2010 Corvette buyer's guide: the Grand Sport's first year, the dry-sump coupes and 2026 prices

GM’s 2010 press guide lists the changes. The headline additions were the Grand Sport, launch control and standard side airbags. The ones a buyer can see or feel:

• The Grand Sport, coupe or convertible, manual or automatic: see The Grand Sport: Z06 width, LS3 power.
• Launch control on every manual car. GM says it holds a set engine speed with the throttle floored, then “modulates engine torque 100 times per second” as the clutch comes up. The owner’s manual gives the conditions: Competitive Driving Mode (Performance Traction Management on the ZR1), car stopped, wheel straight, clutch in, first gear, throttle floored quickly. It’s meant for a closed course.
• Side airbags standard on every model. Bowling Green’s count puts them (RPO AJ7, RPO being GM’s code for a factory option) on all 12,194 cars.
• A quicker way out of paddle mode. On the six-speed automatic, holding the up-shift button for more than one second now returns it to automatic, per the manual; moving the lever back to D still works.
• Paint and trim. Torch Red returned, convertibles got the Z06’s tall rear spoiler, the console got new trim patterns, and crossed-flags embroidery became an option (1,679 cars).
• Z06 and ZR1. The Z06 could now be had in all eight colors and with a Cashmere interior. The ZR1 gained Performance Traction Management, Torch Red, Cashmere and Competition Gray wheels; the C6 ZR1 guide covers them.

What went away: the Z51. For 2009, a base car’s Z51 package had brought, among other things, a manual with a 2.97:1 first gear. GM’s 2010 order guide lists no Z51, and no base 2010 has one: the handling package became a Grand Sport. One wrinkle for anyone reading an option label: Corvette Action Center’s production table still counts “Z51” on all 6,042 Grand Sports, so the code may turn up on a Grand Sport’s label beside its own Z16.

What came for 2011. GM’s 2011 release made Magnetic Ride available on the Grand Sport, made the base car’s larger cross-drilled brakes a separate option, let the automatic’s paddles work in Drive, added a USB port with navigation and brought Inferno Orange and Supersonic Blue. New seats and a new steering wheel followed for 2012.

Is there a 2010 Corvette Stingray? No. GM sold no 2010 Corvette by that name; it returned on the C7 (2014–2019).

The name goes back to five 1963 race cars and the 1996 Grand Sport, of which Chevrolet built 1,000. GM’s release (opens in new tab) lists what the 2010 version adds to an LS3 car: wider front and rear fenders with Grand Sport badges built in, a Z06-style front splitter and tall spoiler, working brake ducts, Z06-size wheels, tires and brakes, stiffer springs and anti-roll bars, its own shocks and extra cooling. GM quoted 0 to 60 mph in “four seconds,” 1 g on the skidpad and 26 mpg on the highway. The coupe kept the base car’s removable roof panel; the Z06’s is fixed.

GM’s order guide and press guide supply the figures, and Corvette Action Center’s RPO list the MZ6 ratios. The prices come from a dealer’s forum post of June 2009, not a GM document: $49,880 coupe, $55,720 Grand Sport coupe, $54,530 convertible and $59,530 Grand Sport convertible, all with destination. Hagerty’s list prices, without destination, put that charge at $950 by this site’s arithmetic.

GM’s order guide pitches the Z16 package, the Grand Sport’s own code, at the “Gymkhana/Autocross enthusiast”: the driver who’d rather spend Saturday chasing cones than polishing chrome. For $5,840 more than a base coupe, the Grand Sport coupe brought the Z06’s footprint and brakes with it.

Buyers took the hint. GM’s 2011 release says the Grand Sport accounted for about half of 2010 coupe sales and 70 percent of convertibles, and Bowling Green’s count bears it out: 3,707 of the 6,761 LS3 coupes and 2,335 of the 3,338 convertibles.

The 1,468 dry-sump coupes

On a coupe with the six-speed manual, the order guide (opens in new tab) makes RPO Z52 standard: a “dry sump oil system, rear-mounted battery and differential cooler,” deleted with the automatic and not offered on the convertible. A dry sump keeps the oil in a separate tank and pumps it back there from the pan, as on the Z06 and ZR1. Bowling Green built 1,468, all manual coupes, for 2010 (one column of its table says 1,467).

