Is The C8 Corvette Convertible Worth $7,500 Extra? First Drive & Impressions!

What's up guys, welcome back to the cost and technology of cars. I have a really amazing video for you today. Let's take a look at the 2020 Corvette Convertible. I want to say a big thank you to my friends Robert and Shannon in Atlanta for giving me the opportunity to

drive

the car and check it out for the afternoon so I can share my top takeaways and

impressions

with all of you. I think this video will be a big help to any of you who are on the fence trying to decide between coupe or

convertible

uh for me this is actually the fourth different C8

corvette

I've had the opportunity to

drive

so I'm really excited to Reflect on some of the differences and things I liked and didn't like about each specification, whether we're looking at the coupe or the

convertible

, as well as some of the different options that these different cars have been equipped with.

I'm very excited to talk about it with you now. I'll point out all the different

corvette

s I've driven for reviews. Aside from the different Corvettes I've personally owned, I've never driven a Corvette convertible, so that's interesting. I'm excited that this is the

first

Corvette convertible I've driven as it's the 2020 Corvette and we were looking at the hardtop convertible now versus the softtop convertible that was available with all the different previous generation Corvettes. I am very excited about the change made to the line. I think the hardtop is much more appealing to me personally than the softtop convertibles in the past.

Now, for those of you who aren't really familiar with the Corvette C8 hardtop convertible, I want to go over just a few of the specs to give you a quick summary of what you're looking at. It's a $7,500 option. The hardtop convertible definitely comes with a pretty hefty price tag over softtop convertibles in the past, but it only adds 77 pounds to the weight of the Corvette C8 you're looking at, a time of about 16 seconds to that raises the roof up or down very quickly there and it's also capable of doing it at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour while the car is moving, which is really convenient if you're driving the car, whether it starts raining or maybe The temperature has changed since morning. or going at night and wanting to put the top up or down, having the ability to do that while driving is huge and obviously one of the main advantages of going with the convertible, but there are also a lot of things that caught my attention.

I really didn't expect to see this video that I want to share with you because my biggest concern driving this car was I really hope that this car can impress me or show me why it's

worth

seven thousand five hundred dollars. Opting for the convertible option when most of us Corvette fans have known that the coupe comes with the ability to remove the target top for as long as you can remember. I was actually very surprised by my experience and have a totally different perspective than when I set out to make this video, I can't wait to go over some of those points with you, but the

first

thing I want to talk about is the look of the convertible.

Hardtop in person, obviously a mid-engined car looks exotic. For starters, but when you look at the design of the hardtop convertible, this puts it in a very small category of vehicles that you would see this design on and it definitely looks more like a supercar than even the coupe. the ferrari or lamborghini look and that rear or mclaren design, maybe again there is a very small group of cars that you will see on the road that have a mid-engined hardtop convertible design, so it really looks exotic and even more like a supercar than the c8 coupe.

I even found myself looking at the corvette viewer online and searching for my dream specs on a stingray convertible again. This car looks great in person to me. I would like to black out the a-pillars and The roof goes with the black nacelles at the rear, but the design looks so good it's a shame you can't see the engine, but I think I'll talk a little more about that later in the video . That's something I personally could get over when we talk about some of the other advantages of going with the convertible, but like I said with the blacked out roofline and the nacelles in the back, whether the top is up or down, I just think .

It looks really, really exotic, a really attractive car in person, especially now. One of the things that caught my attention that I wasn't expecting and that really impressed me is the different sound in the cabin when you're in the convertible versus the coupe, so the direct injection noise coming from the engine in the roost can be a little angry. You know you have the engine right behind your head and you can hear that ticking sound coming from the direct injection and that has been a factor. Previous generation corvettes I also mentioned that in a video where I talked about some of the things I didn't like about my c7 corvette and almost anyone who has driven a c7 or a c8 can experience the sound of direct injection.

A little loud, especially if you have the windows up, no music on, you hear a sort of ticking noise where the direct injection sprays the fuel into the engine and in the corvette c8 coupe because the engine is right behind you, it actually makes a noise. a little louder in the convertible, you know, the point I'm getting at here is that all the panels and components of the convertible top that sit above the engine bay actually mask that noise a little bit, so you surprisingly hear less ticking and In fact, we can hear the exhaust better because of the rear window in the convertible design.

