‘Wards Auto’ Names C8 Corvette Interior ‘One of Industry’s 10 Best’
For decades, critics derided General Motors’ ‘crown jewel’ for its cheap interiors. Now, the Corvette’s cabin is winning awards with the C8.
From a performance standpoint, modern Corvettes have always provided tremendous bang for the buck. On any circuit in the world, a good driver could hop into America’s Sports Car and hang with exotics costing two or three times as much.
Dominant performances at grueling, 24-hour endurance events like Le Mans and Daytona proved the Corvette’s on-track prowess wasn’t just for weekend warriors either. But the cabin, often outfitted with cheap plastic and parts-bin GM bits, was always regarded as the car’s Achilles heel — until now. Wards Auto has just named the C8 interior one of the industry’s ten best, and the honor must feel like vindication for designers at the General. Just check out this sample from the announcement:
“A driver lucky enough to climb behind the wheel will determine immediately the groundbreaking achievement of this new Corvette interior: the premium leather-wrapped instrument panel, the tastefully applied carbon-fiber trim, the handsomely configured push-button transmission that saves precious room in the center console and the microsuede used generously on the instrument panel, center console, door trim, steering wheel, headliner and pillar trim.”
The praise is even more impressive when you consider that car’s base price didn’t jump dramatically, as many fans and industry insiders expected. Sure, buyers can go all in and opt for the 3LT trim, and its dozen different color choices. But even the base interior is light years beyond what you’d expect to see at the $60,000 price point, and according to Wards Auto, puts in the same league as German heavyweights like Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
Of course, we weren’t entirely surprised to learn the C8’s sexy environs made Wards Auto’s ten best list, as the folks there are hardly the first to make note of the huge leap forward Chevy made. Since the car’s debut, everyone from old-school publications like Motor Trend, to mainstream players like Esquire, to tech-focused sites like Slash Gear have showered it with praise. For the record, the folks over at our sister site Corvette Forum didn’t think it was too shabby either. As GM designer Tristan Murphy told our friends at Gear Patrol, the new mid-engine architecture provided the interior team with amazing opportunities, and they wanted to take full advantage of the fact that drivers no longer had to see over the engine.
“The last thing we want to do was have this amazing down vision, then have this typical tall instrument panel. It was about, how do we change the game and how do we reconstruct a dashboard here to be as low and as thin as possible? That was the mission statement of the whole car.”
While everyone seems to agree the C8 is well beyond its predecessors in terms of interior, the one bit of criticism we’ve seen is centered around the long row of buttons which sweeps out toward the driver. Now, we’ll agree that there are a lot of buttons there, but we think the sweeping structure contributes to the cabin’s cockpit-like feel. And in an era where manufacturers are often forced to bury useful features under a series of infotainment menus, we welcome the simplicity and tactile feel of a standard button. Particularly when the material quality is as high as it is in the current Corvette.
Have you had the opportunity to check out the interior of the C8 Corvette yet? If you have, head to the forum and let us know your opinion, as we’d love to hear what you think the General got right and wrong. Other than the sport seats being a little tight, we couldn’t find any faults worth calling out. But after waiting basically our whole lives to the mythical mid-engine Corvette? We’ll admit we might have had stars in our eyes.
Photos: Wards Auto