vetteuphoria

Motor Trend’s April 2006 cover story, “Dial 911 (Porsche’s sports car legend fights its 3 deadliest rivals),” poses the question; “So will the 911 be able to defend its crown as the world’s sports car icon?” The contest includes the Z06, Cayman S, 911 Carrera & S and Aston Martin V8 Vantage. It’s a very worthy article to get your hands on. Only a few highlights from “Round 1: Corvette Z06 vs. Porsche 911 Carrera S”:

“The Chevy folks are through messing around. They‘ve pushed The Button. Gone Nukyaler. This year‘s Supervette smites the top Carrera with 42 percent more power and 59 percent more torque, producing an almost funny-car-like 505 horses and 470 pound-feet. And for a change the good news isn‘t all concentrated in the engine room…[praises chassis composition, weight, distribution, stiffness and brakes]…No free-breathing factory 911 can keep up with the new Z06... Athleticism isn’t the end of the story. The Z06 attended the same finishing school the basic C6 did, albeit for an abbreviated course…Of course, attempting to match Corvette performance when ordering a 911 requires upgrading to the $82,195 S model, if not ordering the 380-horsepower X51 power package for another $16,900...This Corvette has what it takes to shut out Germany’s finest on one of the trickiest tracks in the U.S. [Laguna Seca, Monterey , CA]. That’s not to say it was the easiest to drive. ‘I’ve got one word for this car: “Respect,” ’ says our chief shoe, Neil Chirico.”

Round 1 concludes with this paragraph: “But at the end of the day, the Z06 is a much faster, quicker, and higher-performing car--a rocket-propelled grenade to Porsche’s HK416 assault rifle. The ultimate Corvette outperforms the 911 Carrera S in enough contests--and decisively enough--that it cannot be dismissed on the basis of its lower-rent interior and its hot, loud ride. When performance matters most, as it surely must for anyone considering a Z06, the 911 simply falls short. Advantage Corvette."

Their test data gave the Z06 the following:
0-60.…4.0
0-100...8.2
¼…….12.0 @ 124.0

Vs. the 911 Carrera S
0-60.…4.4
0-100...10.9
¼…….13.0 @ 109.5

Not being a Z06 owner, I’m certain I left out other worthy remarks and important data, so please accept my apology.

5decades

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN ABOUT!

Verrückt

Don't take a knife to a gun fight.

ivan111

No doubt that the 997S is no match for the Z06......

The good comparison is going to be against the 997TT....

Any info on slalom speed, lap times, braking etc.......

kewlbrz

What a moronic article. the 997S is out of the Z06 league. Why can't they just do a TT comparison for F's sake.

hapnermw

They also say that the C6Z is too rough, noisy and hot to use as a daily driver. That the 911S is the best compromise between daily driver and track.

They don't back this assessment in any factual way. It is just a subjective putdown that they use as yet another way of saying that the 911S is more 'sophisticated' now that it has completely lost its performance leadership.

They should be challenged on this ...

A427MAN

It's a very cool feature article - they also do a figure 8 and show the corner front/rear weight loads and transfer g's, understeer/oversteer, etc... coming in, during, and exiting the corner - all new testing stuff I hadn't seen before!

Bottomline - even AFTER the Z06 won "Hands Down", they still proclaim the 911 has NOT lost it's crown as the 21st century sports car icon!

I also LOVE the double truck (2 page) ad with a Yellow Z06 right in between the pages of the feature! Nice effect!

alan64

makes no sense what you say,, they are simply stating that the 911 is a more well rounded car for everyday, which it is,,,

BlaznZ06

FREE


I was going to go get the mag. after work.


It came in the mail just now as a freebie.

JLC629

I know it costs more but not bad numbers for a N/A six in a vehicle that is heavier with less horsepower.The 997TT should be interesting.

wotz06

A P car is a P car, every magazine in the world will have bias towards it, except for Corvette mags. Anyone who can prove this wrong, go right ahead because I do actually want to see which ones list the Z06 as better in every category.

IMO, I think the Z06 beats Porsches in every way, shape and form. It is as easy to drive as a regular Corvette, the clutch pedal is so easy to use I actually chuckle sometimes... the other night coming home from dinner I actually lined up with a 360 modena spyder, the guy wouldn't even look over even after a threw a rev at him for laughs...

The new Z06 is hands- down the best performance car I have ever driven. period. Anyone else who can take 72k and go buy something better as an all-around package, prove me wrong because I would love to see that too.

Everyone will always hold P cars dear to their hearts, but the Z06 is top dog.

Craig Lowell

The 911 C2S has 4 seats and a 6 cylinder. Still not a good comparison. A 997TT is a AWD, handstitched leather, thick sound insulation, all season-rocket with four seats and a 6 cylinder. Got to at least drop the AWD and the rear seats to make even the 6 cylinder comparison less silly.

The GT3 would be the best NA comparison with the 997 GT2, if P releases one, the best boosted comparison. For track guys on the fence, that would be an interesting comparison.

I've gotta tell ya, I think this is GREAT! If Chevy rattles Porsche's cage long enough to **** them off, Chevy will do all performance fanatics a BIG favor... make the racing MONSTER roar.

Oh please, oh please, oh please....

EuG

Leave it to Z51 C6 to smack 997S around.

Z06 should be matched with 997TT - which it will embarrass , no doubt.

I wish GM had a model of a Corvette which would be equivalent to GT2.
Something with stripped interior, no radio, high performance motor variant, lower weight perhaps, etc, etc.

You see Z06 is 100% daily driver with much luxury – heated seats, NAV, etc., so it really shouldn’t be compared to GT2/GT3 but to 997TT.

vetteship

Will be a better comparassion, but they can't get a hold of the 2007 Twin Turbo (dealer mark-up )

Bwright

More like a knife to a nuclear war. Those guys need to get a 997 Turbo and fast.

david.k

Why would the even compare the z to a 997s. Its clearly outclassed. They should have compared the 997s to a c6 z51. And of course the ultimate corvette would outperform almost the lowest porsche. The z on the other hand should be compared to the gt3 or 997tt.

MitchAlsup

I can assure you that FORZA does not even mention P-cars.....

Jeepo

I agree, I drive my Z as much as I can, and it is a completely tame,comfortable and definitely not hot. It becomes a completely different car when you get on it though and shows its true colors.
It is as comfortable as my 04 CTS V although a little bit choppier on rough roads.
I would say the Z is the best compromise between daily driver and track.

Deep Blue

With a 124 mph trap speed, couldn't they have done better than 12 seconds in the 1/4 mile?

JLC629

numbers seemed a little off to me too.Seemed like a fast example of the P-car and not so of the Z-car.