Chevrolet Corvette Wins Best Car 2005 According to Road & Track Magazine Readers

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NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Jan. 5, 2005 -- The ballots are in! Road & Track magazine readers have voted for the second-annual Road & Track Readers' Choice Award: The Best Car 2005. And the winner is ... the Chevrolet Corvette.

According to Road & Track reader Jim Gaeschke of St. Charles, Missouri: "One cannot ask for more of a true driver's performance machine." He joins thousands of other passionate Road & Track enthusiasts who favor the Chevrolet Corvette over the Ford Mustang GT, Chrysler 300C, Porsche 911 Carrera S, Lotus Elise and 22 other vehicles, first nominated by Road & Track editors in the November 2004 issue. The winning Corvette, the Readers' Choice Award: The Best Car 2005, will be announced in the February issue of the magazine, available on newsstands on January 11.

With a list price (MSRP) of $43,445, the sixth generation of the new Corvette boasts exposed headlamps, a longer wheelbase and shorter overall length as the proportions and the detailing clearly communicate traditional Corvette styling. The all-American sports car excels with its 0-60-mph acceleration time of 4.5 seconds and 12.9-sec. to the quarter-mile mark. In the handling department, the Corvette circles Road & Track's 200-ft. skidpad pulling a 0.96 g of lateral acceleration and turns an average speed of 67.0 mph through the magazine's 700-ft. slalom.

"Our knowledgeable, influential and passionate auto enthusiast readers voted for the Corvette because they believe this car represents the best combination of performance, value and practicality," said Thos. Bryant, Road & Track editor-in-chief.

Along with the Best Car 2005 announcement, the February issue of Road & Track will also reveal the readers' choice of the Dream Car 2005: the Ford GT. This 5.4-liter supercharged dohc 32V, V-8, 550 bhp supercar, with a list price of $139,900, triumphed over the other four vehicles in this category that followed the same rules for eligibility as the Best Car 2005 competition (see criteria below); however, The Best Car 2005 candidate must have a MSRP of less than $100,000.

The more than 5.5 million consumers who read Road & Track every month provide advice on the purchase of new vehicles to over 10 million people each year, according to Road & Track subscriber studies.

Eligibility for Road & Track Readers' Choice Award: The Best Car 2005:

To be eligible for the Best Car 2005 award, every car must have what it takes to be an enthusiast's car -- above-average performance and handling, pleasing design and space and fuel-efficiency -- as well as the following criteria:

   -- an all-new model or a model with significant upgrades
   -- a model-year 2005 designation
   -- a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of less than $100,000

  About Road & Track:

Backed by 58 years of authoritative journalism, Road & Track magazine is written for the automotive enthusiast and contains information about cars and driving blended with wide-ranging feature stories, entertainment and racing coverage. Road & Track's road tests and comparison tests are the most complete and technically accurate in the industry. Read by more than 5.5 million readers per month, Road & Track's readership is 90 percent male with an average age of 37 and a household income of $71,000, according to Fall, 2004 MRI.

Road & Track is published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.