2007 Z06 review

Here's a new, comprehensive review on the Z06 model from Chevrolet. It has lots of info on the car, from tehnical features to performance and design. Available is also a small gallery with high quality photos.

"As the fastest, most technologically advanced production model in Corvette’s 54-year history, t he 2007 Corvette Z06 offers an unprecedented level of capability and technology, making it one of the best performance values on the market. And with an exterior design incorporating aerodynamic features that were co-developed with the Le Mans winning C6.R racecar, the ’07 Z06 has a visual attitude that always looks ready to demonstrate Corvette’s winning attitude to any challenger around the globe..."

Here's the whole article: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/chevrolet/chevrolet-corvette-z06-ar11909.html

Good Lord... that's not a car, that's a BEAST! What an outrageous vehicle.

I'm actually a bit disappointed in the car from one perspective. Apparently the handling is very tricky. Several comparison tests have complained that teh car is very twitchy - I can't remember which mag - Motor Trend, C&D and R&T said exactly what, but all have mentioned in one way or another and all recently published comparison test,s with the ZO^ in it, but in one they said the Viper was eaier to drive fast which is damnation in my book as that car is not easy to control flat out. Another said the vette was a handlful with the stability control turned off. This is interesting, in part because I have driven a standard C6 and it felt fine -- no different really than a C5, in my mind. The additional HP is not enough to do the trick - I drove a Magnusen supercharged 555 HP C5 for two years and never had problems even when pushing it very very hard.
The only other 'vette which ever had "handling vices" that I can recall was the '63, but they were mostly imagined, I recall: when first it came out the industry mags worried because it had a type of swing axle of the type that had made TR4As and some other foreign makes notorious for the rear end breaking loose in hard driving. Except I don't remember anyone every actually saying the car did that, just that the design concerned people -- I think the single leaf spring acting as a control arm kept things under control.
I think part of the reason for the tricky handling now is that the suspension basically came from the C5 but they narrowed both ends to get the more "precise" compact dimension on the C6, but then they widened the rear of the ZO6 a bit, so it has a noticeably wider track in the rear than in the front. This works on the Porsche Carrera and Turbo, but remember they have 61% of the weight on the rear axle. With less weight back there, and stiffer springs, the car probably has just a bit too much of a "tricycle" control behavior. Anyway . . . just my two cents worth


Anyway, the ZO6 still gets high marks in my book just because it is being compared with cars costing 2-3 times as much. Even though it came in 3rd (of three) in a recent magazine comparison, it was up against a Porsche Turbo ($125K) and a Ferrari F430 ($190K): and it was the fastest in acceleration, ultimate grip, and braking, even if the trickest handling.

I tend to argue a little with regards to the "twitchy" part. The C6 Z06 It is very grippy and has relativly narrow slip margins which gives it a slightly "sharp" handling when pushing it to and over the limit, but the chassie is VERY balanced (partly due to transmission and battery positioned at the back etc), also the steering is very good (though a tad light at low speeds IMO). With less cournering grip (and speed) you will ofcourse get a more forgiving and less "sharp" or "twitchy" handling car, but then as the test shows they are also significantly slower around the track (courners and straight). My Nissan 350Z is also more "forgiving" at the limit, but also slower in the bends even with almost equally wide tires.

http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=06trackresults176d43ctt5.jpg

I have only driven the Z06 on 2 occasions over 2 days, about an hour highway and country road driving and the next day some 10 minutes on a very narrow "track" in an industrial area. I am not a proffesional driver, i have driven at a track twice ever in my life.

Here is a video on how the Z06 handles on a narrow track driven by a person with very little track experience and who has driven the car in total for about 2-3 laps before the video is taken.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAoVfudlt_w

Here is Tiff Needell (proffessional race driver and motor journalist) driving the Z06:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9bByWD4Oxs

Conclusion: The C6 Z06 seams pretty well balanced to me :)

/Roger

First, let's establish one thing: every car has warts -- every car. I respect just about anything, and tolerate just about anyone, except someone who blindly insists that his car is perfect and has no flaws. I find these "warts" -- or characteristics if you will -- among the most interesting things about cars, because as an engineer I realize they are usually there because of compromises or design constraints and those are always revaling about the designer's choices and priorities.