The tank isn’t the only difference. GM’s bulletin PIP4768B (opens in new tab) lists what the Z52 engine has that other LS3s don’t: a dual-stage oil pump with more flow and a higher pressure setting, a forged steel crankshaft “similar to LS9,” tri-metal main and rod bearings “same as LS7 and LS9,” and a higher-pressure oil filter. The bulletin exists because these engines’ oil gauges can peg on a cold start, which GM tells dealers is normal. That’s the secret under a dry-sump Grand Sport’s engine covers: a crankshaft and bearings that take after the LS9 and LS7, not the ordinary LS3.

Owners say these engines were hand-assembled at GM’s Wixom Performance Build Center, each with its builder’s nameplate on the passenger side, and 2010 owners traded their builders’ names (opens in new tab) on Corvette Action Center that year. No GM document found for this guide says so: treat the plate as owners’ evidence.

Every other Grand Sport has the ordinary wet-sump LS3: the 680 manual convertibles and all 3,895 automatics. GM’s own owner’s manual muddles this. Its introduction says Grand Sport models have the dry sump, while its capacities table and the order guide limit it to the Z52 car. Oil, with the filter, per the capacities page: 10.5 quarts (9.9 L) for the dry sump, 6.0 quarts (5.7 L) for a wet-sump LS3. GM’s 2010 press guide says 5.5 quarts for the LS3, but the 2009, 2010 and 2011 owner’s manuals all say 6.0, as does the C6 guide.

The Heritage package and the wheels

RPO Z15, the Heritage package in GM’s release, added hash marks on the front fenders in one of four colors and two-tone seats with Grand Sport embroidery. Bowling Green built 1,531 (816 coupes, 715 convertibles): silver marks on 740, red on 336, medium gray on 257 and white on 198. Corvette Action Center’s RPO list calls the same code the Grand Sport Collector Edition package.

Wheels came painted Grand Sport Silver, with chrome or Competition Gray optional. Chrome won easily: 4,693 cars, against 815 silver and 534 gray.

Production comes from Corvette Action Center’s 2010 table (opens in new tab) of Bowling Green’s figures; weights from GM’s order guide.

2010 Corvette horsepower: 430 hp, or 436 with the dual-mode exhaust, for every LS3 car; 505 for the Z06 and 638 for the ZR1.

The LS3. A 6.2-liter V8 with a 4.06-inch bore, a 3.62-inch stroke and 10.7:1 compression. It makes 430 hp at 5,900 rpm and 424 lb-ft at 4,600, or 436 hp and 428 lb-ft with the optional dual-mode exhaust (RPO NPP), per the owner’s manual. Premium (91 or higher) is recommended; 87 is acceptable with slightly less acceleration. The EPA rates an LS3 manual at 16 mpg city and 26 highway and the automatic at 15 and 25.

The Z06. GM quoted 3.7 seconds to 60 mph and 198 mph. Only 518 were built for 2010, though 2012 (478) and 2013 (471) were smaller still. The C6 Z06 guide explains the LS7’s cylinder head question and favors a 2010 or later for launch control and side airbags.

The ZR1. 1,577 built, the ZR1’s biggest year, 1,426 of them in the better-equipped 3ZR trim. GM quoted 205 mph. The ZR1 guide makes a 2010 or 2011 3ZR its pick. GM’s manual wants premium in the LS7 and LS9, 91 or higher and 93 for best performance, with 87 only in an emergency.

Manual or automatic. Six-speed manuals went into 5,281 cars, every Z06 and ZR1 among them; the six-speed paddle-shift automatic (MX0) into 6,913. About three in four base cars were automatics (3,018 of 4,057). Grand Sport buyers leaned more toward the clutch: 2,148 manuals of 6,042, each with the MZ6’s shorter 2.97 first gear.

Axles. Every manual car has a 3.42 rear axle. Nearly all base automatics have the 2.56, and Grand Sport automatics the 2.73 that GM’s order guide calls the “performance” axle. Bowling Green’s count also shows 88 base automatics with the 2.73, which the order guide didn’t list for them.

