2019 Corvette buyer's guide: the last C7, which model to buy, what to check and 2026 prices

The ZR1 arrived. A 755 hp supercharged LT5, and the first ZR1 GM offered with an automatic. GM built 2,953, all 2019s, at $119,995 with destination for the coupe at launch. The C7 ZR1 guide covers it in full.

The factory oil changed. The 2019 owner’s manual says the engine is factory filled with 0W-40 dexos2 oil; the 2018 manual called for SAE 5W-30. GM’s bulletin 18-NA-129 (April 2018) clears that Mobil 1 0W-40 for any 2014–2019 LT1, LT4 or LT5. The 2019 manual approves 0W-40 for street and track in the LT1 and LT4, allows 5W-30 dexos1 on the street if 0W-40 can’t be found, and allows 15W-50 for track days (required in the LT5), then back to 0W-40. One wrinkle: GM’s service update 18088 (March 2018) replaced oil fill caps labeled 5W-30 on some 2019s, about 284 cars by GM’s estimate. The right cap is GM 12686472 (OEM).

The automatic’s fluid changed on February 1, 2019. Stingray, Grand Sport and Z06 automatics built after that date left the plant with the fluid from GM’s final shudder fix (see Wheels, shudder and one ZR1 recall).

Prices rose, two colors were swapped and a special edition arrived: see Specs, tires and prices by model, and Mid-year colors and the Drivers Series.

Otherwise the Stingray, Grand Sport and Z06 carried over: Torque News, reading Chevrolet’s configurator in March 2018, found the 2018 launch prices and key options unchanged, and the Stingray kept the 19- and 20-inch wheels it got for 2018. Owners in a February 2019 thread say manual cars were mechanically unchanged from 2014 to 2019. Others credit 2019 with transmission, fuel pump and torque tube upgrades, or with Bowling Green’s new paint shop; no GM document found confirms either.

What came next. There is no 2019 C8. The mid-engine C8 (2020–present) began with the 2020 model year, with the engine behind the seats and no manual gearbox; the C7 vs C8 guide compares them and the C8 guide covers the new car. The last C7, a black 3LZ Z06 coupe with the seven-speed manual and Z07, was auctioned by Barrett-Jackson on June 28, 2019 for the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation; the car on the block was an exact replica, GM’s release said, because the last car’s build date was still to be set. The hammer fell at $2.7 million, Corvette Blogger reported, quoting Barrett-Jackson.

Outputs are from the 2019 owner’s manual; weights, wheels and tires from GM’s 2019 order guide (opens in new tab), published December 1, 2017; prices from dealer lists, before the $1,095 destination charge and the gas guzzler tax on the Z06 and ZR1.

What tires does a 2019 Grand Sport take? From the factory, P285/30ZR19 in front and P335/25ZR20 at the rear: Michelin Pilot Super Sport run-flats, or Pilot Sport Cup 2s with the Z07 package. Those are the Z06’s sizes, on the same 19 x 10 and 20 x 12 inch wheels. The Stingray is 3.5 inches narrower (73.9 against 77.4).

Every Grand Sport is a 460 hp, dry-sump car. The order guide makes the performance exhaust (RPO NPP) and the dry-sump oil system (Z52, which keeps the oil in a separate tank) standard on every Grand Sport and every Z51 Stingray, and the National Corvette Museum’s production data shows NPP on every 2019 Grand Sport, Z06 and ZR1. GM’s 2019 Drivers Series release gives the Grand Sport’s iron Brembo brakes as 14.6-inch front rotors with six-piston calipers and 14.4-inch rear rotors with four-piston calipers. The order guide lists the same brake code, J56, as standard on the Grand Sport and the Z06, with J57 carbon-ceramics optional on both. On a Stingray, the Z51 package is the step toward that hardware; the C7 guide lists what it adds.

Fuel and fluids. The tank holds 18.6 gallons by the owner’s manual (18.5 in the order guide). EPA rates a 2019 Stingray at 16 mpg city and 25 highway with the manual, 15 and 25 with the automatic. The manual’s fuel pages highly recommend 93 octane for the LT1 and allow 87; the LT4 and LT5 want 93, accept 91, and below that risk engine damage the warranty doesn’t cover. Oil takes 9.8 quarts with the filter on a Z51, Grand Sport, Z06 or ZR1, and 7.0 on a Stingray without Z51 (capacities). Wheel nuts: 100 lb-ft (140 N·m). GM’s 0–60 mph figures are in the C7 guide; the outputs behind them didn’t change for 2019.