The ZO6 is a great car, but I believe it does become tricky to drive at 10/10ths (see why below). And the ZO6 is not alone --those comparison tests also all consistently note that the Ford GT, while faster in a straight line than either the ZO6 or the Viper, consistently lags around a race course - it may look like a race car but it does not corner and handle like one. I also doubt that this trait is as bad as the early Porsche Turbo ("treacherous" not "tricky" was the word used then) or the early 911 ("nearly treacherous").

I have no doubt that when driven on the streets at 8/10ths the ZO6 is a very well balanced and linear car - GM would not put it on the street otherwise. But I do believe that when pushed to its limits, it becomes difficult to drive, basically requiring a pro or someone with long practice in order to go fast consistently. I believe this because every source of comparitive evaluations I respect has commented on this. I am sure one can find a few publications and web sites that gush about this car (or anything else if you look), but
I've depended upon Road and Track and Car and Driver for nearly 40 years to be a consistent and reasonably objective and dependable evaluations of cars -- data and facts, fairly dependable back-to-back comparisons. And pretty much I pay the m o s t attention to comparison tests, where they have a chance to really compare cars back to back. Hence, I pay attention when they
mention that the Viper is easier to control than the ZO6 at speed.

-- these guys drive everything, there are enough of them on any staff that no one person's bias ever tips the balance, and while they obviously try to avoid offending advertisers, they do so just by toning down the negatives, never by praising a turkey -- and they make sure you can see through any soft-pedaling they do. In the last twently years, Motor Trend has pretty much come up to the standard of these others two pubications, from its 1970s "Gee guys, don't you love that new-car smell?" to a pretty much data and evaluations format, so I pay attention to them.

I have also had two owners who previously had modified C5s comment on the way the car's attitude can shift instantly from under- to over-steer. One had a Magnusen Scr' C5 with about 10% more rear wheel power than his stock C6-Z, and said it never did that, so it is not power alone doing this.

Does it matter to me? Not at all. If I was shopping for a new toy it would be the ZO6. Even with this one small wart, its still a damn fine car.

I really enjoy reading your posts, Lee. That was a great post and I was able to follow along everything you said there. I totally agree with you on the "engineering" bit and concessions made, I have felt the same way for years about that. Thanks for taking the time to put that together for us.

I do agree with you, from an engineering perspective it is almost impossible to archive the perfect car, there will always be compromises included in anything you can buy of the shelf.

And also yes i would also beleve the results of the test saying that the Z06 is twitchier then the F430 and 997 T at the limit, i cannot argue with that as i havent driven the F430 or 997 T. Personally I think that the reason to why it is twitchier is that it has more grip then the other two and harsher slip margins due to that.

Anyway, what i dont agree with is that the Z06 is a "difficult" (in relative terms) car to drive at the limit, that is not my perception. The track might have been narrow and very twitchy and i might not have driven the optimial race lines etc, but i drove the Z06 on constant over and understeer, max braking or max power. Dispite beeing an amateur lacking any real track-time and with hardly any time behind the wheel in the car i could take it to the limit with ease and even drift it a bit around that narrow track.

You mention in your first post that you thought one reason to the tricky handling was that the suspension was taken from the C5 and narrowed and then widened at the back on the Z06, the figures ive seen when it comes to the track width on the Z06 says that its acctually 1" narrower at the rear then the front... See this link: http://www.corvetteracing.com/cars/c6r/chassis_specs.shtml. Not trying to offend you or anything, just something i noticed.

