The moment that many, if not all, Corvette C8 enthusiasts, and the entire Corvette community as a whole, have been waiting for is finally here. The all-new 2023 Corvette C8 Z06 has had its review embargo lifted, and to say that there are a few videos coming out is like saying there’s a lot of water behind the Hoover Dam.
So, to bring everything together in one place for your viewing pleasure, here is our roundup of all the first reviews that we found from the important review channels!
Savage Geese
What we really love about this review is that Savage Geese gets it. After the briefest of introductions, at the 1 minute 23 second mark, there is a part of the video that is quite literally labelled “For The Fans.” No music except for a few beauty shots of the Z06. No voiceover. Raw sound and video. It ends at 3 minutes in, and as you may see, the review is nearly a full hour long. We put this review at the top because Savage Geese was able to spend quite a bit of time with the team behind the C8 Z06 and has a half-hour documentary about how it came to be before he actually gets to the review. That documentary, by the way, is well worth watching!
Throttle House
Two Canadians go to the USA to review America’s first real 21st Century super-affordable supercar. Not a lot of “Sorry” in here, just a ton of enthusiasm and quirky Canadian humor to make this a fun review to watch if you have 20 minutes to spare.
The Straight Pipes
The Straight Pipes is a channel that focuses more on the aesthetics of driving more so than many other channels. How the car sounds, how it feels turning into a corner at speed, how the tires bite and slip with variations on the right foot. Because of this, throughout the review there are several absolutely glorious exhaust and engine recordings that they move all the way to the top of the audio mix. They also use extremely high quality stereo microphones, so if you want to hear just how much like a race car the C8 Z06 sounds like, just click to 10 minutes 25 seconds for launch control, and 19 minutes dead on in the review to hear the single best cabin recording in this entire roundup.
Raiti’s Rides
We here at CorvSport, as detail obsessed as many of you out there are, love Raiti’s videos. The reason is that he goes through literally every nook, cranny, panel, hidden compartment, and even reviews the quality of the indicator stalk. His enthusiasm definitely shines through in this review, and he takes the time to make sure every detail is covered before taking the car for a few laps around a track at about 20 minutes in. Yes, he goes over the details of the car for 20 minutes, and not a single second of it is boring!
Speed Phenom
What is special about Speed Phenom’s review is that he is testing a Z06 with the Z07 Track Pack installed. The scream of the flat plane crank, the pops and bangs on the overrun and shifts, and the raw handling of the car, which is absolutely refusing to lose grip, impresses the most. Also, he uses very high quality microphones for his review, so if you want some glorious engine and exhaust sounds, there are quite a few moments in this video such as just after 3 minutes when all you hear resembles the C8.R’s amazing howl as if it had been transplanted from Le Mans to this review.
There are some of those out there that despite all the videos, maybe can’t listen to them or view them where they are, so we thought we’d also post a couple of the written reviews of the car from well known and respected sites
MotorTrend – Written Review
MotorTrend’s first impressions review of the new 2023 Corvette C8 Z06 Convertible
With MotorTrend’s well known concise writing style, Scott Evans breaks down the most important parts of the Z06. Also of note is that he was able to test the convertible version of the C8 Z06, so he can give you insight into both the good and the bad of what drop-top supercar.
Road & Track – Written Review
Road & Track Review of the Corvette C8 Z06
Road & Track’s review focuses on exactly what their name spells out: How the car drives and feels on the road and on the track. Travis Okulski makes many mentions of names such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche, and as you read through, it becomes apparent why. We don’t want to ruin the surprise of his final thoughts, but let’s just say that he really didn’t want to have to hand the keys back to GM/Chevrolet after his allotted time with the car was up!
