First Drive: 2025 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
Posted September 30, 2025
By: Gareth Dean
The Corvette is finally here, and yes it literally has a sting in its tail. We drive the 2LT Convertible model in Cape Town.
After more than 70 years, the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray has officially arrived on SA in right-hand-drive. Will the latest, mid-rear-engined iteration of this iconic performance car have the go to match all that show?
What are we driving?
Few cars need as little introduction as the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. Over more than 70 years and eight generations, the composite-bodied sportscar has been a motoring icon that has carved a place in both popular culture and motoring enthusiast circles. But despite the indelible mark this car has made on the motoring landscape, it’s never been offered here in SA – even when a similarly iconic V8 American performance car in the Ford Mustang became something of a petrolhead favourite on this side of the Atlantic.
Thankfully, the latest model (C8) has been earmarked in limited numbers for RHD markets, and local automotive entity CVH Auto Group has secured the rights to finally bring this slice of Americana our way. The Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible 2LT we’ve driven sits in the middle of a six-model lineup and features a mid-rear-mounted, naturally aspirated 6.2-litre V8 that sends 369 kW and 628 N.m to the rear axle via an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission.
With its composite body contributing to light (by modern performance car standards) 1 705 kg kerb weight, a monster engine mounted midships and rear-wheel drive, on paper, it certainly has the goods to be seriously entertaining…but can it break through our long-held preconceptions that American performance cars are only good for straight-line blasts?
Why is the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray significant?
Aside from its long-awaited local debut, perhaps the most significant aspect of the C8 Corvette is its fundamental departure from the blueprint set out by its predecessors. For seven generations, the Corvette has adopted a front-engine/rear-wheel-drive architecture that generally works well with GTs and most performance cars, and gave the Corvette its signature ‘cab-back and acreage of bonnet’ profile.
The latest model sees the engine migrate to a mid-rear mounting – an arrangement that evens out front-to-rear weight distribution and is the configuration of choice for many supercars and hypercars out here. The upshot is a focus on poise and agility; things we tend not to associate with American performance cars.
What’s new on the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray?
Although the list of revisions and improvements over previous models could turn this article into an SEO-crippling essay, two technological updates to the C8 stand out. While the 6.2-litre V8s have a longstanding relationship with Corvettes, the LT2 in this car is a newly developed unit that’s been specifically developed with mid-rear placement in mind and a dry-sump lubrication system that allows for more compact packaging.
The C8 also plays host to the latest iteration of GM’s Magnetic Ride Control suspension system. This setup comprises shock absorbers filled with magnetorheological fluid containing iron particles, the viscosity (and therefore, rigidity) of which is determined by an electric current overseen by the car’s ECU. The idea is that by making firmness adjustments every thousandth of a second, this system not only reads road conditions to serve up the best ride possible but also reduces traction-compromising rebound.
What does the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible cost?
The Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible 2LT costs R3 900 000 and comes with a service plan and warranty included as standard. It should be noted that all the Corvettes brought to SA feature the Z51 Performance Package as standard. This includes uprated suspension and exhaust systems, a limited-slip e-diff and Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres, among others.
What are the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible’s rivals?
In terms of its V8 engine and mid-rear-engined packaging, there’s little comparable at this particular model’s price point. That said, R3.9 million does place it in some seriously fast and capable drop-top company; namely the Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS Cabriolet and BMW M8 Competition Convertible.
What is the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible like to drive?
Given that the last mid-rear-engined performance car with which I’d spent any time was the deeply impressive Audi R8, I had mentally set a very high bar for the Corvette. But little did I realise that my guarded attitude to what the newcomer would serve up was about to be turned on its head.
Like the R8, at town-crawl and B-road canter, the Corvette is an absolute cinch to pilot. In its ‘Tour’ drive setting, the transmission shifts smoothly, the throttle is easy to modulate, the steering is light and there’s even a hydraulic lift function to keep the nose from beaching on speed bumps. Here, the Magnetic Ride Control system proved particularly impressive, keeping the ride pleasingly supple, and despite its composite-body construction, the Corvette feels impressively rigid, with no scuttle-shake evident when the folding hard top is stowed.
Much like the Audi, though, the Corvette has an ability to seamlessly morph into something altogether more thrilling when the driver drops the hammer and toggles the drivetrain management system to a more aggressive setting. Here, depressing the ‘Z’ button on the steering wheel shuffles the presets into a combination of sport and track (i.e. full attack), and everything tightens up.
Hunkered low in the driver’s seat, you lean on a throttle that’s got a surprising amount of travel and marvel at how cleanly the traction control system pastes down that 369 kW. Just over your shoulder, a hard-edged howl pulses in your ear and the big, invisible hand that’s the 628 N.m of peak torque pins you into that moulded driver’s seat. Without forced-induction plumbing to work through, it spools up cleanly, and the power delivery (and pace) feels relentless.
The steering is fast and accurate, weighting up in a progressive yet playful manner as the remarkable level of rear-end grip makes you feel as though it can carry more pace into corners than anticipated. The dual-clutch transmission that was so effortlessly slurring through the gears round town now hangs doggedly onto ratios and responds crisply to inputs from the steel steering wheel-mounted shift paddles.
With the car’s low stance and most of its weight centred midship, swift directional changes are free of body roll. Factor in the e-diff tightening the car’s line under hard cornering, and it feels as though the Corvette pivots about your hips as you dive into successive bends with a feathering of progressively-weighted brake, before powering out – no scrabble or fluster involved.
The road ahead, glimpsed through narrow glazing and framed by the front wheel arches, is reeled in at a startling rate, but the Corvette’s balance and grip see you neatly tiptoeing the line between enthralling and confidence inspiring…it’s genuinely impressive stuff.
Verdict
As satisfying as the Corvette’s poise and straight-line grunt may be, perhaps its biggest drawcard is the response it elicits from everyone who lays eyes on it. Its rarity and almost comic-book-supercar looks generate attention that will render even European exotics almost invisible, and the forest of smartphone-camera-wielding arms with which your rumbling approach is met borders on celebrity. This, alone, could drive some performance car enthusiasts towards the Corvette over crushingly capable, but comparatively conservative, German rivals. The fact that it just so happens to be very capable is a major plus.
Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible 2LT specifications
- Price: R3 900 000
- Engine: 6.2-litre, V8, petrol
- Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch
- Driven wheels: rear
- Power: 369 kW
- Torque: 628 N.m
- 0-100 km/h: 3.5 seconds (claimed)
- Top speed: 296 km/h (claimed)
- Fuel consumption: 12.1 L/100 km (claimed)
