Cross-country in a Corvette Stingray: Day One

Chevrolet brought a small fleet of 2014 Corvette Stingrays to Pebble Beach last week. Somehow, we were able to talk them into letting us drive one from Monterey back to Michigan. By the end of the trip, Autoweek will probably have logged more miles in the Stingray than anyone outside General Motors.

As you've heard before, it's an incredible sports car. What we didn't expect is how fantastic it is as a grand tourer. Over 15 hours and around 720 miles, the 'Vette returned decent fuel mileage (haven't calculated an exact figure yet), exhibited excellent road manners, and perhaps most surprisingly -- was incredibly comfortable. Your author is 100 percent free from aches and discomfort. The new seats -- long a sore spot for Corvette owners -- are among the very best available. The nav system and stereo also warrant a mention -- they're highly intuitive and have worked flawlessly so far.

We've got a long journey left; You can follow along on Twitter, Instagram and Vine under the hashtag #xccorvette.

By Rory Carroll