GM’s thundering aluminum-block, 6.2-liter LT1 V-8 is the heart of the C7 series. While it roars like a like a NASCAR lion stocker with the performance exhaust package, this latest small-block is clever, too, with direct fuel injection, variable valve timing, and cylinder deactivation, its smartly efficient too.

The Stingray’s sleek profile and steep gearing, can average 21 mpg overall and regularly travels more than 30 highway miles on a gallon of premium, winning the Corvette adept road-trip companion accolades and with ample leg room and freshly redesigned lateral support in the seats, you sit in the cockpit of this rocket and think to yourself, “this is not my father’s 1952 Corvette.”

Rated at 460 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque, the big LT1 smoothly chugs away and can leave your stomach in knots hurtling you from idle to its blistering 6600-rpm redline.