HANDBAGS AT DAWN!

PORSCHE VS. CORVETTE. NOW MID-ENGINE VS. MID-ENGINE. THE FIGHT THAT (THANKFULLY) NEVER ENDS.

- CONNER GOLDEN

Brand tribalists will hate this comparison between the 2021 Chevrolet C8 Corvette and 2021 Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0. Speed-actuated decklid spoiler alert: There’s a first-place finish at the end, but it’s a two-piece ranking of our conflicted preferences.

Frustrating, right? Everyone loves a winner, no one aspires to be a loser, but one cannot exist without the other. On the subject of horsepower and performance, there’s a more powerful car, a faster car, and a slower car, and there’s only one choice—otherwise, why bother harvesting test data to begin with?

These decades-long Porsche versus Corvette stand-offs usually raise subjectivism versus objectivism in our minds like bile in our throats. After all, the Corvette—in all its modern permutations—is the de facto victor on the performance-per-dollar front; it shouldn’t lose, at least not on paper. Forget the C8; a 16-year-old base C6 Corvette from 2005 is both lighter and more powerful than today’s base 992-series 911 Carrera.

Our choice was easier back then, too: Pick the lairy V-8 fiberglass wedge for atomic straight-line blasts and ass-out antics, or go with the finespun, finesse-inspiring Porsche for absolute confidence and a sublime driving experience.

But that was long before General Motors engineered the C8 Corvette Stingray, one of the finest and most impressive performance cars available.

As we enumerated in a face-off between the new C8 and the 992 Carrera in our February 2020 issue—in which the Corvette claimed the honors—the mid-engine Corvette isn’t just good for an American automaker; it’s a world-class supercar. Galaxy-class, even.

This test is not sports car versus sports car. It’s supercar versus sports car.