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2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 [w/videos]

I think I was supposed to be back hours ago. Driving northwest on State Road 190 with a final destination deep in the heart of the Death Valley National Park, it occurs to me that I might have agreed to return after an hour or so, instead of the four I'll end up stealing, solo, in the new Z06. Somewhere in the combination of mountain vistas, arching, speed-hungry desert roads, and the sound of this titanic engine on a constant run up the rev ladder, I forgot everything I'd promised back at home base. The generous, civilized part of me worries for a moment that absconding with the new-best Corvette might have left one of my fellow journalists without a car. But the selfish part of me – the part largely in control of the rocket-launcher of a throttle under my right foot ­– says "screw it." I spent two days with the 2015 Chevy Corvette Z06, a monster of a sports car that will soon be dominating track days everywhere, and I never once was inclined to share it. Hurtling through the shattered stillness of the desert and pulling big Gs at Spring Mountain circuit, I never felt overly disposed to give up my seat. This Corvette, more than any I've yet driven, was deep enough to hold my attention; for two days, for two years, probably. With this Z06, the Corvette steps over the amazing-for-the-price category, and solidly into the best-cars-in-the-world zone. There are peripheral elements that remind me of its blue collar, Bowtie heritage, sure, but there's more that simply begs me to carry on driving... faster. Most casual car observers will be able to pick the 2015 Z06 out from its less aggressive Stingray brothers. Subtler hints include a new, more open grille, larger extractor on the taller hood and rather discreet badges on the flanks of the car. More outrageous is the finned spoiler on the rear trunk lid, and the widebody look offered from flared fenders – an extra 1.57 inches (40 millimeters) at their beefiest point. Even driving around performance-car-laden Pahrump, NV – loaded thanks to the very active community at the Spring Mountain racing resort – members of the local populace were turning heads, waving and generally noting the Z06 with approval when I drove through town. In Torch Red over black painted aluminum wheels, staggered at 19-inches in front and 20 at the back, the amped-up Z06 hits a new level of road presence for the C7.

Buick takes top spot in 2022 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study

People, economies, and supply chains weren't the only things continuing to get sick over the past year. The 2022 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study (IQS) is out, showing the average rate of problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) during the first 90 days of ownership increased overall. The average figure for the 32 ranked manufacturers in 2020 was about 166 problems per 100 vehicles. In the 2021 IQS, that dropped to an average of 162. This year, the average jumps to 180 problems. J.D. Power says that figure is a record high over the 36-year history of the study. Buick leapt to the top of the rankings this year with the fewest issues, at 139 problems per 100 vehicles in the first 100 days of ownership. After Dodge became the first American automaker to lead the IQS in 2020, followed by Ram in 2021, this year marks a three-peat for U.S. carmakers. Dodge took second this year at 143 PP100, Chevrolet third with 147 PP100, Genesis the first luxury maker on the chart in fourth with 156 PP100. Between February and May, this year's study gathered responses to 223 questions from more than 84,000 new 2022-model-year car owners and lessees. The questions are designed to zero in on real-world problems new owners encounter with nine categories of vehicle features: Infotainment; features, controls and displays; exterior; driving assistance; interior; powertrain; seats; driving experience; and climate. As has been the case in the past few year, infotainment has proved to be the most problematic bugbear making scores worse. Considering features individually, six of 10 of the worst problem areas dealt with infotainment, causing infotainment's score of 45 PP100 to be 19.5 PP100 worse than the second-placed feature. Consumers ranked getting Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to connect reliably as the most troublesome.  GM didn't just score with Buick, which was one of only nine of the 33 ranked brands to show improvement this year. The conglomerate earned first place with the fewest PP100 among all the automaker groups, and scored the most model-level awards with nine, ahead of BMW with eight and Hyundai Group with three.  This year's study again showed a gap between luxury and mass-market makers, thought to be down to the amount of tech in luxury vehicles that consumers aren't properly informed about or that doesn't act as expected — that latter issue exacerbated by the chip shortage.

Was the C7 Corvette cut from Beyonce's Super Bowl halftime show?

Someone was bound to receive a free 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray during the Super Bowl XLVII festivities; it just wasn't who we thought it was going to be. Despite a report back in December that superstar Beyoncé Knowles would be getting an all-new Corvette during her halftime performance, that turned out not to be the case. Joe Flacco, starting quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens, did in fact win a Corvette for his MVP performance.
So what transpired that prevented Beyoncé from rolling on stage in the new Chevrolet? Anyone who knows isn't telling, but according to Yahoo! Autos, General Motors said that for one reason or another a deal "did not work out," and it appears to have been an eleventh-hour change. Regardless of who's to blame or what prevented this from happening, we're sure Chevy has had no problems getting attention for the C7 Corvette since it was introduced last month.