UNCORVETTE
Ever since its debut in 1953, Chevrolet’s Corvette Stingray has had its engine up front. But not anymore. So does this new C8 version pose a genuine threat to its established mid-engined rivals?
A new Corvette has its engine, err .... in the middle! Is it any good?
LET’S JUST COME OUT AND SAY IT RIGHT AWAY: the new Corvette Stingray doesn’t look great. Normally I wouldn’t mention a car’s appearance as it’s so subjective, but for the Corvette to become a true global player it has many prejudices to challenge, and if it looked indisputably stunning the battle would be so much easier. As it is, the new and much hyped mid-engined Corvette has to overcome slightly awkward, fussy styling that pays too much respect to Corvettes of old rather than simply embracing the liberation afforded by moving its 6.2-litre V8 behind the driver. The Stingray may be offered in right-hand drive for the first time ever and adopt a new and exciting philosophy… but it seems like clinging on to existing customers was higher on the list of priorities than winning over new ones.
Well, guess what? It was. Chevrolet will make 30,000 of its new baby in 2020 and a great many will go to loyal, repeat buyers. People who are maybe a little conservative and are deeply concerned about their beloved Vette losing its usability, its unique character and, probably, its sense of identity. Consider that globally the entire 911 range only just outsells the Corvette in its domestic market alone and you get a sense of the gamble this new car represents. So for us, the uninitiated, I’m afraid we need to get over the mild disappointment of the aesthetic and instead focus on how the new Corvette Stingray drives and how it makes you feel.
Oh, and let’s not be too down on the Corvette devotees. Not only have they ensured the survival of a high-volume sports car over the years and helped fund some fantastic racing programmes, they’ve also probably guaranteed that the Corvette continues to utilise a large-capacity, normally aspirated V8 engine. In this case the new ‘LT2’ 6.2-litre V8 small-block features dry-sump lubrication and produces 495bhp and 637Nm when combined with the Z51 Performance Package, or 490bhp and 630Nm without.
The only available gearbox is a Tremec eight-speed dualclutch unit with tightly stacked lower ratios to optimise acceleration (second doesn’t reach 96kmph and third is done at just over 129kmph – take that, GT4 owners).
The results are pretty startling. In the US, magazines are recording sub-three seconds to 96kmph and low sevens to breach 100. Add a few tenths to account for the peculiarities of US testing and you’re still looking at serious performance, enough to shame a… well, what is the Stingray trying to shame? Porsche 911, Audi R8, maybe the Aston Vantage? The spec says it’s yet another car taking a pop at Porsche’s forever benchmark, but the price is rather different. It is just a fraction more than a 718 Cayman. I suppose the Corvette has always been a bit of a blue-collar supercar, but the eighth-generation car really seems to embody that tag. It’s quite spectacular value for money.
Which means it’s rubbish, right? Sounds cool, nice bit of novelty factor but ultimately you can only conclude it’s heavy, numb and lacking in true depth of talent. A noisy sideshow that’s amusing and distracting temporarily, but never truly fulfilling. My own fears were much worse than that. The last Corvette I drove for any length of time was the recent C7 ZR1. All 755bhp of it. It had all the ingredients to be truly special (not least the supercharged V8 that also makes 969Nm) but somehow managed to feel clumsy, extremely snappy and, at times, pretty woeful. God it sounded good, though.
Noise aside, my memories of the ZR1 are of frustration spiked with fear. Logic suggests that if the guys who signed off the unhinged but unpredictable ZR1 had a hand in the new mid-engined car, then it’s got little or no hope of possessing poise, composure and the sort of graceful dynamics that make a 718 Cayman so much more than a collection of numbers. Swinging open the door to our Rapid Blue Stingray there’s excitement but a very healthy dose of cynicism.
