Photo Credit: Keith Cornett

The wait has been long, but the seemingly glacial rollout of the new-for-’27 Corvette Grand Sport variants and the media surrounding them are finally hitting their respective strides. The original recipe GS sprinted out of the production gates, accounting for a whopping 35% of all ‘Vettes built as early as July 6th, but the model disappointed with a media embargo day only yielding a handful of writeups and one, admittedly excellent video.

The AWD Hybrid Grand Sport X stepped into the misunderstood shoes of the short-lived E-Ray and was immediately lacking in both availability and media presence, despite the considerable hype surrounding it online. Well, as of August 26th, the fortunes of the GSX have changed. The line is buzzing along and the X officially accounted for 5.2% of production over a two-week period, and, unlike the GS, it received a full slate of reviews just this week.

Many of these GSX reviews acted as dual assessments of the X and the original GS, making up for the perceived slight of the latter. Our favorite of the written evaluations came from former Car and Driver and current Hagerty Media scribe Aaron Robinson, who likened the new Grand Sports to a pair of crack relief pitchers that GM calls out from the bullpen in the late innings “to keep the pot boiling… Now that we’ve driven it, we can say that the pot is properly frothing.”

But now that some of us have driven both members of the GS family and developed a feel for their differences, we want to get the pulse of Corvette Nation. At this juncture, which GS are you picking? In one corner, there’s the more attainable (starting at $88,495), lighter (3,520 lbs.) original recipe Grand Sport that combines the aggressive look and thick hips of the Z06 with the base Stingray’s might new LS6 V8, a 6.7L monster good for 535 HP and a naturally aspirated record 520 lb-ft of torque. It’s also the only way to get the Z52 track package (Z07 by another name) that turns the GS into one of the most formattable time attack machines ever devised by General Motors.

The GSX gains all-wheel-drive by pilfering the electrified front corners of the range-topping ZR1X. The hybrid system brings total power to a headline-stealing 721 ponies and 665 torques but comes with a pair of costs. Monetarily, the extra HP and traction bump the price floor to $112,195, which includes the optional ceramic brakes from the Z06 and the Z52 track car. The weight penalty is around 280 lbs., putting the GSX at about 3,800 lbs.

Robinson’s review, again, shed a perfect light on an automotive comp for this unprecedented pairing of Corvettes, “The electrified X’s relationship to the base Grand Sport is perhaps best likened to the relationship between the Porsche 911 Turbo and the GT3. One has the power brag and all-weather touring advantage, while the other is the track weapon.” So, dear reader, if you found yourself at a Chevrolet dealership with widebody LS6 ‘Vette money, which one would it be for you? The lightweight precision of the original Grand Sport, or the hard launching GSX sledgehammer?

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Source:
Photos by Keith Cornett

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