Letting horses run free
IN production for 70 years now, the Corvette is an enduring symbol of the US musclecar scene. A car on the mustdrive bucket list of enthusiasts worldwide. And a car immortalised in song by Prince in his 1980s hit Little Red Corvette which — aside from it not being all that small — captured the essence of the example I drove in April.
As with the subject matter of the song, ours was a relationship that didn’t last, but oh boy was it fast.
By way of a more conventional introduction, the subject of this review is the currentmodel Corvette C8. Or, introducing it fully in a New Zealand context, the General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) Chevrolet Corvette 3LT C8 Stingray. It’s available here to special order, stickered at $169,990.
What’s new?
Among much that’s traditionally Corvette, including its oldschool pushrod V8 engine, the C8 takes the
Corvette in a radical new direction: it is the first Corvette ever to have its motor mounted amidships rather than ahead of the driver, the first to feature allround coilspring suspension and the first available straight from the factory in righthanddrive.
The righthook variant expands the global reach of the C8, but it is the move to a midengined configuration that is truly revolutionary for
Overall Rating: Design & Styling: Interior: Performance: Ride & Handling: Safety: Environmental:
SPECIFICATIONS
Price (as tested):
Clean Car rebates and charges (additional to price): $5175 fee ($6,900 after 1 July).
Midmounted 6,162cc, eightcylinder, 369kW, 637Nm.
Chevrolet’s legendary muscle machine.
Mind you, as far as revolutions go, it’s been a slow burn: the notion of a midengined
Corvette has been mooted within Chevrolet’s highperformance engineering community for decades and over the years a few midengined prototypes have even appeared.
That’s because a midengined layout provides superior handling balance and allows for the easier deployment of more power in a reardrive vehicle. For both these reasons it has long been the standard configuration for European supercars.
But what finally swung the Corvette in that direction was home market appeal.
When development of the C8 started about 2015, the traditional Corvette’s big draw
Premium petrol, 12.1L/100km, tank capacity 70litres. 349g CO2/100km.
5stars
19inch front and 20inch rear alloy wheels, 245/35 ZR19 front and 305/30 ZR20 rear tyres. Length, 4630mm; width, 1934mm; height, 1234mm.
— nostalgic appeal — was fading fast. Sales were plummeting as American performance car buyers in their 30s, 40s and even 50s were increasingly drawn to the midengined product of brands such as Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini and McLaren.
That the next Corvette would be midengined was well known even before Chevrolet finally confirmed the switch. Production began at the firm’s Bowling Green, Kentucky, factory in 2020, and the availability of righthanddrive models here followed in 2022.
When Drivesouth previewed the C8 last year, our North Islandbased contributor Richard Bosselman took the gig, and only managed a short stint behind the wheel. Fast forward to 2023, and the car featured today was shipped south by GMSV for Easter’s Wheels at
Wanaka, and then offered for a longweekend test out of Dunedin.
What does it look like?
Parked on the dealer forecourt for pickup, the test car made an immediate and strong visual impression.
Styling elements such as the shaping of the headlights nod to Corvette heritage, but with the move to a midengined configuration for the C8, a cabinforward profile has been adopted that is utterly different from its predecessors.
Forward of the windscreen, design inspiration has surely come in part from recent Ferrari and Lamborghini models. The rising crease line along each flank is interrupted by substantial ducts that are part of the engine’s cooling system and the wide section over the wheel arches are part of a wider downforcegenerating system that includes the rear wing and underbody diffusers.
Viewed lowdown, from a rear threequarter angle, the tail is clean and simple, but studied closeup directly from the back, some of the detailing is quite fussy. The C8 announces itself as a Corvette with lowkey lettering on the tail, and there’s a stingray badge on the boot too.
What’s it like inside?
The C8 is strictly a twoseater. The driver and passenger are separated by a high, broad centre console, under which runs a centre structure that is integral to the cars’ structural rigidity.
The console and dash wrap around the driver, and aside from the strip of heating and ventilation controls that run down the spine of the console, all the car’s key controls are positioned solely for the driver. Similarly, the centre touchscreen is strongly angled to the driver, supported by a fully digital centre instrument cluster and headsup display.
Paddleshift controls nestle behind the spokes of the semihexagonal steering wheel, which is trimmed in leather and features the latest iteration of the Corvette ‘‘vee’’ badge. Various buttons cluster on the wheel, one to activate Zmode (the most quickly accessible of the C8’s sports drive modes) and the others for cruise control and infotainment functions.
The seating position is low, and the nappa leathertrimmed, heated, chilled and poweradjusting seats proved both comfortable and supportive on test.
The quality of interior fit and finish is a step up for Corvette, with an abundance of softtouch surfaces and strips of brushedmetal highlighting and red seatbelts contrasting with the predominantly grey leather and cloth trims.
Stowagewise, anything too big for the regular incabin cubbies (of which there are a good number) must go in one of two luggage compartments. With a combined capacity of 356 litres, these comprise a compartment in the nose and a larger one aft of the engine. Both spaces are quite deep and practical; the rear one is said to be large enough to accommodate two sets of golf clubs.
What comes as standard?
Let’s quickly tick the box on such things as dual zone climate control, sat nav, wireless smartphone integration (both Apple and Android) and a premium Bose audio system. Pause also to note that, as a supercar, the C8 plays light on active assist features that get in the way of direct engagement between driver, car and road; even the cruise control is of the oldschool, nonadaptive variety.
A removable Targastyle hardtop is provided. It is quite easy to detach (especially by two people) and can be slotted into the rear luggage area when not in use. There is also a hydraulic lift system which — at the push of a button — raises the nose of the vehicle to give extra clearance over steep driveway approaches and speed bumps.
A more frivolous party trick is bringing the engine to burbling, barking life from outside the car by tapping the key fob button.