Are You Brave Enough to Choose a Corvette for Your Daily Commute?

Are you shopping for a used sports car and feeling the need for speed? Don’t just shop anywhere – visit Rick Hendrick Chevrolet, your Atlanta Certified pre-owned Chevy dealer and get your hands on one of the most iconic American sports cars of all, the venerable Chevy Corvette. Today’s modern Corvettes aren’t just reserved for weekend drives; they’re ready to earn daily driver status, with surprisingly fuel-efficient engines commuters will love.

It’s hard to use the words Corvette and practical in the same sentence, but picking up a Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) ‘Vette is surprisingly affordable. You’ll sidestep the mid-$60k starting price point of a new model and justify putting more miles on the odometer. Opting for a Corvette as your daily driver isn’t mainstream, which is why more people don’t do it. Still, if lifestyle permits (i.e. you’re not carting kids or towing a boat), why not consider it?

Corvette buyers tend to resemble one another. Surprisingly, the Corvette is popular among older buyers, hinting at its status as a car one buys as a “reward” for a lifetime of hard work. We suggest reaping the rewards of Corvette ownership a little earlier in life. American roads are already loaded with vanilla crossovers and SUVs. Can a sporty certified pre-owned Corvette be a practical vehicle for daily drivers and commuters? We say yes, and here’s why.

A 70-Year History and Pedigree

There’s a reason Chevy sells tens of thousands of Corvettes every year – these are status cars, and no other car offers quite the same muscular, almost angry curb appeal found on the Corvette. The nameplate’s nearly 70-year history includes model years that fetch millions on the collector car circuit, and there’s a piece of that pedigree in every Corvette that rolls of Chevy’s assembly line.

The first-ever 1953 Corvette featured a 150-horsepower inline-six and a 2-speed automatic transmission. It only came in one color – white – and Chevy sold a grand total of 183 units. It wouldn’t receive a big V8 until the 1955 model year, but when it did, the impressive 195 horsepower offered fans a glimpse of what was to come. Every subsequent model year saw a significant increase in horsepower and performance, cementing the Corvette as a modern American sports car.

In total, the Corvette has spanned eight generations, with its most recent redesign happening for the 2020 model year. Chevy Corvette sales are brisk enough to provide plenty of inventory on the used market but not so voluminous that the nameplate loses its allure. You simply don’t see that many Corvettes on the road, which is a plus in this SUV-crazed world.

For CPO Corvette buyers, the seventh generation ‘Vette (2014 – 2019) represents a value sweet spot. Corvette aficionados widely consider this generation the best of all. The C7 generation featured coupe and convertible body styles in trims that ranged from simply impressive street performance to jaw-dropping track readiness. It’s also the generation that welcomed the first wave of connected infotainment technology.

Why Choose a CPO C7 Corvette

Corvette buyers will cite common reasons for their decision to buy a sports car. Things like prestige, speed, and performance-oriented components are high on the list. Less obvious, and less common, are buyers who choose the Corvette for practical reasons. Believe it or not, the concept of choosing a sports car for commuting is growing in popularity.

To be fair, choosing any certified pre-owned car is more practical than wading into the general used car market, but when it comes to prestigious sports cars, the extra protection certification offers is welcome. Many sports cars are driven aggressively because owners want to maximize performance. In the hands of a less experienced driver, hard-driving may result in early mileage wear-and-tear.

Also, sports cars rely on complex powertrains and suspensions to deliver track-ready performance. All that fussy engineering means more potential for major mechanical issues down the line. But, when your Corvette wears a CPO label, it comes with more factory warranty coverage, and that means peace of mind for owners. Not only that, but owners will feel more comfortable accumulating miles on the odometer.

Commuters can take advantage of Chevy’s decision to level up the Corvette’s interior for the seventh generation. Upgrades include available heated and ventilated seats, a head-up display, and even an infotainment touchscreen with turn-by-turn navigation. Incidentally, it will all be in good working order if you pick one out from an authorized Chevy dealer’s CPO inventory, thanks to the 172-point inspection every CPO car undergoes.

Performance and Road Manners

The Corvette can average up to 29 mpg of highway fuel economy, a rating that rivals boring compact crossover SUV alternatives and eliminates a big objection among practicality seekers. With that said, most Corvette buyers don’t mind losing a little fuel economy to take advantage of big V8 power, but fuel economy and performance are not mutually exclusive.

Take the 2017 Corvette: offered in five trims – 1LT, 2LT, 3LT, Z51, and Grand Sport – it features a 6.2-liter V8 with 460 horses and 465 lb-ft of readily available torque. Buyers will find the ’17 Corvette with either a manual or automatic transmission, and the quick 3.7-second zero-to-sixty push happens amid grippy road-handling and an equally impressive sixty-to-zero stopping ability. Reviewers like Car and Driver readily compare the Corvette to elite sports cars like Ferraris and Lamborghinis.

The 2017 model year saw the addition of a Corvette Grand Sport trim. Chevy called it “a pure expression of the car’s motorsports-bred pedigree” in the company’s press kit, and with a top-end speed of 118 mph, we don’t disagree. The standard Brembo brakes and electronic stability control mean safety isn’t overlooked, either.

Even as you’re about to call our bluff on the idea that a car like this is appropriate for daily commuting, we’ll remind you that inside, the Grand Sport features an 8-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. Oh, and 25 mpg of highway fuel economy. Why wouldn’t you choose a commuter that makes that daily drive just a little more exciting?

Is a Certified Commuter Corvette for You?

All in all, there multiple benefits of certified pre-owned vehicles. Ana as you set about finding the right CPO car for your lifestyle and budget, remember that it’s OK to color outside the lines. Driving long distances to and from work every day isn’t fun unless you love what you drive. With a seventh-generation CPO Corvette, you get world-class performance and handling alongside interior features commuters demand, like smartphone integration.

Nothing beats driving a Corvette, with its 70-year pedigree and head-turning styling. Do we think you should buy a track-oriented Z06 (pro tip: add the Z07 track package if you do) to drive to work every day? Maybe not. But within the seventh generation, you’ll find tons of affordable and, yes, practical Corvette trims and configurations.

Add the protective layer of buying a Certified Pre-Owned model, and you’ll get a Corvette that’s no more than six years old with no more than 75,000 miles on the odometer. Every CPO car comes with a squeaky clean title, and the comprehensive 172-point inspection means qualified technicians scrutinize every body panel, engine component, and feature, rejecting any car that shows signs of damage or unusual wear.

Be the first on your block to head for work every day behind the wheel of a status symbol. In a world of drivers that zig, you’ll zag, and you’re gonna love every minute of it.