Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2022 Review

The 2022 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray has finally landed in Australia and customer deliveries of the first sold-out batch of 228 examples have started.

The Corvette’s arrival has been highly anticipated since it was confirmed in 2019 that the eighth – or C8 – generation would be the first to come from the Bowling Green, Kentucky, factory in right-hand drive. Previously, any Corvettes sold in Australia had been local conversions.

While that’s huge for us, the even bigger deal in the Corvette world is the move from the traditional front-engine rear-drive layout to mid-engine, just like a Ferrari, Lamborghini or McLaren.

So supercar looks and performance claims – 0-100km/h in 3.1 seconds and a 312km/h top speed courtesy of its 6.2-litre V8 engine and eight-speed dual-clutch transmission – but not a supercar price.

Where Ferraris start in the $400K bracket, the Corvette launches in Australia from $144,990 for the cheapest 2LT version of the coupe (that’s including GST and luxury car tax but excluding on-road costs, dealer delivery and statutory charges).

The coupe we’re driving here is a little more expensive. It’s a 3LT priced at $160,500 (plus all the extra costs listed above). Being a 3LT means it gets Nappa leather ‘GT2’ sports seats, leather-wrapped and suede microfibre interior trimmings and an engine appearance package.

You can add about $15,000 to either spec for the folding hard-top convertible. Of course, as per Corvette tradition, the coupe comes standard with a removable hard-top. Our test car was fitted with an optional tinted roof (still incorporating the GT stripes) that costs $2340. It also came with $1300 blue seat belts and a $1300 red-painted brake callipers.

All Corvettes sold in Australia come with the Z51 performance package standard. It adds some important gear including staggered Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rubber rolling on 19- and 20-inch alloys (front/rear), adaptive magnetic ride control dampers, the ability to adjust the suspension set-up manually, an electronic limited-slip differential, a performance exhaust, added engine cooling, front and rear brake cooling inlets, a front splitter and rear spoiler.

Other standard Corvette equipment includes a nose-lift system to negotiate gutters that includes a GPS-based memory function, keyless access with a push-button start, eight-way seat power adjustment (including side support) with memory, and steering column reach and rake power adjustment.

A 12.0-inch digital instrument panel is four-way configurable, with a colour head-up display sitting above it. An 8.0-inch colour touch-screen sits to the IP’s left. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connection is wireless and there is also wireless charging. There are also USB inputs.

Satellite navigation is displayed through the touch-screen along with various camera views and driver modes. The audio is a 14-speaker Bose system that is the loudest ever put into a General Motors vehicle.

The dual-zone climate system is controlled via a thin strip of buttons that run down the top of the divider between driver and passenger. It looks like an afterthought and means taking your eyes well away from the road to adjust.

The Corvette comes with a three-year/100,000km warranty and 12-month/12,000km service intervals. There is no capped-price servicing plan currently on offer in Australia.

Safety is a sore point for the 2022 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Coupe. There is an obvious shortage of the driver assist systems that are commonplace in new models on sale in Australia.

Most obvious and egregious is the absence of autonomous emergency braking (AEB), which is a proven life-saver. Adaptive cruise control, which often goes hand-in-hand with AEB, is also missing.

The safety systems the Corvette does offer include front and side-impact airbags for the two passengers, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, a reversing camera and rear park assist.

There is also a traffic sign function, but it was often inaccurate.

A rear-view mirror in the cabin shows vision from a high-mounted camera rather than an actual reflection that would be hopelessly compromised by head restraints, bodywork and so on. It works great if you’ve got 20:20 vision, but if you’re long-sighted then it can be a bit blurry.

There is no ANCAP rating for this car and there is unlikely to ever be one.

Because of its mid-engine layout, the 2022 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray is an all-new car compared to its C7 predecessor and every Corvette that came before it.

The core architecture is aluminium with a substantial box section backbone providing key strength, remembering no Corvette has a fixed roof. Inner and outer panels are composite of varying different types.

