[Z06] My impressions so far, part 2...
10-03-2005, 04:10 PM
#1
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
My impressions so far, part 2...
OK time for an update...
- The clutch is pretty nice. Now that it's broken in a bit (~350 miles), some of the chatter has gone away. It's still not as smooth a clutch as my '04 Z06 had, i.e. if you slip it at 800RPM to get moving you will get a slight bit of chatter (bucking)... but overall it's not bad. I actually kind of like the light pedal now, easier to drive in traffic. Girls will definitely like this clutch over the C5 clutch...
- Handling... Earlier I wrote the damping and ride are way better. This is true. However, the low speed handling of the car is not as tossable. It's harder to get the car sideways because those 325's really want to stay planted. I'm going to experiment with tire pressures and alignment to see if I can fix it..... Right now the cold pressures are 32 all around, I'll move it to 35, and also increase front camber to -1.25 from whatever it's at now.. But yeah, the C6 Z06 is way more stable and seems to have similar grip levels to my C5 Z06, but is less tossable/rotateable at low speeds. Out of the box the C5 Z06 may be a better autocross car; I'm not sure yet. The C6 Z06 is still the better car for high speed road courses...
- Radio -- the C6 bose has more midbass and a lot more treble -- but has less low frequency bass. Imaging is also a lot better on the new radio. But I think I liked the freq response curve on the old radio better.
- Nav -- I hate that you can't get a QUERTY keyboard, and that you can't type stuff in or pick points while moving. I hope somebody finds a fix for this already -- if it's a speed sensor wire that it bases its decision on, cool. If it gets it from the GPS itself, then we're screwed.
- Transmission tunnel heat -- yep, it's the same as on my 04 Z06. Not better, not worse.
- Yeah, it does run like a raped ape. 4th winds out to 155 ridiculously fast.
- Brakes -- I tried engaging the brakes while in the middle of a high-speed sweeper today. It didn't auto-ABS before even braking like the C5 Z06 would. It looks like they fixed that problem. Good, now I can actually maybe brake towards the entrance of a decreasing radius sweeper...
- Regarding the 1-4 shift bull****.. LG installed the standard CAGS fooler on my car and FYI it does work, I can shift 1-2 when the 1-4 light is on.
- Traction... it's incredible. Most of the time, these 325's will hook up even stomping the gas in 1st gear so long as it's dry and a good surface. With 450+rwhp! Amazing tires and suspension calibration...
Andi
- The clutch is pretty nice. Now that it's broken in a bit (~350 miles), some of the chatter has gone away. It's still not as smooth a clutch as my '04 Z06 had, i.e. if you slip it at 800RPM to get moving you will get a slight bit of chatter (bucking)... but overall it's not bad. I actually kind of like the light pedal now, easier to drive in traffic. Girls will definitely like this clutch over the C5 clutch...
- Handling... Earlier I wrote the damping and ride are way better. This is true. However, the low speed handling of the car is not as tossable. It's harder to get the car sideways because those 325's really want to stay planted. I'm going to experiment with tire pressures and alignment to see if I can fix it..... Right now the cold pressures are 32 all around, I'll move it to 35, and also increase front camber to -1.25 from whatever it's at now.. But yeah, the C6 Z06 is way more stable and seems to have similar grip levels to my C5 Z06, but is less tossable/rotateable at low speeds. Out of the box the C5 Z06 may be a better autocross car; I'm not sure yet. The C6 Z06 is still the better car for high speed road courses...
- Radio -- the C6 bose has more midbass and a lot more treble -- but has less low frequency bass. Imaging is also a lot better on the new radio. But I think I liked the freq response curve on the old radio better.
- Nav -- I hate that you can't get a QUERTY keyboard, and that you can't type stuff in or pick points while moving. I hope somebody finds a fix for this already -- if it's a speed sensor wire that it bases its decision on, cool. If it gets it from the GPS itself, then we're screwed.
- Transmission tunnel heat -- yep, it's the same as on my 04 Z06. Not better, not worse.
