In a sea of praise for the c8, will one brave shithead dare to go against the grain?

Well look, it’s a damn good car, and if I had a Porsche Cayman, I would probably be considering my choices. Now, being me those choices would just lead me back to a Lotus, however for what you’re paying for, the c8 has a very temping allure. Not that the car is without its flaws however.

The c8 experience begins as you walk up to the car. The c8 looks properly exotic, but in a way that also seems perfectly on brand for corvette. Wide rear hips, well treated sharp surfaces, that massive expanse of a flat rear deck proudly displaying an LT. The styling is for the most part striking in a good way, though from some points it may seem a little busy at times, and the side inlets could have probably used another design session.

Entering, you slither on into the tight carbon backed seats, getting nice and low down in the car. You then hope the owner much isn’t shorter than you or else the automatic seat position will crush you once the engine fires up. The cabin completely surrounds the driver. From the driver’s side, you’re presented with a line of a million buttons to your right all screaming “PRESS ME”, while also being non-distinct enough so they’re unable to discern at a glance while driving. Memorization is needed here. And maybe ADHD medication. From the passenger seat, unless you’ve memorized the control layout, it’s a hopelessly blind guessing game of what button does what on that center strip.

The car has four driving modes, and the only two you’ll care for are sport and race, which makes the car have different levels car anger and “cornering prowess”. One thing it does do in race mode is change the steering weight. Steering in race becomes unnaturally heavy, while feedback from the electronic system provides is no less neutered than in the other modes. It doesn’t weigh up all that nicely through a corner, and the front is a bit vague. Pedal feedback also isn’t amazing, it’s about as numb as an arcade machine, which isn’t too confidence inspiring under braking.

If there’s one major complaint about the c8, it would be those numb-ass controls. The chassis communicates well and you can feel what your inputs do, but the steering is less sports car and more sim wheel. And the brake feeling just sucks, as many have said before and since.

There is also technically a fifth driving mode called “Z mode” (not joking) that allows you to configure a custom set up. Taking the time to set the car up with everything minus steering in race (the same solution for modern BMW M cars), alleviates this a little bit for the steering, but not the pedals. Also the display won’t let you use the horizontal bar rpm display you get in race when you set up “Z mode”… Zmode.

The car does has a lot of grip, and you do feel it all. The rest of the car gives you a damn good idea about what it’s up to, leaving you with the confidence to really abuse the damn thing. The car corners flat, but it’s also fairly easy to make the computers kick in to keep you in line. The car feels fairly well balanced, although there’s only so much you can learn while driving in Daytona beach and south Florida, a car like this needs to be explored on track or in the mountains if you really want to understand how the mid-engined car handles.

It’s fairly controlable when the rear comes out as well, and TC has multiple levels of interventionism that allow varying degrees of yaw before it kicks in to bring you back to saftey. The car will spin through second if you let it, but it isn’t terrifying when it happens.

The dual clutch is a fairly impressive unit, sure it’s not a PDK, but nothing is. It rarely denied my inputs, and the response is more or less instantaneous. The paddles themselves feel like a cheap sim wheel though. The paddle material is fine but you might want a more satisfying switch underneath for the price you’re paying, especially with the z51 package.

Launch control, like in many cars, is convoluted to activate. I’m sure it was cool back in 2015 to have to touch 6 buttons to active it like you’re trying to launch a nuclear strike. But now I just want a single damn push button that actives it and gives you traction options would work just as nicely. Once active, you select what type of traction assistance you want, push the brake pedal all the way to the floor (note: ALL THE WAY) and mash the gas. The car will hold it at 3k, let off the brake, and away you go to try and chase that 2.8s 0-60 time the z51 can apparently do. I launched it in the wet and dry. Each wet run, the 0-60 (which the car logs) was in the 4s range, and involved a lot of rear end sliding. In the dry it feels like you’re getting hit by a bullet train then getting taken along for the ride.

Ah the engine. That big meaty boy that lives behind you, bellowing in a mix of boomer and modern anger all the way to 6500rpm. The 6.2L (eat your heart out Europe!) LT2 sends 495 horsepower and 465ft lbs of torque to the rear of the car. What’s that? It should make 100 hp per liter? I can’t hear you over the sound of FREEDOM.

The LT2 paired to this car hits nicely, and depending on the traction setting, the car will let you have a little bit of rear end fun when you gas it. I do think think it’s a bit odd to hear that exhaust note paired to the dual clutch, the car kinda sounds like a heavily muffled Cadillac DPI. It’s a wonderful blend of old angry and modern tech. It’s addictive to rev out and will hit its redline fairly quick. Though as good as the chassis-engine combination is, with the z06 now out, I can’t help but wonder what that feels like.

Now this may be me nitpicking, but the car doesn’t totally feel that fast. It is fast, no doubt, and my senses might have been dulled on account of another high horsepower American car I was driving at the time as well. Maybes This C8 lacks that feeling of being shoved back into your seat and wondering where your lungs went felt oddly absent from a car that should do a 0-60 time in under 3s. A McLaren 650s using launch control hurts you. This didn’t as much, even in the dry. Maybe I’m being obtuse, or maybe GM needed to make it more spine friendly, not sure on this one.

The brakes are immense, if a bit touchy. There ain’t much else to it there. They didn’t fade, but I’m not in track. The pedal feel is still dogshit though.

So all that’s well and good, but what’s the “C8 experience” all about?

You have an almost 500 hp, mid engine v8 super car for (in theory) higher trimmed c7 stingray/z51 money. It’s a car that despite being mid engined, is able to be driven in comfort and swallow more than enough luggage and cargo between the fronk and trunk. It’s also a car that attracts attention. It might be “just a corvette” to you and I, but to most people, you might as well be driving a Ferrari. People will still look on with intrigue even with the amount of c8’s that have been shipped. It’s an oddly usable car too. Luggage aside, it will get pretty good gas mileage, visibility is fine (the digital rear mirror takes getting used to but helps immensely), the magnaride suspension works wonders to flip between race car and “base corvette demographic” modes, the exhaust can be shut up, you can remove the hardtop for when it’s cloudy in South Florida, the interior is a nice place to be, and the sound system is on par with other modern sports cars (so it’s good). It’s a mid-engined v8 car you could genuinely daily (and my friend does!). Outside of a Porsche 911 for a good $50k more (going off MSRP), what other sports car can you do this in and do it this well?