Top Gear Gives the 2027 Corvette Three Awards, Starting With Its New Base V8
The 535-hp LS6 V8, the returning Grand Sport, and the 1,250-hp ZR1X each took a category, a year after the ZR1 won the same supercar title.
The 2027 Chevrolet Corvette took three categories in this year's TopGear.com US Car Awards: Engine of the Year for its new 6.7-liter LS6 V8, Sports Car of the Year for the returning Grand Sport, and Supercar of the Year for the 1,250-hp ZR1X. GM announced the wins in a post on its newsroom on October 28.
The engine award stands out. Earlier this month, the 2026 Wards 10 Best Engines list had no gas-only engines on it at all. Top Gear went the other way and picked a naturally aspirated V8 with no electric assistance.
What won
The LS6 is now the base Corvette engine, used in the Stingray and Grand Sport. GM rates it at 535 hp and 520 lb-ft, and says that makes it the most powerful base engine a Corvette has ever had. The company also claims the torque figure is the highest of any naturally aspirated production V8. The engine is part of the same next-generation small-block program that brought new 5.7- and 6.6-liter V8s to the 2027 Silverado and Sierra.
The Grand Sport, back for 2027, combines the Stingray's everyday usability with features from the Z06 and ZR1. Top Gear's judges singled out how livable it is on the street. A Grand Sport X adds a front electric motor for 721 hp combined, but GM credits the award to the Grand Sport alone.
The ZR1X sits at the top of the range. Its twin-turbo 5.5-liter LT7 makes 1,064 hp, and a 186-hp front motor brings the total to 1,250 hp. GM says a ZR1X ran an 8.675-second quarter-mile at 159 mph on a prepped surface, on pump gas and stock tires.
A repeat in the supercar class
This is the second year in a row a Corvette has won Top Gear's US supercar category. In the previous round, published in December 2025, the gas-only ZR1 took Supercar of the Year. That round's overall Car of the Year went to the Dodge Charger Sixpack, and Cadillac was named Manufacturer of the Year.
The awards also arrive after a round of price increases. When Chevrolet released 2027 pricing in April, Cars.com reported the Stingray at $73,495 including destination, up $1,000. The Grand Sport started at $88,495 and the Grand Sport X at $112,195. The ZR1X rose $17,800 to $227,395, which is still about $45,000 below a Porsche 911 Turbo S.
All of these wins go to cars with a V8 and no manual option. Corvette's chief engineer has already explained why a stick isn't coming back. GM's announcement doesn't say which car won this year's overall Car of the Year.
