I won't lie - this was a FUN day at the office. Paul Maric checks out the 2022 Chevrolet Corvette C8 Stingray with the 3LT and Z51 package to see whether it lives up to its name as the versatile sports car. These are built in factory right-hand drive for the Australian market as well!
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Chevrolet content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/chevrolet
More Chevrolet Corvette content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/chevrolet/corvette
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 1:18
Interior 5:51
Infotainment 8:06
Safety Tech 10:04
Practicality 11:39
On the road 15:29
0-100km/h 22:34
Verdict 27:13
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
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#chevrolet #corvette #review
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Chevrolet content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/chevrolet
More Chevrolet Corvette content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/chevrolet/corvette
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 1:18
Interior 5:51
Infotainment 8:06
Safety Tech 10:04
Practicality 11:39
On the road 15:29
0-100km/h 22:34
Verdict 27:13
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!
Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!
CarExpert:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au
Paul Maric:
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric
#chevrolet #corvette #review
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. I am so excited to drive this. It's the C8 Corvette.
00:04 It's finally arrived in Australia and it's taken so long because we get a
00:08 factory right-hand drive version. We're like one of the only markets in the world to actually take a factory right-hand drive version of this,
00:15 so it is pretty exciting stuff.
00:16 I've always been a big fan of Corvettes, but they've kind of always just been blunt instruments in terms of how they've delivered their
00:22 performance. This on the other hand, it aims to be a bit more European, a bit more smooth,
00:28 but also still punchy and taking it to the Euros as well. So we'll assess all of that today.
00:32 Now this here is the 3LT Coupe. This is priced from around that
00:37 $160,000 mark. If that's too expensive, the entire range kicks off at around
00:41 $145,000. We in Australia also get the Z71 performance package as standard.
00:48 This competes with things like the Porsche 911, the Audi R8, the Nissan GTR.
00:55 There are a few competitors out there, but it is much cheaper than a lot of those. Today
00:59 we're going to do a detailed review of this mid-engine beast.
01:02 If you do want to skip ahead to other parts of the review,
01:04 you can use the time codes on the screen, or if you're on YouTube,
01:07 you can scroll down and use the chapters below. And if you haven't done so already,
01:10 please subscribe to our YouTube channel so you can find out every single time we drive cars with big stripes.
01:16 Now let's talk about the exterior design. So you've got 12 different colors to choose from.
01:23 They're all free of charge except a couple of colors there that'll cost you around
01:26 $2,400 extra. So I mentioned earlier, this is built out of Kentucky in factory right-hand drive.
01:32 That's why it took so long to get to Australia.
01:34 They were trying to fulfill all the left-hand drive orders before they started right-hand drive production.
01:38 That means this isn't converted in Australia like a lot of these American vehicles are.
01:43 So I guess it should be better in that sense. Now on the design front, look, design is entirely subjective.
01:49 So I'll leave it up to you to figure out whether you like the look of this or not.
01:52 But look, here in person, it certainly has a presence, especially with the stripes and that
01:56 awesome-looking Corvette logo on the front there. This number plate frame looks a little bit strange.
02:02 We have to have front number plates here in Australia. I know that in some US states you don't have to, but I
02:07 think the addition of this just kind of messes up that front end, makes it look a little bit busy.
02:11 But behind there, you've got this piano black material. I'm gonna run you through these cameras later on,
02:16 but you'll see two of them nestled into there, plus one
02:18 attached to the front of the car there as well. You have plenty of storage, which again,
02:22 I'll run you through later on, but part of that is under the bonnet here. Over here with the headlights,
02:26 you have full LED headlights with an LED daytime running light. Look at this cooling.
02:31 So the Z51 package that we get here for the Australian car comes with additional cooling, bigger brakes.
02:37 You also get an electronic LSD, different rear axle ratio.
02:41 So there are a few extra bonuses that you get with that package that comes standard for the Australian market.
02:46 And also, keep in mind, we get a front lifter as well,
02:48 so it means you're not going to do too much damage to the front of that.