Most of that simply melts away within seconds. Not because the interior is a work of art (it isn’t) or because the
IN THE LAND OF THE FREE YOU CAN BUY A STINGRAY FOR JUST A LITTLE MORE THAN A BASIC CAYMAN. IT’S QUITE
SPECTACULAR VALUE FOR MONEY
THE FIRST FEW MILES ARE SLIGHTLY SHOCKING... THE STINGRAY FEELS SO SOPHISTICATED AND SUBTLE
engine rips into life and then snarls and snorts behind you (it’s actually pretty quiet), but rather because the Corvette feels exactly the opposite of how it appears on the outside, like a celebration of the joys of the mid-engined layout. You sit so far forward, almost like your toes are dangling beyond the front axle, and the view ahead is wonderfully panoramic. The sense of sitting right at the point of an arrow reminds me of an original Honda NSX and really whets the appetite for what’s to come. The extremely focused cockpit treatment and quartic steering wheel won’t be to all tastes, but quality is a vast leap on from that of the previous-generation car. Things suddenly feel very good indeed.
The first few miles are slightly shocking. I realise I sound hopelessly patronising here, like some sort of imperialist who can’t believe the New World could possibly deliver something to meet my sensibilities… but the Stingray feels so sophisticated and subtle. The steering is light with a lovely clean feel to it, the ride is extremely polished and cohesive and the car feels talented right down to its bones: stiff, responsive, agile and with an innate sense of calm I hadn’t expected. I haven’t touched a single setting – this car has plenty of configurability – but like all the best cars, the Corvette feels right as soon as the wheels start turning.
It’s an impression that doesn’t deflate as the road gets more challenging. Instead the Stingray seems to grow in stature, almost floating over lumps and bumps but still feeling connected and in control of its masses. Steering response is fast and accurate but there’s not a hint of nervousness or contrived ‘agility’. Traction is very strong indeed and pretty soon you find yourself committing more and more to each corner, unleashing the V8 right at the apex and leaning on the Michelin PS4s. The car really does breed confidence and that big V8, although a defining feature, feels beautifully integrated into the package. The chassis is so much more than a wrapper for the mighty motor.
Delve beneath the skin and it’s easy to understand how the new Corvette feels so polished. The C8 is built around a central aluminium spine, essentially a three-sided box section that’s closed for added stiffness with a carbonfibre panel. Aluminium subframes bonded and screwed in place support double wishbone suspension and cradle the powertrain. In terms of scale, it’s more full-sized supercar than Cayman rival (at 4630mm it’s 19mm longer than a Ferrari F8 Tributo and its wheelbase is 72mm longer at 2722mm). Perhaps the only disappointment is that it weighs 1530kg dry. US magazines have recorded 1640kg with a full tank – 125kg more than a 992 Carrera S with PDK.
Of course, all Stingrays are not born equal and our test car is not a base variant. For starters, it’s the most luxuriously equipped model. The ‘3LT’ trim includes a leather-wrapped instrument panel and full door trims, Alcantara-style upper interior trim, many interior colour options and napa-covered ‘GT2’ seats. Perhaps more importantly, it’s fitted with the Z51 Performance Package.
This includes uprated suspension, brakes, exhaust, a fixed rear spoiler, improved cooling to better cope with the demands of track driving, shortened gearing and an e-diff. In addition, this car has the Z51 MagneRide suspension option and Competition seats. With a few other niceties, including the Engine Appearance Package, it is still a fair bit more affordable than a 911 Carrera with zero options fitted.
So first impressions are strong and there’s no question you can feel the stiffness of the structure (it still has a lift-out roof panel as standard), the excellent suspension control and the attention to detail brought to this project by the team charged with reinventing the Corvette formula. Play with the many modes and even more character starts to reveal itself. You can choose between Weather, Tour, Sport and Track, plus the configurable MyMode (the car stays in this mode if it’s selected when switched off) and Z-mode, which is accessed via a button on the steering wheel. In the last two you can tweak engine sound, steering weight, suspension, powertrain, and even brake feel due to the eBoost brake-by-wire system. Oh, one more thing. Our Stingray is set to the Track geometry, with three degrees of negative camber at the front and two degrees at the rear.
As the miles accrue, so you start to find your own sweet spot with the car. Unusually, the suspension modes really are clearly defined and Track feels a little too stiff, even on these nicely surfaced California roads. My Z-mode ends up with most things wound up to Track, but the suspension and steering dialled back to Sport. So configured the Corvette is fluid, extremely fast across the ground and always seems so within itself, even when you’re hanging on to gears and braking later and later into turns.