So why go mid-engined? Traction is the fundamental answer. To keep posting faster launch and lap times, Chev says the new layout – and its claimed-to-be-optimal 40:60 weight balance – had to be adopted.

This is no new thing, of course; prototype mid-engined Corvettes have been experimented with for decades.

The side benefit of all that is right-hand drive is a lot easier to execute without a big lump of an engine getting the way of the steering column.

Cooling is the key issue with the mid-engined layout, something proved by the various vents for admitting and expelling air that litter the Corvette’s body. It all obviously has an impact because the aerodynamic drag is reportedly no better than a brick-like 0.32Cd!

The C8 weighs in at a claimed 1527kg, which is heavier than the predecessor C7 (lightest weight claim is 1518kg). It also has a higher centre of gravity.

All that might sound weird but there is no longer a manual transmission and the new Tremec DCT is heavier, and coil springs in the rear suspension replace the old transverse leaf springs and are heavier and much taller.

Another stat that might surprise you: old and new Corvette are identical in height at 1234mm.

While we are talking numbers, consider the mid-engine layout has resulted in the cockpit moving forward 419mm! The C8 has a slightly longer wheelbase at 2723mm (versus 2710mm for the C7), is 137mm longer overall at 4630mm and 57mm wider at 1934mm.

Visible beneath a 3.2mm-thick laminated glass cover is the Corvette’s LT2 6.2-litre (6162cc) pushrod V8.

A member of the LS-based Chevy small block family specifically designed for the C8, it includes a cast aluminium block and cylinder head, two variably timed valves per cylinder and direct injection. Key features include dry sump lubrication and four-cylinder deactivation to save fuel.

Engine output (with the performance exhaust as fitted in Australia) is 369kW of power at 6450rpm and 637Nm of torque at 5150rpm. The claimed fuel consumption rate is 13.5L/100km. We averaged 14.6L/100km over 650km of widely varying roads.

Completing the tech specs are electric-assist variable-ratio rack and pinion steering, a double-wishbone suspension layout at each corner and a Brembo brake system that clamps four-piston callipers on 345mm front discs.

The Corvette offers six drive modes that adjust a varying number of vehicle attributes. For instance, ‘My Mode’ is for street driving and it allows the driver to adjust steering, suspension, brake feel and exhaust sound.

Track-oriented ‘Z Mode’ is also adjustable and affects more features including engine, gear change and the level of stability and traction control governance.

The other non-adjustable modes are Weather, Tour, Sport and Track.

The Corvette also comes with the latest-generation GM electronic architecture, dubbed Global B, that allows over-the-air updates.

Some cars have to fulfill a variety of functions, but when it comes to the 2022 Chevrolet Corvette we are really only concerned with one thing, aren’t we? The driving.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a big thumbs up. Once you get used to how easy it all is…

Where the C8 can catch you is how frenetic it isn’t. The engine is not a quad-cam screamer that requires massive revs or continuous gear changes from the snappy Tremec DCT to deliver its best.

It’s making 500Nm at 2000rpm and more than 300kW at 3600rpm (according to independent testing). It can motor speedily along any winding road in third and fourth gear, occasionally dropping to second for a hairpin.

It requires a change of thought process; stop driving it as it looks like it should be driven, and drive it as it is intended to be driven.

For instance, I developed the habit of short-shifting from third to fourth out of a corner so I could drop back to third and gain some engine braking for the next turn. The alterative was revving hard up the straight and then simply braking for the turn. Dropping to second simply produced an uncomfortable amount of revs.

Is it the right engine for the C8? I think so. It links the car so obviously back to its predecessors. And with vehicles like this, history is important.

The Corvette has three distinct audio phases. It rumbles around almost transparently at low revs, bellows hard and loud through the exhaust in the mid-range and then turns all Ninja at higher revs as inlets and valvetrain take over.

At no stage, no matter the exhaust mode, could any crackle on the over-run be heard. Just a bit disappointing that.