In about one months time i will go to an airstrip which has some sort of track layout connected with it (acctually the Coenigsegg test track) with my 350Z, there i will meet with the guy who has the Z06 and if my prayers come true i might have the oppertunity to drive it some there. Hopefully also get it on tape. Then i could come back with a more in-deepth review of the handling at the very limit after a longer driving session. BTW at that event there will also be a supercharged Viper SRT w 700hp, so it would be intresting to see which is fastest with an amateur behind the wheel, i think it will be the car with the best balance and feedback not most HP since both cars has loads, my guess is the Z06 :)

Also, do you think it would be even possible to drive the Viper in a drift like Tiff does in the video i linked? Only cars with propperly balanced chassies and suspension setup allows for that kind of drifting, and the Vipers chassie just isnt that balanced in my opinion.

And btw if you are not familiar with Tiff Needell, he is one the worlds (if not THE) most famous and best motor journalists, a former successfull race driver from European GT and touringcar championships etc. He has PERSONALLY driven i beleve pretty much ALL sportscars ever produced and sold to the mass market over the past 10-15 years and most classics (McLaren F1, Ferrari Enzo, Carrera GT to MX5's etc etc). He is always pushing the cars to their extreme limits (and over) in every test (as you can see in that video). I have fully agreed with his judement on all cars that i have driven personally, so i do trust his judgement over any other if there are conflicting views on a car.

My personal view based on my own experience is that the C6 Z06 is the first really good mass produced American sportscar that has all the key elements i want in a sportscar:
- Balanced chassie (for track and drifting)
- Low weight
- Excellent brakes
- Revvy engine that dosent run out of grunt after 4-5k rpm
- Communicative and precise steering
- Sporty and loud agreesive engine note under heavy throttle
- Relativly good build quality

In my oppinion most points above have been weak parts in American cars over the years, it seams that they been out prioritized by large V8 engines with lots of power and torque (which is great fun too, but i want the other stuff as well).

I guess you guys will kill me now hehe, but thats my personal view :)

Cheers
/Roger

I understand. I'll differ with you only on build quality. It's okay, but the 'vette is a Chevy, built to Chevy build quality -- good but not great. In my particular C5I am really disappointed in the upholstry (14000 miles and the seams in the seats are coming apart, and the interior overall looks cheap in places, like it was modled by Fisher-Price. I've had to replace two controls that have broken and one panel that split.
The C6 is a bit of improvement over the C5 here, but, as Car and Driver observed about the new ZO6, "most buyers would probably willingly pay $5,000 more for a premium interior." And GM can put one in that car -- look at a Cadillac XLR lately? Premium quality -- not my style -- but premium quality.

Anyone, I do think that the ZO6 is the first great American car. Discounting some oddities like the Apollo and the Excalibres, and the Sc'd Avanti, and sticking with pure-GM, I think there have been other cars just as good before this ZO6 by the standards of their time. The new ZO6 is very good, but the C5 ZO6 in its time was great, and remains a personal favorite (even stock), the ZR-1 was noteable, and fast, if damn expensive, and the let's not forget the original ZO6 -- in 63-64 it was much closer to a "drive it the racetrack and win" car than any subsequent 'vette has been.

American loves V8s and big torquey engines, I just wish there would be more really good cars built around them. And balance is important. My all-time favorite car is the Lotus Elan. Just a little buzzy four cylinder engine, 0-60 in the mid 8 seconds, but wow, just perfect dynamics, at least given the tires that it had to make do with in the early 60s.

... just to toss a little more in here, not that it really means anything per se... I used to have a Triumph Spitfire a number of years ago, dropped about $10k into "go fast" stuff for it... my buddy at the time had an 86 'Vette (this is where I fell in LOVE with these cars) that was almost brand new, and I kept up with him on twisties.. actually annoyed him somewhat.. on the straights, though, man alive I was lucky if I could focus on his tail lights, they left me behind so fast......

