'America's sports car' delivers much more than powerful visual drama.

JUST a thread on the map, it starts with fast, open, and flowing sweepers, but quickly becomes much more technical.

 Blind and occasionally off-camber crests, a couple of one-way bridges, dappled light and, oh great, they’ve just recently reworked a section, so now there are tiny loose stones to bring on some skittishness.

 Just 20 minutes from start to finish; a little less than that on the return run because my confidence has grown. It’s not my first time on this quiet country route by any means.

 It’s always been a favourite spot for taking special cars because there’s such a magic about this place. Obviously, roads are always created for practical reason – in this instance, to access rich farmland – but you’d think this one had been drawn up for pleasure, so wholly does it twist and wind into your heart.

 I’m not one of those who feel the public arena is the place to absolutely drive the wheels off a hot car. Indeed, in this location, there’s really no place to open the throttle excessively. When I’ve time to glance at it - not often because this is a place where you’re busy steering, braking, pushing and watching the road condition and, of course, for others - the speedo reading rarely hits excessively above the posted limited.

 It doesn’t need to. I know this car is ballistic and have already been told there’ll be opportunity in the future to explore that at a racetrack. Today is a different kind of talent quest. One in which scores are delivered for different aptitude: For incisiveness, for playfulness, for (and don’t read this wrong) intimacy.

 According to stereotype, the Corvette will fail.

Though Chevrolet has long tried to present this two-seater as a young driver’s choice, Stateside statistics say that the average buyer has historically been knocking on 60 years (erm, that’s me) and is also the kind of person I’m not.

 That is, someone who has lost interest in driving fast or taking road trips, but prefers cruisy Sunday drives, often entirely within suburbia, listening to a classic rock radio station and counting their days until retirement.

 If that person has been hoping the new eighth-generation car will continue to be as well-suited to lazy lifestyles as its predecessors … well, they might want to hold on tight and swallow an anti-palpitation pill.

 Sure, this C8 in its high-falutin’ $169,990 3LT Coupe format hasn’t divested cruise-ability. Indeed, whereas many sports cars lack the temperament for that kind of thing, it is chilled about urban and motorway running.

 I spent 60 minutes on a multi-lane motorway, wending through late afternoon home time traffic. Having chosen to stow the targa roof, the occasional lungful of sooty particulates from big rigs was a challenge, and I was also of course hoping that something so low to the ground could be seen in their mirrors. (Though, in that respect, the car could not be better presented: The Accelerate Yellow paint hue of this example might be a bit OTT for some, yet it absolutely cannot be ignored). But it was easy.

 Progress, though, comes from how well it achieves at the other extreme. I’m not speaking with strong authority on how much change has occurred; this was my first Corvette driving experience.

 Yet everything out of this half-day involvement left me confident that the car I drove is very much a true sports car, not just in oomph but also dynamic responsiveness and feel. There’s no question that it communicates with great coherence. And I really, really like what it’s saying.

 Regardless how it related, this car was always going to a new chapter of the Corvette story. 

 While the V8 powertrain is an old friend to the faithful – and already well known to NZ’s Silverado buyers - and the styling is still quite familial, the mid-mounted engine marks the most radical change since the first one appeared in 1953 (nerd fact, this is the first car from Chevrolet with the engine behind the driver since the Corvair). And, of course, this is the very first factory-built right-hand-drive ‘Vette.

 The car here was the first to land, a validation unit that touched Kiwi soil just prior to Christmas. Because of covid complications and all sorts of issues at the renowned Bowling Green Plant in Kentucky, relatively few have so far followed. The entire NZ population of official imports stands at fewer than three dozen.

 I’m not first to note that those waiting for a mid-engined Corvette have had plenty of time to build a serious appetite. Chevrolet built the first concept in the 1960s and from thereon dropped hints about adopting a layout that’s standard for almost every other serious sports car. The previous-generation C7 got closest, having been partially developed with a motor in the middle until GM’s bankruptcy forced a rethink.

 Reversing the order of passengers and powertrain makes the C8 heavier, wider and quite bit longer than its predecessor. Indeed, its overall length of 4630mm makes it one of the longest mid-engined cars full stop.

 Styling-wise? The shark-nosed front is clearly related, as is its raised rear end and tail-lamp graphic; but the requirements of getting air in and out of the engine bay and just fitting the powerplant in the back is obvious when you look in the door mirrors; the view is of a jumble of obtuse-angled shapes. It’s like being followed by a crazy house. The car’s overall look is highly-dramatic, and though criticism of it being a touch heavy-handed and even a bit dated already is not without merit, it stands out boldly and has incredible street presence.

 Americans aren’t small people and generally their cars are designed for that. Yet how does that work for low-roofed, tarmac-hugging sports cars?

 When swinging open the door and dropping my 1.8 metre frame into the tight-fitting driver’s seat, I found good leg and body room, and my head wasn’t brushing the lining.

 However, it did of course feel enclosed. Just enough to leave impression I’d have to hunker least side visibility became a challenge and might need, on occasion to look ‘above’ the windscreen frame to get a good handle on surroundings.

 As the first journalist driving this car, and having to head straight across a busy road to head off, I didn’t want to risk also being the first to have a whoopsie. So I decided to remove the targa roof; an easy job, though best acquitted by two, even though the panel is light -this one being carbon fibre - and was much happier.

