2020 Chevrolet Corvette: Car and Driver’s 10Best – Car and Driver

Alex BernsteinCar and Driver

If youre old enough to remember when California was the land of Corvettes, youre probably worried about the size of your prostate. In the 1960s, Corvettes were as much a part of the California dream as sunshine, beaches, and bikinis. Surf bands, like Jan & Dean and the Beach Boys, topped the charts by selling the world an idealized West Coast lifestyle, a utopia where fuel-injected Stingrays raced Jaguar E-types from Sunset and Vine all the way to Dead Mans Curve. And all the Jag could see were the Stingrays six taillights.

Californias sunbaked love affair with the Corvette lasted well into the 1970s, but as the states baby boomers aged and became more sophisticated, they moved on from Americas sports car in droves. They turned to more refined and often faster machines from Japan and Germany, including the turbocharged iterations of the Toyota Supra, Mazda RX-7, Nissan 300ZX, and the current unofficial sports car of the Golden State, the Porsche 911.

Porsches stranglehold on Californias sports-car market is so strong, the swanky Orange County enclave of Newport Beach has been nicknamed New Porsh Beach: 911s are everywhere.

Chevy, however, has just fired an armor-piercing round. A bunker buster. The 2020 Corvette Stingray is different. And its good enough to reclaim California from the grip of the imported sports car. Moving its engine to the middle has not only taken its performance to new heights, but the sports cars image has been catapulted from mouth-breathing, tire-smoking semimuscle car to supercar disruptor in a single bound. This is the first Corvette since the early 1970s without the baggage and stigma of its past indiscretions, a lineage that has included everything from leaky T-tops to floppy chassis to junky interiors. Clean slate. If youre under 40, the Corvette isnt an old mans car for the first time in your life.

Alex BernsteinCar and Driver

The C8 shows what this company can brew when it puts its corporate heart into something.

Yes, it still has a pushrod V-8 for now, but its 490-hp (the $1195 performance exhaust takes that up to 495) 6.2-liter V-8 and quick-shifting eight-speed dual-clutch automatic are as refined as they are responsive, even when ensnarled in L.A. traffic. And when equipped with the $5000 Z51 Performance package (which includes the optional exhaust), this rear-wheel-drive machines launch control makes the most of having 60.6 percent of its weight on the rear rubber. It gets off the line like no other Corvette. The Stingray Z51 shoots to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 11.2 seconds at 122 mph. It even betters the 60-mph runs of the quickest 650-hp C7 Z06 and 755-hp C7 ZR1, both of which blazed their rear tires for the first few gears. But more importantly, it matches the far more expensive 992 version of the 911 Carrera S through the quarter-mile.

With the optional FE4 magnetorheological dampers, it also sticks to a skidpad at 1.03 gs, handles with a lightness that defies its 3647 pounds, and stops from 70 mph in 149 feet. Did we mention that its as quiet and comfortable as any grand tourer we can think of, rides with a silken compliance, and has two cargo holds? As we said in our first test, This is a car you can drive anytime, anywhereincluding clear across the countrywithout it tiring you out. And dont let its weird squared-off steering wheel scare you. It works just fine, and that wall-like cabin divider that houses the climate controls may look like an ergonomic nightmare, but it isnt. While the plastic bodywork means it still smells like resin inside, the quality of the materials is vastly improved and the seats hug and support you as the palm trees pass like telephone poles.

And then theres the price. All this mid-engine goodness starts at just $59,995. What you get is a V-8 supercar that costs less than a base 718 Boxster. Corvettes have always aced value and performance tests, but moving the engine has created a different sort of Stingray. Now theres an American sports car set up to send more than a few Porschephiles into Chevy stores, a Corvette thats ready to retake the Coast.

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Specifications

2020 Chevrolet Corvette

BASE PRICE$59,995$67,495

ENGINE TYPE490- or 495-hp 6.2-liter V-8

TRANSMISSION8-speed dual-clutch automatic

C/D TEST RESULTS (Z51 coupe)60 mph: 2.8 sec-mile: 11.2 sec @ 122 mphTop speed (mfr's claim): 184 mphBraking, 700 mph: 149 ftRoadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 1.03 g

EPA FUEL ECONOMY (C/D EST)Combined/city/highway: 19/16/26 mpg

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2020 Chevrolet Corvette: Car and Driver's 10Best - Car and Driver