C8 Corvette First Drive: Is it ‘Really’ That Good?
Reinvented C8 is breathtaking at all angles and raises the bar for American performance.
Right now is a very good time to be a Corvette fan—insane 0-60 times, supreme handling, nearly zero body roll, and a potent 495 horsepower mid-engine powerplant that keeps remarkably cool both on and off the track. And if you aren’t one by the end of this article, I highly suggest you do a test drive when the C8 becomes publicly available.
Seriously. It’s that good.
Chevrolet formally invited me, Derin Richardson (one of Internet Brands Automotive Group’s editors), to represent Corvette Forum on a two-day media drive in Las Vegas and Spring Mountain Motor Resort and Country Club for the hotly-celebrated-and-debated 2020 C8. It’s not at all perfect but, hot damn, it comes close.
I fly into McCarran Airport with DSLR and GoPro setup ready to go. After checking in with Chevy at the Cosmopolitan Hotel for a quick paperwork rundown and lunch, I choose a C8 for a drive to Lake Mead. As the owner of a Red Hot Camaro, I initially opt for Torch Red, but end up with Long Beach Red. Turns out, this is actually the better choice, as you’ll see in a minute.
Lake Mead National Park & Valley of Fire State Park
The first half of the media drive takes us to Lake Mead via Highway 167 and circling back through the Valley of Fire. On this trek, there are tons of gorgeous red rock formations that contrast perfectly with this C8’s blood-red tint. But enough about the aesthetics. This particular 3LT ($11,950 premium) C8 features an Infotainment 3 system, Bose speakers, HUD, curb view camera, GT2 seats with memory settings, custom leather, carbon fiber cluster-surround, and other amenities. I normally drive my personal vehicle in sport mode, so I turn the C8 to this setting first.
After a few good pulls on some straights, I drive it in tour and track mode for a bit. But for the life of me, the only notable differences are the throttle maps (with track obviously being the most aggressive of them all). That being said, I don’t count this as a bad thing. In fact, I argue the opposite; a car that handles as well as it does across each mode with pure finesse is a car that I want to drive every day. Which is why I’m shocked to learn that these (non-Z51) models only have the FE1 suspension.
Seriously, this car doesn’t even have MagneRide, yet barreling down the road with potholes and rocks aplenty poses no jolts or uneasiness. I’m not saying they’re undetectable. I’m just saying I get a different type of sticker shock when they give me the Monroney.
In Sport and Track modes, the Tremec TR-9080 DCT holds a lower gear for what seems like forever. The redline shifts are the smoothest high-speed gear changes I’ve ever experienced in a Corvette. Or any American car for that matter. More on that later.
Daily Driving
Driving down Las Vegas Boulevard feels like a celebrity experience. Literally every other person on the strip gushes, taking photos galore. I know you’re going to say “well duh, it’s the C8.” However, what I’m getting at is that you can clearly tell the people who actually know what the car is and those who think it is “some new type of Lambo or Ferrari.” Not a bad thing, just noticeable. And for no other reason than to solicit a surprise reaction, free-revving the car makes people gawk all the more.
With that said, daily driving a C8 is totally possible, assuming you don’t have small children or don’t have a terribly long commute. The GT2 seats, while not the most comfortable out there, are good to sit in for a while before you’ll need to take a step out and stretch. The C8’s LT2 is also not bad on MPG (15/27), being very similar to the C7 Stingray’s fuel economy (17/27), despite having 35 more horsepower. For someone like myself who uses an LT1 motor (same one that’s in the C7) in my daily driver, this is excellent news.
C8 Interior
I initially had a slight aversion toward the interior when I first saw it at the July 18 world premiere in Tustin, California. Now, having a great deal of seat time in both a street and track setting (which we’ll talk about on the next page) alleviates most of my concerns regarding ergonomics and comfort. It’s space-aged, cutting-edge (save for the rather after-thought infotainment system design) and feels like you’re in a cockpit, regardless of which seat you’re in. More importantly, there’s a decent amount of room inside the cabin, despite having a mid-engine layout.
I’ll revisit the seats once more, and while I do say they are more comfy than not, there is a personal caveat here. I’m just shy of 200 pounds at 5-feet-11-inches, and while I don’t consider myself a “big guy,” the GT2 seats are built for someone with a Lewis Hamilton build. This is especially true with the GT3 seats in the Z51 package, which are bolstered to the teeth.
Moving along, the long column of linear HVAC buttons that juts out from the passenger side over to the dash isn’t as much of a hassle as I thought. And for once, I can actually feel the seat ventilation here, as opposed to the C7 and sixth-gen Camaro (which seemed to barely provide any cooling to your backside).
Exhaust
Not much to explain here, except that the C8’s active exhaust is basically the same as it is on the C7 throughout each of the modes. So there isn’t anything different in this department. Of course, since the engine is closer to the rear, the exhaust pipes are understandably much shorter. As a result, the pipes route up and over what looks like support bracing, then into a suitcase muffler a la the Camaro SS.
‘C8 Corvette First Drive 2020: Is it Really That Good?’ continued…
