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The 2027 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport X features a cheat code. Not long ago, such an unfair advantage might have been a supercharger or a street racer’s nitrous bottle. Today, it’s hybrid electricity and helpful algorithms, a global supercar trend that’s boosting Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches, and McLarens to four-digit-crazy levels of horsepower.
This electrified arms race has also gifted us a relatively affordable American alternative: the hybrid Corvette ZR1X, whose 1,250 horsepower is helping it set serial course records for production cars, most recently on a gut-check dash up Pikes Peak.
A Grand Plan
The 2027 Corvette Grand Sport X—a car Chevy engineers coo over as the “Baby ZR1X”—takes critical lessons from its muscle-bound daddy. Mainly, it borrows the ZR1X’s electrified front axle, with largely identical parts numbers and the same 186 horsepower and 145 lb-ft of torque. But since $227,395 is a lot of money for a Corvette, even one that goes 233 mph, the inaugural Grand Sport X balances a still-crushing 721 horsepower with a $112,195 base price. A convertible Grand Sport X costs $7,000 more.
As with the ZR1X, the hybrid Grand Sport is electric business up front and a gasoline party in back, with no physical link between the axles. On the rollicking curves of Atlanta Motorsports Park, the car proves to be a similar point-and-shoot specialist. Mash its standard carbon-fiber brakes—another family item, here from the Z06—as hard as you like, whether to the threshold of ABS engagement or beyond. Then jump back onto throttle earlier than experience or common sense might suggest. The front wheels palpably yank the GSX out of corners. That in turn unburdens the rears to lay down their own prodigious force, with less worries over the back end getting squirrely.
An Electric Experience
In its Endurance (also known as Charge +) mode, the Grand Sport X meters electricity to ensure a consistent jolt of all-wheel-drive power and handling support over a full tank of fuel. Here, a push-to-pass function is required to unleash every joule and electron of combined force. Properly applying that left-hand steering-wheel toggle, which also functions as a cruise control speed setting, proved awkward on the racetrack. But once accomplished, the X bursts from corners like an electrified bullet train. Its beefed-up electric motor fills any gaps in internal combustion output, including an unbroken stream of power during upshifts.
Chevy cites an automated launch to 60 mph of 2.4 seconds, and a quarter-mile run in a blistering 10.4 seconds at 131 mph. Both figures are 0.1 second quicker than a Corvette E-Ray, the 670-hp hybrid the Grand Sport X replaces. Compared with most rear-drive ’Vettes, those launches are quicker yet undramatic, the Grand Sport X pausing for a beat before its four tires hook up and hammer occupants into body-hugging seats. As with all new Corvettes, launch control is much easier to access via a new auxiliary screen and hard toggles just left of the steering wheel.
In a Corvette cereal aisle that’s beginning to resemble Porsche’s for sheer, sugary variety, the Grand Sport X will leave many Corvette fans perusing the ingredients list: Is this 721-hp AWD Corvette worth a $23,700 upcharge versus a rear-drive, 535-hp Grand Sport? It’s quite the jump from an $88,495 Grand Sport to a $112,195 GSX. In the newly booming category of six-figure Corvettes, my own heart still belongs to the 650-hp Z06, racing in time with its 8,100-rpm, flat-crankshaft V-8. That Z06 costs $9,200 more than the electrified Grand Sport, at $121,395.
Still, it’s easy to understand why someone will go for an AWD Corvette. Especially one with the hips-don’t-lie style of a Z06 and its 3.5-inch-wider rear track. As Corvette engineers note, that brainy, balanced AWD will help many drivers go faster with less white-knuckling near the limit. If you’re spooked, you’re not going fast.
More Context
On an earlier Grand Sport X drive in New York’s mountainous Catskills region, the car scooted through a steady downpour with confidence-boosting ease. Seeing how much grip was available, I picked up the pace. Suddenly, the Corvette was dancing in the rain like a jacked Gene Kelly. You won’t dare do that in a rear-drive Corvette, let alone one with 721 horses.
Corvette engineers say the hybrid, shod with Michelin winter tires, set new General Motors records for longitudinal acceleration in the snow. Sure, many Corvette weekenders avoid a sprinkle of rain, let alone snow. But for iconoclastic types—or drivers who get caught in unexpected conditions—this is one Corvette that doesn’t need to be babied or tucked under a cover at the first hint of bad weather. Could a lifted rally version be next?
For my test car, standard 10-spoke forged aluminum wheels kept summer in mind with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires, including enormous 345/25/ZR21s below flared rear fenders.
Versus the E-Ray, the Grand Sport X squeezes more usable juice from a 1.9-kWh battery nestled into its center spine. That tiny battery works a bit like a capacitor, sponging up regenerative electricity and spitting it back out in rapid bursts. But the Grand Sport is a totally different animal than the E-Ray.
That story begins with the new LS6 V-8. Its nostalgic 409-cubic-inch displacement number is cast on its aluminum case, versus metric measures on most any modern GM engine. The 6.7-liter LS6 generates 535 hp and 520 lb-ft of torque.
In total, the gas-electric tag team generates 721 horses and 655 lb-ft. That easily bests the 690 hp and 531 lb-ft of a McLaren Artura, a hybrid that starts at around $260,000. What the Grand Sport can’t do is steer as well as the Artura, or match the pace, precision, and driver engagement of a hybrid Ferrari 296 GTB or 296 Speciale, or a Lamborghini Temerario. A chunky 3,800-pound curb weight for the Grand Sport X coupe doesn’t help (3,899 for the convertible). But then again, the Grand Sport X costs a fraction of those hybrid supercars’ prices.
