The 2023 Corvette Stingray: A Promising Start to a New Era

The most appealing part of any Corvette is never the interior, it's the engine and this one right here is a 6.2 liter V8. This is a car fitted with the Z51 package which every Stingray shopper should opt for as it moves horsepower up a bit to 495. Torque is 470 pound-feet and you also get upgraded brakes, suspension, exhaust, a revised rear axle ratio, an electronic limited slip diff, and a beefier cooling system. Chevy pairs that 6.2 liter V8 with an eight-speed dual clutch gearbox that sends power to the rear wheels.

The looks of the C8 promise an engaging dynamic driving experience and it nearly delivers on it. Turning is nice and sharp and handling is light because there's a lot of weight taken off the nose of this thing. However, there are occasional moments of understeer that you wouldn't expect to find in a Corvette. I also think the engine is far too light. It's a Corvette and I want it to be loud, there's a button that opens up the exhaust and lets it bark a bit more but it never delivers what I'm after. It only starts to show some menace when you truly push the throttle to the floor.

Let's see what that sounds like now. So when you mat it, it's there. The noise is there. The 6.2 liter wakes up but everywhere else it's quiet and for a lot of people that could be a very good thing. But I want a bit more manic energy in my Corvette. The gearbox though shifts nice and quickly. The brakes feel fantastic and the suspension provides a really nice ride. However, the square steering wheel is a bit on the gimmicky side. I don't love that it's just square for the sake of being square.

The Stingray does make a great daily driver as far as sports cars go. The seats are comfortable, the ride is comfortable, and it looks cool. There's always a look back factor to it as well. But I'm generally underwhelmed by it and I think that's a bit of a problem when this thing lands you need to be like "Oh my god new direction 8th gen Corvette here we go" and that hasn't happened for me.

It's not bad, in fact, it's a great starting point for the rest of the family. But this one does the Stingray, it leaves me wanting to learn more about what's to come with respect to this vehicle. Is it fun behind the wheel? Yeah, of course, it is. It's still a vet and it's an evolution of the Corvette. Is it everything I'd hoped for? It's close but one of the best parts about the Corvette is its price.

That's because the Corvette Stingray here starts at $66,000. If you added the Z51 performance package for $5k, and you should, have a mid-engine sports car that can run from zero to 60 in less than three seconds and have it for well under one hundred thousand dollars. Hell, you have it for under eighty thousand this is almost a supercar based on its performance numbers and styling, and it's not even six figures.

Now, this one as tested is just under $85k that 2lt package cost around $6,800 bucks. It's fitted with the front lift nose system which is $14,950, and I think that should just be standard on all the models because you're gonna want to have that even then at nearly $85 grand this competes with far more expensive sports cars.

The C8 is a good starting place for the Corvette. Do I want to see more out of it? Of course, more noise, more power, and maybe a little bit more refinement on the exterior styling bits. But like I said, it's a great place to start and I think the mid-engine platform is going to suit this car well especially as we get more performance variants out of it.

