^ i would still take the wheels to a pcar or fcar dealership for any reason.
All cool. I figured best not to respond and ratchet up. Youree right many ways to enjoy a car. I happen to like an Excalibur series 3, people think I'm nuts, many cool cars for many purposes, its one hobby.
Maser (MC 20) is a great looking car but they're already in depreciation "free-fall" and that interior is a plastic parts bin.
I agree but I want the convertible version. I think many of these are people who bought the coup to get the convertible and dumped them. Or I might pick up a good used one and have someone else pay the depreciation.
I highly recommend one of these, if you're looking for excitement: https://specialtyvehicleengineering.com/2023-1100hp-1150hp-yenko-sc-camaro/ Yes, with three pedals and a manual trans. The sound alone will open your checkbook for you Slight downside: you'll likely kill yourself. Not for lack of talent mind you, but because 1100+ real hp in a rear-wheel-drive-only camaro is well beyond the manageable traction limit of the car ... in any gear. But what a glorious way to go
saw one on the road today. painted handicap blue and it looks great. especially from rear 3/4 view. low and wide.
For those interested in (track) performance... the French "Sport Auto" magazine just published what they call a "supertest" of the Corvette Z06 (equipped with Michelin Sport Cup 2 R); it includes a timing on the Val de Vienne track (their new testing ground) and with the same professional driver (Christophe Tinseau) it beats the Porsche 992 GT3 (with similar tires) by 3.5s (1'39"3 for the Corvette vs 1'42"8 for the Porsche).
Did you ever get a Z06? I haven’t been fully up to date in here. If you did get one, has it bored you already?
I'm still on the list but the way Chevy is making these things it might be years. No one really knows. I figured I would have had it by now. And GM is winding down spending on gasoline powered cars. I think they don't care anymore about making a few thousand cars or not. If I were to guess I think they would rather make C8 Erays then stick the same drivetrain in an SUV with the Corvette name than make the hand built / gas guzzling motor for Z06's. They would make a ton more money.
One of my friends recently took delivery of his 2LT Z06 convertible and took me for a ride and also let me take it for a spin. I drove my 458 to his place so we would be able to drive them back to back to compare. Please keep in mind that this was only a spirited drive around some back roads and not a test of the cars on track or anywhere near their (or our) limits. With that being said, here are some of my thoughts, for those that are interested: My biggest takeaway was that I was surprised by how much more exciting the Ferrari was to drive. On paper, the C8 is objectively the better car; it's faster but it certainly doesn't feel like it. Driving back to back, the Ferrari feels like the faster car from behind the wheel. The Ferrari is a more visceral drive--it's louder in the cabin, the ride is more firm, and the steering is of course, very quick and sharp. The ride on the Corvette is very comfortable, but the result is that it feels soft in even the track setting relative to the 458. There is very little feedback through either the steering wheel or the chassis, and the result is that the car feels very isolated from the road. If you put a blindfold on me (and ear plugs), I would've guessed I was riding in a Lexus. I suppose, to a certain extent, that's what much of their buying demographic wants. If you look at the dimensions, the Z06 is about 6 inches longer, and it certainly looks like a big car in person. I think the wide body looks great, and the Z06 rear is a big improvement over the Stingray to me, but there's no getting around the fact that the car is BIG. It feels bigger and heavier than the 458 from behind the wheel as well. That changes when you're inside, though, because the Corvette feels cramped inside relative to the Ferrari. The seats are higher off the ground in the Corvette, the side belt lines are higher, and the central tunnel between the driver and passenger really cuts into the interior space. The Ferrari is obviously much more open without that. The wall of buttons further makes the interior cramped, though you only really notice that from the passenger seat. While it feels cramped by comparison, I liked the interior from the driver's seat, and being much newer, the Corvette has a lot of nice features available. Regarding the sound, they both sound great, though we both agreed that the Ferrari sounds just a little better. Part of that is probably that there's less sound insulation in the 458, and the tone is a little better. The 458 can drone a bit around 3,000 RPMs with the valves open, and the Z06 does as well, but it does so for longer in the rev range--at least with the windows up. The Corvette has more pops and burbles though, which I liked. Granted, the car was pretty new, but the overall build quality looked really good and the car felt very sold, but there were a couple of GM type things: the gap between the door trim and the dashboard was much bigger on the passenger side versus the driver's side, and there was a piece of passenger window weather stripping that was pinched up big enough for me to fit my pinky in to. That should be easy enough to fix. Weirdly, there's a pretty gross smell that seems to be coming from the exhaust area, and apparently people are already talking about it on the Corvette forums. Hopefully it goes away with time. You couldn't smell it inside the car, thankfully (even with the top down). Overall, I think it's a great package for the price--it's comfortable, fast, and looks and sounds great--but it feels more GT car than sports car to me. I'm sure that will be fine for many buyers, but the 458 is definitely the right car for me. Others will surely disagree, and that's great--everyone has different opinions!
