Corvette, the Affordable Super Car

Is there any more iconic American supercar than the Corvette? In the mid-70s, there were some cities where (during the summer) you couldn’t drive farther than one or two blocks without seeing a sleek Stingray cruising down the avenue. While the price point of the Corvette has certainly increased, so has its status; it’s gone from one of many American muscle cars to compete on the world supercar stage.

It’s as if good old American Lipton tea were suddenly the official tea of England and China. It’s reflective, in many ways, of the competitive American Spirit, the drive to make the best around, and to do it in an affordable way.

Fastest Car, Half the Price

Take, for example, the 2015 Car and Driver Lightning Lap competition that took place at Virginia International Raceway.

Some of the competitors included:

• A $353,000 115 McLaren 650S Spider
• A $274,000 Lamborghini Huracan
• A $163,000 Porsche 911 GT3

These competed against the 2015 Corvette Z06. This was the first Corvette Z06 to be built with a supercharged engine, have an 8-speed paddle-shift automatic transmission and even a removable roof panel, thanks to the stronger aluminum frame. This performance model came in at 650 horsepower, and pushed the Corvette to the head of the pack. Not only that, it broke records.

In fact, in the nine years that the Car and Driver Lightning Lap had been run, only one vehicle ever surpassed the Corvette’s time: the 2014 Porsche 918 hybrid. This cyborg-era futuristic car sells for the low, low price of just $875,000 – almost nine times the cost of the $100,000 Corvette.

And the time difference between the Corvette’s performance and the previous year’s performance by the 911 hybrid? 1.5 seconds. That works out to about a difference in cost of $500,000 per second. Half a million bucks.

Top Price and Top Speed Doesn’t Mean it’s Fastest on the Track

The Corvette proves that real supercar performance isn’t just about peak speed, and it most certainly isn’t about price. A car like the McLaren 650S Spider clocks a top speed of 204 mph, which pushes it along faster than the corvette on the straightaway. But the down-force and grip of the Corvette Z06 let it dominate the technical aspects of the track. And, unless you’re just drag-racing, that’s where real versatility comes into play.

Value in a Supercar

What’s perhaps most exciting about the Corvette is that the one with the $100,000 price tag is that it’s up at the top end of what’s available. For example, the critically-acclaimed, highly popular 2014 Corvette C7 Stingray (the first of the Corvettes to get an all-aluminum chassis) sold for around $50,000 for the base model.

Corvette has found many ways to keep the cost low. A lot of the choices are simply old-school, hearkening back to those wild days in the 1960s and 1970s with teenagers cruising the strip in their T-top or convertible Stingray. For example, the engine is still in the front, and it’s a push-rod V-8. Competing supercars tend to be mid-engine with overhead cams, hybrid drivetrain mega-bots. All of that technology isn’t enough to outpace the Corvette at the track, and certainly not at the dealership.

Don’t rely on the Lightning Lap results, and don’t just take our word for it. You need to see the latest Corvette to really believe it. Get to New Smyrna Beach Chevrolet, and you may just find that the supercar you’ve been dreaming about for 30 years can be in your very own garage sooner than you think.