If you found the Chevrolet Corvette’s transition from a traditional front-engined RWD sports car into a mid-engined supercar-lite traumatic, then you had better stop reading now, because the further change presented by the E-Ray may just break you all together…
Click here to read our Chevrolet Corvette Stingray full review.
The E-Ray represents a pivotal moment for the Corvette, achieving several major firsts: it is the first-ever all-wheel drive Corvette, as well as being the quickest ever production Corvette. Or, at least it was, until the feral C8 ZR1 came along.
But it remains the single fastest Corvette in the local line up, as it is even quicker than the mighty Z06 and its brutal 5.5-litre high-revving flat-plane V8, cracking through the 100km/h barrier in a startling 2.9 seconds, compared to the Z06's 3.0 seconds.
The E-Ray achieves this brutal speed by combining the standard Stingray’s 369kW/637Nm 6.2-litre V8 engine with an electric motor, but not in the way you might expect - while the V8 powertrain remains the same, with the mid-mounted engine driving the rear wheels via an 8-speed transmission, GM has popped an electric motor onto the front axle, paired with a small battery, which not only makes it a hybrid, but is also is what makes it all-wheel drive.
This hybrid system results in a monstrous combined power output of 488kW and 806Nm, and it is, of course, savagely fast and actually feels slightly quicker than that claim of 2.9 seconds to 100km/h.
Pairing nicely with the savage acceleration is a superb soundtrack, that has the delicious V8 bellow joined by a supercharger-like scream from the electric motor that is admittedly artificially piped into the cabin, but still sounds remarkably cool and science-fiction-y, like a spaceship.
So, yes, the E-Ray is brutally fast, but it costs a colossal amount of money too - $285,000 to be exact.
You can give it an absolute bootful, and while the rear end will get lively and excited, the front is always there to pull it faithfully around.
It is, however, a hell of a lot of car for that money. General Motors labels the E-Ray not as a traditional hybrid or an electric vehicle, but as a fuel-efficient performance vehicle with electrified propulsion that doesn't need charging. I mean, semantics.
It uses a 1.9 kWh battery tucked longitudinally along the length of the car between the seats, and while GM claims fuel efficiency, I wouldn't be buying this expecting it to be frugal. Although the claimed combined average is 12.8L/100km (compared to the Stingray's 15.1L/100 km), we were seeing around 14 to 15 litres during our time with it. That said, like all large American V8s, it does have a four-cylinder mode that allows it to trickle along at low revs and be surprisingly economical. On the motorway, you can easily get it down into the single digits just rolling gently along at 100km/h.
What sets the E-Ray apart is its sheer usability - it’s considerably more comfortable and engaging than the Z06, even when you’re pushing it hard. Because the electric motor powers the front and the V8 powers the back without any mechanical connection between the systems, it provides true four-wheel drive, but with a fun RWD overlay.
You can give it an absolute bootful, and while the rear end will get lively and excited, the front is always there to pull it faithfully around. This makes it very confidence inspiring, even when you’re being quite silly with the rear end. And you will, because you can - the E-Ray is deeply forgiving and predictable on a winding road, with a superbly confident feel that encourages you to go around the next corner just a bit harder every time.
The huge amounts of mechanical grip from the well-sorted chassis and enormous tyres is evident, and the turn-in is remarkable thanks to the electric motor on the front axle pulling the nose beautifully through the corners. Fortunately, the carbon ceramic brakes are absolutely stunning as well. They need a bit of temperature in them, but when you slam on them, they will absolutely haul the car in from whatever speed you are doing.
As far as I’m concerned, the E-Ray is the pick of the Corvette range because it just does everything better than the others, but my final recommendation would be to wait for the new interior, which is on its way.
Despite all of this track-ready performance, the E-Ray - unlike the uncompromising Z06 - is also a very easy car to use as a daily driver. Pop it into comfort mode and it happily burbles along at urban speeds, with a genuinely impressive ride.
What it won’t do, however, is glide along silently on electric power only. GM makes a big deal about the E-Ray’s “Stealth Mode”, meant for quiet, low-speed, electric-only manoeuvres. But it simply doesn’t work very well at all. Or, at least, it didn't for us.
You have to select stealth mode before you start the car, and it will often simply say it can’t function for unspecified reasons that only it knows. Then when it does actually agree to work, if you even so much as look at the throttle on anything more than a dead flat surface, the V8 explodes into life. It's a strangely implemented system for a function that other hybrids execute quite easily.
There are a few quality of life issues, too, albeit the same ones evident in every Corvette. It is a very wide, very low car, and the conventional doors are utterly enormous and incredibly thick thanks to the huge intakes just behind them. This means getting in and out in tight parking spots is something of a challenge, and it’s entirely possible to pull into a parking space and then find you can’t actually open the door far enough to exit the car.
The E-Ray we drove was an MY25 model that didn't have the MY26 car's new interior, so it still has that notorious weird strip of buttons running down the centre between the driver and passenger. While I always thought it looks cool, it is awkward, annoying, and unintuitive; you spend far too much time looking away from the road trying to find what you want.
Despite these quirks, the Corvette is still superbly comfortable and easy to get in and out of, even with the wide sills, and it has a surprisingly useful "frunk". It is genuinely a sensational-looking, ferociously fast car that is thoroughly usable as a daily driver.
If you want supercar looks and supercar speed for Porsche 911 Carrera money, this is the one to buy. As far as I’m concerned, the E-Ray is the pick of the Corvette range because it just does everything better than the others, but my final recommendation would be to wait for the new interior, which is on its way.
