2020 C8 Mid-Engine Corvette tests at the Nurburgring.

mmcartalk

Expert
Messages
4,155
Reactions
2,675
2020 C8 Mid-Engine Corvette tests at the Nurburgring.
Looks like they've opened up the 'Ring again to vehicle-manufacturer-testing....for a while, the 'Ring's owners had closed it off to the manufacturers. I guess money talks.....the manufacturers pay big bucks to rent that place.

Anyhow, here's the 2020 Mid-Engine C8 going through some testing....along with some other vehicles on the track. Lot of interest in the new mid-engine 'Vette, so I thought I'd post it.

 
Messages
2,087
Reactions
3,405
This came from left field. This literally reminds me when the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio launched. Nobody was expecting it to be punching above its weight to the level of Mercedes and BMW. In fact, people were betting against the poor car until it showed up and shocked the world, and look, it sent ripples throughout the automotive industry.

This has moved me the same way. This car downright beats any other car in the entire automotive industry. You name it, this beats them. Like WOW. I'm genuinely blown away, and I'm never a die-hard fan of American cars like I am with the Japanese, German and Italian car manufacturers. This car has single-handedly redefined sports cars and the automotive industry.

Excellent job GM! They literally have knocked it out of the park.

And for the few boomers who keep crying about the fact that it is mid-engine? They can screw off. This car is the future. It puts every single other sports car out there to shame. Also, it looks pretty damn good inside and out. I hope reliability is all right with this car (I hear more issues on the Z06 but haven't heard much about the normal naturally-aspirated Stingrays) and this will be the car that will encourage every other manufacturer to want to build sports cars.

Again, like I mentioned before, I don't really care that much about American cars, but this car makes me want to be all-American with a tailgate party, crack open a good beer, and do all kinds of celebration American style.

🇺🇸🇺🇸🌭🍻🎉🎊🦅🇺🇸🇺🇸
 

mmcartalk

Expert
Messages
4,155
Reactions
2,675
And for the few boomers who keep crying about the fact that it is mid-engine? They can screw off.

Respectfully, I can't quite agree with your conclusion here. It was the Boomers, in the 1960s, that originally made the Corvette the success it was. The original Corvettes of the early-mid 50s, before the Boomers came along, had a 150 HP Chevy Stovebolt in-line 6 and a two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission...no manual was available (no, I'm not kidding). It took the sharp 1955-57 Ford Thunderbird, with its V8 and floor-mounted manual-shift, to shame the 'Vette into a proper drivetrain....once the "Vette got that decent drivetrain, Boomers started flocking to it.

So, IMO, the Boomers have just as much right to voice their opinions on this latest one as anyone else.
 
Last edited:

RAL

Moderator
Messages
1,213
Reactions
1,745
This came from left field. This literally reminds me when the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio launched. Nobody was expecting it to be punching above its weight to the level of Mercedes and BMW. In fact, people were betting against the poor car until it showed up and shocked the world, and look, it sent ripples throughout the automotive industry.

This has moved me the same way. This car downright beats any other car in the entire automotive industry. You name it, this beats them. Like WOW. I'm genuinely blown away, and I'm never a die-hard fan of American cars like I am with the Japanese, German and Italian car manufacturers. This car has single-handedly redefined sports cars and the automotive industry.

Excellent job GM! They literally have knocked it out of the park.

And for the few boomers who keep crying about the fact that it is mid-engine? They can screw off. This car is the future. It puts every single other sports car out there to shame. Also, it looks pretty damn good inside and out. I hope reliability is all right with this car (I hear more issues on the Z06 but haven't heard much about the normal naturally-aspirated Stingrays) and this will be the car that will encourage every other manufacturer to want to build sports cars.

Again, like I mentioned before, I don't really care that much about American cars, but this car makes me want to be all-American with a tailgate party, crack open a good beer, and do all kinds of celebration American style.

🇺🇸🇺🇸🌭🍻🎉🎊🦅🇺🇸🇺🇸
@F1 Silver Arrows ... I always appreciate the passionate way you express your opinion! As a boomer, I was born the same year as was the first Corvette. This baby sits on my desk. And I'll never forget the first time I saw the 1963 split rear window Stingray! And yeah, this new 2020 seems revolutionary.

IMG_2491.jpeg
 
Messages
2,087
Reactions
3,405
Respectfully, I can't quite agree with your conclusion here. It was the Boomers, in the 1960s, that originally made the Corvette the success it was. The original Corvettes of the early-mid 50s, before the Boomers came along, had a 150 HP Chevy Stovebolt in-line 6 and a two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission...no manual was available (no, I'm not kidding). It took the sharp 1955-57 Ford Thunderbird, with its V8 and floor-mounted manual-shift, to shame the 'Vette into a proper drivetrain....once the "Vette got that decent drivetrain, Boomers started flocking to it.

