Let's forget the history, It's now time for a clean slate with the C8.
Can the new C8 appeal to those beyond the usual fan base?
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JAMES RISWICK: So this is the new mid-engined C8 Corvettes. The first time that I've been in this car so far kind of been taking it easy, enjoying the surprisingly comfortable nature of it. But, of course, you cannot forget that lurking just right there over your shoulder, you can see the thing is the classic 6.2 liter V8 all-American muscle in this very kind of not very all-American mid-engine layout car, 6.2 leader V8, has 495 horsepower and 470 pound feet of torque. And with the Z51 package that this car just happens to have, it will go from zero to 60 in 2.9 seconds.
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This does have a eight speed, dual-clutch automated manual transmission. It's all new for the Corvette. So note you have a water bottle here instead of a shifter. So some people are going to be cheesed about that. I kind of like the old seven-speed manual in the old C7. But this is a very good transmission.
Around town, you really got-- It kind of behaves like a regular automatic. You'd never think that it's a dual clutch. There's no herky jerkiness or anything like that. But then it really fires off shifts very impressively, like these big chunky paddles mounted to this very not round steering wheel. Literally, steering wheel looks a little goofy. But it does work well in that it does maintain visibility forward and gives you some clearance here for your legs.
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Now, this is one of three seats available in this car. Personally, I think the bottom's a little pinchy. It would be nice if the bottom adjusted just as the side bolsters do. But the driving position is really fantastic. I'm 6 foot 3. I have tons of space in this car. In fact, I could move the seat back further-- don't need to. And even if I did, you'd hit your head here against the windshield or the roof head or kind of like you did in the Acura NSX, the original one. I like that car.
I like this car too. It kind of-- this car reminds me of that original NSX. In fact, there's a new one. How about that but in the same way that it is a everyday super car. So this has useful front and rear trunks. You can use them. It's surprisingly comfortable. It is easy to drive. And then it's also a fantastic performance machine. And that way, it reminds me more of that NSX than a Corvette. But what doesn't remind me of an NSX and does remind me of a Corvette is this.
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Whoah, that's good. That's really good.
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Well, the interior of this new vette is-- I don't know-- not only a radical departure from the old Corvette and everyone before it, thank, God, but it is a departure from everything on the road. And that's really cool. Like, this is a mid-engine supercar. And mid-engine supercars should be just a little weird, a little bonkers special. It should be an event when you get in.
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This great big border here in the car with all your climate buttons. They work fine. I like buttons. I don't want to go into a screen, especially when you are driving a mid engine sports car, you're focusing on driving. If you want the cooled seat turned up, well, press a button. So going around here, you do have this kind of palm rest that you can control the touch screen.
It's a great feature, because if you're in a car that, you know, this is a great ride for a supercar-- don't get me wrong. But there is a little more wiggling and jiggling than you would get in an Impala. And by anchoring your hand to it, makes it easier to press things. It also hides the drive mode selector. So right now we're in sport. But if you go to tour, that does correspond to different gauges in the all digital gauge cluster.
Three different designs-- sport and then track. Now, one of the things about this car is that the rear view is atrocious. You've really cannot see anything out of it. Yeah, there's the giant sail panels over the engine. The view from the regular rear view mirror is just the layer off a windshield. So fitted as standard here is the camera-based rear view mirror system.
When I drove this in the Cadillac CT6, for the first time, it kind of startled me. The focal point is different than every mirror you've ever used. And when something's that different from something that you didn't really pay attention to, it can kind of freak you out. But it's kind of a necessity in this car. And it sure as hell better than looking at, well, a bunch of glare and like a mailbox view.
In terms of materials quality to be generous has not been the Corvette's most positive attribute over the years. This is a vast, vast, vast improvement. You've got [INAUDIBLE] everywhere. You have leather covering the dash. You have yellow stitching. And it's not just some nice materials covering some kind of cheap plastic. No, they have elevated everything beyond what it was before. Chevy said that if it looks like metal, it is metal.
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So here we are on day two with the C8 here in verdant Pahrump, Nevada and the Spring Mountain Motor Resort and Country Club. This, of course, is the C8, and we're on an autocross kind of a get-to-know-you laps for this car, which we will be later taking on to the big track here. And, frankly, we're at an autocross is just kind of child's play for quite a serious performance machine that this car is.
Now, this orange car does not have the magnetically-controlled suspension on it, the fourth version of GM's MagRide. That car does have it. So we'll see the differences between the two. Brakes work.
OK, so we are doing the launch control. What you do to engage it is you put it into track mode. And then you press the traction control button twice and that it's engaged. It's in competition mode. And you don't have to reset it every single time. So you put your left foot on the brake all the way down. And then you build your revs up to about 3,600 RPM, let it sit there for a while, lift off, and bam, away we go.
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OK, so I've just done our hot laps in the C8. Now, we're just going to doing a cool-down lap. Let's go over a couple of things. The engine and transmission-- it is a little interesting driving a mid-engine car with these days that isn't turbo charged. It isn't some high-revving Porsche engine, really. So having a V8 does make it inherently different-- so smooth.
You don't have to shift a lot. But I did notice in automatic mode, it could downshift at kind of weird times, whereas PDK or, say, Mercedes AMG transmission, it knows exactly when to do it. And there were times in this when I thought I could override it.
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Let's talk about steering. Specifically the steering wheel, it does have this weirdly 3 and 1/2, 8 and 1/2 steering position. And after a couple of laps, my wrist started to hurt. I'm not really a fan of it in retrospect. The steering itself is very good. I like that it's very consistent in its effort-- very linear. The weight is really spot on, not too heavy, not overly light, really, really well done. Is it a, say, talkative as a Porsche Cayman GT Ford? No, but that's a pretty high bar.
The balance of this car, speaking of a Cayman, I mean, it is a mid-engine car. You absolutely feel the car rotating around you. It's very easy. On a long corner, just hold your steering angle and steer with the throttle exactly what you want-- didn't really have any whoa moments out there-- kind of speaks to how much weight is down on the back end.
If you're tall like me or anywhere close to as tall, you might-- you're going to struggle to fit with a helmet on. I was sitting really far forward in order to not hit the roof and a header back there. So let's talk about brakes. Multiple laps-- stayed nice and firm. The other thing is I really like the positioning of it. It is very friendly for a left foot braking, which if you're going to have an automatic car on a race track, left foot braking is exactly what you want to do. You're going to go faster.
So good job, Corvette, in that the seats-- they hold you in place. And these are the base seats that I was driving. So they still have adjustable bolsters. But they're not pinching in the butt like the competition ones. So you're absolutely fine sticking with the base seats, even if you are going to be going on a race track. It's very easy to place the car. You know exactly where the road is. You don't-- unlike the old Corvette, you don't have a million miles of engine in front of you.
So, in general, as a track car, just the regular Corvette. And we know there's going to be more powerful versions coming. But the regular Corvette Stingray with the Z's 51 package is quite the easy car to drive, very fast. It's rewarding, sounds cool. If you're looking for a car that is a performance bargain, yeah, more so than ever.
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