C8 Corvette vs Porsche 911: America’s Sports Car Battles a German Icon in Britain

Despite costing as much as a Porsche 911 with a few extra options in England, C8 Corvette more than worthy of a few wallets.

It’s a bit of an understatement to say the C8 generation Corvette is a stunning sports car. Especially when one considers its $60,000 base MSRP. Even at $85,000 as tested for a 2LT Z51 Convertible, it’s a performance bargain. But is it worth importing into England? Autocar‘s Matt Prior recently asked such a question while pitting a red C8 Corvette against a ride from across the Channel, the Porsche 911.

“This is the new, eighth-generation C8 Corvette Stingray,” said Prior. “It is not yet officially available in the U.K., and this is not, as you may have noticed, sunny North America. Instead, you can get one through an importer in the U.K. called Clive Sutton, who does a lot of Mustangs and other American imports. The question is: should you buy one?”

Prior commends the Corvette engineers for building such a car like the C8 Corvette. The interior, in particular, receives praise for being up there with European interiors; Prior says he feels American cars overall are “sort of half a generation behind the best stuff that Europe has to offer.”

“In its home market, where you can buy a base one for less than a Porsche Cayman, it’s a real bargain,” Prior said. “When it comes to the U.K., it’s not quite as straightforward. General Motors said it was gonna sell this car in right-hand drive, announced pricing of something like [$109,320 to $120,252], but has gone mysteriously quiet on it. And if it does arrive in right-hand drive […] it will be towards the end of [2021].”

Thus, the only way right now to bring a C8 Corvette to the U.K. is through an importer. However, it will cost quite a bit for British ‘Vette fans. Aside from whatever options they choose, they’ll also have to tack on import fees, taxes all around, and testing. Alas, the resulting price tag is nearly $180,000. Per Prior, that’s “911 plus some options sort of money.”

“[The Porsche 911 is] such a great car,” said Prior. “It’s such a great GT sports coupe track car […] Is it, however, preferable to the Corvette? I think they do the same thing in slightly different ways. That Corvette engine is really got loads of character, and its intrinsic character on a circuit, certainly, is really playful, really willing.”

In the end, the C8 Corvette is in a draw with the 911 on driving fun. Thus, it comes down to whether British customers want to spend $180,000 on a turbo flat-six icon from Germany, or a naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8 in the middle of an American icon.

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