2027 Corvette Grand Sport and Grand Sport X: which one to order, what each costs and what's still unknown

By GM’s March 26, 2026 announcement (opens in new tab), the engine is the 6.7-liter LS6 V8, 535 hp and 520 lb-ft, and the body is 79.7 in wide, 3.6 in wider than a Stingray. Over a Stingray, the Grand Sport adds:

• Wheels and tires: 20-inch front and 21-inch rear wheels on the Z06’s tire sizes, 275/30ZR20 and 345/25ZR21, against the Stingray’s 19s and 20s.
• Chassis: Magnetic Ride Control (self-adjusting dampers) and the electronic limited-slip differential, both standard; on a Stingray, Car and Driver lists the first as a $1,895 option and the second with the Z51 package.
• Gearing: the short 5.56:1 final drive, which a Stingray gets only with the Z51 package (a base car has 4.89:1).
• Brakes: a street setup GM calls a “Touring, low-dust brake system”, with pads Road & Track says are rated for street use only.

It doesn’t add power: the Stingray’s old performance exhaust option is gone, so every LS6 makes the same 535 hp (Car and Driver).

The LS6 brings forged pistons and rods, port and direct injection and a new dry-sump oiling system, and it’s built at GM’s Flint engine plant; assistant chief engineer Mike Kociba told Road & Track it shares fewer than 30 part numbers with the 6.2, mostly fasteners. GM calls the pushrod LS6 “the most powerful base engine ever offered in a Corvette” (the owner’s manual has the engine data).

GM says the Grand Sport “will be a high-volume model”, and so far it is: an owner’s unofficial tracker, relayed by Vette Vues, counted 3,204 Grand Sports (about 35 percent) and 285 Grand Sport Xs among the 9,122 2027 Corvettes built by September 28, 2026.

Choosing a Grand Sport is mostly choosing tires and brakes. Option prices are as Car and Driver listed them, July to September 2026.

Grand Sport, no package. Touring suspension, Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 tires and the street brakes. A wide-body road car, and not one GM approves for the track (the rule ends this section).

Z52 Sport Performance Package, $3,500. Stiffer suspension, Performance Traction Management (GM’s track settings for traction and stability control), Pilot Sport 4S summer tires and the Z06’s J56 iron brakes. Carbon-ceramics add $6,000, and the $8,995 Carbon Aero kit requires them.

Z52 Track Performance Package, $20,695. J57 carbon-ceramic brakes, the Carbon Aero package (splitter, dive planes, rockers, wing and underbody strakes), Pilot Sport Cup 2R tires, track chassis tuning and the quad center-exit exhaust, otherwise a $1,995 option.

Grand Sport X, $23,700 more. A front electric motor of 186 hp and 145 lb-ft joins the LS6, fed by a 1.9 kWh lithium-ion battery that GM says comes from the ZR1X. Carbon-ceramic brakes, Magnetic Ride, enhanced cooling and Performance Traction Management are standard, on Pilot Sport All Season 4+ tires. GM lists one Performance Package for it, with Pilot Sport 4S summer tires; on Car and Driver’s test car it cost $500 and brought firmer springs too. There’s no Cup 2R option. GM’s base curb weight is 3,800 lb, 280 more than the Grand Sport’s.

In Stealth mode the X runs on electricity alone for about three to four miles, by the owner’s manual, above 40°F and up to 50 mph, with the climate controls, defrost included, out of action. On track, its Charge+ setting uses the V8 to recharge the battery lap after lap.

Then there’s the rule that should settle it for anyone who owns a helmet. GM’s owner’s manual lists the Corvettes that “can be used for track events and competitive driving”, and for these two that means Grand Sport with a Z52 package, Grand Sport X with ZER, which the manual calls “the ZER performance package”. A base Grand Sport isn’t on the list, and GM warns that track driving without following the manual’s instructions “may affect the vehicle warranty”. The X’s spec sheet gives its one performance package no code, and no other GM document found for this page does either, so make sure ZER is on the window sticker. One track day a year is reason enough to tick the Z52 Sport box.

Living with the LS6. The owner’s manual asks for a 1,500-mile break-in: for the first 500, no full-throttle starts, under 4,000 rpm and no cruise control, and a Grand Sport X’s hybrid battery has limited capacity for its first 100 miles. The oil is SAE 5W-50 dexosR, 7.5 quarts with the filter, and the fuel is premium only.

GM’s figures and Car and Driver’s tests, single cars on different days; the magazine’s Z06 was a 2023 with the Z07 package and the same LT6.

