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I wanted a big normally aspirated engine, period.
Every manufacturer seems to be going the blower and turbocharger route these days just not my cup of tea.
I wanted a big normally aspirated engine, period.
Every manufacturer seems to be going the blower and turbocharger route these days just not my cup of tea.
So I’ve wondered what made everyone’s decision to go for the Grand Sport over the zo6 besides the obvious money difference.
I feel a little weird admitting this but once I got a chance to drive both cars I felt that the Z06 had too much power. Yes the tires were cold but the tires are always going to be cold when you first jump in the car.
On my test drive it kept spinning the tires with just the slightest application of throttle even with the traction control on. I felt like the car would be dangerous for my wife to drive because she likes to mash the throttle sometimes.
The GS has a bunch of power and will spin the tires too but its a lot more controllable while still being a thrill to drive. For me the z06 was too much for everyday.
Money was not a concern. I drove them both and liked the GS better. I'm sure I would get myself in trouble with the power of a Z06 and for the most part that extra 190 hp is unusable on the street. GS is the perfect car for me, looks, power, gas mileage, and comfort.
Z06 was too "mechanical" and the 650 hp were more than I needed, wanted or frankly felt comfortable with. It was thrilling, but somewhat scary at the same time.
There were a lot of used ones locally. I wonder if buyer's remorse (or fear) was a factor.
So I’ve wondered what made everyone’s decision to go for the Grand Sport over the zo6 besides the obvious money difference.
we were shopping for a new corvette for my wife and after looking at the Zo6 we came to the conclusion that since she was not going to track the car, the Grand Sport made more sense. It has more than enough HP for her and the Grand Sport 's handling is simply amazing. The money difference never came up. We did go for the 2LT because we wanted the front cameras to help her park.
I wanted a big normally aspirated engine, period.
Every manufacturer seems to be going the blower and turbocharger route these days just not my cup of tea.
I didn't want to spend the extra $10-12K for 190 hp I wouldn't / couldn't use where I live. My Grand Sport does everything I want it to, every time I ask it to. The fun factor is amazing and I feel the value is unquestionable. Not the fastest straight line car in my neighborhood, no dispute. But, trying to keep up with it when the roads look like this... -S--S--S--S.. Good luck!
I didn't want to spend the extra $10-12K for 190 hp I wouldn't / couldn't use where I live. My Grand Sport does everything I want it to, every time I ask it to. The fun factor is amazing and I feel the value is unquestionable. Not the fastest straight line car in my neighborhood, no dispute. But, trying to keep up with it when the roads look like this... -S--S--S--S.. Good luck!
coming out of a F type r- 550 hp but not as "quick" as a GS- plenty of similar power this will be a daily driver the extra hp is unneeded as I don't track- and it will only get me in trouble
As strange as it may seem I actually waffled between the base Stringray, Grand Sport and Z06 before settling on a GS.
Stingray: It was seeing original Stringrays as a kid that got me interested in Corvettes in the first place. I almost pulled the trigger on one several times before the Grand Sport was released. There's something about owning a Stringray that was very tempting. (I'm always sad when I see de-badged Stringrays.)
Z06: The attraction here is that I live at high altitude and supercharged engines don't lose (as much) power as you go up. But I really like naturally aspirated engines. Also, cost would have made it a stretch...it was either a 1LZ with no options or a Grand Sport 2LT with a few options so that was another reason I didn't go the Z06 route.
Grand Sport: I love wide-bodied cars so in the Stingray w/ Z51 package vs Grand Sport looks battle, the GS wins for me hands down. The Grand Sport wasn't much more so it was a relatively easy decision after that.
The last factor was the reviews. Almost every review I could get my hands on for the Grand Sport described it as the best handling Vette ever made. I'm far more interested in how a car handles than 0-60 or 1/4 mile times in a straight line. Even after my purchase I'm interested when Tadge says things like this about the new ZR1:
Whereas some folks might think the ZR1 is just a Z06 on steroids, Tadge doesn’t see it that way.
“People will probably think of this as a Z06 with 105 more horsepower,” Juechter says in an interview with Motor1, “but they should think of it more as a Grand Sport with 300 more horsepower.”
But Tadge says the new King of the Hill is not just about numbers, like the 755 horses.
“Of course we want more power, our customers always want more power, but just more power is not a good car,” he says. “We pride ourselves on doing well-balanced cars that do a lot of things well.”
First, the look of the Stingray never did it for me. I wanted to buy a pure sports car at a reasonable price that I could drive often and put 100k miles on. A Carrera S or GTS is beautiful, but the cost and maintenance takes the fun out of it and I don’t think you can drive these cars 100k miles. I also considered a used Z, but it was still more than my new 1LT and I was worried about longevity for the supercharged engine. In retrospect, my choice was completely right for me.
When I first started considering buying a C7, the Grand Sport had not been introduced. Although the Z06 was enticing, my reality was that there was no way in hell I was going to convince my wife that I "needed" an $80,000+ car.
If I had bought a Stingray I would have optioned for MSRC; when the GS included MSRC plus the enhanced handling and braking of the Z06 for a pretty modest price bump, I was sold on a GS.
And the widebody kit is badass visually.
I also agree with all the comments above about 650HP being pretty much unusable anywhere on the street, and have found that 460HP not only satisfies but can get my attention as well.
As soon as I got my September 2013 built C7 Z51 felt the tires, which are the same width as my C6 Z51, were a bit too narrow. After driving I validated the concern as it has more hp and more important, with variable cam timing significantly more low end torque.
Also when I pulled it into the garage my street rod laughed!
Thses two pics present the issues better:
The Street Rod doesn't laugh now-it only chuckles. Heck the wife's SUV has wider tires than did my Z51!
Those large front brakes do make a difference. And I didn't have to invest the ~$2000 for side skirts (needed to stop rocks on the roads in our area marking the rocker panels) and splitter to balance the look.
03-18-2018, 09:54 AM