Option groups. GM’s order guide builds them up like this:

• 1LT: base seats in Ebony only and a manual tilt column. Still standard: frontal and side airbags, OnStar with a year of service, XM, Keyless Access with push-button start, xenon low beams and a six-way power driver’s seat.
• 2LT adds Bluetooth, sport seats with power bolsters and lumbar, a power passenger seat and, on the convertible, the power top.
• 3LT adds the Bose stereo, head-up display, memory, heated seats, the power telescoping column and Universal Home Remote.
• 4LT adds the Custom Leather Wrapped Interior Package.

Most 2010s are 3LT cars: Corvette Action Center counts 5,762, against 1,936 1LT, 1,045 2LT and 972 4LT.

The options worth reading for. The dual-mode exhaust went on 6,268 cars, 62 percent of LS3 cars. Magnetic Selective Ride Control (F55) went on only 757 base cars, and brought the larger cross-drilled brakes with it. Navigation went in 6,626 cars (54.3 percent) and the head-up display in 9,152; 165 convertibles have the manual top.

Inside: Ebony, Red, Cashmere or Titanium Gray, some as two-tones, and the 4LT’s leather-wrapped interior in Ebony, Sienna or Dark Titanium.

NHTSA, the US road safety agency, lists no recall for the 2010 Corvette (opens in new tab) (checked October 23, 2026). The hatch hinge recall on some 2011–2012 coupes doesn’t reach it.

The rates are this site’s arithmetic. This site also read all 84 of the 2010’s complaints (opens in new tab) and filed each under one theme:

Of the 72 complaints with a readable 2010 VIN, 34 are Grand Sports (47 percent), close to the Grand Sport’s 49.5 percent share of production: no sign it draws more than its share. None describes the valve guide trouble the C6 guide covers for LS7 cars.

Fuel smell. GM’s Special Coverage 15682 (opens in new tab) covered 2007–2013 cars with fuel odor, drips under the left-hand tank with the gauge above half, or a check engine light, all from a leak at the left-hand fuel pump module; dealers replaced the module. It ran 10 years or 120,000 miles, so on a 2010 it ran out around 2019–2020, by this site’s arithmetic. Owners told NHTSA of repair bills from about $2,000 to $3,000 between 2016 and 2023, including $2,666.54 for both pumps in 2018. The C6 guide’s section Known C6 problems by model year covers the repair.

The other GM programs that reach a 2010:

• Airbag light. Special Coverage 15643 covers cars with power seats whose seat connector pulls apart; several 2010 owners say the light comes and goes as the seat moves. Expired.
• Low beams. Program 14203: with the engine warm, the underhood fuse and relay box can bend the low-beam relay wire until it breaks. Dealers fit a jumper wire, kit GM 23273949 (OEM).
• Battery drain. Program 14648A covers 2009–2010 Corvettes whose OnStar module stays awake and can flatten the battery in about four days; it ended August 31, 2017. The battery guide lists it.
• Clutch. Special Coverage 14717 covers the clutch hydraulics on every 2010 manual, the Grand Sport’s MZ6 and the ZR1’s gearbox included. Expired.
• Balancer. PIP4750F calls an apparent wobble an optical illusion “in most cases”: replace only with more than 0.40 mm (0.0157 in) of runout.

Two more for the automatic: four owners describe a lever that wouldn’t leave or reach Park, or a broken shift cable, and no GM bulletin for it turned up; GM’s PI-0110 (May 2010) covers a dead gear display with a check engine light.

A 2010 Corvette’s VIN starts 1G1Y. The fifth character is the version and, by NHTSA’s decoder, the gearbox:

The sixth character is 2 for a coupe or 3 for a convertible, the eighth the engine (W for the LS3, E the LS7, T the LS9), the tenth A for 2010 and the eleventh 5 for Bowling Green. So a dry-sump Grand Sport starts 1G1Y, then P to T, then 2: 1G1YS2DW, for one, is a 3LT manual Grand Sport coupe. A Grand Sport-looking car whose fifth character isn’t P to X started life as something else, and owners on CorvetteForum say converting a base car is rarely worth the money.

The option label. GM’s owner’s manual puts the Service Parts Identification label inside the glove box, with the VIN, model, paint and every option code. Look for Z16 (Grand Sport), Z52 (dry sump), Z15 (Heritage), MZ6 or MX0 (gearbox), NPP (dual-mode exhaust) and F55 (Magnetic Ride, base cars only). Hash marks on a car without Z15 weren’t part of the Heritage package, so ask where they came from.

