out the roof panel, awkwardly put roof panel on car … you get the idea. Yay Convertible. Well, except for the diminished headroom. I managed to wear a helmet in the coupe back in February 2020, but no way is that possible in the Convertible. I couldn't wear a baseball cap without the button hitting the rigid panel above me, and although 6-foot-3, it's rare for me to come in contact with a car's roof.
The most obvious candidate to be the Kizashi road is Washington Highway 503. It runs from Interstate 5 eastward into the mountains south of St. Helens with no other roads in between. At its eastern end, it forks in multiple directions, including south toward the Columbia River Gorge. I planned to take that and loop back to Portland on Washington 14. You can see the route here.
But first, getting to 503 requires a straight shot up Interstate 5 for 40 minutes. This C8 Convertible (as tested $88,805) came with Magnetic Ride Control, a $1,895 option available with or without this car's $5,000 Z51 Performance pack. It's a must-have. As much as these magnetically controlled dampers might help conquer mountain roads and race tracks, they're even more indispensable for their ability to smooth out trash pavement and provide a truly civilized highway ride. In fact, having already judged the ride to be shockingly comfortable, I discovered upon exiting onto Washington 503 that I had actually been driving in Sport mode the entire time. Admittedly, the differences between Tour and Sport modes are more obvious in terms of steering, but still, that's impressive.
After about 15 minutes, 503 starts skirting a spectacular trio of lakes. The first, Lake Merwin, does a decent impression of a fjord. It's here where I lowered the roof, a hardtop piece that lifts up and disappears below a solid clamshell panel. The rear window is a separate roll-down element that doubles as a wind deflector with the roof down. It does a competent job on that front, significantly reducing cabin airflow while driving in the 50- to 60-mph range. However, there's still quite a lot of noise created by the prominent buttresses aft of each seat; things that weren't present in the C8's more roadster-like predecessors.
Still, it's quieter than the Coupe with its roof panel removed, and indeed, if you plan on frequently driving al fresco, the Convertible is without a doubt superior. Rear visibility even improves – by a lot – since there's no second rear window reflecting the engine below. Of course, it must be said that the engine is therefore completely hidden away under the roof storage area, which could be a real bummer if your idea of a fun Saturday morning is to sit next to your 'Vette in a lawn chair while its small-block is ogled by Cars and Coffee attendees.