The December price rise. Corvette Blogger reported on December 17, 2018, from a dealer’s list, that every 2019 was going up: $405 on Stingray, Z51 and Grand Sport coupes, $905 on their convertibles, $1,405 and $1,905 on the Z06, $2,000 and $2,500 on the ZR1, and $270 on the eight-speed automatic, which went from $1,725 to $1,995. That’s the date it was reported, not a GM effective date, and cars already in dealer stock kept the old price. With destination, a Stingray coupe went from $56,590 to $56,995, though few paid sticker for long: owners report new 1LT manual convertibles at $51,000–52,000 in February 2019 and a new ZR1 bought that September about $9,000 under sticker.

Chevrolet’s final figures, released through the National Corvette Museum (opens in new tab):

Buyers went cheap on trim and easy on the left foot. 7,740 of the 11,499 Stingray coupes were 1LTs, 67.3 percent, which Corvette Blogger called the highest share it had seen in the C7 run. The Z51 package went on 2,052 Stingrays (1,728 coupes, 324 convertibles), about 15 percent; Magnetic Ride went on 569 Stingrays without Z51 and 622 with it. Of 34,822 cars, 27,017 had the eight-speed automatic and 7,805 the seven-speed manual, every manual with a 3.42 axle. Among Grand Sports, 2,178 had the Heritage package (Z15) and 365 the Z07 track package; 985 Z06s had Z07.

Exports took 4,047 cars: 2,986 to Canada, 738 to Europe, 130 to the Middle East, 101 to Japan and 92 to Mexico. The museum’s US figure, 30,760, leaves the sheet 15 cars short of the total, all Stingray coupes; it’s reported here as printed.

GM’s order guide listed ten colors for 2019. Two left during the run and two replaced them, and Corvette Blogger, reporting from Chevrolet’s 2019 seminar in April 2018 and again that August, gave the dates:

• Watkins Glen Gray out, Shadow Gray in. Watkins Glen Gray’s last order was May 17, 2018 and its last car was built June 18. Shadow Gray (GJI; GM’s own paperwork calls it Dark Shadow Metallic) took orders from June 28 and went into production on August 6, 2018.
• Admiral Blue out, Elkhart Lake Blue in. Admiral Blue’s last order was June 28, 2018 and its last build August 13. Elkhart Lake Blue (GS7) took orders from August 30 and went into production on October 1, 2018.

So a Watkins Glen Gray or Admiral Blue 2019 was built before mid-August 2018, and a Shadow Gray or Elkhart Lake Blue one later. On an automatic that matters: only the later colors can come after the February 1, 2019 fluid breakpoint. Final counts, from the museum’s sheet:

The Drivers Series. On January 25, 2019, GM introduced (opens in new tab) four Grand Sports named for its Corvette Racing drivers, on sale that spring for $4,995 more on a 1LT or 2LT and $5,995 on a 3LT. Each had black wheels with a red stripe, red brake calipers and a plaque inside for its driver:

• Oliver Gavin (RPO PDO): Shadow Gray, Torch Red center stripe and hash marks, Adrenaline Red interior. 35 built.
• Jan Magnussen (PDJ): Arctic White with Crystal Red stripes and gray hash marks. 25 built.
• Tommy Milner (PDT): Elkhart Lake Blue with silver stripes and red hash marks. 21 built.
• Antonio Garcia (PDA): Corvette Racing Yellow with a “Jake” stinger stripe and red hash marks. 14 built.

That’s 95 in all, every one a coupe. It was the US special edition of 2019. Europe had its own: a Grand Sport and Z06 coupe “Final Edition” in Sebring Orange or Ceramic Matrix Gray, announced by GM Europe on January 30, 2019, for which no production count has turned up.

The year’s other celebrity, the Long Beach Red Grand Sport with Blade Silver stripes that paced the Indianapolis 500 in May 2019, was an automatic with carbon-ceramic Brembos: the third C7 in a row to pace the race, Corvette Blogger reported.

