Ll3,MPH TRANS AM TURBO!

GINEDNilENJUNE 1989 o UK L2.40 $2.95

Preview: all,new 1990 Acura Integra GS. 4wd Mudslingers...Isrlzu Amigo, Laforza, and Range Rover. Ten terrifyingly ugly . r' | ,r:- Al{0i=E=,1 ltir,r, -l n.TEST Ir .r j, .. .i --L-_ Chevrolet Corvette ZR 1 It's out of the park, over the center-field stands. The fans are chanting, "Chev-ee, Chev-ee, Chev-ee!"

BY WILLIAM JEANES .The Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1, unless er or whatever the top man is called. A make them look bad ever again. we miss our guess, is going to cost some second group, friends ofthe boss, can do The whole process of carrying any people at General Motors theirjobs. soz.uwrong. A third contingent, those not project-a , for example-to its con- You ask, how can that be? After all, is a part of the power structure, can quite clusion has been reduced to a six-step this not the Corvette from hell? The King easily commit perceived transgressions progression that. once set in motion. is as of the Hill? The -fighting world- against the entrenched moguls. In short, inexorable as the sunrise: (l) unbridled class two-seater from the Motor City? A everyone but the boss is at some risk. enthusiasm, (2) sudden disillusionment, legend-to-be? Yes, it is that and more. Friends of the boss get in trouble by (3) total confusion, (4) the search for the But it may still cause heads to roll. doing something that doesn't work out. guilty, (5) punishment of the innocent, To anyone who's ever been a part of The Outs, those not basking in the and (6) rewarding of nonparticipants. the corporate world, such a situation is shared glow of power, get in trouble by But what has all this to do with the ZR- familiar. In all corporations, only one doing something that turns out so outra- l?Just this: the car is so good that those person can do no wrong. That person is geously well that the Ins becomejealous. who didn't want it to happen and those the boss-the chairman or president or Once that happens, the Ins will be out for who made it happen anyway have both chief executive olficer or maximum lead- some heads, determined that no one will put their livelihoods on the line. Nothing

JUNE 1989 CORVETTE ZX..I

this good can come out of a large Ameri- can corporation without causing shock waves. And we all know what some com- panies-GM, in particular, has been pub- liclv vocal on the issue-think about any- thing that rocks the boat. Well, the folks up there on the fourteenth floor had best plan on getting wet feet, because if any car can slosh saltwater over the gunwales standards for luel economy, safety, o{'the corporate lifeboat, it's this one. noise. emissions. and so on." The ZR-l "If vou don't keep pushing the enve- engineering team has done nothing less lope, the limits of what's technically feasi- than prove that Detroit can indeed run ble," Chevv's chief engineer Fred with the big dogs. The car is, and de- Schaalsma told us, "you're going to fall serves to be, a source of pride to U.S. behind." Hear, hear. If General Motors enthusiasts. engineerin g could-or would-improve The new ZR-l can provide the best upon a basic to the extent that the driver in the world with all the slam-bam Corvette engineering team improved power that he could ask for, yet its per- upon the existing Corvette, the crowds at sonalitv and demeanor are such that driv- GM dealerships would cause a nation- ers who are less than world-class-a wide trafficjam. group that, by our observation, includes Dave Mcl,ellan, Corvette chief engi- a great many owners of high-perfor- neer. savs. "The ZR-l makes thc state- mance cars-are remarkably well pro- ment that we can do things todav that no tected from themselves. one even dreamed could be done ten or Does this mean you can't get yourself twentv vears ago. We've achieved a spec- in trouble behind the wheel of a ZR-l? tacular level o[performance and are still No. Does it mean that you have to be sui- able to meet or exceed all government cidal to fall victim to its powerand speed?

CAR and DRIVER the car we had onlv driven fbr a limited distance on the test track. The choice of Europe as an introductor\'\'enue permit- ted us to cxperience the Corvette in thc arena dominated bv F-erraris, , and big, whistling Mercedes 5sd2n5-2n arena otherwise populatcd bv small, nim- ble cars that run {ist on the autobahns and autoroutes and almost as fast on the twisting, sometimes rough secondarv roads. \4buld this American beast still pound its chest aftcr such an encounter? Certainlv it has the equipmcnt. on pa- per and in [act, to compete anvrvhere. To review, the Corvette ZR-l is a rear-drive porvered bv a 32-valve, 5.7-li- ter, port-fuel-injected \'-8 engine with an aluminum block and alunrinum heads. 'I'he engine n'as designed bv GM's Group Lotus Division, was further devel- oped bv GM, and is built under contract bv Mercury Marine in Oklahoma, a facili- tv with more than a passing familiaritl' Yes. Left to its own devices, the ZR- I is at prevent their meeting in the middle. The with high-muscle aluminurn engines. once the most exciting and responsible ZR- I is the kind of machine that will send The 32-valve V-8 engine, "LT5" on high-perlirrmance car ever conceived in the safety Nazis to their daybeds with the the options sheet, has two camshafis on Detroit, let alone ever built. It feels glued vapors, even as it brings car lovers t

