The Car and Driver team tested the hybrid-powered, all-wheel drive 655-horsepower Chevy Corvette E-Ray last week, saying that from a standstill, it could easily be mistaken for the 670-horsepower Z06.
Inside, there is the distinct hum of the 160-horsepower electric motor that powers the front axle. The E-Ray’s Stealth mode is a pure-electric setting that lasts up to 5 miles before the 495-horsepower 6.2-liter V8 roars to life. This particular crew picked an overcast and rainy January day to allow Energy Integration engineer Stefan Frick a test drive, and he got behind the wheel and initiated the launch control sequence.
This tool employs the electric motor while the rear tires command a masterful amount of traction. There’s the invigorating blend of a pushrod V8 roar, and a futuristic flying car resonating in the cabin. The E-Ray will reach 60 mph in 2.5 seconds, and ferociously (yet quietly) blast through the quarter-mile in 10.5 seconds. All of these fantastic and future-leaning ingredients make it potentially the fastest Corvette to ever come off the Bowling Green, Kentucky production line.
The electric motor ceases to pitch in at about 150 mph, and the vehicle’s top speed is above 180 mph. Even though the E-Ray approaches 4,000 pounds, the soggy autocross course proved that it absolutely possesses the moves to dominate and handle pristinely on a dime.
This is the first car ever to come standard with both carbon-ceramic rotors, along with the track-conquering benefit of all-season tires. When you need even more grip, the TPC-spec Michelin Pilot Sport Pilot 4S summer tires come through. With the driven front axle and brake-based vectoring to shuffle torque to the wheel that needs it most, the E-Ray cuts astutely through corners with a precise power.
The Traction Management system is available, and even without Drift mode, it handles well on pavement. Plug-in hybridization was the plan from the beginning, with Ultium pouch battery-module-shaped space reserved in the C8’s aluminum center tunnel.