Chevrolet Corvette, finally a legit Porsche killer from Detroit

Surprisingly, for a big 455 horsepower V8, the Corvette's engine feels and sounds like it wants to rev and rev and just never stop revving. This engine likes its job. Not that it really needs to rev high. It seems to have plenty of pull, even at low speeds. Just to try it, I left the seven speed transmission in third gear for miles going through those twisting California roads. It was just fine.

My only real problem with this car is that manual transmission shifter. It take a little too much effort to shove it from gear to gear. Meanwhile, the clutch pedal engages high, far from the floor. Shifting gear took some practice and, even after an hour's driving, it still wasn't always easy to start off smoothly.

Fortunately, the new Corvette offers a nice rev-matching feature. It revs the engine for you to magically match whatever gear you're about to go into, smoothing out those shifts. It's a nifty feature that's turned on and off using steering wheel paddles.

NEXT: Functional styling