02:50 Around the side here, you've got an interesting setup.
02:54 So 19-inch alloy wheels on the front and then 20-inch alloy wheels at the rear.
02:59 245 wide tyres at the front, 305 at the rear. Good Michelin tyre as well,
03:04 so it should provide us plenty of traction there. So these are the bigger brakes you get with that Z51 package.
03:09 So 338 mm rotor at the front here, four-piston caliper. Bigger brakes at the rear though,
03:14 950 mm rotor on a four-piston monobloc caliper. Now in addition to those big brakes, you also get run-flat tyres.
03:20 It means that if you do score a puncture,
03:22 you'll be able to keep driving at the lowest speed until you can get that sorted out. So pretty impressive setup there.
03:27 I like the wheel design as well. So you've got that sort of chrome finish on the outside and then a darker
03:32 graphite-looking finish on the inside there as well. And then Corvette caps on that center cap too.
03:39 So a really cool setup there. Over here,
03:41 you have body colour on the top of that wing mirror with an indicator built into there. I love that aero element.
03:47 It sticks out a little bit.
03:48 It's got a bit of a contour to it and then piano black down the bottom there as well, which looks cool.
03:53 Have a look at this.
03:53 You've got these
03:54 cutouts down the bottom that run down the side of the door there and then more cooling because this is a mid-engine. The engine
04:01 is located right here.
04:02 But I love the fact that you can get this transparent cover over the engine.
04:06 It just looks so damn cool being able to see that naturally aspirated V8 sitting under there.
04:11 So that is a sweet setup. Come around to the back.
04:14 Have a look at this. So,
04:17 the design is so interesting. You see the passenger cabin up the front there.
04:20 It's sort of tucked in and then you get to the back and it just becomes huge around the rear here.
04:25 So beneath all of this, not only do you have storage, but you've got all of the other components that help,
04:30 I guess, exhaust all of that energy from that engine.
04:34 So you've got the exhaust pipes that run down the sides here, you've got four of those.
04:36 But then you have all of the cooling that needs to happen for that engine sitting alongside
04:41 there before you get to the wheels. So, I don't know, it's just a technical masterpiece.
04:46 I love these mid-engine vehicles because a lot of work has to go into making this work functionally.
04:52 It's not like it's at the front of the car where you can immediately get the cooling effects of air rushing over it.
04:56 So, yeah, really cool setup and I love the way that they've engineered this. Now, in addition to all of that,
05:01 you can see those stripes continue down the back here. I reckon they should have left the stripes off the spoiler.
05:06 This spoiler comes with that Z51 package. It would look better if the stripes just went down there.
05:11 But anyway, that's me nitpicking. Down the bottom here, you've got a diffuser next to those exhausts.
05:16 You've got reverse parking sensors tucked into there, some additional vents over here.
05:21 And I love these LED taillights. Have a look at that. It just wraps around beautifully.
05:25 You can't mistake this for anything else on the road. It's a pretty cool setup. Two cameras here.
05:29 So, one here, which is for your reverse camera, and then one over there, which I'll run you through a little bit later on.
05:35 So, let me know what you reckon about the design of the Corvette. Do you think it looks good?
05:40 Do you think they could have done better? And what color would you get this in?
05:43 I've seen some pretty outrageous colors available and arriving to Australia.
05:48 So, let me know what you think in the comments section below. So, we are inside the Corvette Stingray.
05:53 Let's start off with the key. Here it is. So, you have lock/unlock.
05:57 You have a button for the front boot, button for the back boot, panic, and then a remote start function.
06:04 On the back, you've got that Corvette logo as well.
06:06 This is a proximity sensing key. You've got little buttons hidden underneath the door there.
06:11 And then once you're inside, you have a push button start.
06:14 So, let's talk about this interior. So, it's a little bit controversial because of that.
06:19 [laughs]
06:21 I mean, this just looks ridiculous. It is just a long line of buttons.
