'Everyday Supercar': A New Corvette Puts a Target on Ferrari's Back

[Zorro]

From its dream-car debut in 1953 at the Motorama show at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, the Chevrolet Corvette has kept its engine up front, where sports-car tradition says it belongs.

But with sales of many fast, fun cars on the wane — blame the rise of dully practical S.U.V.s, an aging boomer audience or a declining car culture — the Corvette’s creators saw the need for a radical about-face. The 2020 Corvette Stingray has moved its engine behind the driver and passenger, adopting the physics-approved layout that brought Ferdinand Porsche his first racing successes in the 1930s. Today, this approach is associated with money-torching supercars from Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren.

The long-awaited “mid-engine” Corvette easily outruns its formidable predecessor, as I learned during a time-warping desert drive near Tortilla Flat, Ariz. The eighth-generation “C8” Corvette is earning rapturous reviews and dominating industry awards, as a car that can take on European exotics that cost $200,000 and more, but at a $59,995 base price that reads like a misprint.

“It’s certainly a great moment in the car business,” said Eddie Alterman, chief brand officer for Hearst Autos and a former editor in chief of Car and Driver. “It’s nothing less than the democratization of the supercar.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/26/business/2020-corvette-stingray.html

[A HERETIC I AM]

1. You are aware that the NYT is behind a paywall, right?

[Zorro]

2. Almost all major sites are.

One can subscribe to both the NYT and WaPo for $1/week, ya know.

Or one can delete their cookies.

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. Plenty of the motoring press articles are available for free.

https://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/did-the-chevrolet-corvette-stingray-c8-post-a-sub-7-30-lap-time-around-the-nurburgring-ar187350.html

https://thenewswheel.com/2020-corvette-c8-matches-lamborghini-huracans-lap-time/

https://www.motor1.com/news/389128/chevrolet-corvette-c8-nurburgring-rumor/

https://www.motortrend.com/cars/chevrolet/corvette/2020/chevy-corvette-c8-vs-ford-mustang-shelby-gt500-track-comparison/

I already subscribe to the WaPo and the LA Times. You aren't alone in posting NYT articles however. It happens all the time on DU.

So what you are suggesting is that I just bite the bullet and subscribe, is that it?

OR (and here's a radical thought) you might consider only posting LINKS to news stories that aren't behind a paywall.

[Zorro]

5. You're free to post links to whatever stories you'd like

You can likewise ignore NYT links that you can't afford to subscribe to.

[A HERETIC I AM]

7. Here's the funny thing;

You put up an OP relating to a subject I am interested in, as I am the owner of a C-7.

Looking forward to actually reading the content, I clicked your post and found a couple paragraphs of text relating information already discussed in articles going back about a year.

But you're right. I should just do the right thing and cough up the dough for a subscription and quit giving the impression that I'm poor or cheap.

Thanks for the tip.

[MineralMan]

11. Oh, I don't know. The meat of the article was in the excerpt in the OP.

Folks interesting in the new 'Vette have almost certainly read all of the auto press stories already. The rest of us aren't that interested in reading further, most likely.

I like cars, and I do read the automotive magazines from time to time, but the Corvette has never been that interesting to me. I don't have any desire to drive a car like that anywhere near its capabilities.

You posted links that people who are interested can click, but the basic information was in the OP. Plenty for most people.

Everyone posts on DU as they see fit. There's no need to go after someone who doesn't post as you would prefer. Just post additional links if you think they're important. You did that already, so there's no need for an attack on the NYT or the OP.

[A HERETIC I AM]

12. Thanks for the tip.

Glad to know you're around to set me straight. I appreciate it.

[MineralMan]

13. No problem. My pleasure.

[dalton99a]

3. Here:

G.M. had teased the faithful for decades, experimenting with a midmounted layout in a series of fanciful prototypes, beginning with the CERV 1 (for Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle) in 1959. Finally, for the 2020 model year, the near-mythical mid-engine Corvette is here, including the coupe’s Ferrari-esque view of its V8, provocatively exposed below a glass cover.

