355 or new Z06?

IT is going to be hard to out do GHOSTWISPER, but let me try.

The F355 is like a super model for a trophy wife. The Z06 is like a soccer mom who cooks, washes, and take care of the kids. Looks vs. Performance.

BTW, the C6Z06 is going to be a pretty good looking soccer mom IMO.

 

Zo6 - it looks hot, goes like stink. and yea

 

Thanks for your post. I enjoyed reading. I will one day hopefully own a GT3 *prays*

 

I am in the process of trading my 2002 405hp ZO6 for a 1997 355, I already have a 1990 TR and have owned five Vettes in total at the end of the day much as I think both the C5 and C6 are giant steps forward for Chevy and are great cars they neither have the mystic or the pedigree of a Ferrari there is nothing like driving a Ferrari new or old.

 

The Ferrari is one of the best looking cars on the road everytime I see one my heart starts beating faster. The Ferarri has something the Lambo and Porsche do not- a lusty sensual shape - especially the 360. I cannot wait to one day be able to afford one of these.

I do own a 2002 Z06 as a daily driver and it is a fantastic car. I bought it new have put over 32000 miles on it and tracked it at Buttonwillow several times - you come out of a sweeper at about 90 and hit 135 on the straight so saying the car is only fast in a straight line is silly, and makes you sound like you don't know anything about cars. The Z is very very fast on a roadcourse and it has been proven time and time again in every major automotive publication.

The car is also very easy to control and what no one mentioned here it is a very light car at 3118lbs with a full tank (the new z will be 3130 but the 505hp should handle the extra 12 lbs.)

The only wear and tear on my car is new brake pads and tires. Warranty work has been almost nil - radiator had a leak when the car was brand new - that is the most major problem I have had.

Nice to see so many objective viewpoints here about the Z the Porsche boards are filled with alot of snobs when it comes to Corvettes.

 

The Z06 is definately NOT a straight line only car...it is extremely well balanced with great handling characteristics. You know exactly what it is going to do before it does it and you have plenty of time to correct mistakes. It's also quite easy to push hard for those who aren't extremely skilled drivers, the tractional control works serious magic. I always have traction control turned off, but that is my preference.

Brakes are also pretty dang good...not in the same class as the GT3 but they feel better (IMO) than the 355. That said I haven't pushed the 355 anywhere near as hard as the GT3. I ran data acquisition on my GT3 last summer and pulled 1.3G in a banked off ramp near my house (Michelin Pilot Sport Cup race compounds)...I definately haven't done that in the 355 (yet).

--
'98 355 | '04 NayKid Racing Z06 #75 | '04 GT3 | '89 E30 M3
www.ryansnodgrass.com

 

The Corvette, priced in the $40,000's (the Laramie dealer just sold one for $43,000) is a better value, easier to enjoy, and faster than a lot of Ferraris. And next year, there will be a seven litre, 500hp variety of Corvette. I'm happy with my 1997 550.
http://www.laserradio.com/550.html

 

Interesting comparison. For the last month or so, I had been contemplating what to get. My current car is a 1991 Lotus Elan. I love it and I'll keep it still. But, I wanted a step up. Here's my rundown of my choices and what I ended up going with. Your mileage may vary.

Corvette C6 - awesome car, seems like it is great performance all around. Bottom line was - I just wanted something a bit more exotic. Has nothing do with impressing someone - I just like a car a bit more unusual in looks and one you don't see very often. I felt the cars below could give me that and even though the cost was more, I figured the residual value to me of having a more unusual car meant that it still would look fresh looking even years down the road. My Lotus is 14 years old and still looks pretty fresh.

Noble M12 - Great car, great performance, better $/! (bang/buck) than a Corvette even. But, pedals are very tight. The dead pedal is tiny and you have to rest your foot on the clutch slightly. There is virtually no storage at all - no trunk and the radio is on the passenger side. The seats are not too easy to get into. Basically, the car is great as a track car but I wanted something that I can use on both the track and the street.

Lotus Elise - basically a latter day version of my car - a small nimble Lotus with good performance. But, its even harder to get into than the Noble. Not an every day kind of car - great on the track, but I like the looks of the Series 1 better and I already own a Lotus convertible so I didn't want another.