Under the hood and in the back. A dry-sump coupe has an oil tank with its own dipstick under the hood and its battery in the rear. Owners in a 2024 CorvetteForum thread put it simply: battery in the back, dry sump. They add a second oil drain plug. Every Grand Sport shows six-piston front calipers behind the wheel and a badge in each front fender.

1. Run the VIN and match the fifth character and the option label to the ad. On a dry-sump claim, check for P to T, a 2 in sixth place and Z52 on the label.
2. Fill above half a tank, let the car sit, then smell around the rear and look under the left-hand tank. Ask whether the left-hand fuel pump module was replaced under 15682 or since.
3. Watch the airbag light through a full drive and while moving the power seat through its range.
4. On a dry-sump coupe, check the oil the way GM says: engine warm (at least 175°F, 80°C), switched off, wait 5 to 20 minutes, then read the dipstick in the tank (owner’s manual). A pegged gauge on a cold start is normal on this engine, per GM.
5. On a manual, work the clutch: the pedal must come all the way back every time. Try launch control only where it’s allowed.
6. On an automatic, use every lever position and paddle, cold and warm, and make sure the lever leaves Park and goes back into it every time.
7. Drive until the engine is hot, then check the low beams. Ask about the 14203 jumper.
8. Listen for a chirping belt and, if you hear one, have the balancer’s runout measured.
9. Look at the tires. Run-flats came standard, with no spare and no tire-changing equipment. A car now on ordinary tires needs a plan for a flat.
10. Check the battery and OnStar. A 2010 that keeps going flat may need the 14648A fix.
11. Pay for an inspection by a shop that knows C6s. A ZR1 or Z06 needs its own checklist, in its guide.

How much is a 2010 Corvette worth? It depends on which 2010. On Bring a Trailer (opens in new tab), eight 2010s were listed between January 1 and October 23, 2026, and six sold:

The three Grand Sports sold for a median $37,800. A 960-mile ZR1 was bid to $122,500 without selling, and a Whipple-supercharged Z06 brought $54,500; no stock 2010 Z06 sold, and no base 2010 either. Over the 12 months to October 23, the only base car sold was a 40,000-mile six-speed coupe at $23,000 in December 2025, the same month a 6,000-mile Grand Sport coupe brought $39,750. Samples this small move with a single sale.

Widen it to every 2010–2013 Grand Sport and 22 sold on Bring a Trailer in 2026 at a median $38,875. The best Corvette years guide ($37,800, 13 sales) and C5 vs C6 ($38,525, 14 sales) took their medians from earlier slices of the same year.

Archived copies of Hagerty’s valuation tool put a 2010 coupe in #3 (“good”) condition at $29,300 and a 2010 Grand Sport convertible at $32,700, both in July 2025. Those values are for a manual: Hagerty takes 10 percent off for an automatic, and most 2010 LS3 cars are automatics. classic.com’s archived 2010 Grand Sport page gave a market benchmark of $39,277 the same month. These are past results, not a forecast.

The manual Grand Sport coupe is the dry-sump car: one of 1,468, with the oil tank, the forged crankshaft GM likens to the LS9’s, the 2.97 first gear, launch control and the Z06’s width and brakes, on an LS3 with no cylinder head question hanging over it. Find one with fuel module paperwork, a quiet airbag light and records, and you have America’s sports car in its most track-ready LS3 form, at Grand Sport money. Take it to an autocross, the event GM’s order guide pitched it at, let launch control handle the start, and the only thing you’ll want more of is runs.

The comfortable alternative is a Grand Sport convertible or an automatic Grand Sport: the same body, brakes and badges, an ordinary wet-sump LS3, and in Hagerty’s guide an automatic values about 10 percent lower. A base coupe or convertible makes sense only well below Grand Sport money; the one base 2010 that sold on Bring a Trailer in the past year went for $23,000. A 2010 Z06 is rare but not the rarest Z06, and it carries the LS7’s head question. A 2010 ZR1 is the most plentiful ZR1 there is, and as a 3ZR it’s the ZR1 guide’s pick.

Walk away from any 2010 that smells of fuel with no plan to fix it, or from a “Grand Sport” whose VIN says otherwise. The C6 buyer’s guide covers the rest of the generation, and the 2006 Corvette guide the year the Z06 arrived.