So, IMO, the Boomers have just as much right to voice their opinions on this latest one as anyone else.
@F1 Silver Arrows ... I always appreciate the passionate way you express your opinion! As a boomer, I was born the same year as was the first Corvette. This baby sits on my desk. And I'll never forget the first time I saw the 1963 split rear window Stingray! And yeah, this new 2020 seems revolutionary.

View attachment 3368

I really appreciate you guys sharing your opinions! Like I mentioned, I said a "few" boomers. Because a lot of comments on social media on my end who express their displeasure for this car have been in fact boomers. But those people do not account for the rest of the population. So please do not take offence to this. I never try to speak in a manner to offend anyone here. I really enjoy passionate conversations with some good content. Gets everything going here! :)

And for @mmcartalk, yeah I know about their history. In fact, I read from somewhere somebody saying the exact thing you said regarding Corvettes. Wonder if it was you lol. But yeah, Corvettes were always the pinnacle of American engineering, and if the Corvette needed to go mid-engine, then so be it.

@RAL Ah!! That's a gorgeous model! :D
 

Ian Schmidt

Moderator
Messages
2,330
Reactions
4,065
I was floored by pretty much everything about this car. It looks amazing, it's priced incredibly, it's got all the tech gadgets (it auto-raises the suspension when it sees a speed bump!), the hardtop detaches on every one, and there's usable rear trunk room behind the engine.
 

Motor

Expert
Messages
2,127
Reactions
3,146
New Chevrolet Corvette could get hybrid or electric versions
Asked if an electrified Corvette might feature a mild hybrid battery-based starter motor, or use a small electric engine to provide four-wheel drive, one project member said: “You would not look stupid if you said that.”

When asked by Autocar about future electrified variants of the Corvette, the president of Chevrolet parent company General Motors, Mark Reuss, said: “The company is committed to a strategy of 0-0-0: zero emissions, zero crashes and zero congestion. All of the technology rolling into this vehicle is meant to support that. This platform can carry a lot of different things into the future for General Motors.”

Pressed on whether a fully electric Corvette was under consideration, Reuss said: “We’ll see. Stay tuned.”

It's only going to get better.

8dc65dad-2020-corvette-c8-stingray-12.jpg


I hate that line of buttons so much.
 

Motor

Expert
Messages
2,127
Reactions
3,146

A Corvette 'brand' may be the next 'Vette news, complete with an SUV
General Motors intends to leverage the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette for even greater profit than a midengine Stingray might generate on its own. The corporation is planning a new Corvette brand that will eventually include a sedan and an SUV or crossover, according to GM insiders. It will also create its second Corvette-based Cadillac sports car.

Executives at the C8 reveal in Tustin, California, including GM president Mark Reuss and Jim Campbell, vice-president of performance vehicles and motorsports, wouldn’t address either plan. But the executives did not explicitly deny them, either.

Yep, they overdid it in the button department. Reminds me, to some extent, of what GM was doing 30 years ago LOL........

Bad old habits die hard.
 

Ian Schmidt

Moderator
Messages
2,330
Reactions
4,065
In Jay Leno's video they said the button strip was supposed to be a visual homage to the C2 that had an unusually skinny center stack with the radio sideways. Elsewhere there's a lot of speculation that aftermarket companies will sell some kind of cover to make the buttons visually go away.
 

suxeL

Follower
Messages
440
Reactions
346
FWIW the C8 looks like a solid first effort. What makes this a reincarnation of the original, is that it takes something only seen in supercar land, and brings it down to the 60k mark. I have my doubts on reliability etc, but the package that is the C8 is literally going to need some really bad engineering flaws to call this anything but amazing.

Tl:DR
Impressive corvette
 
Messages
2,793
Reactions
3,378
FWIW the C8 looks like a solid first effort.
First effort? They've been building Vettes before I was born...Indeed, this Vette is substantial. The C6 and C7 were solid sports cars too, but the C8 finally raises the bar.
 

Levi

Expert
Messages
2,707
Reactions
3,134
I like the NSX II, but this is like the spiritual successor of the NSX I, so as the GS-F is the spiritual successor of the M5 E39.

This C8 is probably the best performance car out there, if you discount the Ferrari badge. All other supercars are getting boring (except Koenigsegg because at least he innovates).
 

mmcartalk

Expert
Messages
4,155
Reactions
2,675
GM just cut off orders for the 2020 C8.