In a straight line, the Grand Sport is no quicker than a Stingray with the Z51 package: same engine, same gearing, about the same weight. Car and Driver timed both at 2.7 s to 60 mph and 11.0 s in the quarter mile, and Edmunds (opens in new tab), testing a Z52 Sport Grand Sport against its own Stingray Z51, got 3.3 s from both.

The difference is grip, and the tires decide how much. On the Z52 Track’s Cup 2Rs, Car and Driver’s Grand Sport (opens in new tab) held 1.18 g on the skidpad, the best the magazine had seen from any C8, a hair more than its 2023 Z06, and MotorTrend’s convertible on the same package held 1.23 g. Edmunds’ car, on Pilot Sport 4S tires, managed 1.07 g to its Stingray’s 1.03 and found that the Grand Sport “accelerates, stops, and corners much like a Stingray”. Both are right: the wide body makes room for wide rubber, and the Cup 2Rs cash it in.

The Grand Sport X is the quickest of the three LS6 cars: 2.3 s to 60 and 10.3 s at 131 mph in Car and Driver’s test. Car and Driver calls it the replacement for the 655 hp E-Ray of 2024–2026, whose front motor made 160 hp; the 2027 lineup lists no E-Ray. The X’s motor and battery come from the ZR1X.

The Z06 changes the character, not just the grip: a 5.5-liter flat-plane-crank LT6, 670 hp and an 8,600 rpm redline. Road & Track argues the real comparison is Grand Sport to Z06. The C8 Z06 guide has its record, including a refueling recall and an engine parts restriction, neither of which covers the Grand Sport.

For a used alternative, C7 vs C8 sets the last front-engine Grand Sport, from the C7 (2014–2019), against the mid-engine cars.

GM raised every 2027 Corvette $300 in early October 2026. Here are the coupes with the $2,495 destination charge, as GM Authority listed them on October 5; Chevrolet’s own price list (opens in new tab), archived October 9, matches for the Stingray and both Grand Sports.

The package rows are this site’s arithmetic, October base prices plus Car and Driver’s option prices. Neither Grand Sport pays a gas-guzzler tax, by the EPA’s records. Take 2LT and 3LT prices from the dealer: GM Authority’s and Chevrolet’s own disagree by $1,000.

In two CorvetteForum threads, owners reported asks from a $3,500 allocation fee to $10,000 over sticker between May and late August 2026, while others in the same weeks paid sticker or reported discounts of $6,000 to more than $7,000. Single owners’ reports, not a survey: shop more than one dealer. No used market exists yet: Bring a Trailer had listed two 2027 Grand Sports by October 12, 2026 and sold neither.

Warranty. Chevrolet lists 3 years or 36,000 miles bumper to bumper and says typical powertrain coverage runs 5 years or 60,000 miles. No 2027 GM warranty booklet could be found by October 12, 2026; the 2026 Chevrolet booklet covers a hybrid’s propulsion battery for 8 years or 100,000 miles. Get the Grand Sport X’s terms in writing before you sign.

Transmission service. The dual-clutch’s external filter is due at 7,500 miles, and the maintenance schedule warns that skipping it “can cause damage to the transmission and potentially void any warranty”. After that, a filter every 22,500 miles, and fluid and filter every 45,000 miles or three years.

No 2027 Corvette has a reliability record: production began on June 8, 2026, by Corvette Blogger’s account. Here’s what’s on file as of October 12, 2026.

NHTSA. NHTSA’s complaint file (opens in new tab) holds one complaint against a 2027 Corvette (ODI 11767434, filed September 28, 2026): a Grand Sport whose owner reports a fuel tube O-ring leak that spilled gasoline in a garage. There are no 2027 recalls and no NHTSA investigation. One complaint is not a pattern, and complaints are unverified owner reports.

The launch engine exchange. GM’s PIP6124 (opens in new tab), dated July 2026, puts the LS6 in the 2027 Stingray and Grand Sport on an engine exchange program “during the launch of the 2027 model year”: outside a listed set of external parts, engine repairs, noise or oil consumption “may require an engine exchange”. It’s a launch program for finding root causes, not a recall or a finding of a defect, and GM gives no failure count. GM ran the same kind for the 2020 LT2 (PIP5698) and the 2023 LT6 (PIP5869, ended January 2024), which shows how GM launches an engine, not how this one will last. The bulletin doesn’t list the Grand Sport X separately.

The oil cooler adapter. GM’s PIP6132 (opens in new tab) (September 2026) covers a small oil leak where the oil cooler adapter meets the oil pan on 2027 LS6 engines. The fix is two new high-pressure port seals (GM 12746274, OEM) and the adapter bolts tightened in sequence, with labor listed for cars repaired under the powertrain coverage.