Lotus Esprit - definitely was interested in this for the longest time - ever since I saw "The Spy Who Loved Me." Friends in the Lotus club kept insisting I should get one. I'd love to wait til the next one comes out but I figure that will be a couple years plus a year to work out the bugs in it so I don't think I want to wait. The cabin on the current car is remarkably confined - you feel like you are sitting in a tunnel with the hump next to you and the windshield coming up next to you. My Elan is remarkably more "airy" considering its a much smaller car. So, have to ignore this one - but the performance is awesome. Oh, the resale values are plummetting. I could've picked up a nearly new one for $60K.

Porsche 911 - I drove a Carrera, would have wanted the Carrera S. Nice car, great interior, great to drive. But, around where I live, these things are more plentiful than just about any other "exotic" - even see more Porsches (Boxster+911) than Corvettes. The GT3 is an awesome package but I read some articles and spoke to some owners and it scared the hell out of me - just too twitchy for every day use. And, if you want to use it for the track, you have to get it set up right and learn how to drive a rear engine car appropriately. The Carrera S would have been a nice compromise but it really wasn't exotic enough for me.

Which brings me to:

Ferrari 355 - ok, I bought it. I haven't gotten it yet - should be in about a week as it gets transported across the country. While the low end torque isn't there, the performance overall meets my needs - I think. It has the awesome looks and awesome sound everyone knows about. The interior for a mid engine car is much easier to get into than the Noble, Elise, or Esprit. The footwell isn't too cramped and there is a reasonable dead pedal. While the interior is a tiny bit dated compared to more recent cars, it still looks pretty decent. For what I would use the car for, I think its a perfect match. I don't need to win drag strip races - I just wanted something that had more top end than my Elan and would be a decent performer in the track. Plus, my wife is Italian and really appreciated this car - above all the others. So, I should say that combination really helped drive this one home (literally). I bought it effectively from another lister - would never have found this particular one otherwise.

Details: 1998 355 GTS 6 speed, challenge grill, red calipers.

Scott

 

Mike, is this Romeo's old NSX? Based on the dyno numbers (not to mention first had experience) your car will not annihilate a ZO6. My old BBSC NSX was not a match for a ZO6 and that was with more HP and less weight vs your comptech set up.

 

why spend all that money when a procharged hci z06 could be had for cheaper and run circles around the nsx

 

Heres the difference: Everyone owns a vette! Everyone DREAMS of owning a Ferrari! Tim

 

Jeff,

What a can of worms you opened.

It's interesting how many Fcar guys have had, or have, vettes. I also have owned a vette and Jeff, this is one your going to have to answer for yourself. I will say this, I doubt you will regret holding on to the 355 but you might regret selling it. I would take some more time "thinking out loud". Then some more behind the wheel of both...........

 

Not really.

 

a question or a joke?

 

its a question...a logical question...do you have an answer for it?

 

My friends and I have been riding a mutual friend to buy a 355 for some time. As he's the guy who can actually write the check, we have every intention to live vicariously through him.

Well, he traded his STi for a 16k mile '02 Z06 last weekend. No 355 for "us". He's been talking about the C6 Z06 too but it's hard to say no to the $32k used car that looks like it's never been driven given what the depreciation is likely to look like with a new vette.

I have to say that the Corvette is about 10X better than I expected. It doesn't creak or rattle, I don't feel like I'm sitting inside a big bathtub, it's (obviously) pretty damn fast, and it has lots of uesless gadgets to play with. Another friend commented "I feel kind of stupid that I've been making fun of these cars all these years."

Of course, my personal cars are an Esprit and a self-built Cobra replica, so my expectations may just be very low.

 

Zo6 and any ferrari comparison is like comparing apples and oranges. They are both fruits, but are completely different.

Its not how fast you go.........but how you go fast.

355 is the correct choice.

 

Well, I guess I have to disagree with Big Red. There is no “correct” choice. That quote is obviously somewhat biased, which as a Ferrari lover, I totally understand.

