C8 Corvette Lands on 2020 Car and Driver‘s ’10Best List’
Magazine predicts C8-era Corvette will not only win new fans but also reclaim California from Porsche and JDM.
This year has been the best year for the Corvette yet. From the moment the decades-long dream of the mid-engine ‘Vette finally rolled into reality in Los Angeles on a midsummer’s evening, it’s been non-stop. All of the attention and accolades, all of the appearances at the biggest and most important events of 2019, the first-drive reviews, it makes you wonder where all the time has gone.
Speaking of time, this time of year happens to be the time for everyone and their mothers to make their end-of-year lists. Car and Driver always has one up their sleeve, in the form of the 10 Best list. The list was always split into two: the top 10 cars for the new model year, and the top 10 trucks and SUVs. For the 2020 model year, though, the magazine merged the two into a single top 10, with none other than the C8-era Corvette taking its place on the list for the first time.
“This is a car you can drive anytime, anywhere — including clear across the country — without it tiring you out,” Car and Driver said about the new Corvette, which impressed the masthead so much that it earned its place on the annual list just like that. And why not? The mid-engine package — the 6.2-liter, naturally aspirated LT2 V8, and the eight-speed dual-clutch automatic — opened the door for the Corvette to begin anew in a way it never had before.
“The C8 shows what this company can brew when it puts its corporate heart into something,” the magazine said, and the price point for the new Corvette is another reason it made the magazine’s list for the first time. While competitors like Ferrari, Porsche, McLaren, and Lamborghini charge hundreds of thousands of dollars just for the base trim models, the base Corvette can be had for $59,995; thus, the democratization of mid-engine performance cars is realized through America’s sports car.
Car and Driver believes the new Corvette will also take the California coast back from Porsche and the Japanese imports, a place it lost when the C3 era transitioned from muscle power to personal luxury malaise during the course of the 1970s. For them, “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.”
Photos: Chevrolet
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