What's a Grand Sport going to look like? What's a Z06? A ZR1? Even maybe a Zora version going to look like? A potential hypothetical 1000 horsepower hybrid mid-engine Corvette could be absolutely crazy, especially when this one can already do what it does. I'm merely okay with it. I have very high hopes for the future of the Corvette starting with the car that I find pretty good.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enchevrolet made big news when it committed to making a mid-engine corvette the eighth generation or c8 is a big departure from vets of the past and there's good reason for that chevrolet believes it pushed the formula of front engine rear drive to its performance limit is that truly the case and does the mid-engine formula truly make for a better vet let's find out now visually there are some big pluses and a handful of minuses so let's start with the negatives first the rear end needs some work the squared off exhaust outlets are goofy and the whole tail here looks squashed and oddly proportioned now view from the side or in a wide three-quarter profile things improve a bit but there's still comparisons you could make to other cars there's a dash of ferrari in here but maybe not executed as well and then i think if you squint you can also see some acura nsx yet you can still look at this and tell that it's a corvette and that's important the nose despite lacking the grunt generator speaks corvette design language move inside and the story starts to get a bit better because the c8 takes things where the c7 started to go and that's to a better interior experience on a corvette things are more driver focused but also even more refined compared to the last gen car at first we thought the closed-off cabin and interesting button placement would be goofy but when you sit in the car it actually works quite well and this specific corvette that we're testing is fitted with the 2lt package that means it gets a couple extra creature comforts the seats are heated and ventilated and have power adjustable lumbar support there's a 14 speaker bose audio system there's a head-up display and this car has the performance data and video recorder chevy worked hard to make its interiors better and you can easily see that in the c7 it's even better now here on the c8 the most appealing part of any corvette is never the interior anyway it's the engine and this one right here is a 6.2 liter v8 this is a car fitted with the z51 package which every stingray shopper should opt for as it moves horsepower up a bit to 495. torque is 470 pound-feet and you also get upgraded brakes suspension exhaust a revised rear axle ratio an electronic limited slip diff and a beefier cooling system and chevy pairs that 6.2 liter v8 with an eight-speed dual clutch gearbox that sends power to the rear wheels so the looks of the c8 promise an engaging dynamic driving experience and it nearly delivers on it turning is nice and sharp and handling is light that's because there's a lot of weight taken off the nose of this thing but then there's occasional moments of understeer that you wouldn't expect to find i also think the engine is far too light it's a corvette and i want it to be loud there's a button open up the exhaust and let it bark a bit more but it never delivers what i'm after it only starts to show some menace when you truly push the throttle to the floor let's see what that sounds like now so when you mat it it's there the noise is there the 6.2 liter wakes up but everywhere else it's quiet and for a lot of people that could be a very good thing but i want a bit more manic energy in my corvette the gearbox though it shifts nice and quickly the brakes feel fantastic and the suspension provides a really nice ride the square steering wheel though is a bit on the gimmicky side i i don't love that i'm not saying a steering wheel needs to be round but i think this is just square for the sake of being square which in fact makes it square this thing does make a great daily driver as far as sports cars go the seats are comfortable the ride is comfortable i mean it looks cool there's always a look back factor to it as well but i'm generally underwhelmed by it and i think that's a bit of a problem when this thing lands you need to be like oh my god new direction 8th gen corvette here we go and that hasn't happened for me it's not bad and in fact it's a great starting point for the rest of the family so all this one does the stingray it leaves me wanting to learn more about what's to come with respect to this vehicle is it fun behind the wheel yeah of course it is it's still a vet it's an evolution of the corvette is it everything i'd hoped for it's close but one of the best parts about the corvette is its price that's because the corvette stingray here starts at 66 000 if you added the z51 performance package for 5k and you should you have a mid engine sports car that can run from zero to 60 in less than three seconds and you have it for well under one hundred thousand dollars hell you have it for under eighty thousand this is almost a supercar based on its performance numbers and styling and it's not even six figures that is wild now this one as tested is just under 85k that 2lt package cost around 6 800 bucks it's fitted with the front lift nose system which is 14.95 and i think that should just be standard on all the models because you're gonna want to have that even then at nearly 85 grand this competes with far more expensive sports cars the c8 is a good starting place for the vet do i want to see more out of it of course more noise more power and maybe a little bit more refinement on the exterior styling bits but like i said it's a great place to start and i think the mid-engine platform is going to suit this car well especially as we get more performance variants out of it what's a grand sport going to look like what's a z06 a zr1 and even maybe a zora version going to look like a potential hypothetical 1000 horsepower hybrid mid-engine