C8 Z06

I finally had a chance to get to the property where the Z06 is stored. It’s probably been 4-5 months since I started it, and despite not being on a tender, it fired right up. It groaned slightly, but nevertheless, it turned over without too much struggle. I should definitely have it on a tender, but it’s nice to know that it has better system than Ferrari. On a side note, I started up my Porsche 992 GT3 Touring and it too fired right up. It’s probably been about 3-4 months between drives on that car.

 

That looks awesome !

MDS

 

Reminds me of my friend's uncle Z06 find. It has been sitting for about a year with two flat tires. They brought a new battery it fired up. He ordered a set of toyo tires and it now runs smoothly.

 

Hopefully my situation won’t come to that. Fortunately, my garage project is very nearly complete and I’ll be able to have my cars quickly accessible. Soon enough, I will be back on a solid driving rotation.

 

I have been having discussions about whether or not my car partner and I are going to order a Z06 when our place in line opens. The dealer has said that non Z07 package cars are at msrp now. As we both are nearing 72, and seem to be driving our fun cars less, we had about convinced ourselves that our C8 was good enough for now.

Today, and longtime f/chat - DFW group friend brought over his Z06 for me to drive. After 20 minutes behind the wheel, I am sold on the car, and will be ordering one as soon as possible. The sound is way beyond the C8 sound, and the power is intoxicating. I felt the ride was pretty much the same as ours, and had no negatives coming out of the drive. Dryhole did show me how for forward the front lip extends, so we will have to be extra careful pulling into parking lots. We will not be ordering any carbon fibre, and thinking a 2LZ Convertible may be the way we go. I built one on the Chevy site, and it would list about $134k with the front end lift. and GT2 seats. We don't want the 3LZ, as that gets you the dipped interior, and with the tan we want, it reflects off the front glass too much for us.

Dryhole has been considering the offerings from Ferrari, and says he is over spending $500k on one. Thanks for the drive bud !

 

What exterior color for the tan interior? Ours is Silver Flare, 2LZ, GT2 seats, front lift.

 

I have the tan dipped interior. Honestly its no big issue.

 

I think my partner wants red, just not sure which one. I spec'd one yesterday as a convertible, and it came up around $134k.

 

A friend of mine has a Z06 and since I have Stingray, here are my observations after spending some quality time driving his car (thoughts are worth exactly what you paid for them).

My car: 2021 Convertible. Base susp. (with mag ride), 2LT, Performance exhaust. Delivered April 2021, 19,000 miles as I write this.
My friends Z06: 2023 Convertible, base susp., 2LZ, front lift
Both cars are "low option" cars. My Stingray was $80,000 back in 2021, the Z06 was a tad over $130,000. Both cars bought for MSRP.

The Z06 is broken in, so I was able to drive it the way I would drive my car. That engine is something else. Revs like a bottle rocket, and as everyone has pointed out, has the perfect exhaust note. Driving it back to back to a Stingray, you see the strength of the LT2 (low end torque) verses the frenetic character of the LT6. Very different personalities, which carries over to the entire car. The Z06 is MUCH firmer, ride wise, and much more "point and shoot". My Stingray has PS4 A/S tires (verses PS4's on the Z06) and I would never consider a Stingray (even with A/S tires) as not precise, but the Z06 is in a different league from a steering precision standpoint. There is some tramlining with the Z06 which my car does not have. Also, the Z06 is a good bit noisier inside, with tire noise, exhaust noise, etc. For me, that's not a negative, just an observation.
All in all, it (Z06) is a remarkable car...and not "just for the money" (can we stop using that comment for Corvettes). I love my Stingray and will probably keep it until the C9 comes out, and I think the Stingray is a home run. But the Z06...it's a different car and easily worth the upcharge over a Stingray.

PS. Like a dummy, I didn't take a pic of the 2 cars together. The Z06 is all Red Mist (amazing color), my car is Silver Flare (with Carbon Flash roof/nacelles)

 

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I have a red mist Z06 and a silver flare stingray oddly enough!
Couldn’t agree more.
SR is great driving car, does everything well and as my FL sports car is perfectly suited to doing a lot of low end torque work (traffic lights, congestion, straight ranch roads). It has that classic American V8 sound and in silver flare looks beautiful.
The Z06 is in the NC mountains, where it belongs. It is another level, handling, ride, sound, CC brakes and in red mist is to my eye just as beautiful, if not more so, than most Ferraris. Quite simply it is the spiritual successor to the 458 line, the type of car Ferrari has chosen to no longer build.
Viva Corvette!
(Sorry about Z06 pix picked up car before leaving for winter and haven’t had chance for photo shoot.)

 

Took the Z06 out tonight for dinner and ended up parking in a car show across the street. Had about 25 people looking at the car since no one had seen a Z07 yet. Really drew a crowd and a lot questions

 

We've been in Florida since the end of January and will be home this week. Seems as though winter's about over and I'll be able to get the car out.

Before we left I ordered new z06 badges and painted them bright red to match the calipers. Not sure why, but they're only available in edge red from the factory. I think it adds just the right amount contrast to the hypersonic gray. I'll try to post some pics when I get home.

 

Probably a good subtle improvement.

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Perfect March weather today. Z06 is revelatory. A religious experience after winter. The cracks and bangs are more pronounced than I remember. I have over 1100 miles on the car now. It's my favorite car I own, I think.

 

Who knows how accurate this is but the road is flat. First time ever using launch control.
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We were getting a little tunnel vision at 3.6 seconds. I can't imagine the gforce at 2.6 seconds. Crazy quick.

 

So my ‘24 Z06 is finally above 500 miles…what a beast!
I tried to show a few “revs” for my friends but it would not rev above ~2500 when in either Park or Neutral. I had been driving for awhile and thoroughly warm at ~180F.
Have you guys heard of this?

 

Yes, this is by design. To defeat it, you can pull both paddle shifters back and go to town. Just make sure the revs die down all the way before you release them!

 

Man, the reviews of the Vette here are spectacular….

whatever one thinks of it, it has to make Ferrari a bit nervous.

In hearing these reviews I’m reminded of the line in Ford Vs Ferrari - “Yeah we lost but we hit over 200 mph down the Mulsanne straight and old man Ferrari ain’t ever seen anything that fast….. we got him right where we want him…”

I love Vettes, but I wouldn’t take one over the 488, no way

 

I had a 488 spider. My Z06 convertible is a much more fun car to drive and overall better in every aspect.

 

That is very interesting as a lot of people like yourself who have had both seem to share your opinion. Personally, the 488 is beautiful and to me, the C8 isn’t but the custom version of the C8 pictured here and the custom wide body ones I’ve seen places the C8 within striking distance in all categories for sure. Ferrari must be feeling the heat from GM for sure

 

Your not alone. I have had a long love affair with the plastic fantastic for almost 40yrs and 7 variations. That ended with the C8 for now. I cannot by an ugly car regardless of the performance. That's me. But I do respect what Chevy has accomplished. Now just put a little sexy in it again.

 

I agree with that.

I had a C6 and loved that car. I absolutely love the C7 ZO6 in black or White.

C8 is the Hot chick that just doesn’t attract me.

A lowered 488 with large tasteful wheels is the sexist car on the planet right now.

For the guys that Have the C8 and are really enjoy it, I’m happy for them. I wish I was one of them. Would have saved me a lot of dough lol!!

 

if GM wanted to perfect the vette and have the complete win they should buy Rezvani as the design house and make them that way.

 

On the other hand, there’s a chance that if they made it to you guys’ liking, the rest of us wouldn’t like it. And considering they said a sales record last year, people seem to be pretty happy with it as a whole