Yet things aren’t fully satisfying and it’s hard to put your finger on quite why. The engine isn’t a fire-breather but it is strong and characterful, if a little too polite for a 6.2-litre
V8 with nearly 500bhp. The dual-clutch ’box is fast and the tightly spaced ratios are welcome, but somehow the shift quality feels slightly soft-edged. There’s nothing like the magical smoothness of, say, an Audi R8’s gearbox, nor the feral aggression of a Tributo’s. It feels a bit too safe. Better than the ubiquitous ZF eight-speed automatic, certainly, but you could be forgiven for thinking it was a really good conventional auto rather than a dual-clutch ’box.
It’s a theme that runs throughout the whole dynamic experience. You want booming fireworks from the engine but get insistent, almost understated performance. You want to feel the rear pointing you into the apex, to be able to provoke the car’s attitude with the throttle, but mostly the Stingray wants to stay very neutral, with some understeer in slower corners (not significant amounts with this geo setting) and just a tiny amount of oversteer as speeds rise. You want grit and feedback from the steering as well as that lovely, intuitive response, but the road surface never bubbles up to your palms. The whole vibe of the car is just a little too buttoned up. It seems strange to be clamouring for more noise, character and feedback from a car with a 6.2-litre V8 and a Corvette badge, but the new Stingray seems so keen to prove it can mix it with the world’s best for poise and composure that’s it’s sacrificed character and everyday excitement.
So how does it fit into our universe? Can it hope to match the sheer dynamic class of a 718 Cayman S or deliver on its promise of supercar capabilities for sports car outlay? Firstly, there’s no escaping it’s a bigger, heavier car than the Cayman and doesn’t quite immerse the driver as fully in the driving experience. There’s simply not the level of feedback nor the absolute precision at the limit that so defines Porsche’s mid-engined star. Just occasionally you get a sense of the big engine behind you and the car seems to hesitate between direction changes that the Porsche would devour without missing a beat. However, you could say the same of pretty much any other car on sale. The Cayman is a dynamic masterclass.
However, a 6.2-litre V8 beats a turbocharged flat-four that parps like your grandma after too many Brussel sprouts at Sunday lunch in any and every way. When the Corvette arrives in right-hand drive, and assuming the cost can be kept to sensible levels, I would absolutely understand why you might be tempted by a Stingray over a Cayman. But what about the big boys? The 911 or Vantage, even the R8 or McLaren 570S? For now that feels out of reach for the Corvette. It might hang with them in a straight line and get very close around a track, but at the moment it’s a bit tame and a little too one-dimensional under duress to match the finesse and adjustability of the very best.
That feels like an awfully predictable conclusion for a car that massively exceeded my expectations and clearly possesses talents far beyond its predecessors’. The Stingray really is a stunning achievement for a first attempt, made truly staggering given its price point. And let’s not forget that this is the standard, vanilla Corvette. There is so much more to come and such potential to mine. Even better, the team behind this car clearly understand what makes a great driver’s car and you can see their eyes light up when they talk about this project and where it might go next.
The recently revealed C8.R racer offers plenty of clues. The most important feature is a brand new 5.5-litre flatplane-crank V8 that will debut in the Stingray Z06 in late 2020. The road car will be supercharged and good for circa 700bhp (C7 Z06s made 650), which should inject sufficient character! Judging by previous Z06s the car will also be much more focused and possibly lighter, too. Think of it as a Corvette GT3. Maybe even a GT2… Later there will be an even more potent hybrid, with electric motors powering the front wheels and a combined output that could nudge up towards 1000bhp. In a market where you can buy a 760bhp Mustang from your local dealer, nothing less will do.
So, this story is a long way from over, and although the C8 doesn’t quite catapult America’s favourite sports car to world-beater status, it’s knocking on the door. Expect the polite rapping to become a thunderous, house-shaking bang any day now. ⌧
THINGS AREN’T FULLY SATISFYING. THE WHOLE VIBE OF THE CAR IS A LITTLE TOO BUTTONED UP