NHTSA, the US road safety agency, held 148 owner complaints against 2019 Corvettes (opens in new tab) on October 23, 2026: 4.3 per 1,000 built, with 124 tagged to wheels, no crashes, no fires and two injuries. NHTSA lumps every 2019 together, but it stores part of the VIN with 145 of them: the eighth character is the engine code, and NHTSA’s own VIN decoder reads the model family from the characters before it. Sorted that way by this site, the record belongs to one model:

One more complaint filed under 2019 carries the VIN of a 2017 Grand Sport, so it’s left out of the model rows; NHTSA’s totals, 148 and 124, include it. The arithmetic is this site’s, and the counts are approximate.

The Grand Sport’s wheels

The Grand Sport was a third of 2019 production and drew about three in four of the wheel complaints, 94 of 124; the Stingray, on narrower wheels, drew one. Of the 148 narratives, 86 use the word “crack”, many of them a slow leak traced to the inner barrel, the inboard side of the rim, out of sight behind the spokes. In a Canadian owners’ thread from 2021, members report cracked 2019 Grand Sport wheels (opens in new tab), one at 4,000 km, and bent ones after potholes; dealers mostly refused warranty, and members blame the low-profile run-flats.

Publicity played its part. Wheel-tagged complaints against 2019s ran 32 filed in 2019, 45 in 2020 and 24 in 2021, the years owners’ lawsuits over C7 wheels were in the news (the C7 guide has the story), then nine or fewer a year. GM’s Corvette Wheels Limited Reimbursement Program covered 2017–2019 Grand Sports and 2015–2019 Z06s and closed to claims on January 25, 2025. With the program closed, a cracked wheel is the owner’s to pay for.

Shudder and the February 1, 2019 breakpoint

The eight-speed automatic’s known fault is torque converter shudder, a shake at light throttle between 25 and 80 mph. GM’s final fix, bulletin 18-NA-355 (opens in new tab), is a 24-quart exchange to a new fluid, done once per car, for Corvette LT1 and LT4 automatics built through February 1, 2019. Cars built after that date have the fluid from the factory, so the bulletin splits the 2019 model year in two. It covers cars sold in the US, Canada and the Middle East; Mexico and export markets fall under a separate bulletin, 19-NA-018. The ZR1’s LT5 isn’t listed (the ZR1 guide covers what that means). One owner paid $624 for the exchange in March 2019. By this site’s reading, about nine 2019 complaints describe shudder or other automatic faults. A replacement transmission can have it too (see Dating and checking a 2019).

One recall, a few programs

The 2019 recall list (opens in new tab) holds one campaign, 18V360000: an air bag sensing module on 498 early ZR1s that could fault after hard braking or acceleration. No 2019 Stingray, Grand Sport or Z06 is under a recall. The electric power steering recall 25V175000 lists 2018 Corvettes but not 2019s, so a June 2019 Grand Sport owner’s complaint of losing steering assist five times in its first 322 miles sits outside any recall.

GM’s paperwork aimed at 2019s is mostly housekeeping: program 18307 (the roof panels), service update 18088 (the oil cap) and bulletin 17-NA-355, for fascia paint peeling at the edge beside the fender or quarter panel on 2017–2019 cars. The Z06’s track-overheating coverage, Special Coverage N202302720, covers 2015–2016 manuals and 2015–2018 automatics, so no 2019 Z06 is in it; the C7 Z06 guide covers its heat question year by year. Of the 26 Z06 complaints, four share one partial VIN, a Z06 convertible, and describe one engine failure and replacement: one owner’s story, not four failures.

Generation-wide items reach 2019 too, from AFM lifters (15-06-01-002K) to the seven-speed’s shifter linkage (19-NA-073); the C7 guide has each one. Without the wheel complaints, 24 remain against 34,822 cars, about 0.7 per 1,000 built by this site’s arithmetic.

