Report: Does The 2020 C8 Chevy Corvette Beat The Old C7’s Fuel Economy?

Well, yes and no

When Chevrolet revealed the brand new, mid-engined Corvette Stingray last summer, we couldn’t help but get excited. Neither could you, it seems, as the Corvette’s reveal video was one of our most popular uploads on YouTube in 2019. Since then, we’ve learned some more details about the Stingray, including its fuel economy, thanks to sites like Motor1 and Chevrolet Chief Engineer Ed Piatek.

So, here we go: the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray is set to publish official EPA ratings next week. Before that, though, we now know its ratings to be 15 mpg in the city, and 27 mpg on the highway, per an interview Piatek gave Motor1, among others. That’s better — and also worse* — than the old C7 Corvette with a naturally-aspirated 6.2-liter V-8. Here’s how the previous generation’s ratings looked:

In the old C7, you could actually get better city fuel economy with the seven-speed manual over the standard 8-speed automatic. [Image: US Dept. of Energy via fueleconomy.gov]

At least it’s not substantially worse (but it’s also not much better)

Now, there are a couple different ways you could slice this information. The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray does not have a manual transmission option. Instead, the only choice you have at the moment is an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, mated to an updated 6.2-liter V-8 engine. Power has increased from 460 to 495 horsepower, and torque has slightly increased to 470 lb-ft as well. Looking at it against the old automatic C7 Corvette, you do get 2 mpg better on the highway.

Against the old seven-speed manual, however, the new C8 Corvette nets 2 mpg worse in city driving, while still getting 2 mpg better on the highway. It was old wisdom that manual transmissions performed better than automatics on fuel economy, and that’s still sometimes true in modern performance cars. In short, you shouldn’t see a huge hit on mileage from what you’d otherwise get in the C7 unless you just drove it around town all the time. But that defeats the purpose of buying a car like this, doesn’t it?

One more interesting point Piatek made concerned the C8 Corvette’s range over the old model. Here, he said you can get an impressive 500 miles on a tank. Because it has a larger tank, the Corvette should be much better in the cruise (where, once again, you get that better fuel economy), making it a somewhat more practical road trip car, on top of being a mind-bending sports car thanks to its new mid-engined layout.

2020 Chevy Corvette C8 Stingray Chevrolet

Then there’s the performance to think about

Mind you, the 2020 Chevy Corvette Stingray can hit 60 mph in under 3 seconds. Beyond that, it can go on to a top speed of 194 miles per hour, and we’re still just talking about the entry-level model here. It’s fuel economy figures best other cars in the segment like the much more expensive McLaren 720S (15 city / 22 highway mpg), and it bests the Acura NSX on the highway (21 city / 22 highway mpg).

At least on paper, the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette is still looking like all that, especially bringing its price tag into account. We’ll have more time with the new Corvette soon, so stay tuned to TFLcar.com for more news, views and real-world reviews!

H/T to Motor1, Autoblog for the new fuel economy information!