- Yeah, it does run like a raped ape. 4th winds out to 155 ridiculously fast.
- Brakes -- I tried engaging the brakes while in the middle of a high-speed sweeper today. It didn't auto-ABS before even braking like the C5 Z06 would. It looks like they fixed that problem. Good, now I can actually maybe brake towards the entrance of a decreasing radius sweeper...
- Regarding the 1-4 shift bull****.. LG installed the standard CAGS fooler on my car and FYI it does work, I can shift 1-2 when the 1-4 light is on.
- Traction... it's incredible. Most of the time, these 325's will hook up even stomping the gas in 1st gear so long as it's dry and a good surface. With 450+rwhp! Amazing tires and suspension calibration...
Andi
Originally Posted by Andi
So, now that I've had my new Z06 for ~20 hours I figured I'd post some driving impressions of the car.
First, the interior. The seats are first class IMHO. FINALLY a vette with seats that are up to par. The leather feels nice, the bolsters on the sides actually hold you, and they seats are damn comfortable. Now, the rest of the interior is okay, a lot better than the C5 in some ways and a bit worse in others. What's better? Well the materials, like for example the top of the dash, is actually a nice soft-touch grainy vinyl, a nice upgrade over the C5's hard touch vinyl/plastic whatever it was. I hate the silver painted wannabe-metal plastic on the center console. But I guess I'll live with it. I also hate how my passengers can never get out of the car when I want to drop them off, because the doors auto lock at X mph and don't auto unlock when you pull the handbrake. Maybe there's a window valet for the C6 to fix that like there was for the C5; hopefully. Or maybe they should just make the car listen to the damn electronic door handles on the inside and assume if you're trying to get out maybe you actually WANT to get out?! Sorry for ranting. Other ****les: the climate control on bi-level directs too much air to the feet and too little to the face, so even though I loved bi-level on the C5 I find myself using just the face vents on the C6.. and I also hate the way the radio makes you have individual bass/treble presets for each source/preset. That's gonna take me half an hour to program. Nice. I also really miss the partition I had in my C5 Z06, so I could throw my digital camera and CD's behind me and they didn't fly all the way to the back every time I accelerated.
OK, now that the interior's out of the way, let's get to the good stuff. (1) Brakes.. Since I only have 85 miles on the car, I didn't want to push the non-bedded-in brake pads too hard and test the ABS calibration / etc yet... but I can tell you, the one or two times I did hit the brakes rather hard, the cars stopped damn well. That having been said, the brakes are NOT grabby. At first I was disappointed and thought the brakes felt like they needed too much effort.. that's improved a bit sine the first drive, and I also realized it's a good thing they aren't so overboosted as on most cars so you can modulate better.
Handling? It's incredible. Way better than my C5 Z06, even with the 2004 Z06 "Nurburbring" shocks. The ride is a bit stiffer than my old car, but the handling is leaps and bounds better. High speed bumps that would send my C5 Z06 yawing/bumpsteering, or maybe catching air and bouncing.... this car takes in stride without even getting its line upset. It actually soaks up bumps rather than launching off of them -- the shock valving on this car is incredible. The only other car I've ever driven that felt this good was the E39 ///M5.
Now for the best part...... that beautiful engine. There are not enough words to describe this masterpiece of a small block. When the car starts, it fires up with a mean, loud bark from the mufflers before the muffler valves have a chance to close (more on this later). Then it gets quiet. REAL quiet. This is another way the car reminds me of the E39 ///M5 -- it sounds just like one inside the car when tooling around at low revs / low throttle openings. But, get on the throttle a little bit, and it's clear this is no M5 or base C6. It takes a bit to get used to the quirky electronic throttle (it's not as smooth or direct as the C5's was, but it's still pretty good).. The power is incredible. GM increased the torque of the engine and the gearing by about the same amount, so each gear *feels* about the same as it did in the old car.. (except for 3rd, for some reason 3rd in this car feels incredible and pulls way harder than it should considering it goes to 125MPH). The difference is, although 2nd in the new Z pulls about the same as 2nd in the old Z... 2nd now is your 60-95mph racing gear, whereas on the old Z 2nd ended at 70 and the old car was in 3rd at that point. This car rockets from 60 to 95 in 2nd like nothing I've experienced.. today on the freeway I downshifted to 2nd at 65 and floored it from a roll and it actually barked the tires for a quick moment before approaching redline (95mph) within a couple seconds.. This is WITHOUT any clutch action. GM was very smart to put such tall gearing on the car -- it allows the engine's massive power and torque to be useable, rather than just leaving you sitting there spinning the tires.
