it's a wonder who on the design team won the prize for "I can make the ugliest,cheapest looking and most dated looking sports car" contest? Seriously, it's a joke. It will be fast as hell, handle amazing and brake like crazy but they really missed the mark. It kinda pisses me off!! I love American Muscle Cars in fact I own two of em. It would be so easy to make the car look great! The new Camaro looks sooooo much cooler than this disaster. Anyway, it's a shame
This can't be called a supercar car, it may be supercar fast, but the built materials and leaf springs are things out of taste. It's just another fast corvette, why the hell don't they have cojones like Ford with the Ford GT?
You forgot to mention that the last line in the article states "the only thing that would stop me from buying it is my wife" Seems he was surprised by how much he liked the C6. Last year Top Gear also rated the Z06 as the best fast car of the year beating out the 599 and the Porsche Turbo. Top Gear also said that the Z06 and the 575 had a similar look. At the end of the segament they decided the 575 was worth over 100K more because it had less tire noise less drive train lash and a more complaint ride. The snobs will laugh and make fun but the car will smoke any production car on the road that costs less than $250,000
I would rather drive a 300HP Ferrari than a 600HP Corvette. The concept of the ZR1 is like a really fugly woman who gets DD breast implants. She might be fun to play with once in a while but her fugliness precludes us from establishing any serious relationship.
Wow pretty harsh critique even if it comes from a ferrari forum. I drive GM junk all day. Had an 03 Denali XL and have an 07 Escalade ESV. Love both of those cars. Never had a vette but always thought they looked very nice. I think the ZR1 could have had a better interior and bucket seats, but at 100K, I think its a steal. I would buy and drive that car in a heart beat. For the record I also really like Lexus and am very much looking forward to the LF A. -Peter PS What is it about the covette that you guys think is so ugly? I think the FJ cruiser and alot of 80"s volvos are ugly but the corvette?
High tech aluminum frame magnesium engine cradle carbon fiber fenders, wheel wells, roof, floor,, titanium rods and valves, forged aluminum unequal length A arm suspension all around, carbon ceramic brakes, purpose built Michelin tires, active shocks that have one milli second response time. On a Ferrari this stuff is exotic and high tech. On a Chevy it is out of taste? The leaf springs perform exactly the same function as a coil no more no less. The suspension uses unequal length a arms just like a Ferrari. All this may be out of taste but the Stig is half a second a lap faster in a Z06 than in a 430. It will be interesting to see how he does in a ZR1,
+1 in addition, the Z06 did very well in the last COY in EVO back in 2006 when the 599 won. I wish they did a bit better with the interior materials.
going against the grain here but I have driven a C6 Z06 and loved it. Very fast, very predictable and cheap HP. With the ZR1, I wouldn't have it replace my F430 but I sure as hell would pick one up as a stablemate and a "who cares if I wreck it" track toy. Performance wise, it will annihilate most super cars out there and IMO, in gray, it actually looks really good.
It's a Corvette fer crissakes!. It's like a very pretty girl from the trailer park. Looks real good in pictures but you sure can't take her uptown to a good restaurant because there's no corn dogs on stick on the menu
I would actually much rather buy the new Nissan Skyline GT-R. It can do the numbers too, hits 0-60mph in 3.3 seconds and looks better built, technically its light years ahead and no doubt will retain high residuals too.
What a bunch of snobs here! If only I had more space in my garage I would get that car in an instant. If I were not in a lucky position to be able to drive Ferraris,I would get that car in an instant. GM should be praised for producing a real performance bargain of the Century (assuming it would be priced around $100k),a superb nod toward car enthusiasts ,proving that even in big corporation like theirs,there are real CAR PEOPLE trying to do something "FUN" not just politically correct hybrids and money making ,boring trucks. I am truly embarrassed reading some of the posts in this thread.
+1 If comparing those two cars I will take GT-R too. At least GT-R is new level of Jap hi-tech car. It will be rather interesting to drive and to examine it. I even think about putting deposit for one of the first LHD GT-R's coming to Europe in 2009. I know that in Europe GT-R s not even Porsche 911 market competitor, do not speaking about Ferrari at all, but I think that GT-R is very interesting car. Corvette ZR1 is not even close to Ferrari level. Cheap plastics and bad quality. Poor chassis and old-school big engine. This is NO way to sell this car outside of the US. Just look back to Ford GT and ask yourself if this car made an impact on Ferrari sales and market position. The answer will be definitely NO, NO and one more time NO. Best.
