355Spider

Well I passed to 500 mile breakin on wednesday of last week but I was in NYC all weekend so I couldn't really get on it until today. And let me say this to start off. This thing is an absolute animal. I mean a real beast.

The power this car makes stock is unreal. Keep in mind I have driven 355s, 360s, 430s, Stradales, E46M3s, my 600hp mustang from college, Murcielagos, Gallardos, Diablos, Porsche TTs, a 600hp TT porsche, Porsche GT2,3 and RUFs(the only one that might keep up). I make that list just to let you know where my point of view comes from. I will compare and contrast using those cars.

Acceleration
This car is an absolute rocket right out of the box. The torque is just so phenominal I can't stand it. It will accelerate faster than my E46M3 and my Ferrari 355 did without ever passing 4K on the rpms. And it revs to 7K. Not bad for 7.0 liters. When you nail it in 1st it squats and just rockets forward. The exhaust valves open after 3500rpms at full throttle and it sounds like pure muscle car bliss. Almost like a small dragster. I can't wait to open up this exhaust with headers and high flow cats. I already ordered my air charger which is what got that guy into the 10s from the other thread.

It easily out accelerates Murcielagos, my buddies GT2 and his Viper. I had a 600hp mustang in college that ran a 10.5@127 and it's a hair faster than that. I think people will be getting these into the 9s with just a few bolt ons and slicks. I drove a Porsche 996 stage 3 TT that had 600 ponies last month and it's definately faster than that. If you can catch a ride in one of these I suggest it.


Most people that are dynoing these are getting more like 530hp stock which is 25hp over advertised. And a few people weighed them in at 3050-3080 which is 70-100LBs under advertised weight. Now I understand why this car is faster than it should be.

Braking
It's kind of like throwing an anchor out the window. It can throw your guts right out of your mouth. My all time favorite stock brakes were the M3s. Most magazines have the M3 with some of the shortest stopping distances they have ever recorded. These are just a little better. Now I can't say they won't fade on the track but the last Z had that problem so they supposedly fixed that with these. Cross drilled rotors multiple calipers on each wheel. 6 front 4 back, I think(don't quote me) and 20 seperate brake pads. They are easy to modulate and offer very good feddback. Not quite as good as the M3 but almost. This may get better as they get more miles on them, but excellent none the less.

Suspension
This is where my only performace complaint is. It corners very well. It's pretty neutral. Not as nuetral as my 355 or a 360 or 430 is but pretty neutral. It has very high cornering speeds. Much like my 355. It's easy to drive around the corner with the throttle and all that endless torque. It pulls over 1G which you can see on the heads up display in the g meter. Very cool. When the car turns in I don't feel the confidence I did in my M3 or a GT3. Guiding an M3 or a GT3 into a corner is like driving a laser. You know exactly where the limit is. The Z, not so much. But once it's into the corner and set you know. I think this may be those crappy run flat tires they use. They just don't offer the feedback the pilots on my 2 M3s did. This can be fixed I think with new tires. It aslo suffers a little from being upset in mid corner bumps above .8Gs. Most owners will never know this. I noticed though as have most magazine write ups. I think this may have something to do with spring rates and shocks. I'm sure someone in the aftermarket will fix this though. I lowered mine already so this may have something to do with it. I haven't gotten it aligned yet. Over all the handling is very good though. It doesn't rise to the level of excellent as does the GT3 or Stradale but it is easy to see how it ran the second fastest production car time around the ring behind the Porsche Carrerra GT. It will rip around corners. It just takes a little more guts and skill than say the GT3, Stradale or the Gallardo.

Over all the level of constuction seems to be right up there with most of the sports cars out there. The level of quality of materials is where GM saves all it's money. It's mid level parts put together very well. Paints very good. All panels fit perfect. Leather is well put together. Carpet is where they save lots of weight and money. It's fairly thin and will wear fast. Floor mats suck. Lots of plastic. And I have no problem with any of this. It all disappears when I hit that pedal and other cars disappear.

Overall this is one of the greatest sporst cars built right now under 400K bar none. Especially for the money. Factor that in and it can't be beat. I give it an A+++. I am going to the dyno tomorrow. I'll post my stock #s for future reference. Hope you enjoyed this read a fraction as much as I enjoyed the testing of the car.

vetteship

How about under $75K, man I wish I can be as fortunate as you, I would be in heaven having all the cars you mentioned under my belt

m3corvette

totally and I'm loving mine everyday.

Short-Throw

You've been smitten like the rest of us!

You mention you just passed the 500 mile mark. Have you had this car on the track yet? Your write up suggests so.