It depends on your budget, need for speed, objective looks, sound (exhaust note), build quality, maintenance time AND expense, and a few other things.

I think many of us remember Corvettes as they were in the middle to late 70’s. They just aren’t like that anymore. They are much higher quality, mostly rattle free, fast, and, the best part, a great value for the dollars spent.

Larry Webster from Car and Driver, (my favorite magazine) credits the Corvette as the best bang for the buck in the market today, for this type of car of course.

Here’s a pic or two of my C5 and Modena.

Man, I’m a lucky guy!!!!!!!!!!!! I love them both! (I guess you can tell my favorite color)

Bottom line, in my humble opinion, you can’t go wrong with either car.

http://www.billoxley.com/images/360chat.jpg

http://www.billoxley.com/images/c5chat.jpg

 

excellent reply Bill Oxley...obviously on a Ferrari board...most will choose Ferrari...but those that have or do own both can give a better opinion that isn't based on badges on the hood.

 

srwhitman-
Last production for Espirit was 04 to the best of my recollection, haven't heard of a replacement.

I have purchased my first 355 and await delivery. My purchase was primarily emotional and sense oriented.

 

I had a friend get in my 355 when i first bought it. He looked around at it for a minute and said "I think you should get out of this car as fast as you can, you are gonna lose your butt. what did you pay for it $50K? You could have bought a brand new Corvette!"
If I could buy a 99 355 F-1 for 50K I would buy every one I could lay my hands on. I asked him what he thought a brand new Corvette would be worth the day after i drove it off the lot. I guess if you want a nav. system and all the bells and whistles then the Corvette is the way to go. The Ferrari feels more like a race car and the interior could take some pointers from a neon.
The bottom line is when they both pull up to a red light only one of them is a Ferrari. If you are in the vette you may say "damn, i wish i were in that Ferrari!" I doubt anyone in a Ferrari is gonna say "I sure wish i were driving that Corvette!"

 

Buying an expensive 2-seat car that can't carry very much cargo isn't, usually, a purely rational decision. If the easily expressed reasons why one wants a vehicle were all that mattered, everyone would just drive Accords or pickup trucks (not that there's anything wrong with those).

A friend has a C5 Corvette and I've driven it some. It is indeed better made than I expected, by a long shot. It's fast, handles well, doesn't use a lot of gas, and looks pretty good. The C6 ZO6 will be all that, squared. But even if the C5 went 0-60 in 0.5 seconds, I still wouldn't want one for my sportscar because it just doesn't feel "special" TO ME. The C6 Z06 may be different; I'll reserve judgment until I drive one. Not an insult to the Corvette at all; I'm surprised they are as inexpensive as they are, given what you get for the $.

Numbers aren't all that matter. Buy the one that makes your heart race. After all, isn't that why you want one in the first place?

 

P-car owner here. Having owned neither a Corvette nor a 355, I'd cast my vote for the Ferrari unless you want an economical track car. For driving on public roads on the weekend, I think the sensational looks and mystique of the 355 trump the incredible performance of the Corvette. Even here in southern CA a 355 is something special. IMO the design has aged nicely. (Out of my price range, but otherwise I would be ecstatic to have one in my garage.)

The C5 and C6 Corvettes have never quite worked for me, for subjective reasons. Too many awkward styling bits, cheap interiors and the not-so-subjective nuisance of going to a Chevy dealer for servicing.

BUT: If the maintenance bills are going to keep you up at night, a Corvette or -- gasp -- Porsche 911 (cheap only compared to a Ferrari) might make you happier. I'll admit the jaw-dropping depreciation on Corvettes is tempting.

Good luck!

J

 

If your primarily focused on having a fast car, get the new Z06.

The Ferrari 355 doesn't have as many tuning options, and obviously the Chevy will be way cheaper to maintain and modify. Plus, you'll get a great warranty. If I were you I'd definitely get the 355, knowing the Z06 would anihilate it in every way, but Ferrari's arn't about numbers. You also have to take into consideration how often you'll be driving the car. The Z06 is a car you can drive everyday just about, while the Ferrari is more of a weekend toy.

If you even have to ask, get the Corvette.