One thing that just cracks me up about this car is how easy it is to make it loud, if you want. There's a fuse under the passenger side footwell labeled as a "spare" fuse, both in the owner's manual and in the fuse cover. Remove it and the exhaust flaps stay open, with no engine codes or anything. Under that mode, it is loud as hell and damn raw at low revs, and especially at 600RPM idle the entire cabin resonates. I ran like that for a few hours and switched it back.
All in all, this is the best car I've ever driven. They took the C5 Z06, fixed the bad quirks (****ty brakes including oversensitive ABS and sliding calipres, horrible bump steer suspension geometry, and questionable suspension stability and damping), added a bunch of power, let it weigh the exact same, and only screwed up a couple small things here and there, and for the price and the performance, those things REALLY don't matter.
Gotta go for a drive...
Andi
First, the interior. The seats are first class IMHO. FINALLY a vette with seats that are up to par. The leather feels nice, the bolsters on the sides actually hold you, and they seats are damn comfortable. Now, the rest of the interior is okay, a lot better than the C5 in some ways and a bit worse in others. What's better? Well the materials, like for example the top of the dash, is actually a nice soft-touch grainy vinyl, a nice upgrade over the C5's hard touch vinyl/plastic whatever it was. I hate the silver painted wannabe-metal plastic on the center console. But I guess I'll live with it. I also hate how my passengers can never get out of the car when I want to drop them off, because the doors auto lock at X mph and don't auto unlock when you pull the handbrake. Maybe there's a window valet for the C6 to fix that like there was for the C5; hopefully. Or maybe they should just make the car listen to the damn electronic door handles on the inside and assume if you're trying to get out maybe you actually WANT to get out?! Sorry for ranting. Other ****les: the climate control on bi-level directs too much air to the feet and too little to the face, so even though I loved bi-level on the C5 I find myself using just the face vents on the C6.. and I also hate the way the radio makes you have individual bass/treble presets for each source/preset. That's gonna take me half an hour to program. Nice. I also really miss the partition I had in my C5 Z06, so I could throw my digital camera and CD's behind me and they didn't fly all the way to the back every time I accelerated.
OK, now that the interior's out of the way, let's get to the good stuff. (1) Brakes.. Since I only have 85 miles on the car, I didn't want to push the non-bedded-in brake pads too hard and test the ABS calibration / etc yet... but I can tell you, the one or two times I did hit the brakes rather hard, the cars stopped damn well. That having been said, the brakes are NOT grabby. At first I was disappointed and thought the brakes felt like they needed too much effort.. that's improved a bit sine the first drive, and I also realized it's a good thing they aren't so overboosted as on most cars so you can modulate better.
Handling? It's incredible. Way better than my C5 Z06, even with the 2004 Z06 "Nurburbring" shocks. The ride is a bit stiffer than my old car, but the handling is leaps and bounds better. High speed bumps that would send my C5 Z06 yawing/bumpsteering, or maybe catching air and bouncing.... this car takes in stride without even getting its line upset. It actually soaks up bumps rather than launching off of them -- the shock valving on this car is incredible. The only other car I've ever driven that felt this good was the E39 ///M5.