The Spitfire was a handling beast. It truly was. Scared me at times it handled so well. But, it SORELY lacked in many other areas. All-in-all I still to this day think the 'Vette is the best all around car ever engineered and built. No matter what year.

Well put, to be honest I was expecting a somewhat different kind of reply :-)

I know too little details and have pretty much no experience with "older" cars, but like you say i am sure there has been American cars that have been good or even great for its day. Personally im not a big fan of older cars, though they might have been great during their day and i could have been a fan then, there is a reason to why cars are built and behave vastly differently today compared to 20-30 years ago, its called progress :-)

Though there are some old pearls out there like some of the Lotuses, some of the british Triumphs and MG's and ofcourse Ferraris with that old raw carburator engine note that compensates for pretty much any other flaw :-)

For me handling and balance is the most important aspect in a car as i love to take the cars to the limit on twisty roads and forcing some powerslides when the conditions are right, second is power/performance and engine note, third looks and the overall package w gadgets and details, quality etc. This preference prioritization has only been favouring a narrow band of cars, pretty much none of them American cars or older cars (with a few exceptions ofcourse). So for me the Z06 is really a breakthrough because it does have the handling and balanced chassie combined with the stuff that Americans do best, brute force, best of both worlds combined in am amazing package that beats pretty much anything on the road in so many areas! :-)

The Z06 is one of the first cars to ever to be among the best in the world in ALL of the below areas without any modifications:
- Drifting
- Drag racing
- Race track
- Road courses (Nurburgring etc)
- Reliability and daily drivability

Im planning on importing a used Z06 from the US within a year or two when they hopefully have dropped a bit in price. Afterall its a true "Supercar" for sports car money!

Cheers
/Roger

I LOVE the Z06, myself, just love it. But, for me, that'd be much like taking an elephant gun to a flea party. I barely ever get our 'Vette over 70mph on our highways here, so having a car that can easily run 200mph sideways all day long makes me less than desirable as a target audience.

But, I do love that car.

Interesting thread! I never tire of reading the words "supercar" and "Corvette" in the same sentence.

quote:

ORIGINAL: TopSpeed

...
The Spitfire was a handling beast. It truly was. Scared me at times it handled so well.

Yeah, I had a Spitfire, too. Not great, but they were affordable, and they were fast in tight twisties, particularly with a few aftermarket springs to keep the rear (swing axles) planted well. But you know, there was nothing you could do about that engine -- four tiny cylinders and a head that had a bad case of asthma.

And I am proud of the new 'vette. Just wish it were built to higher quality materials. I think the General's idea is that if I want that higher build quality I am supposed to move up to the Cadillac XLR with the SCd engine, at $100,000. I'd quibble with the price, but a 3700 lb car with OHCs, no matter that it has 460+ HP, is not what I want.

I think the quality in the C6 is pretty decent in most areas, clearly not in the same leauge as BMW and Mercedes and a few other but clearly a good step up from the general US (and Japaneese) standard.

I really liked the materials in the doors, very solid feeling almost BMW feel and look to them! Worst of all is the grey/silverish painted plastic on the transmission tunnel and around the center console, that both looks and feels really cheap... BUT i dont care as there are some really nice Carbon Fibre replacements out there which would take care of that problem and at the same time help me create a more unique look when the time comes :) But as a whole i think the quality of the materials where OK, id give it a 3½ out of 5, with the aftermarket Carbon fibre closer to a 4/5.

/Roger

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lee Willis

Yeah, I had a Spitfire, too. Not great, but they were affordable, and they were fast in tight twisties, particularly with a few aftermarket springs to keep the rear (swing axles) planted well. But you know, there was nothing you could do about that engine -- four tiny cylinders and a head that had a bad case of asthma.