If Corvette could get their interiors looking a bit more upscale it would most certainly help. I would definitely buy a used one. It's a great value, "bang for the buck". Once a sports car goes into the $100k range, it's has to be a Ferrari, Porsche,and the like. If only for the quality of materials. Because, let's be honest, if you went on performance stats and price alone, without knowing what the marque is, we'd be surprised at ourselves at how many would have picked a Vette. And I'm talking as a die hard Ferrari nut.
OK - I do own some serious Ferrari machinery; however I have to admit to being the first on the list for the new ZR-1 for over two years - why, you may ask? I grew up loving Vettes (worshipping Ferraris for sure), but there is something about a Vette that oozes testosterone and is - for that very reason - quite appealing. This one does not fall short in that department. To be sure, I will buy one, and beat the living hell out of it for a few months, track the beast till the wheels come off and sell it. It is NOT a substitute for any Ferrari - but I am not expecting that - I will drive my other Ferraris just that much less with the ZR-1 in the stable, however.
Of course the interior's not going to be as nice as a Ferrari's- it costs more than 120k less. Its MSRP is going to be about 40% of the Scuderia's. It's part of the bargain you get. Nice car.
600HP for 100,000k is not much of a bargain. You can buy a modified car with 600, 700, 800 HP for cheaper. My issue with the ZR1 is the interior. Why would GM cover the interior of the car with vinyl?? GM should look to Nissan and the GTR for hints on building a low budget, quality car.
Wow, this is a hard core group. I own a few F cars and am also seriously thinking of a ZR1. But, be constructive guys. If YOU ran Corvette, what would YOU do to make a supercar you hard core guys would be proud to own or is it just anti GM bias and your minds are closed?
Believe me us designers get frustrated too, I'm a retired designer, MANAGEMENT and the BEAN COUNTERS control this, the big shooter says yeah I like this and everyone below him says YES SIR. Then the Bean counters go to work and just rip a program apart, I've seen so much good stuff fall off the table. The first thing when a program is excepted to go into the next phase is, what can we afford and keep and what goes. Next steps, how can we make it cheaper, a program in the end at Job1 is just a faction of what it was at the beginning. A lot of designers move on to other things because of this, the use of their talent is limited. Only when your on a show car program or in advanced design do you get more flexibility, but when the concept goes into a production cycle the crap starts again, MANAGEMENT and the BEAN COUNTERS .
Ferrari interiors are nice but lets not forget, the years of sticky black plastic bits, dash leather that shrinks and bows, seat leather that wears like a cheap K Mart item, floor mat hold downs that just will not stay in place and average at best sound systems etc etc., all for $200K plus. I have lived and am living through all of them.
+2 Only quiet a few lucky guys had a Ferrari as his/her first "Sports car". In the 80s, my first sports car was a Corvette, and so on the second & third Corvette. then I moved to Japanese brand names for a short period of time. Before I had my first Ferrari, I truly had lots of fun with Porsches for long time. Although I have had 3 F-cars so far, I still miss those Corvettes a lot. From one point, if you didn't own the other brand name sports cars, how on earth you can compare them and know what you like the most/budget wise as well. Deep in my heart today, I still want to get a Corvette back some day, because it really opened the door and let me into the sports car world. And I appreciate it.
The one good thing about Corvettes is the people that buy them are exactly like the car.... In love with themselves, have a false feeling of self worth, all muscled-up to cover other inadequacies, on steroids, lacking class, do things to impress others rather than for themselves, wiggle their ass too much and do it just in case some other guy is watching and they decide to go that way(anyone who will comment on their ass will suffice to give them a bit of acceptance), act refined but in reality are cheap kinda like a trailer owner who splurges on a bottle of Asti-Spumanti, are only good for about 10 minutes until you realize their true shallow personality, they rattle and squeak about themselves so much that you just cant bare to listen to them any longer, they keep going to the gym to get even more buff in hopes that someday someone will love them for their bodies when in reality, they are just a soulless shell and the only one who will ever love them is someone who doesn't know what love means.