That's an interesting comment regarding speed because to be honest I always felt my 458 was pretty slow, especially above 100 mph. I guess if you look at the way the Z06 slows down over 100 it is too, though.
This is a great and useful review for a lot of us that are cross shopping this with a 458. Thanks for taking the time to write this up.It sort of highlights my concern with this car though. The Z06 is supposed to be a possible replacement for buying a 458. However, I'm worried about whether it will be able to keep my attention for long. As I've waited for my F430 to sell, I've been looking at the usual variety of $80-$130k sports cars for a decent and possibly more pragmatic replacement. To me the Z06 seems like a no brainer. Yet, two weeks ago, I went to test drive a Porsche Spyder since I've always loved the design with the humps on the back and the fact that it has kept the flat six. I had more fun than I thought I would in it, and it's now a serious contender. Following that drive, I went straight to a local dealer and test drove a C8 HTC. Awesome car, but it just felt so big and slightly numb; but had all the latest goodies. The E-Ray/Z06 are going to be even bigger. Yet, I feel the C8 was designed for the bigger proportions, which is why it looks so much better with a wide body. It's turning into a dilemma for me. I'm worried I'm going to get bored. I may not like the headaches of maintaining a 2005 Ferrari, but I'm NEVER bored when I drive this car; even short distances. At the end of the day though, this may just be a HTC place holder while I wait for the kids to get older and regain some of my spare time (and $ ).
The big issue seems to be gearing. Same gearing as a regular stinrey, just the final drive ratio changed. Its basically too tall in the upper gears. Many road car are because it reduces drone and improved economy on highways. But you'd think with all those gears they could have 6 tight ones and 2 tall ones. According to the vette forum, the gearing was purely budget saving. Even a mustang comes with different gearing depending on version.
Yes 0-100 mph takes about 6 seconds and 0-150 mph takes over 16 seconds. That's a big drop off in acceleration.
Not blowing wind up your skirt ... but this ^^ was my very thought as well. GEARING. Ferrari tends to gear their cars the way a street car should be geared: short. Too many "modern" American cars tend to be long on gearing. It was my single biggest complaint on the Ford GT (2005). First gear to 60+ mph ... a pure marketing move, to avoid the shift-time-loss on the zero-to-sixty run. Anything above 3rd gear was absolutely useless on the Ford GT (on the street). And the worst part, you couldn't simply change the rear gear (like we used to do) on that transaxle (or it was prohibitively expensive). Also emissions, gas mileage concerns, etc etc Anybody (aftermarket) offering the possibility of changing the Vette's gearing? Probably not possible ... but maybe worth asking?
the stingray seems to have short gearing especially 1st. barely get moving in manual mode and have to shift into 2nd half way thru a turn.
There's still this idea among some, that a street car must be really fast if it can go 80~90mph in second gear!! yeah ... truth is the exact opposite See all those 17 gears that modern transmissions give you? You want a performance car to use most of them.
