GM Tech Takes Customer’s C8 on 100 MPH ‘Joyride,’ but Was It Justified?

The owner of this C8 was upset at what he found on the car’s Performance Data Recorder, but should he be?

One of the biggest fears auto enthusiasts have is letting someone else drive their car, especially a stranger. These are our babies, after all, and the last thing we want to see is some reckless idiot destroy them. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen in the past, even a small handful of dealership technicians tend to abuse cars like the C8 Corvette, and that’s precisely what YouTuber Jaysmizle claims happened to his own car recently.

Thanks to the C8’s Performance Data Recorder, he also has video footage to back up that claim, however. As we can see in this video, the PDR captures the technician driving down a road with a 55 mile-per-hour speed limit at around 75 mph before topping out at 104 mph at one point. Granted, this isn’t some foot-to-the-floor acceleration test, but rather, a leisurely, 4,500 rpm climb to that speed. Regardless, the tech is blatantly speeding, if nothing else.

“I work hard for the things I have,” our host says. “I saved up a long time for this. What I saw in the video is pretty upsetting. I get that it’s just a car, but it’s pretty upsetting when somebody else has a blatant disregard for what you worked really hard for.”

The test drive wound up lasting a total of 15.7 miles, which is what motivated Jasmizle to take a look at the video in the first place. He was obviously upset at what he found, which is totally understandable. The question is, were the tech’s actions justified? First, we must consider what the C8 was in the shop for in the first place to come up with an answer to that one.

Jasmizle has had a few issues with his beloved Corvette, including a speedometer that stopped working and a glitch in the infotainment system. These electrical gremlins have since been fixed, but the service ticket, in this case, indicated that there was a problem with the power steering and rear axle. As many folks in the comments section pointed out, the tech appeared to be trying to bring the rear diff up to temp and then drive at some sort of significant speed to see if it would throw a code again.

Thus, it’s hard to say if this can be called a careless joyride or not. If the tech had been launching the car and driving recklessly, it would be a different story. But at the same time, driving nearly double the speed limit and talking to your buddy about a coworker in a disparaging way the whole time isn’t exactly professional, either.

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