10 Biggest News Stories of the Week: 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Trounces Telluride
Cars.com reviewer Joe Bruzek had the good fortune to drive the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray in Las Vegas and determined that you don’t need to hit the jackpot at a casino in order to feel like the luckiest bastard on the Strip. Instead of buyers having to empty their pockets for the fully loaded Z51 Performance Package, which runs around $85,000, the born-again, mid-engine Corvette lives up to its working-man’s-supercar roots by providing a perfectly Vette-worthy experience far closer (if not all the way) down at its sub-60-grand base price.
Related: Top 5 Reviews and Videos of the Week: 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Outruns 4Runner
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In his review — which to no one’s surprise is our most popular article of the week — Bruzek notes that some significant visibility concerns mean you should shell out an extra $7,000 or so for advanced safety features like blind spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert and a rearview-mirror camera — but that’s still a damn sight cheaper than the Z51 (which only shaves a fraction of a second off the eighth-generation, or C8) Vette’s blistering 3.0-second 0-60-mph sprint.
“Here’s the thing: That still feels like a bargain,” Bruzek promises. “You don’t really need the $85,000 car to get the bulk of what the C8 offers, like scorching acceleration times and a great interior. But it also buys qualities you can’t quite put a finger on, such as exotic looks and the way this car makes you feel — like a rock star, in my case, with onlookers turning heads on the Vegas Strip.”
And much like on the Vegas Strip, even when someone wins, most everyone else has to settle for, quoth Smash Mouth, lookin’ kinda dumb with their finger and their thumb in the shape of an “L” on their forehead. OK, it’s not as bad as all that, but the mighty 2020 Kia Telluride did have to settle for second place, as Cars.com reviewer Aaron Bragman documented his real-life effort to convince his parents to trade up their old-school Nissan Armada for the newfangled Kia SUV. You can follow the link below to our No. 2 story of the week to find out if Mom and Dad went for it.
In third place was our report on the pricing and fuel economy of the first-ever hybrid version of the Honda CR-V, making its debut at dealerships now for the 2020 model year. The CR-V Hybrid’s price is right versus rivals at a Toyota RAV4- and Ford Escape-besting $28,870 (including a $1,120 destination charge). However, while competitive, its 38 mpg combined-fuel-economy rating from the EPA falls a couple of mpg short of the competition.
Rounding out the top five this week is our rapid-fire rundown of the things we like — and likewise don’t like — about the all-new-for-2020 Jeep Gladiator pickup truck, at No. 4, and our recos on the things you shouldn’t miss if attending the 2020 Kansas City Auto Show, which starts this week and runs through the weekend, at No. 5.
The 2021 Kia Seltos and 2020 Toyota 4Runner as well as the Ford F-150 lie beyond, so go forth and inform thyself, automotive-knowledge seeker. Here are the top 10 news stories Cars.com readers couldn’t get enough of in the past week:
1. 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Review: We Drive the $60,000 One
2. Is a 2020 Kia Telluride a Good Replacement for an Older Full-Size SUV?
3. 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid: Lower Price, Lower MPG Than Escape, RAV4 Rivals
4. 2020 Jeep Gladiator: 8 Things We Like (and 3 Not So Much)
5. 2020 Kansas City Auto Show: 2020 Land Rover Defender and 4 Other Things You Can’t Miss
6. Which Cars Have CVTs for 2020?
8. 2021 Kia Seltos: 8 Things We Like and 3 Things We Don’t
Cars.com’s Editorial department is your source for automotive news and reviews. In line with Cars.com’s long-standing ethics policy, editors and reviewers don’t accept gifts or free trips from automakers. The Editorial department is independent of Cars.com’s advertising, sales and sponsored content departments.
