[VIDEO] New Year, New Episode of U-Drags as C8 Corvette E-Ray Challenges the 805-Horse Mercedes AMG Hybrid

Welcome to 2026, Corvette Nation; Edmunds has a late Christmas present for you! The best car test on the ‘net is back on your screen and, once more, it features the C8-generation of America’s only true sports car.

What makes U-Drags so special? Other than the professionalism and control on display to shame the majority of YouTube, it’s the all-around gauntlet provided by the single down-and-back test rusty keeps us coming back for more. It pits two performance cars against one another in a standing quarter mile, then forces them into maximum deceleration and a 180-degree handling test before unleashing them on a rolling drag race back to the start/finish line in a single take. Then, for the sake of fairness, they switch drivers and lanes then run ’em again.

The first run of the new year is interesting for a few reasons. The obvious one is the obvious Rocky Balboa angle. In this case, the proceedings are very rocky IV: the working-class ‘Vette has to hop in the ring with a physically-imposing opponent from a one-time axis power. The other interesting wrinkle is the peek the other fighter gives us at what might have been if GM never took the risk of moving its halo car’s engine amid ship.

Playing Stallone’s signature fighter with a heart of gold and fists of iron today is the Corvette E-Ray. It marries the Z06’s wide body with the base ‘Vette’s LT2 V8 and turns that already potent recipe up to 12 by taking it’s 70+ year lineage on its first foray into all-wheel-drive and hybridization. All told, it flexes 655 horses and 595 lb-ft of twist to go with a 3,927-lb. fighting weight and an as-shown price just over $128k.

The imposing alt-dimension front-engine Corvette from Germany in the other lane is none other than the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 E Performance. So far, it represents the top dog in the second-gen GT lineup, and like the hometown underdog, it utilizes hybridization to make some BIG numbers. Its corporate twin-turbo 4.0L V8 is a known and respected commodity, but what’s new are the batteries and electric motors that turn the AMG coupe into a bulging 805 HP monster that somehow dwarfs that staggering power figure by pushing 1,047 lb-ft of torque.

It runs a 9-speed automatic transmission and sends power to all four corners, but its most significant statistics aren’t exactly the good kind. First, in the spirit of a true luxury vehicle, it weighs a very unsporty 4,798 lbs. (that’s nearly 900 lbs. beefier than the Corvette). Then, there’s the matter of its price. As tested, the hefty Benz costs $216,550, almost exactly double the base price of the E-Ray!

Before hitting play to witness the brawl, just keep a few numbers in mind: 1,064 and 28.9 @ 159.6. That’s the horsepower and U-Drags ET of the E-Ray’s even scarier big brother; the ZR1 that happens to start well below the AMG at $182,000. If we were witnessing a fair, dollar-for-dollar fight, the ‘Vette would win every time, but that wouldn’t be any fun. The real joy of the so-called Plastic Fantastic is its ability to punch above its weight and allow normal hard-working folks to hold their motoring heads high in any company, no matter how affluent, and that’s exactly what it isn’t afraid to do here. Enjoy the first U-Drag of the year, its going to be a good one!

Source:
Edmunds

Related:
[VIDEO] U-Drags: C8 Corvette E-Ray Faces Off with the Porsche 911 GTS Hybrid
[VIDEO] The C8 Corvette ZR1 Enters the U-Drags Chat, but No Other Manufacturer Wants to Race It
[VIDEO] Watch the C8 Corvette Z06 U-Drag a Maserati MC20

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