06:25 And look, it is kind of functional, but certainly for the time I've been driving the car,
06:29 it has been really confusing trying to figure out which button does what.
06:33 And while you're driving, you've got to kind of take your eyes off the road
06:35 and look over here to actually do any of these functions.
06:38 So, yeah, I like that it's a novel idea, but I think maybe that's a little bit busy.
06:42 Also, the other thing as well, this is all centered towards the driver,
06:46 which I think is a good thing because all of your sort of key controls are very easy to access.
06:51 I have noticed some people picking just some extreme colors for the interior,
06:56 and you can basically pick any color you want around here.
06:59 So, yeah, feel free to go to town on that if you are actually buying one.
07:02 What about your touch points and the materials here?
07:06 So, it's all pretty soft touch. You can see here that this is all this sort of red leather material.
07:11 And this car's pretty old. It's actually done a lot of Ks, 16,000 Ks.
07:16 So, to me, it looks like it's holding up pretty well.
07:18 You will notice here with the Alcantara on the wheel that
07:20 that is already starting to look a little bit glazed.
07:23 This is unfortunately the side effect of Alcantara on these high touch points.
07:28 It will get like that over time.
07:29 But look, outside of that, I think the interior looks pretty cool
07:33 and looks very different to anything else on the market at the moment.
07:36 Now, what about your touch points?
07:38 So, that is pretty firm there and kind of firm there as well.
07:41 How firm is it? Well, we've got our durometer.
07:43 We've tested the main surfaces in this cabin.
07:46 If you want to see how this car compares to others that we've tested before,
07:49 have a look at the link in the description.
07:51 Build quality? I don't know.
07:54 Yeah, okay. It's kind of a little loose there, but the rest of that feels not too bad.
07:59 Our door slam. You've got a little button here on the door to release that.
08:02 Yeah, that sounds okay.
08:05 Let's talk about infotainment.
08:08 So, look, this is probably the bit I am a little bit disappointed by.
08:12 Your infotainment system is basically this.
08:14 It's an 8-inch infotainment system.
08:17 It uses MyLink, which is okay, but far from the best infotainment system on the market.
08:22 You're kind of limited as well.
08:24 I'm sort of picturing this car in two or three years' time if they want to do an update.
08:28 This can't really grow because the steering wheel is right on the limit of the edge of that.
08:33 So, it will be interesting to see how they plan on expanding the functionality of this
08:38 down the future.
08:38 But for the most part, it's actually sort of pretty easy to use while you're driving.
08:42 In terms of radio, you have AM and FM radio.
08:44 There's no digital radio for Australia.
08:46 But that all goes through a 14-speaker Bose-branded sound system.
08:50 It is an excellent sound system.
08:52 You've got like a speaker right next to your head there as well.
08:54 In-built satellite navigation, so that's sort of native to the infotainment system.
08:59 In terms of smartphone mirroring, you have both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
09:03 Both of those are entirely wireless, which is great.
09:06 So, good full-screen integration there and nice and snappy.
09:10 Like the fact that you have a manual volume control and a home button in that top section
09:14 as well.
09:15 This is what Android Auto looks like.
09:17 So again, full-screen integration, very easy to use, pretty straightforward stuff.
09:21 Now, this button here, your performance data recorder.
09:25 When we go for a drive, I'm going to run you through exactly what this looks like.
09:28 But you can record HD video out the front of the car using an SD card that's stored
09:33 in the glove box there.
09:34 You can then overlay the car's performance features and even track overlays as well.
09:39 Such a cool feature and I love the fact that that is included here as standard, which is
09:44 pretty cool.
09:45 In addition to that, nothing too much here on the infotainment front.
09:50 Head of the driver though is a big digital display.
09:52 So this again gives you all of the information you need.
09:55 And as you go through the different drive modes using your drive mode selector, that
09:58 will change depending on which drive mode you're in.
10:00 So again, we'll go through that when we do go for a spin shortly.
10:04 Let's talk safety tech.
10:05 Now, this is probably another thing that I'm not such a huge fan of with this car.