plain warps the mind. The ZR-l has the tires, which are loosely based on Good- three settings-Touring, Sport, and Per- ability to take you from 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 year's Formula I rain tires, was an over- formance-allow the driver to tailor the seconds and from a stop to 100 in 10.4 supply of road noise. Their benefits, suspension to meet variations in road seconds. We also recorded a 0-to-150- which come in the form of limpetlike conditions, levels of driver aggression. mph time of a tick under half a minute. adhesion to the earth's paved surfaces, and comfort requirements. Within each Top speed, for the adventurous, is a siz- go far toward minimizing the negative ef- mode, there are six gradations of shock- zling 175 miles per hour. lects of the noise. As big as these rires absorber damping; they varv with speed Behind the engine is a six-speed man- are, we may see bigger yet. Goodyear to maintain a constant level of ride con- ual transmission that's as sweet as any- says that size-405 tires are now practical trol.'Ihe Performance setting will rattle thing mechanical you're likely to lay a to build-for the next Corvette, perhaps. your fillings over rough roads, but the hand on. Capable of withstanding 425 Meanwhile, lhe current tircs are protect- other two are useful in adapting the car pound-feet of torque, the six-shifter is ed and monitored by low-tire-pressure to differing roads and driving styles. A the same manual gearbox used in all waming sensors that light up an alert on rough road can be tamed by switching to 1989 Corvettes, brrt it's heaven sent for the dash whenever any tire's pressure the Touring setting, and the Sport set- the Corvette from hell. falls below a preset level. The result of a ting can draw real cornering perfor- Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshalen AG, ten-year, ten-million-mile testing pro- mance-and surprising comfort-from usually referred to simply as ZF, de- gram, lhe low-tire-pressure warning sys- the ZR-l on a smooth, twisting surface. signed the six-speed transmission espe- tem (option-code "UJ6") can sense varia- Without the FX3 system, the ZR-l would cially for the Corvette. The fully synchro- tions of plus or minus I psi. not be the grand tourer it is. nized unit derives much of its slick Behind the wheels are vented disc We drove the ZR- l first from Geneva operation from an internal-rail shift brakes developed by PBR Automotive, to southwestern France and later from mechanism and a hydraulically actuated, an arm of Brake and Clutch Industries Montpelier to the principality of Andor- 280mm-diameter pull-type clutch. Be- Australia Pty, Ltd.-yet another group of ra, a tiny dot in the Pyrenees Mountains. cause GM has a severe allergy to seeing outlanders. The big 13.0-inch front discs Altogether, we spent somewhere be- the gas-guzzler tax applied to any of its (the rears are an inch smaller in diame- tween 700 and 800 miles in the car. A cars, the Corvette team softened the fuel ter) reflect lessons learned during Cor- number of observations resulted. First, gluttony by installing a system known as vette Showroom Stock endurance racing the ZR- l makes every previous Corvette computer-aided gear selection. Rich and are as good to the touch as any we've seem antediluvian. also makes you -fhe It Ceppos explains the system's intricacies set a toe to. brakes will haul the ZR- I wonder why anyone would spend more in his accompanying Corvette convert- to a stop from 70 mph in an impressive than $50,000 on a two-seater-given that ible review; we'lljust add that the CAGS- 170 fbet, and fade is nor a part of the the ZR- I will be available for about that. equipped six-speed transmission is infi- ZR-l braking equation. But the best news of all is that the Cor- nitely more pleasurable to use than the The suspension is the same sporting vette standard-bearer is not some over- old Doug Nash 4*3 manual overdrive combination of Z5l heavy-duty suspen- powered, noisy (well, not too noisy) rat- transmission. sion and FX3 selective ride control that tler that feels as i[its engine were trying Transmission particulars aside, you can be ordered on garden-variety Vcttes. to escape its body. should know that shifting could not be T'hat is, moderately stifftransverse fiber- Driving the ZR- l reminds you rhar ir is easier. The clutch-pedal effort is mild, glass springs, thick anti-roll bars, and ad- possible to create a car thar is bewilder- and the gearbox is as at home under city justable Delco,/Bilstein gas-filled shock ingly fast but that maintains an air of civi- driving conditions as it is on mountain absorbers. 