Chevrolet Corvette C8 Stingray: a 6.2 l V8 supercar for less than a Golf R

Portugal - and even Europe more broadly - unfortunately isn’t the place where you can buy a brand-new supercar with a 6.2 l V8 mounted behind the passengers, producing 500 cv, and costing less than a Volkswagen Golf R.

That place is the United States of America (USA), where you can pick up this Corvette C8 Stingray for 68 300 dollars, roughly 63 200 euros.

But we’re not in the USA - we’re in Germany, where Guilherme Costa gets to drive the first Corvette with a rear mid‑engine layout. And he’s about to find out whether this American behaves properly through bends, or whether it lives up to the stereotype that it only goes well in a straight line:

Does it behave itself in corners?

It’s true there’s a lingering prejudice about American cars and their ability to corner. It isn’t entirely baseless, but it belongs to a past that’s getting further and further away - and the Corvette C8 is a clear demonstration of that.

Anyone familiar with Chevrolet Corvette history will know that moving the engine from the front to the rear is a very old idea. It simply took more than half a century for it to finally happen.

One of the reasons for this philosophical shift was precisely to remove excuses. The Corvette can now go “eye to eye” with the best Europe has to offer. To make that possible, the development team didn’t hesitate to learn from the very best: the Ferrari 458 Italia was used as the benchmark model. The ambition couldn’t have been higher.

The Corvette Stingray C8 is not, however, a Ferrari 458 - don’t misunderstand. The Corvette C8 is very good, but this entry-level version may not be the ideal one to fully showcase the dynamic potential of this American supercar. In the video, Guilherme highlights several criticisms and points out the biggest Achilles’ heel of this supercar.

To sharpen the handling, there are specific options designed for that purpose, or you can choose the Corvette that specialises in corners: the Z06.

What this American supercar does deliver is a hugely pleasant driving experience, always with massive performance in reserve - ideal for covering many, many kilometres. Not least because, back there, you’ve got a “heart” that’s built to take anything.

The jewel in the crown

The small block (small block) in the Corvette Stingray C8 doesn’t look small at all. After all, it’s a 6.2 l V8, with no interference from turbochargers or electric motors. It doesn’t get more “pure” than this.

Even so, the American V8’s simplicity - for instance, it has only two valves per cylinder - makes it a more compact and lighter proposition than European V8s.

It may not wow you with headline power or torque figures - 502 cv (495 hp) and 637 Nm in the North American specification - but it suits the intended use perfectly. And figures mean little when this experience is on offer, starting with the deep, full-bodied soundtrack worthy of more than 6000 cm³. Anyone chasing the more dramatic numbers associated with the Italians can always turn to the Z06:

This is about muscle. For believers in “There’s no replacement for displacement” (there’s no substitute for engine capacity), the Corvette Stingray C8’s V8 is a strong argument in its favour. The engine is smooth and it never runs out of breath.

The only annoying part of having a huge V8 sitting right behind your back is when it’s time to fill up - but even here the Corvette C8 proved surprisingly restrained. There wasn’t an opportunity to calculate proper averages, but as Guilherme tells us, the on-board computer showed an average below 13 l/100 km over the last 1500 km. Remarkable for this type of engine.

It costs less than a Golf R

If we were in the USA, this Corvette Stingray could leave the dealership for as little as 63 200 euros. That’s less than the price of a Volkswagen Golf R in Portugal, and that’s extraordinary.

Crossing the Atlantic from the USA to Europe, however, makes the price swell in the “old continent”. In Germany - where the Corvette is sold and where this test took place - pricing already starts well north of 100 thousand euros.

It’s a lot of money, of course, but for what it offers you could almost accuse it - and forgive the irony - of being a “low cost” supercar… As far as supercars go, there’s nothing comparable at such a low price.