Chevrolet Corvette C8 Stingray versus Porsche 911 Carrera S (992). 10 points of retained value between them — ~£145 per horsepower plays ~£186 on today’s market.
The C8 Stingray has quietly become one of the shrewdest buys in performance cars. At roughly £145 per horsepower on today's auction market, you're getting a genuine mid-engine supercar — 2.9 seconds to 62, 475 naturally aspirated horsepower, proper double-wishbone suspension — for money that would have bought you a well-optioned executive saloon a generation ago. It has retained around 84% of its original MSRP at auction, which tells you the floor is already in. This isn't a car still sliding; it's a car that found its level and stayed there. The cabin, once the Corvette's Achilles heel, is genuinely good now. Reviewers have broadly agreed that the C8 finally delivers on every promise the badge used to make and break. The 992 Carrera S is a magnificent machine and nobody serious is disputing that. But at roughly £186 per horsepower used, you are paying a significant premium for the Porsche badge and the familiar silhouette. The depreciation picture is murkier too — the 74% retention figure comes from model-wide auction data, not this specific trim, so treat it as a rough direction of travel rather than a hard number. What isn't in doubt is the price gap. Buy the Corvette. It is faster to 62, cheaper per horsepower, more sonically dramatic thanks to that naturally aspirated V8, and its depreciation curve has already done its worst. The 911 is the better car to borrow. The C8 is the better car to own.