10:10 It has barely any safety technology, so no autonomous emergency braking.
10:14 You have no radar cruise control, no lane keeping assistant.
10:17 There is virtually nothing here.
10:19 And I get that it is a performance car, that's fine.
10:22 But ultimately, Porsche has managed with the 911 to just fit all of the safety kit that
10:27 it needs.
10:28 So I think it's probably time to just get on with it and just put the stuff in the car
10:31 that it needs.
10:32 So in terms of the actual safety features, you do have blind spot monitoring built into
10:37 the wing mirror.
10:38 You have rear cross traffic alert, very handy if you are reversing out of spaces and you
10:42 can't see what's coming.
10:43 And then on the parking front, you have that lifter that I mentioned earlier, plus rear
10:47 parking sensors and a reverse view camera.
10:49 So I'll show you the camera, but also this cool feature that lets you see out the front
10:54 as well.
10:54 Now, I'm going to switch the car on quickly.
10:56 So yeah, that sounds so good.
10:59 So I'll pop this into reverse.
11:01 So that is a really high resolution camera.
11:04 I love the look of that.
11:05 And then we can see our suitcase quite clearly too.
11:08 But have a look at this feature.
11:10 You hit this button here and it shows you the front camera.
11:13 Now, this is incredibly handy because when you do park up against curbs, it is good to
11:19 see just at the point before you rip the front end off your car.
11:23 So that feature is fantastic.
11:26 I love the fact that they've included that.
11:27 And it means that you should have no excuses about damaging the front of your vehicle in
11:32 the future.
11:33 And finally, you've also got a digital rear view mirror that makes seeing out the back
11:37 of this very straightforward.
11:39 Let's talk about your practicality and we'll start with the connectivity options.
11:43 So your phone.
11:44 I think this is pretty cool.
11:46 So despite having no space here whatsoever, they've been able to integrate some clever
11:51 phone storage and charging.
11:53 So you can store your phone over here on the wireless charging pad.
11:56 They can sit over there.
11:56 Or if you do need access to your phone when you're stopped, not when you're driving, you
12:00 can put it in the cup holders as well.
12:02 In terms of your further connectivity options, in the centre console here, you have a USB-A
12:07 port, an auxiliary port, USB-C port and an SD card slot for the mapping software.
12:13 On coffee cups, yes, you can have your fancy coffee cup in here.
12:19 It doesn't go anywhere either, which is great news.
12:21 You can also fit a standard bottle in there as well, which is great.
12:26 Other storage, you have a little nook here just on the driver's door, one on the passenger
12:29 door as well.
12:30 Can pop items here in the cup holders.
12:32 This centre console is OK sized for little bits and pieces.
12:36 You then have a glove box down here as well, just for a couple of odds and ends as well.
12:41 So the storage isn't actually anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be inside the
12:45 cabin.
12:46 And now comfort.
12:47 So you have dual zone automatic climate control.
12:50 So driver's side is up here, indicated by an arrow to this side.
12:54 Passenger side is down here.
12:56 You then have heated and cooled seats for your front row, well, the only row inside
13:01 the car.
13:02 If you do want a little bit more cooling inside the cabin, though, this is technically a
13:06 convertible.
13:07 You can get a convertible version of the Corvette, which removes the roof electronically,
13:11 but you can manually remove this entire section here, which means you can get wind through
13:16 your hair if you're into that kind of thing.
13:18 You can hear that V8 just a little bit louder inside the cabin.
13:21 On the seats, love this design.
13:24 It's got that Alcantara stuff in the centre, a bit of carbon exposed on the top section
13:29 of the seat.
13:30 Corvette logo up the top there.
13:33 It is just a cool looking seat.
13:34 Seat adjustments, you can go forwards, backwards, you can move the backrest forwards,
13:40 backwards.
13:40 You can lift the seat up at the front and also at the back.
13:44 You then have bolster adjustment as well.
13:46 Seat memory for both driver and front passenger as well.
