It still has a powerful LS1 V8 underneath.
Motoring enthusiasts not familiar with the Corvette world may be unaware of this fact. The highway fuel economy of America’s sports car is surprisingly high. The highway mileage can be as high as 30 mpg if you keep your right foot steady, starting with the C4 Corvette’s six-speed manual transmission. LegitStreetCars found he could do better and he did much better. He actually averaged more than 40 mpg during a recent road trip. This is what’s the crux of this video.
To get 40 mpg with a 5.7-liter LS1 engine V8 it takes more than low-speed cruising. This car uses a “lean burn” engine tune to thin out the air-fuel mixture on highway speeds. It does this between 50 and 75 mph. The car was filled at a station near Chicago’s highway, then driven to Wisconsin, where it was refilled at that same pump several hours later.
According to the fuel pump, the car used 7.813 gallons of gas for the 314.6 mile trip. The basic math shows that this equates to 40.2 mi for each gallon of gasoline used. This is more than many ultra-efficient hatchbacks, and it knocks on the doors of many electrified sedans such as the Ford Fusion hybrid. This is a Corvette with 140,000mi and a powerful V8 that delivered 364 horsepower to its wheels.
Why don’t automakers do such a thing? Leaning an engine can lead to higher NOx emissions and other negative effects. Engines that are lean also tend to run hotter which can cause damage to components. We don’t know if the Corvette’s lean-tune is enough to significantly alter these parameters, but it is impressive that a sports car can reach 40 mph at high horsepower.