corvette could be absolutely crazy especially when this one can already do what it does and i'm merely okay with it i have very high hopes for the future of the vet starting with the car that i find pretty good youchevrolet made big news when it committed to making a mid-engine corvette the eighth generation or c8 is a big departure from vets of the past and there's good reason for that chevrolet believes it pushed the formula of front engine rear drive to its performance limit is that truly the case and does the mid-engine formula truly make for a better vet let's find out now visually there are some big pluses and a handful of minuses so let's start with the negatives first the rear end needs some work the squared off exhaust outlets are goofy and the whole tail here looks squashed and oddly proportioned now view from the side or in a wide three-quarter profile things improve a bit but there's still comparisons you could make to other cars there's a dash of ferrari in here but maybe not executed as well and then i think if you squint you can also see some acura nsx yet you can still look at this and tell that it's a corvette and that's important the nose despite lacking the grunt generator speaks corvette design language move inside and the story starts to get a bit better because the c8 takes things where the c7 started to go and that's to a better interior experience on a corvette things are more driver focused but also even more refined compared to the last gen car at first we thought the closed-off cabin and interesting button placement would be goofy but when you sit in the car it actually works quite well and this specific corvette that we're testing is fitted with the 2lt package that means it gets a couple extra creature comforts the seats are heated and ventilated and have power adjustable lumbar support there's a 14 speaker bose audio system there's a head-up display and this car has the performance data and video recorder chevy worked hard to make its interiors better and you can easily see that in the c7 it's even better now here on the c8 the most appealing part of any corvette is never the interior anyway it's the engine and this one right here is a 6.2 liter v8 this is a car fitted with the z51 package which every stingray shopper should opt for as it moves horsepower up a bit to 495. torque is 470 pound-feet and you also get upgraded brakes suspension exhaust a revised rear axle ratio an electronic limited slip diff and a beefier cooling system and chevy pairs that 6.2 liter v8 with an eight-speed dual clutch gearbox that sends power to the rear wheels so the looks of the c8 promise an engaging dynamic driving experience and it nearly delivers on it turning is nice and sharp and handling is light that's because there's a lot of weight taken off the nose of this thing but then there's occasional moments of understeer that you wouldn't expect to find i also think the engine is far too light it's a corvette and i want it to be loud there's a button open up the exhaust and let it bark a bit more but it never delivers what i'm after it only starts to show some menace when you truly push the throttle to the floor let's see what that sounds like now so when you mat it it's there the noise is there the 6.2 liter wakes up but everywhere else it's quiet and for a lot of people that could be a very good thing but i want a bit more manic energy in my corvette the gearbox though it shifts nice and quickly the brakes feel fantastic and the suspension provides a really nice ride the square steering wheel though is a bit on the gimmicky side i i don't love that i'm not saying a steering wheel needs to be round but i think this is just square for the sake of being square which in fact makes it square this thing does make a great daily driver as far as sports cars go the seats are comfortable the ride is comfortable i mean it looks cool there's always a look back factor to it as well but i'm generally underwhelmed by it and i think that's a bit of a problem when this thing lands you need to be like oh my god new direction 8th gen corvette here we go and that hasn't happened for me it's not bad and in fact it's a great starting point for the rest of the family so all this one does the stingray it leaves me wanting to learn more about what's to come with respect to this vehicle is it fun behind the wheel yeah of course it is it's still a vet it's an evolution of the corvette is it everything i'd hoped for it's close but one of the best parts about the corvette is its price that's because the corvette stingray here starts at 66 000 if you added the z51 performance package for 5k and you should you have a mid engine sports car that can run from zero to 60 in less than three seconds and you have it for well under one hundred thousand dollars hell you have it for under eighty thousand this is almost a supercar based on its performance numbers and styling and it's not even six figures that is wild now this one as tested is just under 85k that 2lt package cost around 6 800 bucks it's fitted with the front lift nose system which is 14.95 and i think that should just be standard on all the models because you're gonna want to have that even then at nearly 85 grand this competes with far more expensive sports cars the c8 is a good starting place for the vet do i want to see more out of it of course more noise more power and maybe a little bit more refinement on the exterior styling bits but like i said it's a great place to start and i think the mid-engine platform is going to suit this car well especially as we get more performance variants out of it what's a grand sport going to look like what's a z06 a zr1 and even maybe a zora version going to look like a potential hypothetical 1000 horsepower hybrid mid-engine corvette could be absolutely crazy especially when this one can already do what it does and i'm merely okay with it i have very high hopes for the future of the vet starting with the car that i find pretty good you\n"