13:50 So, a pretty comprehensive setup there.
13:52 Steering wheel offers both tilt and reach adjustment.
13:56 Oddly shaped wheel, so it's got a flat bottom and a flat top as well.
14:00 It kind of looks a little bit strange, but it'll be interesting to see how that goes
14:03 once we go for a drive.
14:05 And all the reach test, all of this stuff is easy to reach while you're driving.
14:08 Now, I know what you're thinking, "Paul, this looks terribly impractical.
14:11 You're not going to be able to fit anything in here."
14:13 Well, trust me, I was just as surprised as you're about to be.
14:17 You have a little over 350 litres worth of storage available when you combine the rear
14:22 and the front.
14:23 So, every time you load your bags into here, you get to see that beautiful, naturally aspirated
14:29 V8 engine, the beautiful carbon bits on the side.
14:32 But then you can also load your bags in and it is pretty usable.
14:36 So, I'm going to show you what it's like with our bags in.
14:38 So, I'll try and fit this one in first.
14:40 This is our big aeroplane suitcase.
14:46 Yeah, okay, so it kind of fits, but this obviously won't close when you go down.
14:51 That sort of sits there.
14:52 But if I put my laptop in, just to give you a bit of a visual of how much space there
14:58 is.
14:58 Watch this, it sort of just disappears into there without any dramas.
15:01 Then you have these deeper sections here and here.
15:04 They've literally used every single inch of space available to them.
15:08 So, yeah, it's a pretty cool setup and I like the fact that they haven't really compromised
15:13 all that much on storage.
15:14 So, in addition to this, you have storage up the front.
15:16 It is smaller, but it's big enough to put shopping and other bits and pieces.
15:20 And then with this as well, when you do close, you've got a little handle there.
15:23 It has a soft close, so you just push it down a little bit and then it sucks it all back
15:27 in.
15:27 So, we've just hit the road in the Corvette.
15:33 Now, powering this is, it's pretty much the base model.
15:38 There are faster, crazier versions of this coming.
15:40 So, under, you know, or actually behind our heads over there, there's no real bonnet,
15:44 is a 6.2-litre naturally aspirated V8.
15:48 It makes 364 kilowatts of power and 630 newton metres of torque.
15:53 And all of that is mated to an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission.
15:57 Now, the thing that makes this car so crazy is that it only weighs around 1600 kilos.
16:02 And that means that you're able to, it's a bit like a go-kart with a V8 engine.
16:06 It is absolutely ridiculous what they've been able to do with it.
16:09 And also the tech that they've been able to load into it.
16:11 So, I'll run you through all just the standard stuff first.
16:14 When you're out for a drive, everything's actually really nice and civil in here.
16:18 You don't really hear a whole lot of the engine.
16:19 It makes a bit of a bark on start-up, but outside of that, you don't really hear too
16:23 much of it while you're driving, even though it is sort of sitting right there.
16:26 In terms of gear response, currently you can see with cylinder on demand, we're in V4,
16:32 which is four-cylinder mode.
16:33 That means that four of the eight cylinders are currently deactivated to get us better
16:38 fuel economy.
16:39 So, it's good to see that you can actually do that stuff if you do want to putter around
16:42 town and you don't need the full noise of the engine.
16:44 When you do want to give it a stab, because it's a dual-clutch, it's ready to respond
16:49 pretty much straight away.
16:50 And this is one of the quickest dual-clutches I've ever seen.
16:52 It is lightning fast.
16:53 It does come at the penalty of some low-speed driving, so it can be a little bit jerky if
16:58 you're trying to get in and out of an apartment building or something that has rises as you're
17:03 driving around.
17:04 So, that is a little bit frustrating, but for the most part, the gearbox is actually
17:07 quite impressive.
17:08 [engine revving]
17:11 Let's talk fuel economy.
17:12 So, the official figure is over 12 litres per 100km.
17:17 And look, I'm going to be honest with you guys, if you're buying this and wanting an
17:20 economical city runabout, don't buy this.
