Your Summer Ride Is Calling: How to Drive the Corvette C8 Mid-Engine Sports Car

Summer is just around the corner; the perfect time for driving with the top down on the way to the beach. In anticipation of those hot, sunny days ahead, why not dream a little about the good life? Chevy has outdone itself with the recent redesign of the Corvette, and buyers looking for a pre-owned C8 Corvette dealership can visit us here at Rick Hendrick Chevrolet of Buford to learn about how a pre-owned C8 can find itself in your driveway. Everyone will be watching as you glide through the streets in the sleek, low-riding sports car that has the entire automotive world talking. There is no better way to enjoy the thrill of driving on a sunny day than in the most affordable performance car in the industry today, especially in the Z51 performance edition.

Easy Entry and Departure

It may seem intimidating to look inside the window of a Corvette C8 and see a slew of buttons, especially if you can’t even locate the door handle; however, once you understand what all the buttons mean, the C8 is quite user-friendly. For starters, opening the doors is as simple as placing your hand beneath the functional air curtain in the door to touch the electronic release. Pressing the release opens the door, while a similar electronic release for opening from the inside is located in the armrest of each door. In case of a dead battery, a manual release on the floor also opens the doors from the inside. To lock or unlock the doors, pressing the button on the fob will cause an animation sequence with the daytime running lights and taillights, which tells you the action has been completed.

Accessing the front or rear trunk is just as easy as the doors. The fob allows a simple opening of either trunk, and the rear trunk is large enough to store large bags like duffels for sports equipment. It’s also where the engine is located, so items you want to keep cool are best stored in the front trunk area. For models with the removable hardtop, the rear trunk can store the top, so you never have to worry about getting caught in the rain on a drive. Remove the top using the three levers inside the cabin, open the trunk, then use the guiding track to lock the top into place for safe travel. On hot or cold days, use the remote start feature on the fob to get the C8 cool or warm before you get on the road, and then once you’re seated, you can use the climate controls located in a line along the right side of the center console to adjust temperature and seat heating or cooling.

Driving Modes and Special Features

Before you get out on the road, knowing how to use the controls for the Corvette C8 will take some of the intimidation factors out of all the exciting features available for the new generation. Chevy has made intelligent choices for operations in the C8, with numerous options to customize the way the C8 drives. Starting with the electronic shifter, this is similar to the system of buttons found on other GM vehicles, with the Park and Neutral positions being simple to press for those actions, and the Reverse and Drive actions require pulling on the levers. At the base of the gear selector, a button with an “M” can be pressed when in Drive to engage the manual transmission for using the paddle shifters located on the steering wheel.

Driving modes are similarly easy to use, with Tour mode being the standard driving mode for daily travel in the city, Sport mode for a stiffer ride quality with more tuned responses from the throttle, and My Mode for configuring performance according to driver preference. Track mode is dedicated to performance-related features, and each mode changes the driver instrument display to reflect information related to the driving experience selected. Models with the available head-up display will see similar changes in information reflected on the windshield to match what is seen on the instrument cluster. To use the drive modes, locate the hand rest in the center console (it has the Corvette logo stamped on it) and turn the dial beneath the hand rest until the desired mode is chosen.

The C8 is an intelligent vehicle, and a number of attributes make the C8 smarter than your average sports car. When using “My Mode,” the C8 will remember this as the chosen driving mode and will automatically start in this mode every time you push the ignition. No need to select it again when restarting like in other sports cars. The available Front Lift is one of the most remarkable features in the C8, which raises the front end by two inches for safer travel over speed bumps or driving up steep driveways without scraping the nose of the Corvette. This feature is engaged by pressing a button next to the gear selector in the center console. Once engaged, the C8 will automatically remember to lift the front end every time you encounter the same obstacle, with memory for up to 1,000 locations!

Other smart features like a dash cam will automatically turn on when in Tour mode, which records audio and video to the front of the vehicle, so you always have a record of your driving experience. This could come in handy if you ever experience an accident and need a record of what happened, though this same feature can also be saved to an SD card to view scenery in a beautiful location. When using the Performance Data Recorder, the SD card can record and save your performance data videos, which also has an overlay feature that provides key information about when the driver accelerated, braked, or performed maneuvers to track the timing for improvement. To use the SD card, a hidden slot is located in the glove compartment. Push the button in the center of the passenger side dash, and find the SD card cover to the left of the compartment. Open it and insert the card to save your video data.

Driving the Corvette C8

If you haven’t had the pleasure of driving a C8, you deserve the thrill of dropping into the driver’s seat and taking it out for a one-of-a-kind experience. Knowing how to utilize the controls, the C8 becomes a finely-tuned extension of your connection to the road. Absolutely nothing like it exists in the price point of the C8, which drives more like a car that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars more. The spine-tingling note of the engine’s exhaust urges you to place the Corvette in drive, and the responsiveness of the acceleration seamlessly carries the light-footed car forward with a smoothness unexpected with its sport tuning. A twin-clutch transmission shifts without losing power between gears, and brakes readily halt motion without being grippy.

Inside the cabin, even with the hardtop removed or the convertible top lowered, the C8 is quiet enough for conversation, yet the engine’s sound is still heard. Steering precisely carries the C8 around bends, and the car’s low stance means it cuts through the air like a hot knife. Arriving at 60 mph takes less than three seconds in the C8, and Chevy’s engineers built the engine to rev up to 6,500 RPMs before needing to shift, a remarkable feat. When engaging the Sport mode, the suspension stiffens and throttle response increases to further couple the C8 to the road with the kind of intoxicating bliss only found behind the wheel of a well-built sports car.

Look for the Logos

Just for fun, Chevy incorporated a number of Corvette logos in places you might not expect to find them on the C8. When you decide to buy a pre-owned C8 for yourself, it can be a fun game to play with your passengers to see how many they can find. On the exterior, Chevy shrinks the Corvette logo almost to the size of a dot and places countless numbers of them on the back windshield to act as a screen. Inside, a logo is hidden in the cover of the speaker located between the seats. There are other Corvette logos hidden within, like on the valve covers, but we don’t want to ruin all the fun of discovering them. In fact, there are lots of hidden items in the Corvette C8, partially due to the small space requiring creative design. Hidden features, stunningly superior balance, and stimulating responsiveness are just a few of the many attributes of the latest Chevy Corvette generation, and there has never been a better time to buy one of your own.