80shilling

I have owned my C5 ZO6 for about a year and a half, I came from being a lifelong Porsche owner and just decided to go in a different direction. I have to say I am mightily impressed by my C5 Zo6 so far.

This weekend, I got to drive a very good friends brand new C6 ZO6 and here are my thoughts on it:

The interior has a bit more variety than the C5, it has a few aluminum accents a newer style of buttons and dials, the shifter seems a tad shorter throw, the instrument panel is slightly "techier". All in all, a nice incremental step up from our C5's.

The exterior is quite nice. It has those nice curves and flaired arches front and rear, which make it a bit more interesting from some angles, I think the rear end is way better looking than the C5, however, I am still VERY partial to the front end of the C5. While I was driving the C6, my friend was following me in my car and I have to say, it looks VERY low, wide and mean... beautiful curves when the light hits it.

The handling in my opinion is a bit more indirect than the C5... by that I mean that I get better road feel and feedback from my C5 than I got from the C6, it feels a bit more insulated from the road. I did notice that the C6 has EXACTLY the same problem that my 2002 C5 had with the rear end.. it gets VERY unsettled by mid-corner bumps and irregularities. I solved MY problem by upgrading to the 2004 shocks, but in my opinion, Chevy HAS to get this issue sorted out, it is unacceptable for a World class car to have handling that is NOT fully sorted. I have seen various threads on this subject and the debate about whether the new 2007's have indeed got a revalved version of the rear shocks.. in my opinion it is a neccessity, because the way it is right now, it is NOT up to par with the best of the Porsches etc. That being said, I'm sure the revalved shocks will solve the problem, they made a World of difference on my C5.

The engine.... Aaaaaah, the engine. This is definitely a World class engine... You can feel how right it is when you get on it hard through 2nd and 3rd gears... It revs VERY quickly, especially for a 7 liter lump, it makes a beautiful sound through the gears, going from a basso profundo growl, to a ripping howl at the top of the rev range... NICE! It has gobs of torque from anywere in the rev range and I can see how the C6 ZO6 would walk just about any car bar the insanely exotic from a roll on. The off throttle gurgle sound great as well. Definitely a 10 out of 10 on the engine.

The gearbox seems no different from the C5 really, although I feel like there is less pedal effort in the C6 and the clutch seems a bit more tentative? It doesn't seem to like pulling away from a stop as much as the C5 clutch does...

Having recently put Hoosier R6's on my C5 ZO6, I have truly realized how traction limited these cars are from a stop, or even from a 1st or second gear roll. It's night and day difference. I put the hoosiers on for a track day and for the first time EVER, I can give the car full throttle in 1st and do a full power shift to second and have complete traction.... MAN DOES THIS THING HAUL ***!!! Give it enough grip and it's an entirely different animal.. I can't believe how hard you can launch it. With my previous Michelin PS2's, I could never give it full throttle in 1st and 2nd, because it just spun the tires.. I suspect that the C6 ZO6 is even MORE traction limited and can't wait to try my friends car with better tires that actually hook.

Overall, I loved the car... he has the Orange metallic color that looks better in person, because it's more bronze/copper than orange in the flesh. It doesn't make me want to run out and trade my C5 ZO6 in though, because the additional $50K doesn't buy me enough added value over what I already have.... HOWEVER, once they start showing up used at about $50K I'll be on it like a Lion on a gazelle...

Great job Chevy... what a car.

$ickZ06

Yes they are badass. I want one but they are out of my price range

76REDVETTE

I would have to agree with your assessment for the most part although I prefer the exterior styling of the C5 Z06. The C6 Z06 color matching headlights are awful in my opinion(they should all be graphite) and the car needs the C5 Z06 roofline.

l2vette

Nice evaluation, good job!

80shilling

Yes.... something about that matching headlight color bothers me, because the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR had the same thing going on in the early 90's... somehow it seems a bit cheesy to me because of that association in my mind.

BUBBAS 01Z06

Great write up...I almost felt like I was in the car with ya !!

Delta3-2

You did a nice job. Thanks for the comparison report. Well done

DG

Lawdogg

Sold my '04 Z06 and picked up my '07 Z06 last Wed. Had a chance to run it this weekend on a roadcourse. It has better brakes, more acceleration, but probably near equal cornering speed. It might be slightly more balanced as my '04 with stock alignment seemed to push more. The track was smooth so I can't comment on mid-corner bump manners. On my favorite corner, I saw 1.19 gs on the heads up g meter.

swchopper

Wow. great write up. I dont know. I love my C5, but those C6 Z's are just so sharp. Both are great cars, I just need one of each!

Cjunkie

they are a helluva a car. thought real hard about trading my 04 C5Z for a C6Z but to me it wasnt 40K better, maybe becuase i have a C6 and i know a C6 isnt a C6Z. i still say GM made the C5Z to good!

80shilling

Yeah, let me be clear on this.... The C6Z is definitely a step up from our C5Z's, no doubt and if anyone feels like GIVING me one, I'll certainly accept it graciously.... I'm Just not spending $50K of my own money on it

MiamiCowboy

I want one like most people but not at the expense of my C5 Z06. When I can find a good used one at a price that affords me the opportunity to still keep my C5 I will consider adding it to my garage.

rpanesar

Nice write up 80shilling, I think you hit the core points. I think the C6 Z06 is definitely a nice car but the C5 Z06 is no slouch and I will continue to enjoy it and explore its limits before upgrading to the C6 Z06.

EGL ONE

This is exactly what I told my buddy when we brought home his #122 Ron Fellows Z06. It is smoother riding and has better seats, but I love the feel of my Z06 especially since I replaced the stock shocks with KONI FSDs...

Great review of a world class, street legal race car.

80shilling

Thanks for all the feedback guys.. it's much appreciated.

I have the opportunity to drive some pretty special cars as I have a few friends who are hideously wealthy and collect cars like I collect camera lenses... I'll post a few more when I get to drive the new 997 TT and my buddies 650 HP Hennessy Venom...

Shylor

I sat in a C6 coupe when it first came out. I was not impressed with the painted silver accents. Painting plastic silver does nothing for me. I have to say I like the C5 interior much better.

BobbyG

This is a truly great assessment and writeup on the 2007 C6Z06 Corvette...

I have a 2004 Z06 and absolutely love everything about it. One of the reasons I bought it was for the short rear roof line. It's simply one of the best Corvette designs in its tenure.

Now, for the C6.

I like the styling of the C6 Corvette, the exposed headlamps, new lines, additional HP, etc but I do not particularly care for its coupe-like rear. Since the C6Z06 hadn't ,at the time, been unveiled, I was hoping that when it was ready for release the roof line would be somewhat different than the standard coupe version, but it isn't.

I saw a C6 up close in the Orange Metallic color and it's gorgeous, really.

If they had introduced a C6Z06 available with a shorter rear roof line similar to my C5 then I would already have traded up to a brand new one, in Orange Metallic of course....

RJW

It's all a matter of taste

I like the shape and looks of my 03 better...so my pocketbook is happy as well.

Plus, unless you go out and get some quick mods, a lot of the 5.7 sc/turbo crowd is gonna take you down...after spending ??? $$$$

I did quick work of one the other day and the driver wasn't too happy.

I know there are cures for that, but bottom line is I like the looks of the C5...it's all a matter of taste.

Beautiful car, just like mine better.

Drove a black one when a dealer tried to convince me to upgrade and.....I'll wait till it either grows on me or style changes or something

Good writeup though...

geterdone

the only thing that I do not like is that it is not a trunk car, but instead a hatch.

Hardcorvette

Ditto!