1. The year and plant. The 10th character of the VIN is K for 2019, and the 11th is 5 for Bowling Green. The VIN shows through the windshield on the driver’s side and appears on the labels and the title.
2. The engine. The owner’s manual makes the eighth character the engine code: 7 for the LT1, 6 for the LT4, 9 for the LT5. A Z06 badge on a car with a 7 is a Stingray or Grand Sport wearing someone else’s name.
3. The options. The Service Parts Identification label under the carpet on the passenger side of the hatch or trunk area lists the production options (or, without a label, a barcode on the B-pillar certification label does). Look for Z51, Z15, Z07, NPP, M5U (automatic) or MEP, MEL and MEK (the manuals), and on a Drivers Series car PDA, PDJ, PDO or PDT, with the driver’s plaque inside.
4. The build date. Pin it down and set it against February 1, 2019. On an automatic built earlier, ask for the 18-NA-355 receipt or a Chevrolet dealer’s service history. Paint is a cross-check: Watkins Glen Gray or Admiral Blue means a 2018 build, Shadow Gray or Elkhart Lake Blue August 2018 or later.
5. A replacement transmission? GM’s bulletin 19-NA-142 says one dated February 1, 2019 or later (date code 19032), or with a “Contains New Fluid” sticker on the torque converter retaining bracket, already has the new fluid.
6. The shudder drive. On every automatic, light throttle between 25 and 80 mph, whatever the paperwork says.
7. Every wheel, off the car or on a balancer. Inner barrels included, on a Grand Sport or Z06 above all. Ask whether any tire needs regular air.
8. The oil. The cap should read 0W-40; one marked 5W-30 is the 18088 cap. Ask what oil went in, and on a car that’s been tracked, whether the 15W-50 came back out.
9. A Shadow Gray car. Ask whether the spare roof panel from program 18307 came with it.
10. Recalls, records and the rest. Run a ZR1’s VIN through NHTSA for 18V360000, get GM dealer records along with any history report, look at the fascia edges for peeling, and make sure the steering stays assisted on the test drive.

Bring a Trailer (opens in new tab) results for cars titled 2019, by this site’s count:

The Stingray and Grand Sport rows are a handful of cars. The 2025 Grand Sport top, $132,000, was a Yenko/SC Stage II conversion, and two Drivers Series cars brought $52,500 (2LT) and $82,500 (162-mile 3LT). Take a Callaway SC757 conversion ($100,000) out of the Z06s and 11 stock cars give a median of $82,000: $86,000 for the eight titled as manuals, $77,000 for the other three. The Z06 guide’s April 1 to September 30 window gives 11 sales at $85,000 from the same results. The ZR1 has its own market: 31 sold at a median $181,000 from January 1 to October 17, 2026, per the ZR1 guide, with every split by wing and gearbox.

Hagerty and classic.com figures for the 2019 alone couldn’t be read for this guide; their C7-wide numbers stand in. In February 2025, Hagerty put an excellent base coupe at about $48,000, a Grand Sport in the mid-$60,000s and a Z06 in the mid-$70,000s, with automatics about 10 percent lower and the Z51 package about 5 percent higher. classic.com’s average sale across C7 years was $48,538 for the Stingray (archived March 13, 2026) and $67,227 for the Grand Sport (archived February 9, 2026). What sold is a record, not a forecast.

The 2019 is America’s sports car at the end of its front-engine line, and the pick depends on what you want it to do.

For most buyers: a Stingray Z51 or a Grand Sport, with the manual or an automatic built after February 1, 2019. That date buys GM’s final shudder fix from the factory; the seven-speed sidesteps the question, and by Hagerty’s C7-wide figures it’s worth about 10 percent more. The Stingray has the cleanest record of the year, 11 complaints in 13,691 cars and one about a wheel. The Grand Sport has the wide body, the Z06’s tire sizes and brakes, the dry sump and 460 hp without a supercharger, and it has the year’s wheel record. Buy one only after all four wheels have been checked off the car, and budget for a wheel the reimbursement program no longer pays for.

The budget path is an earlier automatic Stingray with the 18-NA-355 receipt in the file: the same fix, done by a dealer, at the automatic’s lower price.

For the track: a Z06 manual. No 2019 Z06 is under GM’s overheating coverage, and the owner’s manual itself recommends a manual for long track sessions in hot weather; the Z06 guide has the cooling questions to ask.

For the collector: a ZR1, covered in its own guide, or one of the 95 Drivers Series Grand Sports with its option code and plaque.

Skip any 2019 with a tire that keeps losing air and no wheel inspection, an automatic that shudders with no record of the fluid exchange, or a VIN whose eighth character doesn’t match the badge. Get those right and the last front-engine Corvette is a 455 hp car or better that still runs a pushrod V8 and still offers three pedals, which no C8 does. The best Corvette years guide puts it in context across all eight generations.