EPIC, BUT NOT QUITE SUPER
’Vette amazing yet far from rivalling Italian supercars, writes David Booth.
PAHRUMP, NEV. Well, we finally got to drive the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette in anger. And as it turns out, the key to C8 Corvette happiness will be to manage expectations.
Are we meant to judge it as an improvement on the C7? Or do we really think it is super enough to take on Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche? Managing those presumptions is crucial if you’re going to be happy in the new C8.
This is, by quite some margin and in so many ways, the best Corvette ever. Compare it with the Ferraris and Lambos of the world, however, and it’s — a little disappointing.
Mat the C8 coming out of any corner and all that mid-engine weight distribution works its magic. It’s so far ahead of the C7, it’s as though they’re different cars … which, of course, they are. Anyone looking for a lesson in front-versus-rear-engine vehicle dynamics will find no better exemplar than the C7 and C8 Corvettes.
The C8 feels like a completely different, ruthlessly efficient animal from apex to corner exit. On the entry to corners, not so much. In fact, the C8 feels almost as tail-waggy as the C7 while trail-braking into corners, the rear end getting so light that it’s hard to believe there’s an engine back there. Compared to every other mid-engine supercar I’ve driven it is much more prone to off-throttle oversteer.
At first, I thought this was because Chevrolet is a little sneaky in defining what is “stock.” The test cars we usually drive are supposed to be totally production ready. So, when it came to our attention that the cars we were driving on the track actually had more camber built into all four wheels — more angled tires generate more grip at maximum cornering speeds — a nefarious plot was suspected.
But in the end, there was no subterfuge: the Corvette’s service manual details to owners how they can set up the car for maximum track grip. But understand, this resetting of tire angle is not some push-button adjustment made from the comfort of the driver’s seat. Essentially, you have to remove all four wheels, take a few suspension bits apart, change some shims and then bolt it all back together.
Steve Padilla, the lead in charge of vehicle dynamics, ride and handling for the C8 Corvette, says the real reason all that tail-happiness was built into the C8 is because Corvette owners wanted it that way.
And if the hoi polloi wanted no part of any of that stinking stability stuff, you know they weren’t going to accept some namby-pamby, double-overhead cam hybrid in their Vette, either. Hence the LT2, as high-tech a small block as we’ve seen, but archaic nonetheless.
So, how does that compromise work out? Pretty darned well, actually. The numbers speak for themselves: Zero to 96 km/h (60 mph) takes 2.9 seconds. That’s seriously world-class performance, as is the 310 km/h top speed and the C8’s 11.2-second quarter-mile time.
Nor does it feel any less super in the real world, the 495-horsepower (if you order the $1,375 Performance Exhaust system) 6.2-litre V-8 catapulting the C8 with serious intent, despite it weighing about 40 kilograms more than the C7. If you were raised on good ol’ American V-8s, it also sounds like a good’un, all basso-profondo pomp and circumstance spilling out of its (totally) tubular headers and quad-tipped muffler.
That traditional sound did cause me some issues. Used to high-revving Ferraris and Lambos any time pistons are combusting behind me — rather than in front — I kept forgetting that the LT2 is redlined at 6,600, not 8,500 rpm. That’s not a criticism of the engine so much as a message to loyal Ferrari and Lamborghini owners that you may have a little trouble adjusting to the Corvette’s rhythm.
This first track test certainly puts paid to the false assumption that Chevrolet wanted to build an American Ferrari.
It was probably a bit foolish of us to think a $69,998 Corvette could take on Lamborghini.
One look at their respective Nurburgring times — a top-ofthe-line C8 recorded a muchmore-than-respectable 7:29.9, but a Huracan Performante bests it by more than 30 seconds — should be enough to convince anyone that this Corvette is not quite ready to dethrone Italian supercar superiority.
This is — by far — the best Corvette ever, the most amazing sports car under $70,000, and an epic achievement stylistically and dynamically.
But the new C8 is much more a mid-engine Corvette than it is mid-engine supercar.