resipsa

I'm not surprised at the results. Although, I have not driven the C6Z, I have an '02 C5Z which handles similar to the way MT describes the C6Z's handling. My C5Z always feels like its on the verge of oversteering in fast corners (although it always seems to behave), has an artificial feel to the steering, the springs are a little too soft, and the rear shock rebound damping is inadequate (BTW my car has a performance alignment done by Phoenix Racing in PA which includes some lowering, more camber/caster, and corner weighting).

The soft springs on my Z, however, allow my car to ride significantly better than the 911s that I've been in. In fact, one of my friends rode with me to lunch the other day over a portion of Route 1 in Princeton NJ that he drives every day with his '03 911 C2 and he was amazed at how much better my car rode than his 911 over the same section of road.

I believe that the ride/handling compromise for the C5/C6Z is still biased more towards ride than handling to broaden the appeal of the car and avoid the '84 C4Z51 stigma. This compromise was probably OK in the lower powered C5Z, but has not been a wise choice in the C6Z with its extra 100HP. I also think the bolt-in-top coupe body was a poor choice for the C6Z platform. I do not think C6Z body structure is as rigid as the fixed roof coupe of the C5Z. Both C/D and MT have complained about insufficient chasis rigidity in the C6Z (this was never a complaint of the C5Z).

The C6Z should have a real fixed roof and be available with a "sport" suspension option that is biased more toward handling and includes stickier tires. Hopefully the C7Z will have a chasis to match the engine. Even with these deficiencies, I still plan on buying another Z 'cause its hot and V-8 mean the way I like it.

vetteship

I agree, but seeing that the Motor Trend's tester is one of the worse drivers and had nothing to do in helping in the ZO6 devolpment, I think that does not help

355Spider

Hmm I really thought handling was about getting you aroundthe track the fastest. I love great feeling cars such as the Stradale but the Z is faster around any track which makes it better ultimately. Imagine your in a Stradale and you lose the race to 4 other Zs. What are you going to say? My car handles better. LOL. I'll admit the Z is much scarier to drive at the limit than the Stradale but ultimately more rewarding and faster.

Gary2KC5

I have to respectfully disagree.

I'm sure the Cayman handles great; I grew up on Porsches and have owned 9 - 5 914's, 1 944, and 3 928's.

But handling with awesome power is hard to argue with. Road & Track (even though they have the worst road test numbers between the mags for the Z) show the Z06 to have a slalom mph of 71.2 with g's of .93 and the Gayman (sorry remember I'm a PCA member) compares @ 70.6 & .95 better g's but slower.

In the real world the Z just eats up cars in the corners, especially in caroseuls and esses. Back in the day the old plastic dinosoars could only blast down the straights, but today Corvettes actually out handle the best euro sports cars and have the power to be really fast in the corners.

In the real world let me run the other nine cars for pinks on a road course...winner takes all ten cars. I'd take that challenge.

ivan111

This article although i have not seen it i disagree that the GT3 handles better than the Cayman or the Elise....

No way the rear engine GT3 outhandles the better balanced mid engine Elise.....

The Z06 handling is pretty darn good and the 08 model with the improve steering feel and if it FINALLY gets the revised rear shocks that C&D mentioned it should solve the handling complaints about the Z.

If you recall in that C&D issue that they compare the Z06 against the GT3 in the handling scoring both cars got an 8.....

I wonder what would have been the Z06 scoring in the handling department if it would have use also the R-Compound tires (Treadwear 80) like the GT3.....

Hartley

IMHO, the results are what there are, to stir up drama and sell more mags.

trumper Z06

BINGO.... I think you may have EXPOSED the magazine's marketing ploy !!!

Looking at cars attending D E Events/driven by instructors here in the Southeast, I see way more Corvette Z06's than any other brand.

Notch

Well that's where you'd be short of the big picture.

heavychevy

Depending on the course a good driver in a GT3 will take your keys home. And I'm sure you wouldnt take that bet on an Auto-x.

Not to mention handlng is so much more than lap times or slalom times, you have to think that each and every car on that list will have fans who will say that they will eat your lunch on an autocross where the horsepower wont do you any good. That is where handling comes into even more focus because your suspension, weight transfer, inertia and all other aspect are constantly being tested and horsepower play a very small factor whereas road racing horsepower plays a much bigger factor.

BlaznZ06

You're arguement takes pro drivers results and equates it to the average everyday driver. Max probably drives the car like 90% of the Z purchasers, but at least he's taken it to a track.

philgrocks

Having these cars in the same list is just funny.

The person buying the Civic and the person buying a Z06 are completly different buyers. I would never buy a Honda Civic and I am sure the person buying the Civic would never buy a Z06.

Phil

Jacob

My previous daily driver was a Mazda3 Sport GT, which I replaced with a CooperS JCW. Let me offer the following:

1. The Mazda3 was OK value for money, but was an uninspired car. Electric steering, little road feedback and an optimistic (Japanese) 160hp rating resulted in an underwhelming driving experience. Great looking, well finished econobox.

2. The 2006 CooperS JCW is an absolute blast to drive, and is a better short track autocross car in terms of handling than any Z06. Brutal ride however with the stock run flats. Go cart with a back seat.

3. The 2007 Z06 is admittedly, a car which takes getting used to driving at 10/10. I can put up with the learning curve. But for a sheer adrenaline filled driving experience, nothing touches it for the money.

mcm

Hmm I just had a flick through this magazine at the supermarket, I didn't see anywhere that they tried to rank the cars?