1 he only depirture from the lization about it. Unlike previous Cor- roads taken at speed. -I'hough standard setup is a thicker rear anti-roll vettes, the ZR- I doesn't subject its driver the driveline comes from bar, which is needed to cope with the ZR- to corporal punishment in the form of a across the wa(er, the exterior remains I's added weight and power and larger head-rattling ride quality. Quite the op- pure American. There are no significant rear tlres. posite, in fact. Twice, after driving hard differences between the standard L98- Inside all is reasonably familiar, but if all day on French roads that ranged from powered Corvette and the LT5-powered you scrutinize the console between the challenging to hostile, we emerged un- ZR-1. But a close examination of the rear you'll see two unfamiliar objects: a scathed and unbrutalized by the ZR-1. reveals that the ZR- I is some three inches lock with a key in it and a three-position This feeling of freshness after a long and wider in the fanny, with the smooth flar- srvitch. difficult drive is stuff of which great ing-out process beginning at the front First, the lock, or kiddie key. T'his gives grand-touring cars are made. edge ofthe doors and ending in a square- the operator a choice offull or reduced Twice, once through poor planning on lensed taillamp fascia. The ZR-l dis- engine power, sealing off the high-rpm our part, we were forced to stand hard on tances itself lrom its lesser compadres end of the induction svstem and reduc- the brakes. They stopped us short of with the kind of subtlety dear io the ing peak output by about 150 hp. This disaster with the sureness ofa racing car. hearts of Q-ship lovers. means that young drivers can be sent to Innumerable times we called on the en- The added width is there for a pur- play in traffic with at least some comfort gine for extra effort in passing situations. pose: to provide shelter for a pair of tires to a parent. The switch has been incor- The effort was given freely and without that the word "humongous" was surely rectly called the valet key-incorrect be- incident. Despite the constant stream of coined to describe. The ZR-l carries cause any parking-lot attendant unable brute strength that surges through the 315/352R-17 Goodvear Eagle unidirec- to cause an owner grief with the 230 or so and into your body, we never had the tional gatorbacks in the rear and 275/ remaining horses just isn't trying. feeling that we were in anything bur a 40ZR-17 Eagles up front. Wheel width is The other switch, which operates the finely tuned example o[ true automorive 9.5 inches in front and ll.0 inches in FX3 Selective Ride Control system, craftsmanship. the back. makes a real difference in the ZR- l-and, The car takes mountain turns-iard or,t drawback we found with the indeed, in all Corvettes so equipped. Its mountain turns-with a neutralitv that urtn" CAR and DRIVER would d() credit t() thc Swiss banking in- dustrv. 'fhe clutch action and the shilicr throlv make power application pleasur- ablv smooth, and the amount ol pou'cr available, as we'\'c noted, simph exceeds thc cxpectations ol sanc pcrsons. -I'hc \t'erc therc comolaints? A {L'rv. road noisc has alrcidv been rncntioncd. and sorne o{'the tcst cars we drovc had consiclcrablc rvind u'histle at both thc A- pillars and the O-pillars. Aftcr the hard run to Andorra, we linallv coaxed somc {anriliar squeaks fiberglass from the Vehicle type: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, Curb weight. ... 3440tb boclr', but nothing that would ruin vour 2-door sedan Weight distribution. F/R 52.4,47 .69/0 dav. 'I'he garish elcctronic dash neither Fuel capacity .. 2O.O Eal -fime Price as tested: $5 I,500 Oil capacity . 12.0 qt pleases nor uorks properlr'. alier Water capacity ...... 16.7 qt timc wc czrrne to a f ull stop and waitcd for Options on test car: tinted'glass litt-out rool panel thc electronic speedomctcr to catch up- /BODY -['herc Standard accessories: power steering. windows, seats, Type .... . lull-length lrame Integral with body ()r, rnorc properlv, wind down. and locks, A/C, cruise control. tilt steering, rear defroster Body material . .. liberglass-reinlorced plastic seems little excuse Ibr that. 