Chevy's 2020 Corvette Will Get 27 MPG on the Highway

• The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette is good for EPA fuel economy of 15 mpg city and 27 mpg highway, Chevrolet said today at the start of the Rolex 24 at Daytona race weekend.
• That beats the outgoing 2019 front-engine C7 Corvette, which was rated at 15/25 mpg.
• Car and Driver‘s 75-mph highway fuel-economy test on the 2020 Corvette Z51 model yielded a result of 26 mpg on the highway.

As Chevrolet’s C8.R race car debuts this weekend at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Chevy team has revealed the EPA fuel-economy numbers for the 2020 Corvette. The upcoming mid-engine car, they said, will get 15 mpg in the city and 27 on the highway, which compares favorably against competitors including the 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera S and its own C7 predecessor.

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The outgoing 2019 Corvette C7, equipped with an automatic transmission, was EPA rated at 15 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the highway, so the C8 Corvette shines more brightly compared to its predecessor in highway driving even though it weighs significantly more. It’s also got pretty impressive range; Chevrolet points out it’ll do 490 miles on a single tank of gas in highway driving.

If compared to its primary competitor, the current Porsche 911, the 2020 Corvette doesn’t stack up quite as favorably in town but is close in highway driving. The new 911 is rated at 20 mpg city and 26 mpg on the highway. Meanwhile, the C8 outdoes the more expensive McLaren 720S on the highway, which is EPA rated at 22 mpg on the highway.

Equipped with a mid-mounted 6.2-liter V-8, the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray launched from zero to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds in our testing and can reach speeds of 184 mph. Part of the explanation for the new Vette’s parsimonious fuel usage is cylinder deactivation. When subjected to low load scenarios, such as highway cruising, the 6.2-liter V-8 morphs into a V-4 by shutting down the valve operation in the two banks.

Fuel economy, of course, is not the first thing a Corvette driver is looking for, but it helps.