Spinning around Cumbria in the latest Chevorlet Corvette coupe not only won Steve Myatt the adulation of his daughter, it made him feel young again
Our teenage daughter is going through a phase that anyone with an adolescent child will recognise. Her parents embarrass her and she would sooner die a thousand deaths than be seen with them in public. When I take her to school, I have to drop her off at least a quarter of a mile away - even if it's raining - and she checks that none of her friends are in sight before she gets out of the car.
But not this week. "It's okay Dad, you can take me right to the gates. Oh look, there's Maria - Hi Maria!"
The difference is a blood-red Chevrolet Corvette coupe. For one glorious week, Dad is cool.
As it happens, I think so, too. This car and I were made for each other. I might be 40-something (and therefore at the younger end of MGF and Z3 ownership), but in Britain people my age simply don't drive Corvettes. Right now I'm young and hip. Oh yes.
The statistics are awesome. The low-revving and reliable 5.7-litre V8 develops 339bhp, 356lb ft of torque and gives the car a top speed of 170mph. Chevrolet claims a stunning 0-60mph time of 4.2sec, with the six-speed manual gearbox, or 4.8sec with the rear-mounted, four-speed automatic. Right across the rev range it is one of the fastest accelerating cars in the world, but driving it around town is easy despite a steering wheel on the "wrong" side and 6ft-plus width (although parking can be tricky until you get used to its girth).
The handling is even better than you might expect. The huge Goodyear Eagle tyres - developed especially for the car - provide plenty of grip but, as with any high-performance machine, you must pay it due respect; no matter how many trick bits a car might feature, it will never overcome the laws of physics. However, if you sense trouble ahead, the Bosch ABS-equipped braking system provides reassuringly rapid deceleration.
For sports car purists, there are three things wrong with the latest Corvette. Firstly, it's only available in left-hand drive. Second, there's a snobbish tendency to overlook anything American. And third, it's too damn cheap. Prices start at £33,999 for the coupe. Even TVR - thought of as a manufacturer of cheap supercars - would want up to £20,000 more to give you similar performance. A Jaguar XK8 costs more than twice as much and an Aston Martin DB7 almost three times as much. Ferraris are in a stratosphere beyond even that.
The convertible Corvette is £37,999, but I would opt for the coupe with the £620 option of a transparent, blue-tinted targa roof, which helps eliminate the claustrophobia that tall people can feel in sports cars - especially the Audi TT. The panel unclips easily and quickly, and stows in the boot - if that's the right name for the broad, 12-inch-deep parcel shelf behind the seats. Chevrolet says the car has more luggage space than many saloons.
Visibility is good, but the Corvette's interior lets it down - it is too plasticky and the styling hasn't moved on since the Eagles recorded Hotel California. On the plus side, however, the plastic body won't rot, the seats are terrific and the headroom is a rare treat for someone my height (6ft 3in). All the controls are easy to reach and logically laid out and the head-up display that projects speedometer, tacho and the like is just below eye level, jet fighter-style.
The Corvette is unashamedly American and reminds me of the Aston Martin Series II V8, which was designed for the US market. It's a gentleman's hot rod, a laid-back bruiser that offers brain-sizzling performance and all the thrills of a front-row seat at a Bruce Springsteen concert. It's also, perhaps surprisingly, a car I am happy to use around the lanes of south Cumbria.
Trouble is, General Motors wants it back on Monday, so my daughter will doubtless go back to insisting that I drop her off in a distant side street at 8.30 every morning.