► Mid-engined Corvette on sale with RHD
► Coupe and Convertible driven including UK miles
► Starts from around £80k here, and it’s very good…
Well, this is a first. No, not the Chevrolet Corvette officially being available in the UK – the C5 was available in Blighty last time Chevy tried to make inroads here – but the fact the steering wheel is now on the right hand side of the car.
Of course GM has since ditched much of its European concerns, having offloaded Opel and Vauxhall to Stellantis. That means you won’t be rubbing shoulders with those after a Grandland or Corsa, although you’re probably in for a longer drive to get the car serviced. At the time of writing there’s only one dealer in the whole of the UK.
As you probably know already, the ‘Vette’s DNA has been completely rewritten for the latest C8 generation. Gone are the transverse leaf springs for the suspension and you won’t find the inevitable V8 under the bonnet. Instead it’s been pushed to behind the rear seats but ahead of the rear wheels, giving Corvette fans the mid-engined supercar that’s been teased for decades.
There has to be more to it than an engine movement…
Oh, there absolutely is. Of course, that change in engine location has meant redesigning the car from scratch with a much more cab-forward silhouette than the C7. Interestingly, along with the engine configuration change, the Corvette C8’s been designed from the ground up to be a convertible. The actual chassis has no fixed roof connecting it at the top so even in the ‘coupe’ you can still take the roof panel off manually and store it in the rear load area. There’s also a ‘convertible’ version with an electric folding roof, which weirdly makes it the more practical option; when it’s folded away, it doesn’t impede load space like the coupe does. This Corvette really is topsy-turvy…
You’ll be relieved to hear that the engine remains thoroughly old school: a naturally-aspirated 6.2-litre V8, making a respectable 475bhp and 452lb ft. This ‘base’ engine still uses pushrods to operate its overhead valves rather than those new-fangled overhead cams, and there’s no forced induction in sight. If you want more pace you’ll need to wait for the Z06 with its screaming 600bhp plus flat-plane crank V8.
In both cases the V8 is linked to a new eight-speed dual-clutch automatic that’s been developed to send that torquey engine’s power to the rear wheels. You’ll find double wishbones all round with coilover suspension, and the wheels are mixed size, too: 19-inch at the front, 20-inch at the rear. How very 21st Century. How very… Porsche.
Every Corvette in Europe comes with the Z51 package as standard (it’s an option in other markets), meaning your ‘Vette comes fresh out of the box with manually-adjustable performance springs and Brembo brakes, Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres, an electronic limited-slip differential, an uprated cooling system and performance exhaust for making the most of that burly V8. An option worth having is the Magnetic Selective Ride Control (essentially adaptive suspension; £1940 in the UK), which was fitted to both of our test cars, and you can spec other things like a nose lift system, various carbon trinkets and all manner of colour combinations inside and out.
That interior looks wild…
It’s also taken a massive step forward in terms of material quality, too. There are three seat types: GT1, GT2 and Competition. Each seat from left to right gets thinner and more huggy, with the Competition pews having adjustable electronic bolstering.
The driver’s properly cocooned, with digital instruments and a respectably sized central touchscreen running GM’s okay-but-not-class-leading infotainment. If you bought a Vauxhall Insignia until around 2018, you’ll be familiar with how it works. Then there’s the wacky column-like button arrangement running down the centre console; it looks like a usability nightmare, those buttons, but is actually quick to get used to – the top half is for the driver, the lower half is for the passenger. The indicator/wiper stalks are a bit hollow, and at an odd angle, raised above the top of the shifter paddles, meaning you have to stretch your fingers to reach them properly.
There’s also not a lot of places to put stuff in the cockpit; tiny door cubbies, a shallow centre console and dinky cupholders (who’d have thought it, in an American car…) and not a great deal of visibility out the back ‘window’. So much so that every Corvette has a digital rear view mirror with a camera that peers over the engine bay, much like Land Rover’s ClearSight tech, or the Honda E.
Quality is for the most part good, with lashings of leather and suede-like material on the two 3LT test cars we’ve had. Poke around and you will find some cheap plastics for the cupholders and a few switches and buttons that could have been lifted from a rental-spec Chevy Spark. In other words, it’s nicely put together if not quite up to the Audi R8 or Porsche 911‘s standards. That said, it’s a lot more interesting than both.
Along with a set of finger-shaped levers and buttons on the centre console for the automatic ‘box, there’s also a twiddly dial for the drive modes: Tour (basically acts like a comfort mode, switches off half the cylinders when cruising), Sport (wakes the car up a bit, sounds louder and holds gears longer) and Track (firms the suspension and steering up, sets the exhaust to ‘thunderstorm’) are the main ones, with each having their own graphic design for the digital instruments, as well as My Mode (where you can customise the car’s parameters to your liking) and Weather (which dulls the throttle and feeds the traction control some Pro Plus in slippy conditions).
There’s also a Z mode – activated by a button on the steering wheel. That sets the car on maximum attack, and gives you a sliding scale upon which to turn down the traction control like modern cars from AMG, so you can get the rear end doing anything from a simple hip flick to a full on twerk mid-corner.