 That also highlighted the Corvette is as affected by as any other car when it comes to stowing stuff. With the roof on, it’s lending an impressive 356 litres of luggage space split between a small frunk and a larger compartment behind the engine, the latter purpose-shaped to swallow a set of golf clubs. But the back compartment is also where the lid stows, and it so fills the space that it precludes carrying anything else, including my overnight bag. As the front compartment was also being used, I ended up putting my gear in the passenger footwell. Life will be different, I’d assume, with the full convertible.

 Before firing up, a quick check around the cabin. The driving position is as low-set and driver-focused as you’d hope. Leather and Alcantara place on most touchable surfaces with hard plastics relegated to hard-to-reach places, but forget about expecting a Ferrari-like fitout. The finishing is solid, and it’s not cheap, but the blue collar roots aren’t wholly hidden. Of course, why should they be. Remember the price, right?

 The square-topped steering wheel looks odd (and will excite the Austin Allegro club) yet gives a terrific view of the instrument binnacle. The big interior design intrigue is the long row of buttons on the ridge that separates the two seats. These are primarily for the ventilation system; they’re small and a bit hard to see in direct light, all the moreso when you’re wearing shades. So until familiarity occurs, it’s likely best to set all that stuff up before heading off.

 Wireless phone charging is cool and it also entertains, in theory, cordless involvement with CarPlay. In theory, because my iPhone wasn’t playing ball until I dug out a cable. Funny, the phone works well on the move but the Bose stereo tends to be drowned out by wind, road and, sometimes, engine noise.

 Also in the kit count are all-round parking cameras and blind-spot sensors, plus another neat bodywork blemish-avoiding trick: The nose lifts hydraulically for ramps and speedbumps. This is linked to the sat nav, so if you store locations, it will rise automatically next time you're there.

 It seems the driver’s seat is strangely set higher than the passenger’s; would that be the case were the steering wheel on the left? In respect to its development for right hand drive, there are a couple of minor concessions but it doesn’t feel compromised.

 It’ll come as no surprise that rearward visibility via the interior mirror is a bit limited. Those wing mirrors don’t reveal a lot, either. Flicking a switch on the interior mirror operates a camera-based rear-view system, which helps, though the screen can become dim in bright sunshine.

 Time to fire up that engine. A lightly developed LT2 version of GM’s small block with 6.2-litres of displacement and a claimed 369kW and 637Nm of torque, it’s not exactly brimming with sophistication, but is still a legend where it came from, so is hardly inappropriate. GM’s primary focus with the drivetrain has been to develop the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, driving the rear wheels. GM confirms there’ll be no manual but, frankly, there doesn’t need to be.

 The V8 push button-starts with a nice, big boom but settles back to an almost restrained idle; overall the noise tends to be pretty polite. Select the sports drive modes and give it big boot to close in on the 6600rpm limiter and it gets properly loud, but in general driving there’s not too much bombast to draw attention.

 The most important factor in any case is the shove. It has plenty. A colleague put it nicely in suggesting it’s “muscular from the basement to the penthouse”. The throttle response is sharp, too, and though higher of the transmission’s eight ratios are tall the lower ones, which you can expect to restricted to when having fun, are geared so that the car feels really lively.

 No timepieces were used in this test, but on the butt-o-meter the oomph is up in the brutal zone. Chevrolet claims a sub 2.9-second 0-100kmh time. US magazines have already recorded sub-three-second runs and 0-160kmh in the low sevens. My gut tells me there’s nothing that suggests any of this isn’t entirely feasible.

 The dual-clutch ’box is certainly game for fast driving; changes are sure and fast in all modes.

 A friend who owns a recent example of the last generation car urged prudence about carpet-burying blast-offs; when he picked up his, the handover agent in the US simply showed him a video of a previous customer who, having throttle-smashed a brand-new C7, lost control and looped it straight back through the side of the dealership. So, even though the C8 is a whole new ballgame and regardless conditions were great, I was careful.

 There’s no doubt this is a car of transformational character; as said, it’ll cruise easily. Put in more effort, and it’s suddenly getting serious. Push harder … and, yes, you’ll need your wits about you. But it should be that way.

 The chassis’ ability to find traction for the huge urge is massively reassuring. They say the brawniest front-engined ’Vettes always felt edgy and on the brink of big slides, even when travelling straight. The C8 in that condition and in cornering has a lot of adhesion and feels so stable there are times where it comes across as an almost all-wheel-drive character.

 That works both ways. In tight turns there is a hint of understeer. You can also move the handling balance rearwards with a big dose of throttle. You’d want to be careful in the wet until you got a good handle on those nuances. However, it really had me buzzing.

 That this model comes on Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres is testimony to the development team’s dedication. Porsche favours those.

 The steering does take a bit of getting used to. It’s fast but I found it hard to get a good feel for the loadings. Ride quality is impressive, the dampers keeping body motions under tight control. The brakes? You’d think they might take a bit of attuning to, as they’re a by-wire setup bypassing the physical connection between pedal and braking system (though there is a mechanical backup if the by-wire system fails). This means the computer can change the pedal feel depending on the driving situation. Sounds gimmicky and, yet, on this day I had no quibbles.

 This was a great taster and, yes, it honestly left me eager for more. The only reason I ultimately stopped driving it was that the fuel tank was getting low and my left leg was starting to get a bit numb, I suspect due to the edge of the seat being quite sharp.

 It pays to bear in mind that what we get now is the starter pack; faster and more focused iterations, ultimately with electric-assist technology, are to come.

 Given how brilliantly this car already celebrates this mid-engined configuration, you’d have to think the future could turn out to be very starry (and stripey) indeed.