Dr Octane

I have driven both at Spring Mountain. First let me say if you own a C5 or C6 and haven't driven on a track you NEED to GO. At SM you drive their Corvettes,while yours is safely in the garage. In three days you will learn more about your car than in three years on the street. You will discover how incredibly capable both Corvettes are, and improve your driving skills as well.
There is no doubt the C5 ZO6 is faster around a track than a C6 Z51. It's lighter, and has better tires for track use. There is no doubt that the C6 is more refined and has more mid range torque (it was over 5mph faster down the straight )
I always think this is the wrong comparison. We should compare the C5 Z51 to the C6 Z51, to which the C6 is clearly superior. The same will be true with the ZO6's as well.

Corvette SSX

Thanks for posting. I always like to hear that the current generation Vette is about equal to the last in terms of performance.

DangerousMind

Thats good info. I always wondered how they would compare from an owner of boths point of view. Thanks for the comparison.

TTRotary

Thanks for the positive - and informative - comments from everyone. Frankly, I hestitated a little to post because I feared this would turn into a me vs you kind of thing, but I preferred to give the Z06 brothers the skinny. I am glad I did.

One comment I totally omitted: the suspension. The Corvette team really nailed this one on the Z51 - the car is supple, yet firm, and it is the only stock Corvette I have driven that feels totally stable and unfazed by suspension movements at high speeds - much more confidence-inspiring than the C5. Most of this is the shocks, which are seriously improved - I never drove a car with the '04Z shocks, but I would guess the new Z51 units have this DNA in them. They finally feel like a Bilstein shock in rebound. The other benefit is the longer suspension travel. I didn't pay much attention to that when I read it, but it sure pays off.

------------------------------------- That said...

If you have a Z06 and don't care about the targa roof thing, keep it: it's one hell of a car and the best bargain out there. It's tight, powerful, natural, and bad-***.

My wife and I live out west and are very outdoors oriented. I loved the targa feature in my 2000 Coupe, always used it, and never got over losing it. It had gotten to the point where I was on the verge of doing a targa conversion to the Z. Also, we take road trips every year, up the coast, into the Utah national parks, Yellowstone, Yosemite etc. So we needed a good touring car, which the C6 is better at than the Z06 due to the comfort, the targa, the runflats, and the amazing lights they put on this thing. When I asked my wife: targa the Z or a new C6, she said: "Cutting into the Z is wrong and could spell trouble, so get the C6", so that's what we did. She was right, for us.

If they can improve the fit and finish next year, they will have a 100% winner. Heck, it's already a winner, even with the issues.

This one's for the folks in NO

Twil1ght

After my experience in the C6, I'd say Dave Hill was optimistic. The clutch felt like a switch - slipping abilities eliminated from the user. The cornering didn't even feel close - while I was able to poke the rear end out and keep it there while I slid off a turn at 65 MPH, this was accomplished purely by visual orientation skills - I can look backwards while laying a drag off of a 130 MPH sweeper on a superbike, cornering a car at 65 MPH requires no feedback from it - but that doesn't make it a good thing. The limits were vary vague. I give my personal guarantee that I could drive both cars at Roebling Road Raceway all day in order to achieve the most honest quick time average - the C6 wouldn't even be close to the Z06 at the end of the day.

Charles7Mitchell

I think you'll climb into the C6 and never regret the purchase. Your wife sounds like one sharp cookie. Has she got an available sister, preferably one who owns a liquor store?

AFVETTE

Charles, just to be clear and fair I'm not bashing the C6. And if history repeats itself I suspect I'll be buying the 3rd year of production. Back in 98 when I had my mint 96 Polo Green vert I hated the C5. In fact I resisted the urge until 2001 when a club buddy got tired of all my bitchin etc and threw me his keys to his 99 Z51 6-speed. I returned an hour later and with in a month I traded this:


On a mint albeit used 3 year old 99 MN6 AW coupe:



Many mods later I came to a fork in the road. Last year I sold my modded (many mods and HP later) in preperation of buying a new C6. Then a club buddy mentioned he just traded his "beyond mint" 03 Z06 on a new 04 Z16. So I went and looked and took a test drive and that Z followed me home. Why did I buy the 03 Z when I was ready (at least financially) to buy the new C6. For the same reason I didn't jump on the C5 band wagon back in 97. So I'm at that fork in the road again, but this time I'm older and wiser. I'll take my time and look for the right C6 and deal and I'm sure I'll look back and wonder why I "resisted so long". Guess I'm not a "gotta have the latest/newest" kind of guy when the old stuff is so good.

This time around I don't think I'll wait as long, but I do want some of the minor electrical gremlins eliminated, I hate being stranded and having to ask the neighbor or co-worker to give me a lift when I own a $58K car.

Tom

winemeup911

Hopefully this will be addressed/fixed on the '06's.

Any thoughts?

Have fun and be safe~!!

Charles7Mitchell

Tom,
I did exactly the same thing but the reasons were a bit different. I held onto to a '94 for ten years, but when forced into retirement thought I wanted something more reliable for travel. I had a deposit on the C6, with my name up next for an order, but decided that although the Z lacked a few amenities it more than made up for it in different ways. The originator of this thread appears to be going with the C6 and I think he will not regret it. I took the roof off my C4 about ten times in ten years and would have gone with the C6 had that been more important to me. But the styling of the C5 is such that I think I would always have envied drivers when I saw one. Waiting on a newer C6 should pay off for you in other ways also. I hear that GM is planning some interesting changes including a jump in hp. Perhaps you won't need to make any mods.

pianoprodigy

Wow, I keep finding more ex-FD owners on this site. I'll be picking my 02 EB Z06 in less than three weeks. I wanted to get a LeMans Blue C6 until I looked at how much I'd have to spend to get it optioned the way I'd like it.

Glad you like your new ride!

Pureenergy

nice comparo...keep em both!