Sunny afternoon view of this Rapid Blue 2022 C8 Chevrolet Corvette
Our 2022 C8 Corvette: Initial Review
We took delivery of my 2022 C8 last week. We’ve put about 700 miles on it since then. Figured we would do a quick write up of some of our thoughts.
Our spec: We went with a 1LT Coupe in Rapid Blue with Sky Cool Grey interior. We added the Z51 package with magnetic ride control as the two options for a $70,935 MSRP and we paid MSRP. My ideal spec if we was not planning for a future Z06 was a 2LT Z51 Convertible (~$86k) but we have a very good place on a Z06 waitlist at MSRP so we wanted to save some money and see if the 1LT is good enough day to day.
Order process: For those unaware, there are two main Corvette dealers who sell the highest volume and only charge MSRP: Ciocca Corvette in NJ and MacMulkin (MM) Corvette in NH. They sell hundreds of C8s per month but you have to get on their list and wait. We went with MM and we’re on the Z06 list at Ciocca, they’re both great. We placed a $2000 refundable deposit in July 2021 with allocation in March 2022 and delivery in May 2022. Local dealers get few allocations and tend to charge over MSRP, of course there are exceptions, but MM and Ciocca are reliable and transparent options.
Delivery process: We paid for everything before getting to the dealer with a wire transfer downpayment and mailed my credit union’s check to them. All the forms were online. MM sent us the forms to take to my DMV so we went to my DMV and got my plates before delivery. MM offers three delivery options: dealership delivery, shipping to your address, and courtesy delivery to a local dealer. We went with dealership delivery since the shipping quote was around $1100 and they do not do courtesy delivery to any Maryland dealers. We booked a cheap one way flight to NH and they picked us up and drove to the dealer for free and they had the car ready for us to take delivery.
Overall thoughts: We are very happy with the car and it was worth the wait. It’s very fast, we think it looks great, within the budget, decently practical, and the drive modes/magnetic suspension really transform the car.
Cars We also considered: Mustang GT350 (2nd choice, really cool), Porsche Cayman/911 (great but more expensive), C7 Corvette (used prices are really high especially GS or Z06), Toyota Supra and BMW M2 (less performance and cool factor compared to C8 or GT350 and we have driven a BMW for the past 11 years and wanted something different), BMW M3/M4 (just hate the new grille).
A few pics:
Pros:
- Performance: speed, acceleration, and handling are all exceptional while also sounding good.
- Value: the value at MSRP is unmatched, plus we was able to redeem around $4900 of GM Credit Card rewards on the purchase. Service intervals are 7,500 miles for oil and 45,000 miles for transmission fluid. We only pay around $120 per month for insurance.
- Functionality: carries multiple suitcases in frunk and trunk, targa top can be stored in trunk, wireless Apple Carplay, good highway gas mileage.
- Community: there’s a sense of community with the car, other Corvette owners will always give you a wave, it sparks conversations especially with other sports cars, and brings out the little kid in me.
Cons:
- Only two seats and very limited interior space to put anything.
- 1LT lacks some basic features like blind spot monitoring, front parking camera, heated/vented seats – all locked behind the ~$7500 2LT trim.
- Some people don’t like the looks and want a manual.
- Some minor annoyances so far like excessive brake dust (fixable with new pads), key fob is a bit finicky, not the easiest to see out of.