The powertrain also generates 16 percent more low-end torque than the E-Ray. That’s abetted by a shorter 5:56:1 final drive ratio, standard on all Grand Sports, and a trusty eight-speed, paddle-shifted automated gearbox. Ultra-short gearing takes getting used to, despite a reasonable 6,600-rpm redline. An upshift to third gear arrives around 57 mph, fourth gear by about 75 mph. But there’s no arguing the propulsive results.
Take a (Fast) Drive
Corvette engineers say the E-Ray was largely developed on streets as a versatile grand touring sports car. For the Grand Sport X, track performance guided every aspect of development. Their goal was to make the car feel less docile and more edgy. When those passionate engineers disagreed on tuning metrics, every tiebreaker went to the track. That encompassed tuning for a MagneRide suspension, the Corvette’s brilliant electronic limited-slip differential, and six Performance Traction Management settings.
On forested roads near Atlanta Motorsports Park, the X indeed feels poised and ready to pounce. There’s seemingly unlimited ability to tighten a cornering line. Yet driven back to back, the burly Grand Sport X didn’t feel as sprightly and tossable as a lighter, rear-drive Grand Sport or a Stingray with a Z51 package.
For any 2027 Corvette, team engineers lavished attention on a gotta-have feature: A $1,995 center-exit quad exhaust plays up the V-8’s most pleasing frequencies, often at Marshall-stack levels of thunder and aggression. Press the GSX’s shiny “start” button, and the V-8 springs to life with a feral bark. The LS6 settles into a loping, baritone idle that’s like a time warp to Detroit’s Woodward Avenue in the ’60s.
The electric motor plays its own whirring part, including a metallic overlay of selected frequencies amplified through the audio system. Traditionalists probably won’t like that bit. But the sound, which recalls a whining supercharger, does offer somatic clues to its electric contributions (and your relative pace) without you having to glance down at driver displays. The adjustable exhaust includes a hushed Stealth mode to keep peace with the neighbors.
Like the ZR1X, the GSX adopts well-developed hybrid performance strategies. A Qualifying mode preps this car for the fastest possible lap time.
On the street, selecting Charge+ mode recharges the battery to 100 percent over 5 miles or less of driving, using surplus gasoline power to generate electricity through the motor. And it’s also virtually impossible to run the battery below 50 percent on public roads, no matter how hard you push.
The GSX may be a hybrid, but it’s no Toyota Prius. Electricity here is fully in service of speed. Romps on Georgia roads found the GSX slurping premium unleaded at 11 or 12 mpg. During my previous four-day drive in New York and New England, the Corvette peaked at 23 mpg on a mellow highway cruise, 1 mpg below its EPA rating, and settled in around 15 mpg.
Like a standard Grand Sport, the X comes with a touring suspension and Michelin all-season tires. A $500 Performance upgrade adds Michelin Pilot Sport 4S summer tires and a lightly retuned magnetic suspension to account for added grip.
Even with that upgrade at Atlanta Motorsports, a rear-drive Grand Sport I drove beat my X lap times by about two seconds—despite a 186-hp handicap versus its AWD sibling. Other journalists reported similar results. This was largely due to the standard Grand Sport’s sticky Michelin Pilot Cup 2 R tires. And that’s part of a $20,650 Track Performance package that isn’t offered, at least for now, on the GSX. (This technical track also doesn’t have much in the way of straightaways, which prevented the GSX from pressing its power advantage).
Dollars and Sense
My 2027 Chevy Corvette Grand Sport X convertible test car featured glowering Pitch Gray Metallic paint with signature Grand Sport hash marks in Admiral Blue—strictly on the rear fenders for 2027 models. A $2,995 front-end lift kit is another smart upgrade, to avoid scraping the chin on every steep driveway. My tester’s flashy Santorini Blue interior isn’t to everyone’s taste, but buyers can choose from nearly 30 combinations of interior colors and trims.
A GSX 1LT coupe starts at $112,195. The feature-heavy GSX 3LT coupe I tested started at $122,845, and added options lifted that to $140,080. A second GSX convertible I drove reached $145,050.
For fans accustomed to Grand Sports being the easy choice for Corvette value, a model that can top $140,000 may create cognitive dissonance. A debatable Chevrolet marketing and positioning strategy helps explain a $23,700 price jump from a Grand Sport: The GSX adopts standard carbon-ceramic brakes from the Z06. They’re low-maintenance and powerful yet pricey, with GM once charging up to $9,000 for them as a standalone feature. Asked about the decision, Corvette engineers say they wanted a brake package to counter the GSX’s massive horsepower, minus the noise and unsightly dust of some iron brakes. Left unsaid was whether the carbon brakes help plump profit margins on a relatively low-volume Corvette or intentionally move the GSX into a higher price bracket.
Yet making those stoppers optional might allow a GSX to start at, say, $103,000, instead of roughly $112,000. If you’ll excuse the understatement, some Corvette loyalists remain ambivalent about electrification. If Chevrolet and GM really want to lure people into electrified models—including performance cars like the Corvette—keeping the Grand Sport X within reach might convince more folks to give it a try. After a few easy stoplight wins, or other tastes of all-wheel advantages, they’ll definitely tell their friends.
2027 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport X Specifications | |
BASE PRICE | $112,195 |
LAYOUT | Mid-engine, AWD, 2-pass, 2-door coupe or convertible |
ENGINE | 6.7-liter/535-hp/520-lb-ft OHV 16-valve V-8; 186-hp/145-lb-ft permanent-magnet AC motor, 721 hp comb |
TRANSMISSION | 8-speed dual-clutch automatic |
CURB WEIGHT | 3,899 lb (mfr) |
WHEELBASE | 107.2 in |
L x W x H | 184.6 x 79.7 x 48.6 in |
0-60 MPH | 2.4 sec (mfr est) |
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON | 15/24/18 mpg |
EPA RANGE, COMB | 330 miles |
ON SALE | Now |
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