C7 Corvette with a mid-engine?
Every vehicle that ever wore the fabled Corvette badge has been a V8 powered, front engine, rear wheel drive car ( Save for the very first Corvette, powered by the Blue Flame Inline 6. ) That’s what a Corvette is, and Chevy would be foolish to stray from the path. According to the AutoExtremist, there’s a lot of debate inside GM right now about the Corvette C7. Seems some folks think it’s time for the Corvette to move the engine back a few feet, and go with a mid-engine design instead of the current front engine. A mid-engine design would improve handling, for sure. So what’s the problem?
Cost. A mid-engine Corvette would cost significantly more than a front engine Vette. Like lots more. Maybe 6 figures. No longer would the Vette be the best bang-for-the-buck sports car around. Because of this, some GM execs are thinking about a limited production only mid-engine Vette. Me? Sure, go ahead and make a mid-engine GM car. But don’t call it a Vette, cuz it’s not.
A $120,000 Corvette takes it out of the hands of most people - and makes it lose the “affordable supercar” moniker that has made it so successful. Lots of folks can drop fifty grand on a car, but only a fraction can drop 6 figures.
The Corvette handles beautifully for being a front engine, RWD car. The Corvette improves greatly with each and every generation - look at the C6 vs the C5, or even the C4 ( wow ). The advances are huge, without changing the core formula.