17:23 But to give you an idea of how realistic that figure is, I've been having a bit of fang
17:29 around here this morning.
17:30 I drove here on the highway as well.
17:31 We're currently averaging 14.8 litres per 100km.
17:35 That to me is pretty impressive for what is effectively a mid-engine supercar.
17:40 So, I'm pretty happy with that figure.
17:41 Obviously, if you start going even harder and harder, it's going to go up, but for the
17:45 most part, I think that's pretty good.
17:46 Now, let's talk about drive mode.
17:47 So, you have a mode selector here, and you can basically move all the way from my mode,
17:52 which is where you configure stuff yourself, to tour mode, which is just your daily driving,
17:57 sport, track, and then finally, you have the Z mode.
18:01 And the Z mode is accessed here on the steering wheel.
18:04 One push of that brings up all of your different settings that you can fully customise, including
18:08 the traction control.
18:09 So, you've got one, two, three, four, five, six different settings you can go for there.
18:13 Everything from wet to virtually traction control and stability control off.
18:16 Then, ahead of the driver, when you do change through those different drive modes, you get
18:20 a different display.
18:21 You can also configure what appears on either side.
18:23 So, this is the perfect car if you want to do the occasional track day and really sort
18:27 of get the most out of your vehicle as a driver's car.
18:30 Now, let's talk road noise.
18:32 I'm going to dial up the speed a little bit.
18:33 One thing I did notice on the drive here this morning with highway driving is how noisy
18:39 it is inside the cabin.
18:40 There is a stack of tyre noise that comes into here, and I'm having to basically yell
18:44 at you to overcome it.
18:45 It's partly thanks to those run-flat tyres and also low-profile tyre as well.
18:49 It would be nice if it could be just a little quieter in here.
18:51 Something like a 911 is quiet at highway speeds.
18:54 This, on the other hand, is pretty noisy.
18:55 Okay, we're getting to our sine waves.
18:57 We'll dial this up to 130.
18:59 We'll see what this feels like.
19:00 Now, we are just in the standard comfort mode here.
19:03 Wow, that is sitting pretty much dead flat.
19:07 Absolutely no dramas there at all.
19:08 The body control is fantastic.
19:10 That's what you need if you hit a bump on a track at speed.
19:13 You really don't want to be thrown around like you're getting ejected out of a, you
19:19 know, Vitagen or something.
19:20 Now, just before I pop this into sport mode, this has a really cool feature, which is an
19:27 HD camera that can record your laps.
19:29 So, what I'm going to do is pop that on.
19:33 I've got the overlay as well, so we can actually see our performance gauges while we're there.
19:38 I'm going to put this into Z mode, which I've configured for all of my fun stuff, all the
19:43 loud modes.
19:44 And I'm going to go into manual as well.
19:46 Give this a crack around our circuit here.
19:49 Oh, that is such a glorious sound.
19:51 Wow.
19:54 Far out.
20:03 The traction is absolutely next level.
20:06 So, being mid-engine, everything's really far back.
20:10 There's the limiter.
20:12 Wow, this thing is absolutely hammering.
20:16 The other thing I've noticed as well is the throttle has so much travel.
20:22 And just when you think you've reached the limit of that throttle pedal, you still have
20:26 more to go.
20:27 It is, it's really an unnerving feeling, but it's pretty cool to know that you still have
20:31 even more on tap.
20:32 Far out.
20:34 I was not expecting this from a naturally aspirated V8.
20:42 All right, here's our back straight.
20:44 We'll roll onto the throttle out of here.
20:47 Wow.
20:47 Here it comes.
20:51 Oh, man.
20:53 That is absolutely ridiculous.
20:58 If I just had a little bit more road left there, we would just keep in that.
21:04 That is seriously, seriously unreal.
21:07 Wow.
21:08 Far out.
21:11 That is amazing.
21:12 I'm so impressed by that.
21:14 It just has legs for days.
21:17 That throttle is unbelievable.
