The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette has a lot going for it between the mid-engine configuration, the 495 horsepower V8 , the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, and, of course, the price. But one feature worth talking about is the hydraulically-actuated front suspension lift.


We don’t know a ton about this feature, but what we do know is that the front suspension—a short/long arm (SLA) double wishbone setup that eschews the old cars leaf spring design for coils —will offer a hydraulic “front suspension lift,” which Chevrolet says will raise the car’s ground clearance by 1.6 inches in just 2.8 seconds.

This, Chevy says in its press release, can protect the vehicle from speed bumps, potholes, steep grades, curbs, and other obstacles, and will function at up to 24 MPH .

The whiz-bang part of all this is the memory function, which Chevy says allows the driver to program as many as 1,000 locations so that the suspension automatically lifts the front of the car based on its GPS location. That way, the driver doesn’t have to activate the lift via the button adjacent to the shifter mechanism (pointed out below) every time she or he arrives at the same speed bump on the road—thanks to the magic of the global positioning system, the car will figure it out on its own.


I don’t have many details on this setup, all I know is that it’s hydraulic, like the suspension lift setup found on the Ford GT, which fascinates my coworker Raphael (and also me) to no end.


I do kind of wish the car could detect a pothole or speed bump, and just raise the nose by itself without the driver having to program the location (this would come in handy when navigating Detroit’s poorly-maintained roads), but still, this seems like a fun feature.