I flew down to South FL to help my Dad open his house up after spending the summer up on Cape Cod. I got in before 10am and his flight wasn't due until 4pm so I had plenty of time to relax and maybe take a drive. I went to the rental area which had about 8 vendors in it, very few people there so I sat down, got my phone out and looked up what kind of deals were available. Budget had a great deal on a Mustang for $125 for the three days through USAA. I haven't driven the new IRS model so I went to that counter.
I was immediately served by a nice gentleman and asked for the car, gave him the time I'd be back. He asked for my license and I gave it to him. He gave me a big smile when my perfect driving record display on his computer screen. "Sir, would you like to upgrade that to a new Corvette?" and he wrote down a price of $99 and gave it to me. I asked him "per day?" and he nodded yes. I shook my head, gave him my credit card and said "I'll just take the Mustang". He took my card and scanned it, revealing my excellent credit rating and he threw his head back. "Sir, I see that you qualify for an excellent discount on the upgrade." He wrote down a figure of $49 and placed it on the counter. "OK," I agreed, somewhat reluctantly.
But what the hell, I haven't driven a new Vette either. In fact, I've never driven an old one lol. I knew I was in for two solid days of repairing stuff around my dad's house with tons of crap in the way and never the right tools available and all that shit. "You deserve it!" the agent said. He seemed to read the look on my face quite well.
The car is stunning from the outside. It is by far the best looking Vette to date and I've read a lot of praise about the new design. I looked the car over carefully and took photos of each defect on the body. There were several. In fact the rear bumper cover was scuffed up pretty good and misaligned. The trunk is huge- I have formerly measured a client's car finding it to be able to manage ten foot lengths of plumbing pipe.
Sitting in the driver's seat reminds me of the old animated TV show of the 70's: Speed Racer. The Mach V had these huge bulbous front fenders. They don't look large from the outside, but in the drivers seat They make Stormy Daniels look line a B-cup. I maneuvered out of the parking space very carefully.
Once on the road the car handles very nicely. There's a lot of road noise, so much so that going the speed limit feels fast to me. Can't see anything on the sides and rear, only what's in front of you. Cornering into an on ramp, throttle response if good enough to be able to "steer with the pedal". The seat and driving position is very comfortable, albeit low, but I think I could drive the car cross county very easily.
I got on I75 and headed south. I set the cruise on the posted limit of 70 and got acquainted with my new friend. Controls are simple. 8-speed automatic. Paddle shifters automatically set it into manual mode, then it goes back to auto after maintaining a steady speed and 0 Gs for a few moments. There is a center electronic display showing digital speed and analog tach. Touch screen display off to the side for radio, nav, etc. A few dial and hard button controls so you don't have to "menu down" to control basic functions like fan speed, temperature, and radio volume. A knob on the console changes to driving mode from sport to touring, track (did not use), eco (nix that) and weather.
A few miles after discovering the "weather" setting the Florida skies opened up and I dutifully slowed down to about 45 and set the correct mode. The car did OK but I would have rather have been in the Jeep set to AWD "snow" mode.
I did my errands in the car. Stopped off at a Dollar store to buy a cheap pair of sunglasses (I left mine in the Jeep, dammit), a liquor store to buy a bottle of Vat 69 and had lunch at Chick-fil-A. There is no mechanical door opener. Instead, you press small button and it unlocks and opens. There is a mechanical lever on the floor in case of electrical malfunction. The dash display shows you a split screen display for parking assist in the front and front tires with guide lines when maneuvering forward. In reverse it shows the rear camera with guide lines that move with the steering wheel.
I picked my Dad up later and he rolled his eyes. Manged to squeeze his elderly frame into it with my help and a scowl. We drove off and soon was approaching the interstate on a two lane on ramp. I got stuck being a slow car but passed it on the curve, again using the throttle for steering. I then blipped the throttle and we were at the posted 70mph limit only about half way up the ramp. "What just happened!" i asked my Dad. "Just a lot of noise" was his response, and I laughed.
The trip to his house was about 45 minutes and getting out of the car was a challenge that required my assistance. We opened up the house, and I got his old Lincoln Town Car started, first turn of the key. I drove it to the car wash and used the booth sprayer and $5 worth of quarters to get off six months of debris. Then I wiped it down and examined it in some detail, getting more filth off the paint. I made a mental list of what I would need: clay bar, leather cleaner, Windex, detail brushes. One of the turn signal bulbs was out so I stopped at OReillys and bought a complete set of exterior bulbs, and a set of wrenches to do the disassembly that I could see in the parking lot.
Got back and my Dad asked, "where to dinner?" and I said "which car to take?". He responded "The Corvette, of course". LOL I know the old dude better than he does himself sometimes.
