Fun with the C8 Builder: Specing a $109,000 2020 Corvette

While the C8 Corvette starts at a reasonable price, things can quickly get out of hand when building yourself your ideal example. 

Chevrolet and everyone else continues to flaunt the fact that the 2020 C8 Corvette starts at an incredibly reasonable MSRP of just $59,995. However, with countless options available, the price of your Corvette can quickly go north of the $100,000 mark. In fact, our fully-kitted C8 Corvette, as pictured above, is a remarkable $109,150. That is a pretty far cry from the original MSRP, so let’s take a quick walkthrough building yourself your dream C8 Corvette.

Since Chevy released the 2020 Corvette builder, we have been playing with it a fair bit. The first and foremost price different is dictated by whether you want a coupe or convertible. Simply going convertible adds $7,500 to the price tag and starts you at $67,495. While we did spec our crazy-expensive example as a convertible, many prefer the coupe. This is just the beginning, though, as the expensive choices are soon to come.

Trim Levels

Quite simply put, you want the 3LT trim. Yes, we are well aware that just bumping to the 3LT trim adds $11,950 to the total, but for good reason. Many C7 owners have expressed regret in going with the 2LT package after experiencing a 3LT car. Overall, it makes the car a ton more livable. Though, if you don’t know the differences between the trim levels, we’ll break it down for you a tad.

The 3LT, or top trim level, features a much nicer interior overall. It includes the use of top-notch leather-wrapped interior components that the lower trims do not. The 2LT and 3LT both come standard with the premium infotainment system, which consists of both front and rear HD cameras. Additionally, only the 2LT and 3LT models come with the iconic Corvette head-up display. The 3LT also has available interior options that the other two do not. There is a whole lot to break down, and Chevy allows you to compare the trims head to head with their trim table.  There are certain times the old sentiment “you get what you pay for” should really be paid attention too. This is undoubtedly one of them. If you plan on spending a lot of time in your C8, the 3LT trim is the way to go.

The Toughest Choice: Exterior Options

Here is the hardest of the decision to make. Do you want to stand out in a crowd, or are you more stealth about things? Picking the wrong color means literally seeing it and thinking about it every single day. Chevy certainly doesn’t make it easy, as they have enough color options for the C8 to leave you full of regret when yours arrives if you even for a moment second-guess your choice.

While there are a vast number of standard-range colors, Chevy does also offer four premium color upgrades. Accelerate Yellow Metallic, and Rapid Blue are both premiums with a price tag of $500. Furthermore, Long Beach Red Metallic Tintcoat (which was our choice for our overpriced example) and Sebring Orange Tintcoat both will cost you a cool $995. Toss another $995 on there if you’d like any of the various racing stripe options.

On top of color choices, there’s an insane amount of options available, as well. Everything from black-painted wheel upgrades, wheel locks, car covers, and even a high-rise wing option can ruthlessly rack up the charges. The most damaging of them being the carbon fiber ground effects and dual roof options. When added together, they toss an additional $8,345 onto your price tag. We’ll let you decide if it’s worth it for that visible carbon goodness.

Interior Choices Galore

The available options for the interior are a lot more plentiful than one might think. You know what that means: spending more money! The most expensive options you’ll find here are the carbon fiber trim option for $1,500, which is only available on 2LT and 3LT trims. If you want that fantastic feeling suede steering wheel, that’ll cost you another $595. Colored seatbelts will cost you $395, and upgrading to competition sport bucket seats is another $500. It seems, then, that every aspect of the C8 all0ws you to spend a lot more money than you anticipated.

The in-depth details you can get into with the interior are pretty remarkable. You can customize everything from stitching color, seat inserts, and steering wheel material down to having a custom made plaque with your name and the Corvette Museum logo on it. This, again, offers you plenty of chances for regretful decision making, so we’ll urge you to choose wisely once again.

Are You Over Budget Yet?

Other must-have options on our list are the front-end lift with height memory and of course, the Z51 performance package. With the Z51 package comes improved brakes, exhaust and electronic limited-slip differential, better handling suspension, and a more performance-oriented gear ratio. It’s hard for us to consider buying one without this package.

Other available options are the $1,000 engine appearance package that adds LED lighting to your engine bay, as well as carbon fiber surrounding the engine. It may be a bit on the vanity side of things, but it’s cool nonetheless.

Overall, it’s safe to assume your ideal C8 Corvette will be upwards of $80,000 with options. This is where Chevy is going to make all their money since they’re reporting that each Corvette sold at the base MSRP will result in a $20,000 loss. Though, despite the higher than expected prices, we still genuinely think the C8 is well worth the money.

How would you build your C8? Post your builds on our Facebook page or in the forums.

Photos: Chevy

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