The new 2014 Chevrolet Corvette’s amazing fuel economy comes at a cost

By John LeBlanc General Motors’ Chevrolet brand is proudly boasting that its new, seventh-generation 2014 Corvette Stingray is “the most fuel efficient sports car on the market”. And the numbers don’t lie: no other new vehicle generates 455 horsepower and a 29 miles per U.S. gallon highway rating. But proving the old axiom that “nothing is free”, there’s a price to pay for the new Corvette’s parsimonious ways. Look, a near-30 mpg U.S. Environmental Protection Agency highway estimate (or around 8.1 L/100 km) and 17-mpg city estimate (or 13.8) in a car with the type of visceral horsepower on tap that the new ‘Vette promises is nothing to sneeze at. Even the 400 hp, 2013 Porsche 911 Carrera S can only score a 27 mpg EPA estimate on the highway. But to ever achieve that headline-making 29 mpg highway number in a 2014 Corvette, there are a few caveats. First off, you’ll need to be satisfied with the 2014 Corvette’s new seven-speed manual gearbox. The EPA numbers for Stingrays equipped with the optional six-speed automatic have not been released, but I'm guessing the slushbox models aren't more fuel efficient. As well, GM says the 29-mpg highway estimate is actually an average between the Corvette’s default “Tour” mode (which delivers 28 mpg highway) and driver-selectable “Eco” mode (which scores 30 mpg highway). Also know, Eco mode employs Active Fuel Management, which disables four of the V8’s cylinders during "light" engine loads. What you won’t hear GM bragging about is the return of the Corvette’s dreaded skip-shift fuel saving trick. Officially dubbed Computer Aided Gear Selection, CAGS locks out second and third gears in the manual, forcing the driver to shift directly from first to fourth. Which kind of negates why you went for the stick in the first place. Chevrolet has used skip-shift since the fourth-gen Corvette (as did the Dodge Viper and new SRT Viper). You can bypass CAGS by stomping on the ‘Vette’s throttle, but you can also kiss those 30 mpg numbers good-bye as well. So if all the planets align, and all the onboard computers are working, 2014 Corvette Stingray owners may actually see 29 mpg on the highway. But they will only get to use five of the seven gears in the gearbox and four of the eight cylinders in the engine to ever hope to achieve that theoretical number. Is that too much of a price too pay? Or do potential ‘Vette owners even care about fuel economy? Source: General Motors

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