Maybe I missed those pages, but all I saw were a large array of objective tests and subjective feedback from their driver on each car. The Z06 seemed to be towards the top (if not 1st or 2nd) in each of these tests.

Some of the tests looked interesting, with a lot of clever measurement equipment.

Do they have this article online or anything?

Oh yes and it's probably worth mentioning that in the same magazine is an intro for the GT500 KR (540HP), which they believe will be the mustang to destroy the Z06... hmm.

raj

On first thoughts, a fairly thorough (by MT's standards, that is!) handling test with an interesting mix of cars. They had a reasonable battery of tests in which all cars were assigned a quantitative score based on measured performance. But meander over to the conclusion and what have you! They abandoned all the numbers generated in the various instrumented tests designed specifically to quantify the individual components of handling (steering feel, chassis control and response, cornering grip, etc.) and instead concocted a wonderful spider chart (now that's a technical name! ) based on eight new rectally extracted categories with entirely subjective rankings!!! This is exactly equivalent to testing the quantitative skills of 10 students using several scientific tests and then ranking them based on their dress sense, hygiene and sex appeal!

So I took the liberty of actually rating the top five cars based solely on their ranks in the six objective categories and here are the results of that comparison:



Lo and Behold! The Z06 ties for third overall with the Lotus Exige! I'd be the last to grudge the 997 GT3 it's rightful crown as the handling champ of street cars but to summarily reject the Z06 while it's handling by any quantifiable measure is as good as a track-bred ultralight mid-engine sportscar (the Exige) simply smacks of ignorance! This is an an all-time new low by MT and beats even their asinine Figure 8 invention. R&T has got some serious competition at the nadir of automotive journalism!

JDRacing

Just got this magazine myself and noticed the same thing, Raj. Thanks for taking the objective testing that MT did to its logical conclusion. It's beyond me why MT didn't do that--unless, for whatever reason, they didn't want the test to come out as the numbers indicated.

I also agree with the earlier posts about the tire differences. I suspect that a Z06 on Pilot Sport Cups would have at least eliminated the 1.4 difference in lap times.

Most interesting to me is that, even on a track without any long straights, which would tend to neutralize the Z06's power advantage somewhat, it is still right with the GT3 when driven by someone who knows what they are doing, on unquestionably inferior tires. Yet MT commented that "handling isn't its longest suit." Then how did it make it around the track so fast, MT?

Z Fast

In racing, it's not how you played the game, it's whether you win or lose. First to the finish line gets the BIG trophy.

bcmarly

The real litmus test is asking the same driver if he were more confident turning the same time in another kind of sports car.

....and so based on the subjective feelings of a driver who drives both cars back to back his impressions would dictate which car handles better? The traits you describe might well make the car more pleasurable to drive, but they do not make it a better handling car.

bcmarly

JDRacing

Just imagine Michael Schumacher, after coming in 8th at Hockenheim, and comments that the car is handling perfectly. When told his lap times were 1.25 seconds off the pace, he responds "yeah, but I felt very confident driving it, and that's the true litmus test of performance".

I always thought the true test of handling was the performance a skilled driver could wring from it, measured objectively in lap times. Want to feel more confident? Go slower.

Red Cap

I would suspect that if most of us thought about it, we would recognize that (1) speed (2) acceleration (3) track lap times (4) autocross times, (5) G force rates, and (6) "subjective handling" are all different factors (among others) in any car's performance characteristics. Since 99+% of car magazine readers are NOT race car drivers and 99+% of street cars are NOT raced, then it's fair to say that "handling" is about how a car feels whether in "everyday" driving situations, or in street "pushing it" situations, or in "going like hell" street driving. Back in 1971 I had a 64 Austin Healey 3000 that I was driving one day on curving Maryland rural roads and I was having to push it real hard to keep ahead of a 45 foot long cement hauler behind me. I had an 84 Jaguar V12 XJS (with wire wheels) that felt almost dangerous at 45 mph on a posted 45 mph curve. Either one of those cars probably would go a lot quicker than my 74 Chevy Impala on a road course, but I never felt uncomfortable with the handling of the Chevy. The Chevy just FELT better (to ME) ...and, IMHO, it's the FEEL of a car's "handling", more than its calculated, measured statistics, that we actually notice and care about on a day to day basis. The best "handling" car that I ever owned was my 1974 Honda Civic...in terms of the CONFIDENT, comfortable, feel of driving it for 106,000 miles. How does my C6Z06 "feel"? OK at best relative to its potential. If your eyes get wide at 70 mph on a corner in the Vette and you get the same fear factor at 40 mph in a 74 Civic, then sure, the Vette handles "better"...BUT, at 30 mph, my old Honda would have felt more emotionally secure ("better handling") because of the better (that is, more of it) feel of the steering, the tires on the road, etc. Therefore, which car handles better? Don't be too quick to say the Vette, because 95% of most all the driving that we do with 95% of our cars is just routine around town or freeway stuff, more or less close to the speed limit, and, if we count driving through tight alleys, dodging errant traffic cones, parking the car, and whipping around the idiot stopped in the middle of a suburban street as "everyday handling" criteria, then the Vette is not nearly as good as my old Honda. Be honest, why did most of us buy the Vette? It's NOT because of the ACTUAL capability potential of its speed, acceleration, handling, etc...it's because it makes us feel good at an emotional level to be driving one of the 3 or 4 coolest cars in the world. And, at 61, it makes me feel young, and macho, and cool...just so long as I don't look in the damn mirror and see that I'm really an old fat fart