What is it? The befuddling identity crisis of the C5 Corvette

A brief opinion piece by Daniel

Now, Corvettes have always been known an American muscle car icon. However, GM often referred the Corvette as "America's sports car". Most people still saw it as a muscle car, but the 5th gen Corvette made things all the more confusing with its new technology and improved handling capabilities. Some forums online are even suggesting that it is a supercar. Now, my personal opinion is that the C5 is undoubtedly a mid-high range sports car. While I would classify all generations previous as muscle cars, characterized by large power numbers but not very good handling and technology, the C5 has much improved handling and technology to move it out of that class, but not enough to be classified as a supercar. Examples of this techonology is the innovative transverse monoleaf suspension and active handling controls. The oldest corvette that I would consider a supercar is the C7, as even though the C5 has outstanding tech, it cannot compare to the technology of the modern C7. The C7 not only includes all technology from the C5 and C6 generations, but also has innovations such as lightweight materials in key areas, and an engine that makes 60 more horsepower than the performance variant of the C5 engine, which can make a huge difference.