Take a video tour of the 2020 Chevy Corvette's digital dash and drive modes

New My Mode and Z Mode spoil owners with choices

JONATHON RAMSEY 

Aug 7th 2019 at 9:15AM

Slashgear sat in a 2020 Chevrolet Corvette with Infotainment Program Manager Alexis Reusch, in order to get a tour of what drivers can do with the screens at their command. The mid-engined coupe has six drive modes, five of which register changes in either the digital dash cluster, the 12-inch infotainment screen, or both. On top of the carryover Tour, Sport, Weather, and Track settings, My Mode and Z Mode join the party. Tour is the car's default drive setting, but Reusch called the default dash screen Weather, and the dash screen doesn't discriminate between the two drive modes.

In Tour/Weather, the digital dash presents a round tachometer with a large numeric speed readout in the center, a gear readout below that. On the left are two customizable information boxes, to the right of the tach come a stock set of menu options. The new My Mode enables visual customizing such as choosing a background for the dash screen, as well as making changes to performance metrics like throttle response, shift mapping, suspension setting, and engine sound.

Switch to Sport and the dash screen turns red, naturally. The tachometer changes slightly to make room for the speed display on the lower right, the gear readout moves to the center of the tach, and dynamic shift lights illuminate in a smaller circle inside the tach, around the gear indicator. Buyers who get the head-up display will be shown the tach, G-force meter, gear, and speed.

In Track mode, the round tach becomes a bar across the top of the display, the gear indicator takes front-and-center, with speed displayed just below. Instead of two boxes on the left side of the display, there are four. Each of those boxes can be customized to show details like oil temperature, oil pressure, battery voltage, or tire status. The box on the right can be toggled through screens like the Performance Data Recorder or G-force indicator. The Track HUD shows shift lights, best and current lap times, gear, and speed.

A button on the steering wheel calls up Z Mode — "Z" for Zora — which opens up more powertrain settings for the engine, transmission, steering, and brake feel beyond the presets in the other drive programs. Chevrolet called this a "single-use-case" setting, like a driver getting his car fully dialed-in for weekly runs up his favorite mountain road. The chosen settings include the driver's customized dash screen, which also pops up when the button is pressed.   

Check out the vid for your own private tour. Lower the volume for the intro, though; Alexis opens up her spiel with a sound check of the Bose 14-speaker sound system, and it's loud.