21:19 You literally get to three quarters of the way down and you think to yourself, "Okay,
21:23 that's about done."
21:24 And then when you go even harder on the throttle, it just finds another life.
21:28 It just has so much enthusiasm in it.
21:31 The flat plane crank they're working on for the Z06, that will have like an 8000 rpm redline.
21:36 Even this, if we roll this out towards the redline,
21:39 it just keeps pushing you in the back and going.
21:44 It is seriously unreal.
21:47 So beneath the skin there, you've got an electronically controlled limited slip differential
21:51 at the rear.
21:52 You've also had a rear axle ratio change.
21:56 So it's gone from 4.89 to a little over five.
21:58 And that means that it's able to accelerate a little quicker.
22:04 Far out.
22:05 It does sacrifice top speed ever so slightly, but you are able to get
22:11 even more acceleration out of it.
22:15 Man, this is so addictive.
22:16 The other cool thing as well here in Z mode is that you can go through and just tailor
22:20 all of your stability controls.
22:22 So if you are a little more confident with the car and happy to handle a mid-engine sort
22:26 of supercar like this, it means that you can start disabling some of that, but it still
22:31 has your back.
22:31 Or you can go fully off if you have balls big enough that you're unable to close your legs
22:36 here.
22:37 Now let's talk 0-100.
22:39 I've been looking forward to giving this a shot.
22:41 Now Chevrolet claims a 0-60 mile an hour time of 2.9 seconds.
22:47 Now 60 mile an hour isn't quite 100 kilometres an hour, but it's close.
22:51 But we'll see how we go here.
22:56 So there's a performance timer down here.
22:58 So that'll do our 0-100.
22:59 We also have launch control and the launch control will basically just take care of it
23:05 all for us.
23:05 To engage launch control, you put it into track mode.
23:09 So this is one of the ways to do it.
23:10 There's a few different ways, but we'll pop it into track mode.
23:13 You press the stability control button twice and then all you do is press the brake and
23:18 the throttle at the same time and the revs go up.
23:20 And I'm hoping this makes a cool sound as well.
23:23 So let's give this a shot and see how we go.
23:25 Oh, that sounds so good.
23:28 Here we go.
23:29 Oh man, that is...
23:30 Far out.
23:35 That is unreal.
23:37 [engine revving]
23:46 My fat cheeks were bouncing there.
23:47 That was so cool.
23:49 So it said we did a 0-100 in 3.4.
23:52 We had a little bit of wheel slip off the line there.
23:55 This surface isn't fantastic.
23:57 We'll try it once more going in this direction right now and then we'll call it a day if
24:01 we can't get any better.
24:03 Yeah.
24:05 [engine revving]
24:10 Yeah, still wheel slip there.
24:11 So I think with warm tyres and a bit more dedication, you could probably get this closer
24:16 to that 2.9 mark, but 3.4 is unreal for a rear-wheel drive car.
24:22 [engine revving]
24:26 One of the things that makes this engine so special is where they've been able to place
24:30 it inside the car.
24:31 Yes, it's mid-engine, but it sits really low.
24:33 It has a low centre of gravity.
24:34 And that's partly thanks to a dry sump.
24:37 Now, in a typical car, you have a sump at the bottom that collects oil.
24:41 It then gets sucked back up and dropped into the top of the engine again.
24:45 This, on the other hand, has a dry sump, which means it doesn't have a big reservoir of oil
24:50 at the bottom of the engine.
24:51 It means that you can sit the engine lower to the ground.
24:53 The heavier parts can sit lower to the ground.
24:56 And then it uses three scavenge pumps to basically get as much oil as it can once it's gone
25:00 down from the top of the engine, and then it pumps it back up to the top.
25:05 Now, there are lots of advantages to this.
25:06 One is a weight saving, but then you also have performance benefits.
25:09 You're not going to have any issues during hard cornering, for example, where you don't
25:13 collect oil, and then as a result of that, you cause heat and friction inside the engine.
