The 2020 Corvette C8 is billed as a highly practical everyday supercar, but it’s no small order merging practicality with world-beating performance. That said, the new mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette makes it happen thanks to a number of interesting features, including easy access to the two onboard storage areas. As such, we’re taking a moment to examine the soft-close trunk feature and one-touch frunk opener.
For starters, let’s look at the hatch lid – which covers both the rear storage area (trunk) and the engine bay. Owners can open the piece via a release button on the key fob or a button inside the C8.
Thanks to a power latch feature, owners can secure the hatch lid by not slamming it down, but simply by letting it drop. Basically, this works to snug the hatch down without using excessive force, but rather by lowering the rear hatch lid down until the power latch feature activates. In other words, owners don’t need to slam the rear hatch shut to get it to close properly, which is easier on both the car and the owner.
It’s a nice feature, but it isn’t new to the 2020 Corvette. In fact, a similar feature was introduced on the Chevrolet Corvette C7.
Up next is the front trunk, also known as the “frunk”. One can access this front storage area in a few different ways. First, there is a button on the C8’s key fob to open the frunk on demand, as well as inside the car. Alternatively, frunk access is possible through a button located outside the vehicle. The button can be found above the left air intake in the front bumper.
Thanks to the standard keyless access feature, owners can simply press this button without taking the key fob out of their pocket or purse to gain access to the storage area.
For reference, the 2020 Corvette Coupe offers a total of 12.6 cubic-feet of cargo room, which is 2.4-cubic-feet less compared to the previous front-engined Chevrolet Corvette C7. That 12.6-cubic-feet figure is the sum of available space offered by both the rear storage space (behind the engine) and the front trunk (frunk).
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Comments
When people buy an exotic sports car, they don’t really think about whether the car has enough cargo space and while Chevrolet engineers have accomplished this; one still wonders whether their decision may have made the 2020 Chevrolet C8 Corvette bigger and heavier than it needs to be.
Well the Corvette group has 67 years of knowing how to target the segment they are in. They know what it takes to sell a limited use car in the sports car class in yearly numbers other brands take decades to sell yet keep people coming back.
Even the Miata struggles to match the volume.
#1 this is not an exotic. They will sell at least 40k units this year and that makes it a production sports car. If moving the engine to the back makes it an exotic then the Fiero was exotic as well the MR2 and Boxster.
This car is priced and reliable enough to drive daily. You can take a weekend trip. You can drive it to the country club etc. You could drive it for groceries but just don’t put the ice cream in back.
The added weight is minimal as most of it is empty space. The only negative is length.
I do expect as we get new models we will see more expensive lighter materials being used. The key to this base model was to still keep the Corvette base formula alive with an affordable, livable and affordable sports car you can afford new or at least a couple years used.
The rear tub is composite, it has some aluminum structure and even the bumper beam is carbon fiber.
I would like to see a short tail COPO track car done that eliminates the rear to just make a smaller car. It would cut a little weight. But I think it would make a neat limited edition model. I would not hold my breath as crash test would cost too much for what they sold unless it was track only.
In reality, I think the C8 has more, or at least the same, useable trunk/frunk space than our C7′ convertible.
If GM is counting as trunk space the 5″ space underneath the top forward of the main trunk
area, then I think the C8 wins overall.
Wife and I have determined the program already—- my luggage area is the frunk and her’s is the trunk.
Happy, Happy.
Your luggage in the frunk give you more crash cushioning than in a normal Corvette.
I was able to see the C8 at a Chevy dealer Corvette Launch demo in Colorado today (Sep-17). The frunk and truck are fairly roomy, but not as convenient as with the previous generations (e.g. the C8 storage is deep and the body panel could easily get scratched). Regardless – as a C6 owner and Corvette enthusiast, the space is just fine and more than I would have expected. I autocross my C6, and performance is more important than a ton storage. I have to say that GM did an excellent job on the C8 – the interior quality felt better than the C7 (except some of the steering wheel buttons were old-style Chevy/chintzy ). In my opinion, the jump in quality is similar to the upgrade from the C6 to the C7 – the C8 is that good. I believe not only will Corvette fans be very interested in buying (count me in), but I can see shoppers seriously considering the car over a broad set of competitors (Porsche, Audi, etc. should be nervous).