What I have found so far about this car is that when you think you've pushed it in the corners as much as it will take, there's usually a little more there, but as you mentioned it's not as obvious as a GT3.

This car gets some getting used to at the extremes. It's generally a pretty simple car to drive, but it takes some seat time to know the limits.

Mike

outnumbered

Bravo! Very nice post.It is most impressive to me that an American co.can
perform such a feat against the competition you have mentioned and sell it for so little.

Mike Z06

I can hear the "rabid Z06 fan" oozing out of you! I just can't get over how awesome it is! AND also docile enough for my wife to want to use daily! (Dammit!) Welcome to the C6 Z06s growing fan club!

KILR-Z51

Thanks for the GREAT write up, Its reading stories like this, that helps me to confirm that i am doing the right thing by waiting it out another year to get the Z, Instead of purchasing the Z51 Coupe now.

yell03

Nice write-up!

Ditto,

This will be the reason I trade my 2005 C6 Vert in on one most likely next year when the 2008s are about to come out.
Maybe I can steal a 2007 or find a great deal on a pre-owned 2006???

If my wife has her way she might make me trade in the 350Z so she can keep her beloved C6 Vert automatic?

Howard

355Spider

Thanks guys. i'm headed off to LG to get it dynoed this morning.

SJTC6Z06

Good luck on the dyno #'s...hope they're high!

Like I've said before, this car is the ultimate daily driver. The bad thing is, I don't want to go to work and park it. Rather, I'd like to skip out and just cruise for hours and hours.

meadowz06

Actually the torque is NOT the LS7's strong point. It is it's high rpm horsepower. If you look at the LS7's torque curve, say compared to a TT LS1, you will see alot more peaks and the curve is not nearly as flat as a Twin Turbo car. My buddy has a new Z06 and it is impressive, but to say it is faster than anything on the road including some of the exotics is just false. My only wish is that I could have raced a new Z06 before I sold my Twin Turbo LPE car. 505hp is alot of power, but you have to remember that there are guys on this site that are pushing a hell of alot more power than that at the rear wheels. Check out the forced induction section and then tell me the Z06 is the fastest car around!

yell03

Nobody said it was the FASTEST!

But,
it is about as FAST as you are going to get with a Factory Warranty and Daily Driver Reliability.

Cars that trap 125-127 right out of the box usually cost 6 figures and are not daily driver capable.

As far as power, all my 03 Cobras made more power than the new Z06, but they were also much heavier and could never keep up with a new Z in at triple digit speeds.

I'll take a new Z06 BONE STOCK please in Yellow

Howard

bernrex

What has this guy been smoking ? This car is great, but not tops by any stretch. With tuning, headers, a cam .... say give it another 100HP and TQ, then you have your winner ... with which the other cars (Twins and Kenne Bell - blown cars) would enjoy racing.

Right now ... in stock form .. they would take it.

355Spider

No one said it was the fastest. It's definately the fastest under about 400K except for the Ford GT. And my post was referencing stock cars, not tuned cars. There are pintos faster than your TT LPE but who cares. That wasn't the jist of this post.
And how many of these exotics have you owned or driven? I've owned a couple and driven all of the one's I mentioned several times thus I have a pretty good working knowledge of how fast they are and how well they handle and the Z06 ranks at the top of them.

355Spider

Just got back f4om Lg and she rn pretty well. The first pull was only 451hp but the car was hot from an hours drive. We let it cool 20 minutes and pulled again which yielded 460 hp and 431 ftlbs. It was 80 with 80% humidity in Dallas. It was running pretty rich and he said it was losing about 10hp to that. I think someone told me most Vettes run about 13% parasitic loss so that yeilds about 530 hp and 495 ftlbs at the crank. Notbad for stock.


Closer image

jr9170

Nice write up.

EuG

Why is 3rd pull down to 440?
PCM pulling timing?

355Spider

Yeah it was run within seconds of the second pull. Heat build up from the car not moving.

355Spider

Just had my amp and speakers installed today. I used a JL audio amp(250/1) and a JL 10 inch sub in one of their prefabbed boxes. They made it especially for the corvette with weight in mind. It weighs alot less than the battery on the opposite side. It hits extremely clean and hard. I highly recommend it if you are going to add one to your cars pathetic stereo system. Here's some pics. Sorry it was dark.

K-TownMike

Awesome write up man! It's great to see the Z faring so well against that kind of exotic competition.

As far as the guys comparing it to TT and supercharged cars, what are you guys smoking? This is a comparison of stock vehicles, of course there are faster modified cars, but they won't have a 3 year warranty or the reliability that the Z06 has.

Love the looks of the stereo, very clean looking install that doesn't look like it is going to interfere with storage in the rear!