You can lower it even with the top up for a better exhaust sound and less ticking or direct injection noise. For me, combined, it was a much better driving experience than the uh coop. Personally, I just enjoyed hearing more exhaust sound minus the direct injection noise, so it's something I want to pass on to any of you, considering that again if you haven't. I ever heard the noise, it's hard to translate into video, especially gopro audio. Now, speaking of noise, you know again, we talked about the exhaust sounding better with the rear window down, that's a big plus, but you also get better wind management when the top is down with the rear window and the convertible design i feel like with the c8 coupe because there is that barrier between the engine bay and the cabin when you have the target on top the wind hits that barrier and it's just a dead stop it creates this really loud sound almost like a windshield effect whiplash with wind noise, so it's a little bit louder and on the convertible, of course, that's addressed with the splitter there in the middle, that window that you can roll down and then the cells. around the outside edge giving you a little bit better design to cut through the wind rather than getting that whiplash or loud noise for you and your passenger with the top down, I'm really impressed by that, there are also a lot of convenience features with the convertible. faster operation the ability to operate the top while driving up to 30 miles per hour also has the ability to store more in the trunk when you have the top down when you have a ca corvette coupe you lose that rear storage when the top is stored there no It's a big factor, but if you're going on longer road trips and want to be able to raise and lower the top, it can definitely be a pretty big factor, so I can see it being a big plus for a potential convertible.

Owners also have the ability to operate the top from the key fob, so it's a really cool feature, whether they're trying to get the car ready for a cruise, maybe they're getting ready to leave work and want to put the top down. when If you discover it or if you want to show it to a friend or family member or someone at a car show, even if you lose the ability to see the engine bay by seeing this top in action going down, I mean, it makes the car look uniform. more like a transformer, I mean, it's really cool to see in person how the top actually works and slides all the different components in and out.

Now only time will tell if this mechanism will be reliable and hold up in the long term. test of time of the people who close and open it. I know normally convertibles are more prone to mechanical failure with the latches and roof again. We'll have to see how the Corvette C8 holds up to that over time, but for now I'm definitely impressed. how smooth the operation was, it wasn't very loud at all, everything seemed to work very well and smoothly all the different times I tried opening and closing it if you are thinking of going with a convertible but are worried about that

extra

7500, trying to Deciding how they would fit into your personal C8 Corvette budget, I will say that one of the main reasons I encourage people to go for the 2LT trim level on the C8 Corvette is because of the rear camera mirror. just because of the blind spots in the minion design of this car, where on the 1 liter convertible car you have the rear camera mirror, so that's a pretty big factor.

I know it may not seem like it, but for me personally it would be very tempting if I was constantly wanting to lower the roof over and over again to get some of these other benefits we've talked about to go with the 1lt convertible instead of a 2lt coupe, something to think about when you're looking at your budget and how you could potentially hope this car I mentioned that the engine bay is not visible on the convertible and I wanted to talk about road trips again. We talked about the ability to have

extra

storage even with the top down.

I also want to point out that the engine compartment in the chicken coop, due to the ventilation along the upper hatch, gets very dirty, so whether it is dust, pollen, road debris, salt water stains, there is a lot of garbage that can Get into the engine bay and really look a little messy if you're not the type who wants to clean the engine bay frequently or who doesn't really mind, you know, having to clean it after longer trips. I think the convertible presents a unique opportunity where you can't see the engine bay, but you also don't have to worry about cleaning it, so for those longer road trips you have less to worry about because the trash and debris comes back. there and are a big eyesore when you go to open the rear hatch or show someone the engine of your vehicle. the car, but anyway that's obviously just a small secondary point, not a major factor for me, although in conclusion I will say that I was really impressed with how smooth the car ran, everything sounded great inside, whether whether you had the hood up or down.

Again, I could definitely see the lack of direct injection noise and better exhaust note coming from the rear window, better handling of wind noise coming through the car's cabin, as well as the functionality and smoothness of the top Going up and down. In fact, in the future I will go with a convertible. My wife loves driving with the top down in all the different Corvettes I've owned, so I think she would love to go this route instead of going with the coupe, where it's a bit. More work involved and a little more time to cruise with the top down, but anyway, guys, I look forward to hearing her thoughts on this.

I'm very curious to know how many of you have a convertible on order or are thinking about one. Going convertible versus a coupe, of course they are really great cars, each of them can't go wrong with any of the options, but I felt that with the smaller number of convertibles out there and the limited amount of experience I have. I had it, I felt like it was really important to share some of this really cool stuff and stuff that I found in the car and there's even more that I can't really cover on video. You have to take my word for any of these sounds. aspects simply because the GoPro audio won't do it justice compared to what you're going to hear in person, but anyway, guys like I said, let me know your comments below.

I appreciate you watching the video. I look forward to speaking with you. In the comments I'll be happy to answer any questions I can about the car for you, but thanks so much for looking guys, we'll talk to you next time you have a big day.