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Congrats on new purchase, how does the bowling green experience work?
You just select the Museum Delivery Option when placing your order with the dealer and the car will be prepared for collection at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY. You complete the purchase process with your local dealer and then schedule a handover date once notified that the car has been built. The PDI is done by GM trained technicians and presented by a product specialist after you have the opportunity to tour the Museum and visit the gift shop. The GM Plant is nearby and is also normally available for customer tours.
I left the GT3 in the garage this week and travelled to Bowling Green, KY to pick up a new Stingray at the National Corvette Museum. It was my first time flying since March and it felt a bit strange to be back in airports, rental cars and hotels. Anyway, the Museum Delivery experience was worth the added effort and definitely made the collection process more special. Kind of like factory delivery without actually dealing with anyone from GM or the Dealership.
Having owned a number of air-cooled and water cooled 911s over the past 30 years, I never had much interest in Corvettes. In fact, the only domestic vehicles I’ve owned are a Jeep Wrangler and a Ford F-150, both American Icons in their own right. My first impression was that the Stingray looked much better in person than I expected. It’s definitely difficult to capture this car’s design and proportions in photos.
My next surprise was how much I liked the interior’s design and quality. The seats are supportive as well as extremely comfortable, even after several hour stints behind the wheel. I’ve never actually driven a Porsche with PDK, so I have no reference to compare the car’s 8 Speed DCT, but it worked flawlessly in both auto and manual modes. The different driving and exhaust modes are also fun to play with and they expand the car’s bandwidth considerably. Additionally, the magnetic ride suspension is next level technology and something I wish Porsche had incorporated on the GT3.
Overall, a very competent and entertaining car in addition to being an amazing value. So after getting home, I jumped in my GT3 which I hadn’t driven in a week or so. Somehow the cabin looked and felt older than I had remembered. The seats were disappointing and the technology, admittedly something I couldn’t care less about, felt dated. So I fired her up and took her out for a spirited drive on my favorite roads to validate my impressions after hundreds of miles in the Corvette. She felt less refined than I remembered and seemed a bit cranky about having to sit in the garage while I was having a fling with a younger American. As I parked her in the garage that evening I was extremely conflicted in light of my new infatuation. She knew that I had cheated on her and she was not pleased.
The next morning, we were back on the road working things out and in the light of a new day we came to an understanding after some 93 octane and a few well executed heel toe downshifts. My imagination had been captured by something new and shiny and my expectations were altered in the process. But I was also reminded of what had brought us together in the first place, her refined 6 Speed Manual, her sonorous Flat 6 and the old world charm of her rear engine layout.
All is well again, expectations are back in context and I appreciate her for what she is and always was rather than what she isn’t and never will be.
09-08-2020, 11:42 PM
