[RIDES] John and Annie’s 2020 Corvette Stingray

Our friend John Elegant from the MidEngineCorvetteForum.com took delivery of his new 2020 Corvette several months ago, but between working to get his house sold and having a new one built, he has had very little time to enjoy the car. Also is the issue that it’s now stored 75 miles from where he is currently staying as the new house is being completed.

On Friday afternoon, I gave him a call and he was driving his Black 2020 Corvette Z51 Coupe on some very curvy roads through the canyons in western Oregon and he was giddy like a kid on his birthday. Afterward, he sent me a link to a post he made about his driving experience and I thought it would make the perfect Rides post. Enjoy!

Today’s drive in our C8 was terrific — as has every past drive! I want to specifically thank Rich (C8vettepartsonline) for helping me today set our dash gauges to be there exactly when and where we want them to be. I just love that now I am constantly seeing 10 different instrument readings at all times for I am an info junkie when driving a vehicle — and that is not counting anything on the center IP.

During our curvy country Corvette drive today, now that I am seeing every gauge I want to see instantly, I was able to further concentrate on driving. Each time I drive our 38 miles, each way, fun backroad in our C8, it gets better and better. Today after setting the gauges, I was focusing on hitting corners that I know well from having done them roughly 50 times in our C7 Z06 before, though now in our C8. But more than just corner carving, the comfort of our current WRP SPD, especially compared to our C7 Z06 is close to night and day.

Make no mistake that in track mode to us that it is a properly sprung sports car, which my wife and I like, e.g., an appropriately suspension’d vehicle! Yet it is so much calmer than our C7 Z06 even when comparing apples to apples. If you missed my last comparison statements, I feel that our C8 in track mode is softer than our C7 Z06 was in sport mode, and perhaps even softer in track mode than was our C7 Z in touring mode. But definitely not too soft nor mushy in our opinion. JUST RIGHT!!!

I am now starting to focus on taking each corner progressively faster I did than the last time. WHAT FUN!

Meanwhile on each drive we become aware of so many other improvements from our C7 including better seats (GT2’s), better phone voice clarity, better HUD displays, better IP sharpness and many other components that are also improved. I love the precise steering (have it permanently in track mode), though I have chosen the default for our suspension being in sport mode.

However nothing is perfect, and no one will dispute that the C7 was way better in terms of interior room — so we now better plan ahead exactly what is going inside with us in advance, and exactly where to place it before we start out. As to some folks comments that there is lack of armrest for the passenger, my wife, though thin, finds that seat super comfortable; she has plenty of her armrest room. What she dearly loves, one of her favorite things about the car, is the rear camera mirror. As she said “for the first time in terms of rear views, I as the passenger a, equal to the driver in what I see behind us.” Then she added, in fact I have a far superior view in the C8 passenger seat than I have ever had in a driver seat of every vehicle we’ve ever owned.”

Our biggest fear before, approaching our C8 was how could we cope with abandoning a manual transmission after having 53 clutched, manual trans vehicles in a row. The answer is a one word one, e.g., EASILY. While some will disagree, I do not miss the clutching at all in the C8 (though in full disclosure, our DD is a manual trans WRX that we still drive daily).

More of my C8 comments if you wish and missed my earlier two days’ C8 driving reviews from February’s “C8 FirstDrive”:

Day 1
Day 2

My wife and I can’t wait to add more miles to our C8! Especially we can not wait for our long roads trips in our Corvettes to re-commence. Hopefully next spring’s NCM Bash! [That one would be 2,500+ miles each way.]. In the interim, many more miles of locals canyon carving is delightfully ahead for us.

Thanks John for the fun recap from your Friday drive!

If you have a C8 Corvette now, on order, or thinking about one, come on over and join the MidEngineCorvetteForum.com, the web’s fastest-growing destination for the C8 Corvette.

As John mentions, if you like the photo above, you can order your own custom metal artwork with your own Corvette in the picture. Visit c8vettepartsonline.com/artwork/ and order yours today!

Got an interesting story about your Corvette? Let us know and perhaps your Corvette can be featured on RIDES.

Source:
MidEngineCorvetteForum.com

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