Mine was a perfect streetcar with 9000miles now it looks like this competing in SCCA T1 All it needs is gas oil and tires Image Unavailable, Please Login
I had one for six months approx...great car, went through 4 sets of rear tires in that period, and it was worth every penny. Will DUST pretty much any Ferrari on the road without a twitch, and hang with a Porsche TT in a stop light to stop light race. Great fun, the interior is crap, but damn what a ride. Throw 3 grand at it and you have a 600hp car..that won't break or give you an issue..go for it. But be aware..most have been driven very hard..like mine was by me, and the previous owner.
I understand your logic and somewhat agree with it. My C6Z would pull away from my GT3 like it was chained to a fence. Further, I've got a 996TT with 610HP and the Z was faster than it too at 5000' no less. I'd still rather spend time in a Porsche. Tracking a Ferrari in my experience is like taking a hooker to dinner. You're never quite sure what's going to happen but something probably will. Fun though. The vette fits you and it didn't fit me. I didn't mind the interior and I think the dealer did a great job taking care of some issues. In the end, unless you're making a living at it, spending lots of money tracking cars and flying around to do so is for pleasure. Drive what you like.
Judging from this thread alone, you seem like the coolest dude on this forum in a while. I agree with all your points. My dad bought an '04 Z brand new and still has it. It has 7500 miles and some minor mods (full race exhaust, chipped, intake). I drive it occasionally and I agree, other than the performance and bellow of the small block, I don't really see the appeal. I'll probably inherit it one day, and I'll drive it on occasion but for me, I genuinely enjoy taking my G37 up a mountain pass more than the Z. I'd rather have an underpowered car that delivers on the whole experience than a fire breather that leaves me feeling a bit cold.
You can't put a "chip" in a C5Z....only do a ECU tune. As a owner of a G37 myself, I agree it is a great car. But not even close performance wise to a C5Z. If you think a G37 is close, your not pushing the C5Z anywhere near its limits.
In SCCA clubracing the C5Z is still competative even after all these years. The LS2 C6 is faster on track but still has reliability problems and SCCA saddles it with lots of weight. The LS3 is the fastest of all but has too much weight and the engines do not last the races due to oiling issues that are still not resolved. The C5Z is not the fastest car anymore but it is bullitproof. Of the LS1-LS7 motors the LS6 in the C5Z is the best on a power vs. problems ratio. In time GM will work the LS3 bugs out and maybe the LS7 bugs out. Just about everytime I do a trackday there is an LS7 that goes home on a flatbed. For 2010 they added a larger drysump and we'll see if that helps.
Not from what I have experienced. Even a Z51 C6 is slower on track then a C5Z. The Z51 suspension is not as track oriented as the FE3 on the Z's. And the LS6 has a better powerband, and a little less weight....
On public roads, I'll take my car over many 500+ hp cars... It's just more fun. To each his own. One day I'll take a 355 b/c you can have more fun near its limit than some of the monsters that cruise the street. Thread derail off...
I'm not arguing performance. I'm arguing the ownership experience.. Yeah, he had it "predator tuned" in his words. I guess that's a re-flash?
my post was about SCCA CLUBRACING in T1. T1 suspension used in ls6, ls1, ls2, ls3. FE3 and Z51 never come into play. My comments are a look at the relative value of the C5Z vs. the others with similar running gear (suspension) and an implication that the C5Z value is still very high even 5 years after the model has ceased production. It is a great car. IMO all pros and no cons.
I had my LS7 rebuilt by Katech, it has a Lingenfelter sump and a comp oil pump. No oil starvation issues for me. I see 50# of oil pressure in the high banked left hander at Homestead
The C5 Z06 is a sports car, period, plain and simple. To me that means that it gives up some creature comforts for performance. A GT car is made for touring and driving on a daily basis, but a sports car is about acceleration and cornering at the expense of some comfort. That means not the plushest interior or the smoothest ride, but a faster car. It always happens that lots of people go out and buy what is supposed to be the fastest thing because they want the "best" or to have bragging rights at cocktail parties. These people are typically the ones that sell the car shortly thereafter when the get a real taste of what a sports car is like. Back when the Z07 option was offered (in 1993) the order forms had a note on them that discourged the sale of that package to anybody who wasn't racing the car, since they had so many customer complaints that the car rode too rough. Sorry that you didn't like it as a daily driver, but that isn't what it is all about. If you want a plush GT car there are other models of the product line that that are more in tune with that, even including having an automatic transmission. If you want something a lot more raw and sporting then the Z is the ticket. I happen to think that the C5Z is an excellent compromise in terms of performance and comfort, it is just biased a lot further to the performance side.