Well, when you think about it, the engine configuration is still a little odd. What other mid-engined cars have a burly, grumbly, naturally aspirated V8 that can also be found in a truck? All other possible mid-engined rivals have turbo’d screamers, or six cylinders over eight.
After the first few miles, you learn just how flexible the engine is and how to make masterful use of that huuuuuuuuge torque well. You don’t really have to use full throttle even if you’re out for a country road jaunt, that swelling mid-range is more than enough to make proper progress as the V8 snarls through those chrome pipes. When at a cruise, the engine really settles down and, if you’re in Tour mode, the cylinder deactivation technology doesn’t really change the engine note that much either.
We saw 28mpg on a long run, and while tyre noise is there it’s not as intrusive as an equivalent 911. With little wind whistle from the hard roof fitted to both coupe and convertible and surprisingly good boot space, it’s a car you’d happily go touring in.
Of course, when you do want all of that power, the ‘Vette bellows loud enough to shatter windows a few towns over (particularly if it’s in Track mode), with a linear power delivery that even the most well-engineered turbo engines can’t quite fully communicate to the wheels. It’s enough to get the pulse racing and far from slow, but it never feels as quick as the claimed 0-62mph time suggests. Some time in a 911 GTS confirms this.
And, while some may bemoan the lack of a manual gearbox, the new eight-speed dual-clutch auto is impressive, too: changes are snappy and delivered without lurching, including downshifts. Although all is well on the move, we did find it slightly jerky in traffic and pulling away from a standstill. The paddles themselves are a bit plasticky, though, and their action is a soft click like an Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio rather than the riflebolt action of a McLaren Artura.
How does the Corvette handle?
It’s definitely a car that’s trying to tread the thin line between GT and sports car, something it does impressively well.
The new double wishbone suspension system, complete with adaptive dampers on our test models, are hugely impressive. In Tour, it soaks up so many imperfections on the road surface you have to remind yourself you’re driving a two-seater sports car, not an executive saloon. We thought it did well on the roads around Frankfurt, but some time in the UK has really hit home how good the C8 is.
Driving from Surrey up to Peterborough, then into Rutland and back to the Norfolk Fens, we encountered everything from motorway stretches and smooth country tarmac to drain cover-ridden town roads, undulating B roads and properly broken surfaces – all being handled with aplomb. Even if you step up to Track, where the suspension is at its firmest, the way it controls lumps and bumps has to be commended. It makes a 911 GTS feel unyielding and an F-Type rather squishy.
As for the steering, it too can be easygoing or direct as you grab hold of that wonky, almost rectangular wheel. In Tour, there’s a slackness off-centre that you wouldn’t detect in a European rival but it feels like it’s designed that way to improve straight-line stability (which is very good), as the sportier modes remove that slackness completely, transforming the steering into a direct but not overly-assisted system that streams plenty of information to your fingertips.
Grip is plentiful from those Michelins, too, to the point that the only time the ‘Vette lost traction is when we provoked it on purpose. Hoof it unnecessarily mid-corner and it’ll slide in Track mode, but it’s easy to control if you’ve got your wits about you. You’ll have to be going some to get the tail out; traction is excellent in the dry with a smidge of understeer the more likely result of overenthusiastic cornering.
Where can I buy one in the UK?
Well, Chevrolet says it’s setting up a European-spec configurator for future orders, so you can spec yours to your hearts content much like the Americans have been able to do. But in terms of actually buying one, your only outlet in the UK is Ian Allan Motors, based in Surrey, as Chevrolet don’t have any dealers here – the brand withdrew from the Euro market years ago.
Prices for Corvettes start at around £80,000 – that gets you a Corvette Stingray 2LT coupe with the aforementioned Z51 pack, with other kit like a performance data recorder for track days, nav, a properly good Bose audio system, heated and cooled seats and a parking camera all standard. Corvette Convertible are a couple of thousand or so more expensive.
That entry price undercuts the Porsche 911 by around £10k (and that’s before you go ham with Porsche’s options list) and the Cayman GT4. It is, however, in the same ballpark as Jaguar’s F-Type P450 and the BMW M4, price-wise. Established rivals, of course, but there’s something about the Corvette that’ll charm you…
Chevrolet Corvette C8: verdict
It feels like the right time for the Corvette to make a properly global debut. It does its best to span being a two-door grand tourer, eye-popping pose-mobile and properly sorted sports car all in one machine. It’s imposing, dramatic, fast enough and represents great value for money looking at the list price.
It’s a little soft around the edges – to the point that Porsche and BMW fans might still sneer at it turning up to the European party – and its looks might not be to everyone’s taste, but the Corvette makes up for that by just being so damn fun and usable to boot.
Besides, the obvious choice of a Porsche 911 or even the far pricier Audi R8 feels almost boring in comparison, both requiring far more speed to really come alive. With that distinctive interior too, the C8 feels almost supercar special at a comparatively bargain price. Roll on the Z06.
