http://www.autoblog.com/2006/08/08/2...-higher-price/

 

They can't sell it at a deep loss with their financial situation, so their price-undercutting strat is out the window.

 

Even at $70K, it's a lot of car for the money.

 

I sure wish gm would bring back the vette from the late 50's early 60's...do you ever see anyone going to a chev dealership to see what the new vette looks like (looks darn near same since 1984)...sure it's a supercar and all,but it lacks that certain something that the older ones had...gm can you please replace these "hugh hefner wannabe oldmen trying to relive there youth cars" and give us something fun again...

 

Atomic indeed... along with an apt price increase. Still, a performance "bargain". So I guess the 1st year models were absolute steals - not counting AMV's, etc.

 

That thing in Atomic Orange is so verbose it's not funny. Really just does nothing for me. I'm really in the camp that likes the older vettes, and not so much these newer ones. The other thing I get stuck on is that it's a $70,000 Chevy. Some would argue that the GT is a $150,000 Ford, but that car is special and was limited production. GM builds many thousands of the Corvette, maybe not quite that many of the Z06 but still.

 

When a car can outrun the Ferrari F430 AND a Porsche worth over 100K, and all for just 70K, its a special car in my book.

 

I like the car and the new color . . . . just needs those rims powder coated gunmetal or black!

 

Z06, in my book, trounces most more expensive "super" cars.

 

reminds me of Grabber range

 

The problem with the Z06 is that it brings nothing but speed, which itself is no bad thing, into a segment that wants more than just speed, which is a bad thing. You still get the same interior that is inexcusable in a 45k car, never mind one costing 25k more, and the seats are still just okay. You still get suprisingly subpar steering and you still get a chassis that, while capable, feels unsorted. This car addressed none of the problems that the standard C6 suffers from in the market, it simply goes a lot faster, loses some refinement in the process, and asks 25k more for the juiced engine and weight loss program.

What makes cars like Ferrari's, Porsche's, and I would assume the Ford GT if reports are correct, so special is that you can't buy a lesser car and turn it into one of these dynamically. Oh, you might make your car as fast but it is extremely unlikely to ever demonstrate the poise or character of these cars which is what you are really paying for despite what the hi-po armchair quarterbacks would tell you.

Put a stroked and blown LS2 making 550hp, a suspension package, and wider wheels and tires under a run of the mill C6 and there is little reason to believe you would give up anything to a Z06 in terms of dynamics while easily running with that car in terms of speed...and the above upgrades could easily be done for 25k or less. Heck, you might even be better off with a modded C6 given the rough nature of the uber-Vette.

With sincerity, the Z06 is 100% lost on me. If I had this kind of money to burn on a weekend toy, and that is exactly what the Z06 is, why wouldn't I just buy a 911C and modify it? Yes, to make it as fast or faster than a Z06 I would have to modify it but I could easily do so. On the flip side nothing I can do to the Vette short of dropping mega-bucks into it will ever make that car the dynamic equal of the Porsche, or make the interior as inviting, or make it as friendly a daily transport. More speed is cheap and easy to find, other things aren't

The standard C6 is a much better deal than the Z06 is.

 

you forgot the Z06 also gets and aluminum chassis rather then the heavy steel one from the standard C6

 

Hence the weight difference that gives it the edge over the Ferrari and Porsche

 

I know where your coming from here Knight, and no I didn't forget the aluminum backbone in the Z06. The problem is that still doesn't make this car make much more sense. Yes, it is one thing that you cannot duplicate, at least sensibly, with a run of the mill C6. But what does this one change really get you?

As I mention above the cars dynamics are still anything but polished. Aside from the weight savings I see little effect that this change had on the car and frankly you could see much the same kind of increase in speed and handling in a C6 with just a bit more hp and torque than the Z06 packs, some suspension upgrades, and some wider rubber. That is the primary reason I mentioned the 550hp number listed above, since no doubt this would easily make up for any weight advantage the Z06 possesses which you could not easily duplicate with a run of the mill C6.

Is that alloy back worth 25k, or 10k, or even 5k to me? Not really. If the package did more than take a standard C6 and make it faster, a bit lighter, and notably rougher I could buy it but as I said above the Z06 is a go fast package and not much else. In fact, given all of the guff that the GT500 has taken from folks on these pages I am genuinely amazed that the Z06 has not simply been lambasted since, realistically, the GT500 easily saw more palpable dynamic improvement than the Z06 did. The Z06 is a C6 on fast forward, nothing more.

For 25k I want to see that some thought went into the car, not just a handling package and a stroked and bored V-8. Where is the greater level of poise and balance? Where is the sophistication in dynamics? All of this is a blank page with the Z06 since, again, all the pkg really does is take what the C6 is and make it much faster. If all you want is cheap speed the Z06 is a bargain, but that is all the car is. And, as I said above, that is why the C6 is a much better deal than the Z06 is.