Wow, ain't that cool! Yeh, I put on some wild (man, bro, this goes back almost 20 years now) hellical (sic?) spring for the backend problems you mentioned, and a Weber sidedraft and a total custom handbuilt exhaust from header back.... all to try to help it meet muster. Darned fast, and pretty well balanced if I recall, in the corners, but as you mention... completely stifled in terms of "huffability" for pull power. I did like the car, but it doesn't hold a candle to our C4 now.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lee Willis
And I am proud of the new 'vette. Just wish it were built to higher quality materials. I think the General's idea is that if I want that higher build quality I am supposed to move up to the Cadillac XLR with the SCd engine, at $100,000. I'd quibble with the price, but a 3700 lb car with OHCs, no matter that it has 460+ HP, is not what I want.

Cadillac makes a wicked car. Just wicked. But, for me too, I just don't come near to fitting the profile of an interested party. Too much money, too much weight, and not enough sport.. for me.

We had a BMW earlier, a 325i, if I recall. Personally, I find the fit and finish in our 'Vette to be at least comparible, and in some cases better... now, mind you, that Bimmer was not a pristine example, so maybe that's where the comparison isn't fair.....

I was looking, and dreaming, at a Bentley Continental GT the other day. There is build quality. Or, actually less expensive and way more bueatiful, the V12 Aston Martin DB9, which looks better on the outside but can't quite match the interior.

But there is even better. Sometime when you have a few moments and your ego is in good condition, so that sheer "Why couldn't it have been me, Lord?" jealously won't consume you, drop by a local Porsche dealer and see if they have a high-end 911 Carrera with the optional premium interior upgrade. You have to realize this is a $9000+ option on a car already costing north of $90K and with a really nice standard leather interior standard, before the upgrade. The one I saw was custom ordered, red, GT3 engine (415 HP, normally aspirated, in a 3000 lb car), with a tan factory upgrade interior, every panel in leather so soft you could eat it, all double stitched to perfection, just -- gorgeous, and thick wool carpeting to match, with rolled and stitched beading on all the edges. It stickered at $112K, and I realize you can almost buy a basic car (Kia), new, for the cost of the interior, but you know -- it sort of looked like it was worth every penny.

I was not born rich, and I married for love, not money, but hopefully things continue to go well . . . I want the same interior but maybe in a navy blue exterior.

And if the General made a 'vette like that, he could have my $100K plus.

*mouth hits floor* $9,000 for an option for an upgraded interior? SHEEEEEESH! We've got mobile homes out here that cost less! LOL

That musta been one heckuva inside, though. I can almost smell and feel it from Lee's description.....

Just got my '07 ZO6 in Lemans blue the other day. For the money the car is a bargain. Very user friendly and unlimited power for the street. If we start comparing it to more expensive cars it does suffer in some areas. I drive a 06 Murcielago Roadster in Florida and there is no comparison to the fit and finish in the cars. However I paid $350,000 for that car and $75,000 for the ZO6. I happen to enjoy both cars and each car has its own strengths and weaknesses. I own and have owned many sports cars in my time and have watched the technology evolve over the years and the high performance products today are exceptional!!! I have a real 427 AC cobra and as fast as it is it is crap compared to todays cars as far power with user friendliness. I am sorry it took me so long to purchase the ZO6.I did not realize Americans can still build a great car!!!

When you read test reports from any of the usual places you must realize they are testing cars with street set suspension specs used by the manufacturer. That the vehicle gets twitchy at 1.0G on the street is irrelevant to how it will handle on the track. Those of you that are worried about the Z06's performance at the wall should read and talk to some of the guys running these cars on solo I and II tracks, where the suspension and (Tires) are changed for track use. At this level most of the good drivers tell us that the vehicle becomes irrelevant. The Z06 is the equal of any vehicle on the track, when set up properly, and it becomes who is the best driver. Track suspension spec's will make quick work of the street tires if the Z06 is driven on the street plus the performance will suffer. You can't have it both ways.

If you want the absolute best street performance we recommend you run some solo events and tune your suspension a little at a time until you are pleased with the results. Remember, this performance that you will never appreciate on the street, will cost you literally thousands of dollars in premature tire wear...........Walt