Nothing disappointing to report about the Corvette’s chassis though. Some road tests have complained about understeer but that would be at a higher limit than I was willing to explore on the road.

Sitting so much farther forward really accentuates the C8’s rotation around its axis into corners. There is so little hesitation it’s easy to turn too far and be forced to readjust. It means any roundabout – let alone a string of corners on a mountainous road – are a joy to steer and negotiate.

The Corvette sits flat, grips like glue mid-corner and just as impressively tromping the accelerator when the opening to the next straight is glimpsed. Only in the tightest corners under significant provocation could the LSD be felt fighting to manage the inside wheel’s drive.

Braking performance is powerful enough that I more than once rolled slower into a corner than intended.

A combination of eager chassis and less frenetic engine might sound a bit at odds. But it does work once you acclimatise.

And never fear, the ultimate performance is there. On a slightly uphill run, the Corvette reeled off a 3.2sec 0-100km/s time without feeling stressed.

So here’s the other good bit. The C8 Corvette is probably the most liveable supercar going around.

It starts with the cabin, which is easy to get in and out of – higher up than a Porsche 911 and without the box section you have to step over in a McLaren – and has a plenty of space in which to nestle.

That especially applies to headroom, which is generous by any measure. There is also more seat travel and backrest angle than before.

There is plenty of storage in which to pack stuff in the cabin, including a wireless charging pod for your smartphone in the rear bulkhead. The only real concession to supercar limitations are the miniscule door pockets.

The boot and frunk (front trunk) will also take more space than you might expect. A couple of golf bags in the boot is the claim, but that’s only if you don’t have the removable roof section in there as well.

Speaking of which, roof off in this car is a noisy, wind-buffeted experience that’s not recommended for much more than an urban beachside cruise. Roof on it’s still not the quietest car with some obvious tyre roar on coarse surfaces. But it’s definitely liveable.

The cockpit is completely driver-focused. Everything points toward or wraps around you including the instrument panel and touch-screen, the air-con controls and the very supportive seat. The steering wheel is a squircle – squared-off circle – that looks stranger than it feels.

Apart from the air-con, interacting with the various controls made sense once acclimatised. Selecting gears in auto mode was completed via a toggle on the centre console, while manual changes were via deliciously long flappy paddles behind the steering squircle.

All this would be pointless if the car was a shocker to drive at anything but 10-10ths. It’s not.

Select Tour mode and it is entirely and almost unbelievably relaxed. The ride is decent, only challenged by sharp-edged holes and substantial laterals that inevitably expose the low-profile rubber and short-travel suspension.

Dial up to Sport and it gets intrusive, in Track it is harsh.

The gearbox is only marginally less refined than a good torque-converter auto in Tour mode, so you can slur lag-free through the traffic, or without jerks and hard, chunky gear changes. They occur when the box is dialled up into Sport or Track modes. Then it gets appropriately hyper.

The steering goes through a similar level of ramp through the modes to feeling almost solid moving off top dead centre in Track mode.

In the end I ignored My Mode and just set personal preferences in Z Mode because it allowed additional adjustments. Steering and suspension at their most lenient, engine and gearbox and brake feel at their most aggressive.

What hurts the Corvette most as an everyday car is its poor rear three-quarter visibility, especially looking back to the left. Sure, there are cameras and sensors helping out, but it is really limited.

That poor visibility is one issue that you can mark down as a 2022 Chevrolet Corvette negative, along with no AEB, the dual-zone climate controls and a typical old-style V8 thirst.

But these issues are more than counter-balanced by the positive side of the ledger.

What we are looking at here is a genuine mid-engined supercar with scintillating and versatile performance at a price that isn’t cheap, but is incredible value.

It’s a great car and one 228 Australians are going to get a lot of enjoyment from.

I gotta admit, I’m jealous.

How much does the 2022 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Coupe 3LT cost?
Price: $160,500 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Sold out
Engine: 6.2-litre V8 petrol
Output: 369kW/637Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 13.5L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 323g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Not tested