25:17 So, it is a really cool setup, and it just shows you the lengths they've gone to, even
25:21 in the entry-level model, to make sure that you have enough lubrication within the engine
25:26 and also a better centre of gravity.
25:28 Now, I forgot to mention while we were going on our faster lap about the steering and the
25:35 brake pedal feel.
25:36 Look, the steering is okay.
25:38 It's not amazing.
25:39 I would have loved just a tiny bit more feel through the wheel.
25:41 It feels very assisted.
25:43 It is sort of in a comfort mode at the moment, but even when you dial it up, it just feels
25:47 artificially heavy.
25:48 Same story with the brakes.
25:49 Look, the brakes are good.
25:50 They sort of pull the car up really nicely.
25:52 Brake pedal feel isn't great though, and it kind of feels, I don't know, the pedal is
25:57 firm, but doesn't feel very bitey.
25:59 Something like the Tiguan R that we drove recently.
26:02 I know I'm comparing a Tiguan R to a mid-engined supercar, but the brake pedal feel in that
26:07 was fantastic.
26:08 So, yeah, those two things I think they could probably do just a little bit more work on.
26:11 And in addition to the brake pedal feel and the steering feel, I don't love the seating
26:16 position.
26:16 I just cannot get comfortable, and I don't know whether that's just me and my freakish
26:21 body here, but, yeah, I'm just struggling to get comfortable.
26:25 I'm finding here with the wheel, if I go for that sort of, it's kind of okay, but I keep
26:30 bumping this section.
26:31 So, yeah, and I can't put the wheel up any higher.
26:34 So, yes, this is an issue just with my freakish body, no doubt.
26:37 I think most other people will fit fine in here.
26:39 Let's talk visibility while you're driving this as a daily.
26:44 It's actually really easy to drive as a daily.
26:46 You can see sort of pretty clearly down the front there.
26:49 While it does widen at the rear, visibility is actually fantastic.
26:53 It's easy to place on the road as well.
26:54 Something like an Aventador is just so big on the road, and it's really hard to place
26:58 it, especially when you're parking.
27:00 This, on the other hand, with all the sensors and all the stuff that it's got, is just a
27:03 piece of cake to drive as a daily driver.
27:06 So, I think they've done a really good job with that.
27:08 Visibility out the back is good, thanks to this digital mirror, so it really is hard
27:11 to complain.
27:11 This thing is absolutely unreal.
27:19 I love driving this.
27:20 And look, yes, it is expensive in Australia compared to the US, but ultimately, if you
27:25 look at how much this costs compared to something like a 911, an R8, or even a GTR at the moment,
27:30 it's actually really good value for money.
27:31 It is so fast.
27:33 It just does all the fun things you want a sports car to do.
27:36 It sounds incredible.
27:37 You know, the looks, some people love them, some people hate them, but, you know, it has
27:42 a presence.
27:42 You absolutely can't deny that.
27:44 So, I cannot wait to drive the Z06, which will take this to another level, and then
27:48 when they finally do like a balls-out version with hybrids and all this other stuff, it
27:53 is going to just be…
27:54 I don't know, I can't even imagine what it'll be like.
27:56 So, in terms of the downsides, though, yeah, look, I think some of that interior doesn't
28:00 feel fantastic.
28:01 The infotainment system looks like a bit of an afterthought, and that sort of long line
28:05 of buttons doesn't look great either.
28:07 But, I think that that's all stuff that you could absolutely live with, and if you want
28:10 a car that looks completely different to anything else on the road, this is going to be it.
28:14 Unfortunately, they're all pretty much sold out for the moment.
28:16 Now, let me know in the comments section below, what do you reckon about this?
28:19 Do you think this has enough to take on all of those big brand names I mentioned earlier,
28:24 and do you think that it actually looks good?
28:25 Let me know down there.
28:26 Now, if you did enjoy this video, I would love it if you could share it with your mates.
28:29 Hit the like button while you're there, and if you haven't done so, subscribe to our
28:33 channel as well.
28:34 But, until next time, happy motoring.