Car and Driver - USA (2019-12)

30 DECEMBER 2019 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

turn it into a Corvette.” That’s the framework in

which to judge the new C8.

Untangling our feelings about the C 8 Sting-

ray starts with examining its performance,

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6 0. 6 percent of its mass over the rear tires, the

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C7 had a roughly 50 /50 front/rear weight dis-

tribution.) Note that our heavily optioned test

car weighed 3 6 47 pounds, 1 95 more than the last

C 7 Z51 we tested—a 2019 model with a manual

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exhaust included in the Z51 package, the LT 2 6. 2 -

liter V-8 in the C8’s tail makes 4 95 horsepower

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That’s up 3 5 from the C 7 Z51’s output, which

means the pounds-per-horsepower ratios of the

two cars are virtually equal.

Aided by its quick-shifting dual-clutch auto-

matic—the only transmission available—and a

well-calibrated launch-control system, the C 8

rips to 6 0 mph in 2 .8 seconds. That’s 1.1 seconds

quicker than the C 7 Z51. The C8 even betters the

6 0 -mph runs of the quickest 65 0-hp C 7 Z 06 and

755 -hp C 7 ZR1 we tested, both of which lose the

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going faster than the new Vette by the end of the

quarter-mile, which the C8 does in 11. 2 seconds

Chevy has rearranged

the furniture, but the

C8’s jet-fighter styling

is familiar enough to

keep from alienating

the Corvette faithful.

model’s claimed handling advantage over its

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After all that poking and prodding, we

have concluded that the new C8 is spectacu-

lar, amazing, and supremely capable. Maybe

even revolutionary. And we’ve also come to

the realization that, despite its long list of

compelling attributes, it’s still not quite

everything we had hoped it would be. Like

we said, it’s complicated.

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company wanted to appeal to younger buy-

ers who once tacked posters of Lamborghini

Countachs to their bedroom walls. But the

Corvette, once again called the Stingray,

was designed to occupy the same place in

the market as before. Some 5 0 percent of

Corvette buyers purchase the entry model,

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package) goes for just $59, 995 , hundreds of

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and Lamborghinis it resembles. Nor did the

Corvette team want to shock its loyal own-

ers with a car so alien, they couldn’t abide it.

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vette team insider told us. “Then we had to

CHEVROLET

CORVETTE Z51

—

Plus: Can be laid

back or fero-

cious as suits

the situation,

well-executed

interior (finally!).

Minus: Styling

pales next to a

Ferrari’s, poor

outward visibil-

ity, engine note

too subdued

around town.

Equals: A stun-

ningly capable,

amazingly

approachable

supercar that

demolishes the

used-exotic value

proposition.