As someone who graduated high school in the 2000s, I frequently have the 1997-2004 C5 Chevrolet Corvette on my mind. It’s an attractive, powerful, and relatively affordable sports car with a huge owner’s community and plenty of aftermarket replacement parts and upgrades available. But it recently hit me that 2025 marks 20 years since its successor, the C6, debuted. Over the past two decades, the Corvette has shot to new heights of engineering, power, and performance. However, as the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
WHAT’S CHANGED
The Obvious
Well before the C6 came out, Chevrolet had considered changing the Corvette into a mid-engine car, but it never did. After hitting a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive peak with the 755-horsepower C7 ZR1 in 2019, Chevy finally made the switch to a mid-engine layout with the 2020 Stingray that started the C8 generation.
The C8 is a radical visual departure from the C6, but it isn’t the first. Although it had the same layout as the sixth-generation model, the C7 did away with the C6’s quad round taillights, a design cue that had been synonymous with Corvettes for decades (if you don’t count the squared-off units at the rear of the C4 ZR1s and 1991-1996 Vettes).
Check Under the Engine Cover
As advanced and powerful as the 2005-2013 Corvettes were, they never offered DOHC power the way the C4 ZR-1s and the current Z06 and ZR1 do. And an all-wheel-drive hybrid like the E-Ray? No way. Yes, the C6 covered a wide spread of engine options with the base 6.0- and 6.2-liter V8s, 7.0-liter LS7, and 639-horsepower supercharged LS9, but the 2025 ZR1 is the first factory-produced Corvette with twin-turbos – and more than 1,000 horsepower.
A Big Shift
Unfortunately, there was a major casualty along the path to higher performance and lower lap times. You could get the C6 with a six-speed stick and the C7 with a seven-speed manual, but these days, you can only get a new Corvette with an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic.
WHAT’S STAYED THE SAME
The Most Important Number
The V8 engine has been loved by American car enthusiasts for decades, but it’s not invincible. True, in the past 20 years, Chevy has changed the displacement of the Corvette’s V8s and added superchargers and turbos. But it’s kept whatever is under the hood or in the middle of the Corvette a V8 – just what it has been since 1955 and what it always should be.
Another Important Figure
Even in its base form, the Corvette is still a special car. Part of that is due to the fact that it’s a two-seater. There’s no sedan or wagon variant (although either one would be strangely interesting). The Corvette is not meant to be a practical carpooling machine or a spacious family hauler. You pick your favorite passenger, buckle up, and zoom toward the horizon.
Endless Love
The C6 pushed the Corvette into new territory. Its base engine grew in displacement and output. The available automatic transmission increased in sophistication and gear count, reaching a max of eight. And the ZR1 proved Chevrolet was willing to go to unprecedented extremes.
Chevy has done the same at various stages with the C8. When that came out as a 2020 model, I was fortunate enough to get one for a week of testing. It was shocking how many people came out of the woodwork just to see the first mid-engine production Corvette up-close or ask me questions about it. Then again, it shouldn’t have been a surprise. This country has always loved the Corvette (OK, maybe it loved the Malaise Era models a little less) and clearly, it still does. They don’t call it “America’s Sports Car” for nothing.
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