Grand Slam: C8 Corvette Named to Car and Driver’s 10Best for 4th Straight Year

The C8 is still undefeated! Car and Driver released the 40th incarnation of the world’s most prestigious automotive list on Monday, and even in its fourth year on the market, the mid-engine Corvette stands tall as one of the greatest vehicles on sale. To meet eligibility requirements, a car has to go on sale by January 31, and a price ceiling is always in effect. This year, inflation pushed C&D’s MSRP cap “to a Chevrolet Corvette Z06–size $110,000,” which they assure readers is a complete coincidence.

2023 marks the 24th time (a .600 batting average) that the Crossed Flags have earned a 10Best nod, officially passing the BMW 3-series for second place on the all-time list (behind only the Honda Accord). Interestingly, the Stingray and Z06 share a single slot on the list, but with both receiving individual rave reviews, we get the sense that ‘Vettes could have easily bumped another member out of this year’s group if the rules forced them to be evaluated separately.

The Base ‘Vette was perfectly summed up by Ezra Dyer, “The best cars are often narrowly focused—on cosseting luxury, or ferocious performance, or utter practicality. Set too many goals, and it’s easy to arrive at forgettable mediocrity. The Chevrolet Corvette, however, defies the notion that you can’t please everyone. It’s a sophisticated grand tourer, a hard-edged track rat, an everyday grocery getter with dual trunks. It’s a targa or a convertible, [and it’s] relatively attainable.”

While he had this to say about the sublime Z06; “That audacious halo car is like nothing else you can buy, at any price, with its daring flat-plane 5.5-liter V-8 shrieking out 670 of the loudest horsepower this side of Circuit de la Sarthe.” Every sentence we read about this thing (not to mention every time we hear the siren song of its quad exhaust), the more we want one!

The two-for-one Corvettes are joined on the list by a pair of Cadillac stablemates that each get their own space on the list for the second year in a row. The CT5-V Blackwing brings the C7 Z06’s powerplant along for the ride, and the twin-turbo V6 CT4-V Blackwing gives GM the only three spaces dedicated to an American manufacturer.

The General’s championship-winning trio weren’t the only cars feeling deja-vu this year, either. Unfortunately, Porsche’s junior sportscars, the Cayman and Boxter twins showed their faces again, allowing the 718s to keep pace with America’s Sports Car and earn a co-silver in the historical standings. Another set of twins is also back as the “Toyobaru” BRZ/GR86 were crowned, along with Toyota’s GR Corolla and Supra, giving Toyota a GM-matching trifecta of (much less desirable) victors. Honda also fielded a pair of winners in the Civic and the Accord, while the final spot was taken by the most unique offering of 2023, the BMW i4. It is the only battery-powered winner, and surprisingly, it marks Bavaria’s first 10Best nod since the M2 Competition in 2019.

There’s certainly a lot to celebrate at the RenCen Christmas parties this year, but the happy Harlan and Tadge have their sights set on R&T’s upcoming Performance Car of the Year and a fifth-straight 10Best in ’24 when their big Hybrid gamble will put three separate Corvette models in the running. We can’t wait to see how it all shakes out!

Source:
Car and Driver

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