Corvette Grand Sport: Watch its ‘Best Driver’s Car’ Hot Lap

Heritage-inspired C7 variant takes 7th place on Motor Trend’s Best Driver’s Car list.

The 2017 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport has earned another nice accolade in the competitive world of performance cars. Among 12 finalists, the popular heritage-inspired C7 has been crowned with a 7th place honor on Motor Trend’s highly-coveted Best Driver’s Car list.

Sure, the Grand Sport didn’t actually ride off with the top ranking when matched against what Motor Trend considers some of the best performers to take the road in 2017. But it’s still a very commendable finish, considering that it edged out the Nissan GT-R Nismo, McLaren 570GT, Mazda MX-5 Miata RF Club, and the $200,000-plus Aston Martin DB11. Not to mention the dozen or so high performance vehicles to debut this year that weren’t even considered by Motor Trend.

To put it more simply, the mere fact that the Grand Sport even made it to the finals says a lot about its appeal as a $65,450 sports car contending against some vehicles nearly three times its price.

That said, it seems that earning the top spot on the list requires a beast of a different nature.

The Motor Trend Best Driver’s Car honors pits some of the hottest performance vehicles of the year in a series of grueling tests for one sole purpose: “Identify the best new car for the passionate driver,” as noted by the trusted automotive source. The rigorous evaluation process includes everything from a closed road hill climb on a 4.5-mile stretch of California State Route 198, to testing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with champion race car driver Randy Pobst at the wheel.

So, why didn’t the Grand Sport score higher on the list? Well, Motor Trend cites a number of factors, the most notable tied to the hill climb portion of the testing. The areas of concern include not enough power when going uphill, a short third gear, and a long fourth gear that required too much upshifting and downshifting for the corners on the open road test route.

What was the Grand’s Sport’s most appealing quality in the test when compared to the other contenders? How insanely responsive and quick the C7 variant is, says Motor Trend’s Ed Loh. “Steering, camber, caster are all dialed in—the car corners so flat and fast—just off center; that’s what brings the smiles.”

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