Absolutely true. 99% of the crap interior comments we always hear about the Z is due to the compromise selection of lightness over weight like fiberglass covered dashboards. I am amazed at how good the Z stereo sounds considering its light weight. As I have taken off parts to lighten my car for racing I am amazed at the lightness of componants vs. say any Ferrari.
Yes some guys have well built motors and some guys are not pushing that hard. I have not seen C6Z's in races but at track days they shine really bright right before they go KABOOM! I would not run a C6Z on track without a drysump modification. Most of these KABOOMS are not even on race tires! for 2010 GM seems to have got the message and they have changed the oil tank design in hopes to duplicate what the aftermarket has already figured out.
They all sound like crap IMO. I just got done gutting the speakers. Slight improvement but I think it needs a whole new rewire. Maybe in the spring. LPE sells a C6 sump tank for $300 and it supposedly works well. DIY in about 3 hours with basic tools. Looks simple (at least to me). http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-z06-discussion/2359956-diy-lpe-high-capacity-oil-tank-installation.html Go the extra inch, install a windage tray and you're golden. RMX
We are also spoiled by time. There have been tremendous leaps and bounds forward in terms of interior material use, and the quality processes in which they are made. Stepping into a 10 year old car and comparing it to the "norm" today is wholly unfair.
My ownership experience hasn't been anything more then average. Yeah, that really doesn't do anything though. A real tune via laptop and HP Tuners would make a real difference.
There are some very interesting responses. It seems that people either love Vette's or hate them, not too many people that are neutral about them. So it seems I should be alright in terms of reliability if I pick out a well maintained example. What I'm looking for is a car that's fun to drive on the street, reliable, a car that can be driven daily and one that can be taken to the track with minimal upgrades. With regards to the ride being harsh, I have an E36 M3 lowered on TC Kline coilovers with Eibach sway bars and polyurethane bushings all around, so I doubt the Z06 is going to be any less comfortable. I know that the interior isn't the best, but as long as all the trim pieces aren't falling off and the car isn't a rattle box, I can live with it.
Art, I think Spring Mountain in Pahrump is still running some C5Z's. A thought is to head out there and do one of their classes or rent one of the cars during a track day. Great fun, great track, and it will really give you an idea if you like the car while putting a smile on your face. You're close, it's pretty easy to do. Good luck.
The trim is fine just light weight and looks cheap. It is actually well installed and dampnend in all the right places so the car is not a rattlebox like the old C4's. I know this because it was a pain to strip the interior for racing. Vettes have a charactorisitc called the corvette hop. It is caused by a suspension compromise of less unsprung weight vs coilovers by using a transverse leaf spring. The tranverse leaf has coilover properties and sway bar properties because of its design. There in lies the reason for the hop. I had the best tune of the suspension in the last version 2004 commemorative edition. On the street is was fine but on track it seems actually stiffer than the GM performace T1 suspension currently on my car for my race class. The T1 shock and spring combo to me actually feels better more like a coil over car with less crosstalk to the other side. I actually have no more corvette hop. My speeds are rarely under 60mph and that may have something to do with it because the T1 spring shock was made for clubracing by GM. For sure you could tune out any hop by converting your tranverse leaf springs to coilovers if you want to go that route. To me there is no advantage. In my area the guys running T1 cars hold lots of vette track records and often outperform C6Z's on coilovers. Driver skill I suspect is the issue there but it is well known that speed comes more with driver skill than performance parts. You can balance a transverse leaf for a 50/50 cross as good as you can a coilover suspension by the way. One of the sales points CO guys always say but it is not true. I can balance a C5Z on leafs for 50/50 cross just fine so don't believe that BS.