If there's anyone else out there like me, the Chevrolet Corvette was not always at the top of my most wanted list; in fact before riding in and driving this car, I would have never thought of purchasing an American car, not to mention a Corvette.

One day all that changed, and so did my luck. My good friend David was lucky enough to have one of these babies sitting in his garage, and he was told not to drive it!

This particular '02 Corvette has a ram air intake, and an HKS exhaust on it, and it's a convertible with an automatic. I'm not a big fan of automatic transmissions, except in the case of the Corvette.

David's dad was out of town, and David's 4 cylinder Pontiac transmission blew up, so he needed something to drive around for a few days until his dad got back from Costa Rica. David is pretty rough on cars, and he was pretty rough on his dad's Corvette as well, and gave it a thorough testing.

My first thoughts of the '02 Corvette, before actually riding in one was somewhat cynical. I'm skeptical that this vehicle could be used as a daily driver, or even has a drop of practicality in it's bloodstream.

Yet one afternoon of riding around in the Corvette changed my attitude towards this car forever! David was quite the lead foot on the highway, and our 20 mile trip seemed like it took no time at all.

This particular Corvette has all kinds of tech goodies installed including a heads up display that projects speed and RPM onto the windshield for safer driving; i.e. one doesn't need to take their eyes off of the road in order to make sure they're within the legal speed limit. This heads up display comes in handy especially in heavy traffic. Most all the gauges are digital, and the digital fuel consumption gauge is quite nice! The '02 Corvette surprisingly gets a respectable 20 miles to the gallon or better if driven very conservatively.

Speaking of speed limits, I'm not really a big fan of then, and I don't really want to say how fast we were traveling on the highway, but let's just say that the Corvette's listed top speed of about 168 seems reasonable.

Be extremely careful about jumping on the throttle, as I was merging onto the interstate, didn't think I was giving it all that much gas, and heard one of the rear wheels struggling to maintain traction on the loose gravel surface I was attempting to gently launch from. Traction control helps a little, but it's not going to completely keep the wheels from spinning, so I wouldn't trust it completely.

One thing I noticed immediately is that the aggressive front fenders seem rather large and wide, and are difficult to see over. They just seem more for looks than for practicality. In fact, this car is feels big, of course I have been driving a Sentra SE-R, so this is not exactly what I'm used to (the '91 SE-R is one of the best handling front wheel drive cars around). Cruising around town is nice though once one gets used to the sheer size of this vehicle. If I were designing it I would have shaved a few inches off the width of the car and the length of the nose.

Be careful going around corners as well. David liked to get on the throttle going around corners and this car has so much power on tap, breaking the rear wheels loose requires very little effort. This is even with a relatively tall first gear that doesn't require a shift to second gear until close to 60 miles per hour. I could see how some people could have totaled these cars just underestimating the sheer power to weight ratio, which is remarkable for a car in this price range.

There are really few drawbacks to this car. Insurance might be pricey for someone under 25, gas is pricey, but the car gets respectable mileage when driven conservatively. As one other reviewer mentioned, slowing down to go over speed bumps could be quite an annoyance, but that is what happens with front spoilers on cars that are designed to go approximately 170 miles per hour.

Conclusion!? I think I might be going through a midlife crisis at the moment, I'm only 24, and when I turn 25 and my insurance drops I would seriously consider purchasing one of these beasts on the used market. Highly recommended for anyone who can afford to fuel and insure this beast as the purchase price is likely to be very reasonable. The pros seems to outweigh the cons, at least in my mind. Just be careful and treat this car with respect!
Amount Paid (US$): 22,900
Condition: Used
Model Year: 2002
Model and Options: 5 Speed Automatic Convertible