Owners in CorvetteForum’s LS6 oil leak thread (opens in new tab) report leaks there on some early cars from September, fixed with new seals; one leaked again after the first repair (October 8). Others with 350 to 2,100 miles report none. Nobody has published how many cars leak.

Other GM bulletins, dealer guides rather than recalls: PIP6135 (September 2026), a check-engine light with code P00C6, low fuel rail pressure while cranking; PIC6664 (September 2026), a rare Service Power Steering message with reduced assist at start-up, which dealers are told to handle by letting the car sleep, not by replacing the module; both are still under investigation. PIC6654A (August 2026) covers a blank head-up display from a stored brightness setting. NHTSA’s index files every 2027 Corvette bulletin under Grand Sport names, including ones GM limits to the Z06, ZR1 or ZR1X, so read the bulletin itself before blaming a Grand Sport.

Single reports and blanks. One owner reported a replaced transmission at about 1,300 miles (August 2026). GM had filed no 2027 bulletin on the dual-clutch (the C8’s earlier record is in the C8 buyer’s guide) and none on the Grand Sport X’s hybrid parts; the E-Ray’s front drive unit history belongs to the E-Ray. Edmunds bought a Grand Sport for a one-year road test, so the first long-term record is coming.

What to check at delivery:

1. Recalls and bulletins. Run the VIN through NHTSA’s recall lookup, and ask the dealer whether the car has had PIP6132 seal work or a PIP6124 engine exchange.
2. Underneath. No fresh oil around the oil cooler adapter or under the engine.
3. The package. Z52 on a Grand Sport you’ll track, ZER on a Grand Sport X, on the window sticker.
4. Paperwork. The Grand Sport X’s hybrid coverage in writing, and the 7,500-mile filter service on your calendar.

In 1963, early in the C2 (1963–1967) era, Zora Arkus-Duntov’s engineers built the Grand Sport race car with a 377-cubic-inch V8 to take on the world’s best sports cars; GM says only five were built before a corporate decision to step back from racing ended the project. Roger Penske and Jim Hall still won their class in one at the 12 Hours of Sebring on March 21, 1964, by GM’s account. On August 15, 2026, chassis 003, the first of the three coupes, sold at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction for $18,705,000 with fees, which the auction house told Road & Track was a world record for a Corvette.

The road cars followed:

• 1996, the C4 (1984–1996): 1,000 built, each with the 330 hp LT4 and a six-speed manual, in Admiral Blue with a white stripe and red hash marks on the left front fender.
• 2010–2013, the C6 (2005–2013): the 430 hp LS3 (436 with the dual-mode exhaust) with Z06-width fenders and Z06-size brakes.
• 2017–2019, the C7: a 460 hp dry-sump LT1 in the Z06’s body, on its wheel sizes.
• 2027, the C8: the LS6 in a Z06-width body, the Grand Sport X beside it, and the hash marks moved to the rear fenders, a $995 option on Car and Driver’s price list.

The C6, C7 and C8 share one recipe, the base V8 in the Z06’s wide body; the 1996 car’s LT4 wasn’t the base engine. Corvette generations explained has the rest of the names.

Order the Grand Sport. Make it a 1LT coupe with the $3,500 Z52 Sport package, about $92,300 with destination at October 2026 prices: summer tires, Performance Traction Management, the Z06’s iron brakes and a place on GM’s track list. Picture a long sweeper, the wide rear tires taking a set, and the narrow-body Stingray behind you running out of tire first.

On a budget, and if straight-line pace is the point, buy a Stingray with the Z51 package. It ran the same 2.7 s in Car and Driver’s test, and a 1LT with it costs $79,190, about $13,100 less.

For all-weather traction and the quickest launch of the three LS6 cars, buy the Grand Sport X on its standard all-season tires; if it will see a track, add the $500 performance package and make sure ZER, the code on GM’s track list, is on the sticker. For a dedicated track car, the Z52 Track at about $109,490 sits roughly $12,200 short of a Z06 1LZ before the Z06’s gas-guzzler tax. And if it’s the 8,600 rpm LT6 you want, nothing here replaces the Z06.

Waiting has a case too. The first long-term tests and a full model year of complaint data don’t exist yet, so a buyer who wants a track record before signing should give the LS6 a year.

Either way, here’s what America’s sports car offers in the fall of 2026 for about $92,300: a 535 hp pushrod V8 at your back, the Z06’s width under you and a name that started with five race cars in 1963. Go book a track day.