Now for the best part...... that beautiful engine. There are not enough words to describe this masterpiece of a small block. When the car starts, it fires up with a mean, loud bark from the mufflers before the muffler valves have a chance to close (more on this later). Then it gets quiet. REAL quiet. This is another way the car reminds me of the E39 ///M5 -- it sounds just like one inside the car when tooling around at low revs / low throttle openings. But, get on the throttle a little bit, and it's clear this is no M5 or base C6. It takes a bit to get used to the quirky electronic throttle (it's not as smooth or direct as the C5's was, but it's still pretty good).. The power is incredible. GM increased the torque of the engine and the gearing by about the same amount, so each gear *feels* about the same as it did in the old car.. (except for 3rd, for some reason 3rd in this car feels incredible and pulls way harder than it should considering it goes to 125MPH). The difference is, although 2nd in the new Z pulls about the same as 2nd in the old Z... 2nd now is your 60-95mph racing gear, whereas on the old Z 2nd ended at 70 and the old car was in 3rd at that point. This car rockets from 60 to 95 in 2nd like nothing I've experienced.. today on the freeway I downshifted to 2nd at 65 and floored it from a roll and it actually barked the tires for a quick moment before approaching redline (95mph) within a couple seconds.. This is WITHOUT any clutch action. GM was very smart to put such tall gearing on the car -- it allows the engine's massive power and torque to be useable, rather than just leaving you sitting there spinning the tires.
One thing that just cracks me up about this car is how easy it is to make it loud, if you want. There's a fuse under the passenger side footwell labeled as a "spare" fuse, both in the owner's manual and in the fuse cover. Remove it and the exhaust flaps stay open, with no engine codes or anything. Under that mode, it is loud as hell and damn raw at low revs, and especially at 600RPM idle the entire cabin resonates. I ran like that for a few hours and switched it back.
All in all, this is the best car I've ever driven. They took the C5 Z06, fixed the bad quirks (****ty brakes including oversensitive ABS and sliding calipres, horrible bump steer suspension geometry, and questionable suspension stability and damping), added a bunch of power, let it weigh the exact same, and only screwed up a couple small things here and there, and for the price and the performance, those things REALLY don't matter.
Gotta go for a drive...
Andi
One thing that I forgot to mention is the clutch. It's a very light pedal -- I actually preferred the C5 Z06 clutch feel. It engages right on the floor, and I'm guessing they used the clutch face material rather than claming force to increase the torque holding capacity. It is a very agressive clutch material.. I can tell because if I'm slowly backing up into a parking spot or my garage, i.e. barely slipping the clutch backing up, the car will start bucking a bit.. just like when I had a full race clutch in my old Supra. Heh.
Andi
Andi
10-03-2005, 04:19 PM
#2
Quesiton about the handling...I've noticed both my C5 Z06s track fine as long as the pavement is reasonable, but get a touch darty at times particularly if the pavement is grooved. I know tire compound has the biggest influence over that, but I'm curious to know if you've noticed anything with your new Z06 in that respect. Does it seems to track and worse/better when on inperfect surfaces, or do you still find it wants to follow grooves and even get a bit darty when the pavement is really bad?
10-03-2005, 04:20 PM
#3
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by saleens281cobra
Quesiton about the handling...I've noticed both my C5 Z06s track fine as long as the pavement is reasonable, but get a touch darty at times particularly if the pavement is grooved. I know tire compound has the biggest influence over that, but I'm curious to know if you've noticed anything with your new Z06 in that respect. Does it seems to track and worse/better when on inperfect surfaces, or do you still find it wants to follow grooves and even get a bit darty when the pavement is really bad?
10-03-2005, 04:41 PM
#4
Safety Car
Andi, John Boos and I have been following your posts on this car. First of all, a big Congrats on the car and new found hp! Your write up on the experience is informing. So the big Question: is the '06 One Lap in your future? 
You certainly have a platform to work with to make some big noise! 
Ron.
You certainly have a platform to work with to make some big noise! Ron.
10-03-2005, 04:53 PM
#5
Burning Brakes
Member Since: Dec 2003
Location: Dallas Tx.