'l-hc Sound system: Delco-Glvl/Bose AM/FM-stereo radro,'cas' INTERIOR scats are iust {ine and can bc ad- sette,4 speakers SAE volume, front seat . 49 cu ft to an almost lirnitlcss number ol' trunk space l8 cu lt .justed ENGINE Frontseats ... bucket driving positions. L,ven the seat wings Type ...... V-8, aluminum block and heads Seat adjustments ...... lore and alt, seatback angle, and lumbar supports arc p()wer c()n- Bore x stroke ...... 3.90 x 3.66 in. 99.0 x 93.0mm front height, rear height, lumbar support, 'fhe Displacement 349 cv in,5727cc upper srde bolsters trolleci. overall look ol'the dash ancl Compressionratio...... 11.0:l General comfort .....poor lair good excellent othcr plastic-clad surlhces stops short ol' Engine-control system...... G[4 electronic with port Fore'and'alt support...... poortair goodexcellent being cheap, but stops cvcn furthcr fuel iniection Lateral support .....poor fairgood ercellenl it Emissions controls 3-way catalytic converter, fiorn richness. A redo of'the interior is feedback luel'air-ratio control, EGR, SUSPENSION duc fcrr thc 1990 model vear, howcvcr, so electric auxiliary air pump F: ...... ind, unequal-length control arms, plastic Valve gear ...... chain-driven double overhead cams, , 3-position cockpit adjustable rve'll hope Iirr inrprovcment. 4 valves per , hydraulic lilters electronically controlled shock absorbers, N{canrvhile. we rvill lust alier thc ZR- l. Power (SAE net).. 380 bhp @ 6200 rpm anti-roll bar Torque (SAE net) . 370 lb-ft 4200 rpm R:...... ind; lixed-length half-shatt, 2 lateral links, ()nh a lew hundred n'ill bc built during @ Redline ...... 72OO tpm and 2 trailing links per side; plastic leat 19U9, and production-u'hich is limitcd spring; 3-position cockpit-adiustable bv cnginc availabilitr'-will likclv not cx- DRIVETRAIN electronically controlled shock absorbers, Transmission. . .. 6-speed anti-roll bar cced 4000 rrnits annuallr. Final.drive ratio ...... 3.54:I, limited slip Persistent nrmors o{'engine pr<>blerns, Gear Ratio lvph/ 1000 rpm lvlax. test speed STEERING | 2.68 7.a 56 mph (7200 rpm) Tvpe . .. .. rack-and-oinron, power'assrsted prinrarilv overheating and oil-svstcm il 1.80 l l.6 83 mph (7200 rpm) Turns lock-to.|ock ...... 2.3 rnalfunctions, cloggcd thc ZR-l during ilt 1.31 I5.9 I l4 mph (7200 rpm) Turning circle curb-to-curb 40.0 ft (lhcvrolct lv l oo 20.8 I 50 mph (7200 rpm) thc first ouartcr of'1989. dc- v 0.75 27.A 175 mph (6300 rpm) BRAKES nies thcni categoricalh, and, indeed, rr'c vl 0.50 41.6 I 52 mph (3650 rpm) F: ...... 13.0 x l..f in vented disc watched dozcn and cngi- R: ...... I 2.0 x l. l-in vented disc a .journalists DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITIES Power assist vacuum with anti-lock control nccrs flog thirteen ZR-ls for thrce solid .....96.2in davs in France-including time ()n Track. F/R 59.6,/61.9 in WHEELS AND TIRES Length . . . 177.4 in Wheel size ...F:9.5x17in; R: ll.Ox17in (lo<>dvear's Mircval tcst track-with r)arv width ...... 74.Otn Wheeltype...... castaluminum a nrisfirc. \\t"rc therelbrc willins to bc- Height...... 46.7 in Tires ...... Goodyear Eagle ZR, F: P27514OZR-l7l Frontal area. .. 19.4 sq ft R: P3l5,35ZR-17 lieve that thc rurnors stemmed {iom nor- Ground clearance...... 4.7in Test intlation pressures. F/R ... .35'35psi rnal dcvclopmental teething pains and not fiom product irrcgrrlarilics. \!'c'rc also rvilling to hopc (wc'll bc- CAR AND DRI\rER TEST RESTJLT$ licvc it when we see it) that thc ZR- I n'ill ACCfLf,RATIOI{ Secdrlds Fad6 ...... ,...... mneihoderabfxavy spark other units ol'(leneral N{otors to HArfilut{G pr<>dtr

dustn folkxr'? \{'e'll sce. PR(UECTED FUEL ECOilqY Meanwhile, uc'll look {irrward }rtrngri- EPAcftydrivlfig .,..,.. f5mlt EPA highway , . , 25 mpg lv to morc tinre in the car that, lirr norv, is drivlFg tirc bcst thing vet secn lrom an Americ:rtr I'{TERrcN g}UI|D LWEL mantrl'ircturcr . . . and rr'e'll hopc that thc ldle...... ,. 55dBA Frdl-thmttle accderatbn...... 89 dBA rvrong pcoplc at (lhcvrolct don't losc ?O-mphc|uisiBg...... 74d84 their.jobs bccausc the ZR-l thcv crcatcd To"mphcoarlirE ,,...,74dBA is so good at its.j()b o

.iuNE 1989