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KURT NIEBUHR: Now, what do you get when you put an electric
motor in the front and a 6.2-liter V8 engine
in the back?
Well, you get efficiency in the front,
and you get proficiency in the back.
Oh, yeah.
All right.
We're here at Pikes Peak International Raceway.
It's a one-mile oval with a road course on the inside of it.
And that's where we're trying out the new Chevrolet Corvette
E-Ray.
So how does this compare to a Stingray and a Z06?
Well, it's faster than a regular Stingray,
damn near as fast as the Z06 is.
The front feels a little bit heavier.
It's not as quick to react as those other two.
But that's not a bad thing.
Those two are very pointy, very quick on the nose.
That makes the car a little bit more approachable and friendly
for a lot of people.
That all-wheel drive, you can pick up
the throttle really early.
And you get the front axle pulling you out.
So just before the rear might start to spin and slide
in a Z06 like here, you've got a lot of grip still on the table.
The transition onto the throttle feels very natural.
There's no giant spike in power from the electric motor.
But all in all, this car feels very natural.
It doesn't even really feel like an all-wheel drive car
except when you power out, and then
you get to feel the front end pull you away.
Really remarkable.
I'm going to go for a run.
We got the PDR on, Performance Data Recorder.
Pretty cool little piece of kit that comes on these cars.
So I'm going to stop talking, start driving.
Traction out of this thing is just nuts.
That's crazy.
I'm sure you've heard it from us, like, ad nauseam,
but GM and Chevrolet's performance traction management
is probably the best in the world.
And it also includes the front axle.
Everything is integrated in this car.
So it isn't like they just threw the front axle
in the electric motor and just said, ah, screw it.
This is a fully integrated system.
This car really likes the slightest bit
of, like, neutral steer, a little slip angle.
This car is just--
I mean, it's really good.
Just because it's an E-Ray does not
mean that you can't push it really hard.
You still work hard in this car.
Doesn't matter that it's a hybrid.
Doesn't matter there's a big old battery pack right here.
You're still working.
And this car is really fast.
And you can get up to 80% to 90% of what a V06 can
do with most people in it.
And now we're on the road because that's
where most of these things will live most of their lives.
It kind of drives just like a regular Corvette
with one exception that I've been able to pick up at least
just early on is the front feels a little slower to react.
That's not a bad thing.
A standard Corvette, the nose is very pointy.
It's very quick to change directions.
And a Corvette Z06 is even more so.
So this, this slight slowness actually
fits what Corvette was trying to do
with the E-Ray, which is make it more of a luxury grand touring
car.
Some of that slowness might come from the fact there's
a little extra weight in the front of this car,
obviously, because you've got batteries in the center tunnel,
and you have an electric drive unit in the front.
Now, to Chevrolet's credit, they've done quite a bit
to save as much weight as they can.
That drive unit sits in a magnesium case.
And they've even gone so far as to use aluminum bolts
to cut down on the weight.
It's also a one-speed motor just to keep it
as compact as possible.
That electric motor, though, also
gives this E-Ray all-weather capability
that no other Corvette has ever had.
So you can go out in the rain.
You can go out in the snow.
And I know.
Corvette owners don't typically go out in the snow.
But now you've got all-wheel drive.
Now you can go buy some Blizzaks.
And now you can go be cool.
You can go be a hero.
So I want to see people that own this car go buy one.
Go get snow tires.
And go drift it.
Go be a hero.
I want to see it posted on my Instagram feed.
So let's get cracking.
Now, the E-Ray does cost more than a fully loaded Stingray.
But to be fair, you do get some stuff that you either
have to pay extra for on the Stingray
or you can't even get at all.
For example, the carbon ceramic brakes, on the E-Ray,
those are standard equipment.
MagneRide, standard equipment.
Heads-up display, standard equipment.
You also get the Z06's widebody.
You get the same wheel and tire sizes as a Z06.
So if you wanted to run bigger rubber on this car, really
sticky stuff you can get on the Z06, you can do that, too.
You can't do that on a regular Stingray.
So you've got that going for you.
Oh, also you've got 655 combined horsepower.
So that's also where some of your extra money goes.
So far, this really does feel like it's
in the middle of a regular Stingray and it's Z06.
It definitely has more of a luxury vibe.
It's a little bit more relaxed.
But it's still a Corvette.
The thing still moves out.
And I think it's a nice midpoint for people
that want the regular Corvette, might want a slightly more
relaxed version, but not really give up any performance.
This car is still fast.
This is supposedly the fastest-accelerating Corvette
ever built. If you don't want to go whole hog
and get real extreme with a capital X and get the Z06,
you can get an E-Ray and still get a ton of performance
but still get a lot of nice features and creature comforts
that you would want on a luxury grand tourer.
Now, I could go on about what it's
like to drive this on the road.
But speed limits being what they are,
which is a little limiting, and because this is a Corvette,
we should probably go on track like right now.
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