From an abandoned turbine hall, the skinwalker presents a review of a 2007 Chevrolet Corvette convertible 6 speed auto

As you can see, this is a car owned by a grandparent, in a spec that nobody under the age of 40 would willingly choose, the fully specced interior, power convertible top, and a 6 speed auto with an LS3 V8 making 430hp. The things I was not surprised about, the straight line speed and the ability to take a corner, and steering feel. I was surprised at how comfy and quiet it was tho. Every part of this car was up to the task of a sporting experience, well, except for that damned 6L80E.
Pros:
-Great steering feel
-Incredibly planted chassis
-Unrelenting speed
-Comfy seats
Cons:
-Unresponsive transmission
-2000’s GM interior
-Knowing its the worst possible spec of the car.
-Comically shallow and small trunk in the convertible

The first time i ever drove this car I was 16 and had only ever driven a falling apart datsun and a 5 speed corolla, needless to say this thing felt nothing short of a super car, especially spinning its all seasons from 0-60 only stopping to shift into second gear. I’ve now driven many different cars and am not 16, so the alieness of it has worn off, but the speed sure hasnt. 430 hp in a 3100 lb car will never not be fun, and it deosnt slow down for the corners. The brakes are strong and confidence inspiring, and the steering is miata precise with comparable albiet less feel. You can toss it into corners, while i initially expected it would be more of having to manhandle it to get thr grip out of it, it wants to play with you and happily communicates exactly what the front wheels are doing. In corners the body roll is near to absolute zero, surprising with how soft the ride is on highways. The car drives as low as its center of gravity is. However even the untrained 16 year could smell the shitty parts of it, the transmissions behavior is any driving between cruising and flooring it, is to say the least, sub optimal.

Now for an entire paragraph from a manual elitist jerk moaning and bitching about transmissions. On straight line dahes the transmission is fully competent, shifting briskly and smoothly. It’s no dual clutch but you would be hard pressed to shift faster than it. Go into a corner on a mountain road and it shifts up to 4th almost imediatley, the S for “sport” simply delays this inevitability but for lip service will hold the gear slightly longer. The paddle shifters work somewhat, if you treat them like a 5$ bluetooth remote controlling a TV thats 100 yards away, you have to shift half a second before you actually want it to, or it’ll redline, upshift for you, and without you knowing it not be in manual mode anymore. The only way to get it back into manual mode is coming to a full stop and spamming the downshift until the display says 1st gear. (which is not its own paddle, shifting up is pushing the paddle forward, while downshifting is pulling it back, only GM could come up with such a pointless and stupid design). The downshifting is nothing short of depressing, it feels like someone learning manual timidly releasing the cltuch out of fear they’re in the wrong gear, and takes just as long as well. Now to stop bitching about transmissions and move on

As for the non performance experience of the car, as expected from anything with 6.2 liters and an automatic with less than 8 speeds it guzzles fuel. The seats are both supportive in corners and comfy on long drives. The 1.5 hours to the mountains feels like nothing. They tried with the interior, and it certainly looks better than anything else from gm at the time, but compared to the climate control and heated leather seats the cheap design feels out of place. You can tell the materials were upgraded somewhat, the plastic is rubbery instead of hard. But it still doesnt feel upscale. On the highway its pretty quiet, and while you feel bumps, they dont really jolt you. This car would be very happy on a road trip.

As an overall package this is a fun car. It moves very fast, and feels very good in the corners. It feel fully like a sports car despite being specced for at the speed limit top down showing off to the class of 65′. The bones of a true sports car are all there, and the only thing holding it back from exceptional is the transmission interupting you. As the car addict of the family it’ll likely end up mine, in which HP tuners and the nearest LS shop will do their best to force the transmission to shift fast, and respond to driver input. And make the exhuast louder, because the great 6.2 noise is far too muted from the factory