The Chevrolet Corvette Convertible is a great mid-engined vehicle that’s built to celebrate 70 years of fun in the sun. Its retractable hard top doesn’t detract from its performance.

While driving through the Mojave Desert in a Chevrolet Corvette convertible, we experienced some of the most extreme heat we’ve ever experienced. Even with the A/C and ventilation, we found it hard to enjoy top-down driving in the heat. Fortunately, with just a switch on the driver side door, we were able to escape the desert heat in just 16 seconds.

The convertible version of the Chevrolet Corvette is known for its near-instant access to the sun, which is why it’s the main draw for many people. However, it can be a bit challenging to remove and store the roof panel in the trunk.

The Chevrolet Corvette was first introduced as a convertible in 1953. The body style and appearance of the car have remained the same since then. While the previous generations of the car featured soft top designs, the eighth-generation model features a two-piece hard top that can easily fold over the engine bay.

The base price of the Chevrolet Corvette convertible in 2023 is $73,395. This is a significant increase from the previous year’s base 1LT model. The top-of-the-line 3LT model costs almost $100,000. This car was equipped with a variety of features, such as a performance exhaust system, a front nose-lift system, and forged aluminum wheels.

Although the price of the Chevrolet Corvette convertible isn’t cheap, it’s still an impressive buy compared to other models. For instance, if you’re looking for a more powerful car, the Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet costs around $145,000. With a 6.2-liter V-8 engine, the Chevrolet Corvette convertible will give you more power and performance.

What’s to like

When Chevrolet first introduced the convertible version of the Chevrolet Corvette, they promised that it wouldn’t weigh more than the standard C8 model. During our test, our test car only weighed 3,695 pounds.

The company’s efforts to reduce the weight of the C8 model paid off during our test. In our straight line test, the convertible reached a top speed of 60 mph in 3.3 seconds and reached a quarter-mile mark of 11.6 seconds. That’s similar to the results of our test car, which was a C8 coupe with the Z51 performance package.

Although we haven’t driven a new Porsche 911 Carrera S cabriolet yet, the coupe version reached 60 mph in 2.9 seconds and 11.8 seconds at 124.3 mph. The company noted that the Sport Chrono package, which was included with the car, shaves 0.2 second off the time of the coupe. Based on these numbers, the Chevrolet Corvette would be quicker by just a hair if it had the same performance.

What’s not to like

On our figure-eight course, Chris Walton, the road test editor, praised the car’s quick gearbox and strong engine, but he was disappointed by the lack of understeer. The culprit was the Michelin Pilot Sport all-season tires. Although the car was able to achieve a total of 0.96 g of lateral acceleration, it wasn’t as impressive as the performance tires of the C8 coupe.

Despite the soft top’s ability to keep the trunk space, the C8 coupe’s rear decklid was slightly raised to accommodate the folding top. This didn’t make the rearward visibility of the car much better, especially since it’s located at the rear. Although the C8 convertible’s hard side profile is similar to that of the coupe, it has a slightly higher deck at other angles.

So…

The hardtop version of the Chevrolet C8 is a dying breed in America, so it’s great that the company stuck with tradition and developed it with very few compromises.