Automobile Forums  Where Car Enthusiasts Go to Discuss Cars Online

With the new Corvette ZR1 about to hit the streets, the Z06 is sometimes forgotten. Is the $72,000 Chevy still as special as when it launched in August of 2005?

We want to know your thoughts...  

Of course it is special, but maybe a nice evolution would be to take the ZR1 and drop the LS7 in there as the next gen Z06. Maybe dump the fancy shocks for some adjustable coil overs and lose the leafs. Maybe direct inject that LS7 and have stripper interior with some racing seats and a steering wheel that is not from a Malibu, in other words a hardcore version for those that want it.  

I might get killed for this post, but in my opinion, the Pratt & Miller C6RS (sort of a Z06 "Evolution") is everything I'd want a Corvette to be.

For whatever reason, I think the ZR1 is too kitschy for my tastes; C6RS strikes a nice balance between two of my favorites (Z06 and C6R).  

Ahh, the Z06. I'm a huge fan. I grew up around small-displacement european iron, and the C6 Z06 is everything I had always hoped a 'Vette would be: Big but not too big, crude but not too crude, and a decent stopper/handler that happens to have one hell of a fantastic V-8 under the hood.

That said, most of my C6 Z06 love probably dates to a bunch of early Corvette encounters (C3, C4, C5) where I snagged rides as a teenager and was ferociously disappointed with what I found. I was expecting some all-American rocket that did most things well and launched itself like a bat out of hell, and instead, I got a shoddily built fiberglass house that had no steering feel and even less suspension refinement. My love for the C6 (in both Z06 and base form) probably stems from the fact that it's the first 'Vette that really and truly competes--ergonomically, dynamically, stylistically, and from an interior standpoint--with the best of Europe. For me, as imperfect as it is, the C6 is the first Corvette that's lived up to the hype.






p.s. Yes, I know, the C5 Z06 is/was a hell of a car, and a dynamically good one, at that. But for some reason, there's just something missing...


p.p.s. To answer the actual question in the earlier post, I think--and I'll probably get killed for this--I'd rather have a Z06 than a ZR1. Evan's right; the ZR1 is just too tacky-looking, 600 hp or not. C6RS? Hot, but I want something that, should I tear a fender off at the track, I don't have to pay an arm and a leg to fix.  

When I was a 13 year old immigrant kid from S. Korea, I had to take an out-of-town school bus that takes over an hour to arrive at bigger school that offered ESL (English as Second Language) classes for the students that did not speak a word of English.  
It was tough adjusting to new surroundings as I recall, but believe it or not, my hour-long daily commute was the highlight of my day.  Why you ask?  Because we drove by a Chevrolet dealer displaying brand new C3 Corvettes on the lot.  I instantly fell in love!  The Corvettes looked like something I have seen in the comic books or Sci-Fi movies!  I remember telling myself… “Someday, I will get me one!”

Fast forward 27 years, here I am, as a proud owner of ’08 Z06 on my 40th birthday.  The C6 Z06 is everything I would ever want in a woman… I meant a sports car.  Naturally asperated BIG V8 motor with rumble no other European or Japanese could match, Coke-bottle shaped body that will not be mistaken for anything else, and how about that rear end???   I do have a '07 Porsche on other side of my garage, but for some reason, I can’t help myself grabbing the keys for my Vette in the morning on my way to work.  Now that I am actually driving one...  the hour long commute is still hightlight of my day.  After all, she was my first love at sight…  

Evan.McCausland:
I might get killed for this post, but in my opinion, the Pratt & Miller C6RS (sort of a Z06 "Evolution") is everything I'd want a Corvette to be.

For whatever reason, I think the ZR1 is too kitschy for my tastes; C6RS strikes a nice balance between two of my favorites (Z06 and C6R).

Never heard of the Pratt and Miller version of it.  I just checked it out though here PRATT AND MILLER and after checking it out my first thought was "$260K for a Vette   "  Can you really justify paying more than twice as much than the ZR1 for it    
Austin Cooper

Z06Mike: I still have a Vette on my list of cars to own, but my passion for the new cars isn't nearly as strong as yours obviously is.

If I had my druthers I'd plunk down for a nice but not perfect '67 Sting Ray coupe, a car a neighbor owned when I was growing up as a little tyke in the '60s. Stylistically the C2 Sting Rays for me are still the high point of Corvette Style. I don't think I could afford any of the 427 options with their still strong going rates even in this down economy, but I'd be quite happy "roughing it" with the small block 327 L79. But being the confirmed Porschephile that I've become, even this so-called dream Vette would have to come after several air-cooled 911s higher up on my wantlist.  

You won't get killed for the post. The car, OTOH, might do you in...

I'd pick the ZR1, gimmicky hood and all. Despite P&M's work with the factory racing effort and seemingly close relationship with The General, the C6RS is still a tuner car, albeit a very limited as well as EXPENSIVE one relative to the price of the starting platform that it's based from. One has to ask if GM already builds an ultimate rocket, why would customers have to pay double from an outside source, even if it's more exclusive?  

The term cheap always crops up and the Germans,Japanese,and English manage to destroy the concept each and every year.
Boxsters now start at $69,000 and Porsche wants to know why sales have dropped. Wow,that requires some imagination.