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Originally Posted by Andi
OK time for an update...
- Traction... it's incredible. Most of the time, these 325's will hook up even stomping the gas in 1st gear so long as it's dry and a good surface. With 450+rwhp! Amazing tires and suspension calibration...
Andi
- Traction... it's incredible. Most of the time, these 325's will hook up even stomping the gas in 1st gear so long as it's dry and a good surface. With 450+rwhp! Amazing tires and suspension calibration...
Andi
10-03-2005, 05:03 PM
#6
Le Mans Master
Originally Posted by RFC2
Exactly, I think I would like more gear. Just can't wind it out w/o going incredibly/stupidly fast. I think its getting plenty of traction.
I do agree about the stock gearing. Top of second gear is 90ish mph. It all happens so fast.
10-03-2005, 05:09 PM
#7
Burning Brakes
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Originally Posted by QUIKAG
I do wonder how some 3.73's, 3.90's or 4.10's would be on this car?
I do agree about the stock gearing. Top of second gear is 90ish mph. It all happens so fast.
I do agree about the stock gearing. Top of second gear is 90ish mph. It all happens so fast.
It very hard for me to think about putting it in first gear when I am going 40mph. Also it never engages like second.
10-03-2005, 05:28 PM
#8
Team Owner
Originally Posted by QUIKAG
I do agree about the stock gearing. Top of second gear is 90ish mph. It all happens so fast.
10-03-2005, 05:29 PM
#9
Le Mans Master
Originally Posted by RFC2
It very hard for me to think about putting it in first gear when I am going 40mph. Also it never engages like second.
10-03-2005, 07:47 PM
#12
Le Mans Master
Andi, do you have a read on what the factory alignment might be? I was over at my alignment guy today and his computer doesn't have that data yet. When I was at the track a week or two ago and a magazine guy was running a GM-owned Z06, he corded the outside edge of the rear left tire (the track has two high-speed right hand sweepers), so I'm guessing it needs a little more negative camber in the rear for track use. I would like to use the factory specs as the baseline rather than whatever my car arrives with next week.
Allan (VIN #504 in transit to SoCal)
Allan (VIN #504 in transit to SoCal)
10-03-2005, 08:46 PM
#14
Drifting
It's harder to get the car sideways because those 325's really want to stay planted. I'm going to experiment with tire pressures and alignment to see if I can fix it....
i autox my c5...why do you want the car sideways? sideways to me is slow and usually a spin...am i missing something here?
i autox my c5...why do you want the car sideways? sideways to me is slow and usually a spin...am i missing something here?
10-04-2005, 03:56 PM
#16
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by Rippied Z06
Andi, John Boos and I have been following your posts on this car. First of all, a big Congrats on the car and new found hp! Your write up on the experience is informing. So the big Question: is the '06 One Lap in your future? You certainly have a platform to work with to make some big noise! Ron.
You certainly have a platform to work with to make some big noise! Ron.
Thanks for writing Ron, say hi to John for me. Andi
10-04-2005, 04:24 PM
#17
Safety Car
Alignment Specs. (looks to be a hair more neg camber than 04)
06 Z (FE4)
Camber:
Front -1.0 +/- .60
Rear -1.0 +/- .50
Cross Camber:
Ft .0 +/- .60
Rr .0 +/- .50
Caster:
Ft 8.0 +/- .60
Cross Caster:
Ft .0 +/- .60
Toe:
Ft .10 +/- .20
Rr .0 +/- .20
06 Z (FE4)
Camber:
Front -1.0 +/- .60
Rear -1.0 +/- .50
Cross Camber:
Ft .0 +/- .60
Rr .0 +/- .50
Caster:
Ft 8.0 +/- .60
Cross Caster:
Ft .0 +/- .60
Toe:
Ft .10 +/- .20
Rr .0 +/- .20
10-04-2005, 04:44 PM
#18
Instructor
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My impressions so far, part 2...