Dodging Times Square tourists and Ubers in a 495-horsepower, roughly 190-m.p.h. sports car is one form of adventure. But in my Arizona test, including roller-coaster desert curves, this new model combined moonshot acceleration, handling, tech and versatility like no rival remotely near its price. That includes a 2.8-second catapult to 60 miles an hour, on a par with a $250,000 Ferrari 488 GTB; a sharply improved, jet-fighter-inspired cockpit; and a GPS-based video data system that records street or track drives, overlays them with animated telemetry readouts and lets drivers analyze their performance with racing software.

Fuel economy is surprisingly decent, roughly 26 to 28 miles per gallon at a steady highway cruise. The Corvette is notably aerodynamic, and can deactivate half its cylinders to save fuel. The latest driver-adjustable magnetic suspension, a G.M.-first technology now adopted by several European exotics, lets the ’Vette drive as smoothly as some luxury cars in its Touring mode, despite the sleeping-bear V8 just over your shoulder.

Many mid-engine exotics lack a trunk, because the engine hogs the space. Yet Corvette designers made room for a trunk that can fit two golf bags, in addition to the Porsche-style “frunk” up front where the engine used to go.

[House of Roberts]

6. In 1981 I started looking for a low cost mid-engine sportscar.

I found there were only two choices, The Porsche 914 and the Lotus Europa (with Renault engine).

I bought a 1974 914 in February 1982 and I still have it.

[Turbineguy]

8. A friend had a Lotus Europa

for a short while.

"I pushed that car all over this town!"

[90-percent]

9. "or a declining car culture"

I don't think the car culture is declining, only that demographics are changing it. I've owned Corvettes on and off since age 18. I currently could not even afford to buy the 64 and 65 vettes I had 50 to 25 years ago.

I currently own a 90 vette and a 2013 Honda CR-Z. There's plenty of young hot rodders today, but they don't have $1000 corvettes or deuce coupes in every junk year for $100 any more. They do what they think is cool to their cars just like young people in the 60's.

Customizing and hot rodding isn't dying, it's just changing.

and the cr-z is a hybred, has a 30 hp electric assist motor and uses it for braking, which generates current to be stored in the rather large and heavy and expensive hi voltage battery. what a trip! cool car tyo work on. i happen to like computer controlled cars now. factory service manual, youtube, internet ebay, etc makes it possible for a semi tech literate old guy like myself keep it running!

the corvette is modern as hell, except OBD-1, not 2. it has relays up the wazoo for everything, which i'm learning abbout and fixing. fuel system got hosed for sitting outside too long. I rebuilt it on the cheep with a lot of help from ebay, facebook groups, and corvette message boards. I'm especially proud of scoring new rebuilt fuel injectors that were $55 for a set of 8 and they all "ohm'ed" well within tolerance. (real easy to find $800 fuel injectors on the internet) my $10 harbor freight multi-meter checked each one. and my old ones, which appeared to be original, ohm'ed all over the place. the sense of accomplishment i have driving it now brings me back to age 21 when i finally got my first vette on the road. (after tossing the cheesy one piece nose and gluing it back together with factory panels and bonding strips)

Americans love their cars, and time marches on. Todays youngsters love their rice rockets as much as my gen loved their muscle cars.

-90% rambling jimmy

[GeorgeGist]

10. Who says ...

Idiocracy isn't here yet?

[abqtommy]

14. When I was a youngster I enjoyed looking at cars driving by. I remember when I was a pre-teen

and saw a Corvette driving sedately along a city street. It would have looked like it was built for speed
even if it had been parked. I still enjoy looking at photos of the showings at various auto shows. I'm
amazed at the looks and performance, and mostly I'm amazed that there is enough market for these
high-priced vehicles that they continue to be produced.

I have to compare paying what I can afford for a vehicle to paying what I can afford for healthcare, and
in either case IT'S NOT MUCH. That's not what I call "the democratization of the supercar.”