Chevrolet Corvette C8: Fully Designed For Attack

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Chevrolet Corvette C8: Fully Designed For Attack
Chevrolet Corvette C8: Fully Designed For Attack

Video: Chevrolet Corvette C8: Fully Designed For Attack

Video: Chevrolet Corvette C8: Fully Designed For Attack
Video: 2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 Stingray Coupe - POV First Impressions 2024, March
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The Corvette's image was difficult for a long time, but times have changed. The eighth generation of the sports car is now coming onto the market in the USA.

And it no longer has anything in common with the prejudices that the Corvette was faced with in the past: pimp car, plastic bomber, dragstrip queen - all over.

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At the latest with the change to the seventh generation, the US legend has blossomed into a serious sports car. And when the eighth edition of the icon is on its way here in the USA at a bargain price of almost 60,000 dollars and in spring 2021 for an estimated 100,000 euros, it can even compete with Ferrari & Co more than ever.

Construction turned inside out

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To achieve this, the Americans dared to take a revolutionary step and, after almost 70 years, turned the design principle inside out. For the first time, the engine is no longer mounted in front of the occupants, but just behind them, just like with Ferrari, Lamborghini or McLaren. In theory, this means, in addition to a significantly changed design with a shorter bow and a visibly larger format with more wheelbase and wider hips, above all a lower center of gravity, a shifted weight distribution with less load on the steering and more traction on the rear axle and one on top of that better overview because you no longer have to squint at the engine.

In practice, this brings one thing above all: you are significantly faster with the C8. Maybe not necessarily on the straight, where the predecessor was hard to beat. But in curves. Because the Corvette is not only easier to steer than before, it is also more precisely positioned. Regardless of whether it is a fast country road or a racetrack, the car turns faster, stays closer to the ideal line and therefore reaches its destination more quickly.

For the first time with double clutch

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The only thing that the Americans cannot offer is the explosive propulsion of the competitors - even if the bare numbers of about three seconds for the sprint and a top speed of almost 320 km / h speak a different language. After all, Chevrolet instigated another revolution for this and installed a double clutch for the first time. But the 6.2-liter V8, which continues to be run as a small block with an unusual understatement, just needs a bit to get up to speed and to fully exploit its 495 hp and more, the 637 Nm. Then, however, as a classic vacuum cleaner, it turns higher and runs more pleasurably than all the turbos that are now installed at Ferrari & Co. Only its sound sounds somehow constricted and even in track mode there is still plenty of chalk in the four tailpipes that have been pushed out again.

The second face of the Corvette is all the more astonishing in view of this pronounced tendency towards performance. Because more than most other cars in its league, the US legend is also suitable for everyday use: If you turn back into Tour mode with the small wheel under the palm rest in the huge center tunnel, the C8 drives for hours on the highways and surprisingly quietly for hours on your back irons even the worst transverse joints there.

Full suitability for everyday use

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From curve to curve or from coast to coast - that hardly makes a difference in this car. It is not for nothing that you can always take out a piece of the roof of the Coupé and cruise to the sky with an unobstructed view - even if there is a convertible again a few weeks after the start of sales of the closed model, which is another first for the Corvette retractable hardtop.

The suitability for everyday use does not only apply to the driving behavior, but also to the comparatively generous amount of space in the cabin and the two trunk compartments in the front and rear as well as the ambience: The days when the Corvette smelled of bad plastic are over for good.

There are also digital instruments, a solid head-up display and a large touchscreen and, for the first time, safety features such as the cross traffic assistant or a blind spot warning. Incidentally, this is just as superfluous as the digital rear-view mirror, with which the Americans effectively compensate for poor rearward visibility. Because in the eighth generation you have to look back less than ever because someone could dare to overtake the Corvette. (SP-X)

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