Thanks for the great updates Andi.
How does the 06 "feel" (fun factor) compared to the 04 in terms of raw power/acceleration/speed in generally legal street driving ie stoplights, onramps etc. Also is it reasonably liveable for daily enthusiastic driving?
I had an 02 Z06 which I loved (fast/responsive/light feeling/edgy). Traded it for an 05 convertible Z51, which claims to have comparable horsepower and torque. The 05 is arguably the "better" car in objective terms ie. better fit/finish, amazingly comfortable and quiet at any speed, better behaved than the Z06, excellent handling - better than the 02 Z06 in street driving. BUT it is incredibly boring and unexciting - just can't get the juices flowing in the 05 - feels more like a well-made Japanese car!
Have ordered an 06 Z06 - hoping to receive it in the spring.
Joe
How does the 06 "feel" (fun factor) compared to the 04 in terms of raw power/acceleration/speed in generally legal street driving ie stoplights, onramps etc. Also is it reasonably liveable for daily enthusiastic driving?
I had an 02 Z06 which I loved (fast/responsive/light feeling/edgy). Traded it for an 05 convertible Z51, which claims to have comparable horsepower and torque. The 05 is arguably the "better" car in objective terms ie. better fit/finish, amazingly comfortable and quiet at any speed, better behaved than the Z06, excellent handling - better than the 02 Z06 in street driving. BUT it is incredibly boring and unexciting - just can't get the juices flowing in the 05 - feels more like a well-made Japanese car!
Have ordered an 06 Z06 - hoping to receive it in the spring.
Joe
10-04-2005, 04:59 PM
#20
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by Z06joe9
Thanks for the great updates Andi.
How does the 06 "feel" (fun factor) compared to the 04 in terms of raw power/acceleration/speed in generally legal street driving ie stoplights, onramps etc. Also is it reasonably liveable for daily enthusiastic driving?
I had an 02 Z06 which I loved (fast/responsive/light feeling/edgy). Traded it for an 05 convertible Z51, which claims to have comparable horsepower and torque. The 05 is arguably the "better" car in objective terms ie. better fit/finish, amazingly comfortable and quiet at any speed, better behaved than the Z06, excellent handling - better than the 02 Z06 in street driving. BUT it is incredibly boring and unexciting - just can't get the juices flowing in the 05 - feels more like a well-made Japanese car!
Have ordered an 06 Z06 - hoping to receive it in the spring.
Joe
How does the 06 "feel" (fun factor) compared to the 04 in terms of raw power/acceleration/speed in generally legal street driving ie stoplights, onramps etc. Also is it reasonably liveable for daily enthusiastic driving?
I had an 02 Z06 which I loved (fast/responsive/light feeling/edgy). Traded it for an 05 convertible Z51, which claims to have comparable horsepower and torque. The 05 is arguably the "better" car in objective terms ie. better fit/finish, amazingly comfortable and quiet at any speed, better behaved than the Z06, excellent handling - better than the 02 Z06 in street driving. BUT it is incredibly boring and unexciting - just can't get the juices flowing in the 05 - feels more like a well-made Japanese car!
Have ordered an 06 Z06 - hoping to receive it in the spring.
Joe
The handling is better, more stable, the brakes are better, the ABS is way less intrusive on decreasing radius turns, etc. Oh, the ride is a bit more jittery on bumpy roads and bumpy freeways too. Only thing that totally sucks compared to the old one is that I have to hold down the traction button for 5 seconds every time I get into the car to turn stuff off. It used to be a quick tap of the botton and I was done.
It doesn't actually feel a ****load faster if you just punch it off the line and watch the tach only. But if you look up and realize that you're getting pulled this hard THROUGH the tall gearing, and that you're doing 60 in less than 4 seconds without shifting, and then 90 once you get to the top of 2nd, you realize this is one mean bitch. Remember, compared to the 04 it's not a torque monster, it's just got a lot more top end.... See my dyno's of both cars:
Andi