2020 Corvette Stingray Coupe Looks Like a Ferrari, but $150,000 Less

Chevrolet's eighth Corvette generation comes with a mid-engine, new technology and impressive driving performance. "As America's most iconic sports car, the fundamental redesign of the Corvette Stingray offered the team a historic opportunity and thus fulfilled a wish that Chevrolet designers have cherished for over 60 years," explains GM chief designer Mike Simcoe, "now it represents America's best." The 2020 Corvette Stingray is huge advance for GM, which has designed a beautiful car so different from any of its predecessors.

The new look gives the US athlete a completely new character. The 6.2 liter naturally aspirated V8 engine, which is clearly visible under a 3.2 millimeter thick Plexiglas pane, mobilizes 495 hp (369 kW) and a maximum torque of 465 to 470 lb-ft in its basic output level. Although it benefits from extra horsepower, the 2020 Stingray Corvette is slower than the C8 Corvette, needing 2.9 seconds to hit 60 mph, according to Chevrolet. The Stingray Corvette's top speed comes at 194 mph. As I said, it's less than the predecessor C7 had, but we assume Chevrolet has done it this way in order to allow some breathing room for the more hardcore iterations of the C8's performance.

The Body Style, Price and MPG

The 2020 Stingray Corvette comes in two body styles: Coupe and Convertible. The Coupe starts at $58,900. The Convertible 2020 Corvette starts at $66,400. This week Torque News was test-driving the Coupe version, which you see in the accompanying images. Although the Coupe style starts at $58,900 the total vehicle price with all the options reaches $82,925.

Regarding the C8 Corvette's trim levels, the 1LT will start at $59,995, the 2LT trim package will start at $67,295 and the top-level 3LT trim package on the 2020 Corvette Stingray will start at $71,945 (including DFC, excluding tax, title, license, dealer fees and optional equipment). By the way, recently Torque News reviewed the 2020 Aston Martin Vantage and with its whopping $184,017 price we prefer C8 Corvette.

“We’ve packed a lot of performance into the Corvette Stingray at this price when you consider an eight-speed dual clutch transmission, Small Block V-8 and engine-mounted dry sump oil system are all standard,” said Tadge Juechter, Corvette executive chief engineer in Chevrolet's release.

The 2020 Corvette Stingray's MPG has a slight improvement from its previous generation. The 2020 Mid-Engine Corvette gets 15 city / 27 highway and 19 mpg combined. However, remember, if you you drive it too hard in terms of speed you will need to make more frequent stops at a gas station as this supercar's gas thank only has a capacity of 18.5 gallons.

The engine is coupled to an eight-speed dual clutch transmission with paddle shifters behind the steering wheel, which should enable particularly fast gear changes. The performance shift algorithms are so focused on the driver that they recognize a courageous driving style - regardless of the driving mode - and keep lower gears for longer for a correspondingly higher throttle response. The offer of the previous three driving modes "Tour", "Sport" and "Track" is being expanded to include the two driving programs "Mymode" and "Z-Mode." In fact, the new Z button is mounted on the steering wheel to quickly activate customized performance settings. Adaptive Magnetic Ride dampers or Performance Traction Management are available on request.The front axle is raised by 40 millimeters to protect against bumps, potholes and curbs. The system can operate at speeds of up to 25 mph and can be programmed via GPS for automatic operation with up to 1000 stored locations.

The Interior and Exterior

For the driver of the 2020 Corvette Stingray and front passenger, there are electrically adjustable sports seats with a memory function as well as animated instruments, voice control, heating steering wheel and a networked navigation system with near-field communication and wireless charging function for mobile phones. The new Corvette still wants to score with the combination of sportiness and high everyday utility.

The two luggage compartments at the front and rear offer a total load volume of 357 liters. Yesterday, while test-driving the vehicle I went to a grocery shopping with the Corvette and I easily fit all my groceries for our family of five in the front luggage compartment.

The ambience is also completely new: with digital instruments, a large touchscreen next to it, and an almost square steering wheel. This sits surprisingly well in the hand, is flat at the top so that you can look over it better, and at the bottom so that it is easier to get in.

Lacquer, leather and lots of bare metal play a major role. It looks good and feels good. I even like the huge wall that towers between the two seats with all the buttons on top of it.

The Driving Experience

In Tour mode, the first of three driving profiles/modes, the 2020 Corvette is not only more comfortable than anything coming from Italy or England (remember my above comments on Ferrari and Aston Martin), it is also much quieter. And with its two trunk compartments in the front and rear, it also offers more space for luggage and is even suitable as a convertible because you can remove the roof on All Coupe body styles. Nevertheless, there is also the real Convertible body style as well, this time with a retractable hardtop as a premiere.

The design of the Corvette is hard to recognize . Seen in isolation, it looks spectacular, but in comparison with other supercars it is quite interchangeable.

Since 1981 GM has been building Corvettes in Bowling Green, Kentucky and from what we understand is heavily investing in that plant.

I compared the driving, price, handling and the experience of the 2020 Stingray Corvette to Ferrari and Aston Martin, but some reviewers, such as ADAC, say it goes even beyond Porsche 911. "Mid-engine, double clutch, performance far beyond the Porsche 911, and finally handling that is not only good for die-hard people - now the eighth generation of the Corvette actually plays in a league with Ferrari," concludes Thomas Geiger in ADAC.

The 2020 Corvette Stingray Coupe is truly a nice looking beautiful vehicle. I enjoyed test-driving it. If you own one or have driven one, would love to hear your opinion in the comments section below.

Armen Hareyan is the founder and the Editor in Chief of Torque News. He founded TorqueNews.com in 2010, which since then has been publishing expert news and analysis about the automotive industry. He can be reached at Torque News Twitter, Facebok, Linkedin and Youtube.

Reference: Autobild,