[PICS] 2014 Corvette Stingray Z51 Convertible in the CorvetteBlogger Garage

Feb 28, 2014

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[PICS] 2014 Corvette Stingray Z51 Convertible in the CorvetteBlogger Garage

Last week and into the early part of this week, we had the unique opportunity to host a seven day test drive of the 2014 Corvette Stingray Convertible. One of the benefits of living in Florida is the beautiful weather we have this time of year and so we put the Lime Rock Green Convertible’s top down and never looked back.

Our test car was a nearly loaded Z51 Convertible with all the fun options checked. On the outside the Corvette rocked the Lime Rock Green metallic paint and it was complimented by a Kalahari convertible top. On the inside we had a 3LT Kalahari interior with the suede microfiber upper trim package and suede inserts on the standard GT seats. About the only thing missing on this car was the FAY Carbon Fiber dash trim as our test car came with the black surround.

As far as performance options go, this baby had them all. The Z51 Package brings the Performance Suspension with the Dry Sump oil system, Electronic Limited Slip Differential (eLSD) and the larger brakes and 19″/20″ wheels. Optional equipment included the Magnetic Selective Ride Control ($1,795), a 6-speed Automatic Transmission with paddle shifters ($1,350) and the Multi-Mode Performance Exhaust ($1,195).

All together, the total vehicle price as displayed on the test car’s window sticker came to $73,525 which includes the $995 destination charge.

Despite our previous drives of the Corvette Stingray, it still took us a good day or so to master the controls and the display. Because this was a test car, someone else had customized the settings and it was driving us nuts as changing the Drive Mode Selector on the console wasn’t changing the display from the Sport mode with the large circular tachometer, even when the car was in Track or Touring mode. Finally we found the settings for the linking the display to the drive mode selector and after that we were set.

Driving the 2014 Corvette Stingray Z51 Convertible is an absolute dream. The car is very responsive and reacts well both on city streets and the highway. As the driver, you are completely wrapped in the cockpit of the car. The comfort level is extremely high, even on longer road trips. One of my favorite “driver comfort” features of the Stingray is the standard seat cooling fans. You put these on while driving and you no longer get out of the car with the back of your shirt being sweaty and wet.

One of the conveniences I really enjoyed was the ability to use voice commands. With my iPhone hooked up to the car via bluetooth I could make and receive calls just from hitting the Voice button on the steering wheel. The Navigation system also responds to voice commands so while you are driving you can input a destination by saying the address.

There’s a ton of cool technology in the car too and some you’ll use more than others. One feature we just started to play with before turning in the car was the built in timer. By default, its set for 0-60 mph and from a dead stop it will tell you how long it took to go 60 mph. Those numbers can be changed so if you’re at the track, you can set it for 0-100 MPH or whatever arbitrary number you want.

In our seven day test, we managed to get in over 1,000 miles of driving on the car (with an average 22.7 mpg fuel economy), which explains why we haven’t been posting blogs with our normal frequency. In addition to road trip to Savannah, we also took the car to the racetrack for some quarter mile runs. We’ll have more on those two experiences coming up next week. In the meantime, check out some of the photos we took of this beautiful Lime Rock Green Metallic Corvette Stingray under the Florida sun: