Hey Guys,
I just spent the day driving a Corvette Z06 from Laguna Seca back to L.A. (Ventura, actually, but close enough). I attended a GM press event, where they hosted a few journalists to drive up to Laguna Seca from L.A., watch the Cadillac/Corvette races on Saturday and Sunday, and drive back. I drove a standard 2006 Vette with the new six-speed, paddle shift auto up yesterday, and a Z06 back today.
BTW, the new automatic is a nice execution. It readily downshifts when left in "auto" mode, and with all those extra gears it really launches the standard Vette forward when you just roll into the throttle at highway speeds. It quickly downshifts from 6th to 4th to get into the powerband. The paddles work well, too, when in "manual" mode. The base Vette is still quite fast, and it's funny to think it "only" has 400 horsepower (never thought I'd see the day where I could say "only 400 horsepower").
I did 500 miles on the Z06 coming back, and ran some of the best roads in the state. Started out 101 south, then jumped off at 41 in Templeton and headed east and south until I hooked up with 58, then 58 all the way east to 33, then 33 south all the way to Ventura and the 101 again. Lot's of great twisties, plus lots of wide open straight stretches where you can...um...just go a little faster than legal...if you're into that sort of thing...which or course I'm not... :biggrin
First the bad news...or good news depending on your perspective:
The Z06 has a better engine than the Ford GT.
Now before anyone throws a supercharger belt just hear me out.
The 7.0-liter in the Z06 is certainly not as advanced as the GT's engine, and it doesn't have the sort of carefully honed, refined feel that the GT's modular engine possesses.
BUT, my GOD is it powerful and torquey! Remeber, this is the equivelant of 427 cubic inches, and there's no forced induction. The result is this massive wave of torque that catapaults the Vette forward with every millimeter of throttle travel. At the same time, it revs like a small block and zips up to that 7,000 rpm redline almost like an Acura or Infiniti V6. It's literally the best of both worlds.
And the SOUND!! Ah! Again, this could be the coolest sounding stock engine I've ever heard. It's got a Ferrari-like insistency in terms of always letting you know it's there whenever you get into the throttle. But where most Ferraris have a wail or screech, this thing is just a deep, throaty growl. It literally sounds like some sort of ancient dragon or monster that's had it's sleep disturbed after 10,000 years. Destoys the stock Viper in terms of cool (no UPS truck here). Think of the automotive exhaust tone equivelant of the Empire's theme from the Star Wars movies.
Sorry to say it, but as a GT owner, and it's biggest fan, I have to give credit where credit is due. Chevrolet has one-upped the GT. Maybe not in peak horsepower figures, or even in pure acceleration (though that's basically a wash), but in the overall power-delivery experience, this thing ROCKS!
And this awesome engine is connected to...possibly the worst transmission I've driven in any vehicle from the last 25 years. Ugh! Just like the regular Vette, this one is too notchy, has vague gates, and puts an annoying vibration through the shifter that makes you want to only touch it when absolutely necessary (unlike my GT, where I like to let my hand rest on the shifter for long periods of time).
Also, and this is a first for me in Vettes, the transmission tunnel got REALLY HOT :mad after about 150 miles. I don't know what caused it, but it started getting, like, Viper hot in the cabin because the damn transmission tunnel was throwing off so much heat. I couldn't even brace my right leg against it for more than a minute or so without it getting uncomfortable (through my jeans!!!). Happy to hear any thoughts on this one, but I truly have never experienced this before (not even in Vipers...the heat in those always seems to generally come from the engine compartment and/or exhaust system underneath, as opposed to this specific, localized heat issue on the center tunnel). It stayed like this for the last three hours/200 miles of my drive, and I even tried coasting down some long hills with the tranny in neutral to try and cool it off, but to no avail. Talk about heat soak... :confused
Otherwise the car is pretty much your basic Vette. Steering gets the job done, but it ain't exactly inspiring. Brakes are quite good, as is the calibration of the "Competitive Driving" mode. It lets you absolutely smoke the tires from a dead stop (way easy to do, of course), and it also allows some rotation in the corners before intervening.
There was one other element that I wasn't too fond of. The suspension is tuned for a very comfortable ride, almost suprisingly so. :eek But when I started hitting some of the bumpier sections of Route 58 I noticed a lot of kick-back through the steering wheel, and excessive bump-steer, at least in my opinion. I found myself trying to remember if the GT felt that way, but I'm sure if it did I would have noted it in that car, too. Now they are both in my garage but I haven't driven the GT for over a week. I need to take it out and confirm what I already know, which is that it has a far more settled/confident ride over bumpy roads. This was a bummer because it happened on both the twisties and the straights. I had to really concentrate when going fast across the barren parts of the 58, because it's only a two-lane road and relatively narrow. Not that I went that fast, of course. :banana (this thing gets up to 150 mph so easily it's really frightening, but so does the GT, and the GT feels far more settled at those speeds -- at least that's what I hear :rofl )
So, my final verdict? I wish Ford would have had the time to put the V10 in the GT, because my drive in the Z06 today convinced me that, in the end, I'm still a torque guy (guess that's what happens when your first car, at age 15, is a 1969 Plymouth GTX with a 440). Beyond the engine, the new Vette remains a Vette, and that means the GT is still the better car, :thumbsup even if it doesn't have as remarkable of system for power delivery. :frown
BTW, I'm keeping the Z06 through October 31, and we're getting a Tungsten GT and red Viper this Friday. I guess you all know what story is coming... :cheers
I just spent the day driving a Corvette Z06 from Laguna Seca back to L.A. (Ventura, actually, but close enough). I attended a GM press event, where they hosted a few journalists to drive up to Laguna Seca from L.A., watch the Cadillac/Corvette races on Saturday and Sunday, and drive back. I drove a standard 2006 Vette with the new six-speed, paddle shift auto up yesterday, and a Z06 back today.
BTW, the new automatic is a nice execution. It readily downshifts when left in "auto" mode, and with all those extra gears it really launches the standard Vette forward when you just roll into the throttle at highway speeds. It quickly downshifts from 6th to 4th to get into the powerband. The paddles work well, too, when in "manual" mode. The base Vette is still quite fast, and it's funny to think it "only" has 400 horsepower (never thought I'd see the day where I could say "only 400 horsepower").
I did 500 miles on the Z06 coming back, and ran some of the best roads in the state. Started out 101 south, then jumped off at 41 in Templeton and headed east and south until I hooked up with 58, then 58 all the way east to 33, then 33 south all the way to Ventura and the 101 again. Lot's of great twisties, plus lots of wide open straight stretches where you can...um...just go a little faster than legal...if you're into that sort of thing...which or course I'm not... :biggrin
First the bad news...or good news depending on your perspective:
The Z06 has a better engine than the Ford GT.
Now before anyone throws a supercharger belt just hear me out.
The 7.0-liter in the Z06 is certainly not as advanced as the GT's engine, and it doesn't have the sort of carefully honed, refined feel that the GT's modular engine possesses.
BUT, my GOD is it powerful and torquey! Remeber, this is the equivelant of 427 cubic inches, and there's no forced induction. The result is this massive wave of torque that catapaults the Vette forward with every millimeter of throttle travel. At the same time, it revs like a small block and zips up to that 7,000 rpm redline almost like an Acura or Infiniti V6. It's literally the best of both worlds.
And the SOUND!! Ah! Again, this could be the coolest sounding stock engine I've ever heard. It's got a Ferrari-like insistency in terms of always letting you know it's there whenever you get into the throttle. But where most Ferraris have a wail or screech, this thing is just a deep, throaty growl. It literally sounds like some sort of ancient dragon or monster that's had it's sleep disturbed after 10,000 years. Destoys the stock Viper in terms of cool (no UPS truck here). Think of the automotive exhaust tone equivelant of the Empire's theme from the Star Wars movies.
Sorry to say it, but as a GT owner, and it's biggest fan, I have to give credit where credit is due. Chevrolet has one-upped the GT. Maybe not in peak horsepower figures, or even in pure acceleration (though that's basically a wash), but in the overall power-delivery experience, this thing ROCKS!
And this awesome engine is connected to...possibly the worst transmission I've driven in any vehicle from the last 25 years. Ugh! Just like the regular Vette, this one is too notchy, has vague gates, and puts an annoying vibration through the shifter that makes you want to only touch it when absolutely necessary (unlike my GT, where I like to let my hand rest on the shifter for long periods of time).
Also, and this is a first for me in Vettes, the transmission tunnel got REALLY HOT :mad after about 150 miles. I don't know what caused it, but it started getting, like, Viper hot in the cabin because the damn transmission tunnel was throwing off so much heat. I couldn't even brace my right leg against it for more than a minute or so without it getting uncomfortable (through my jeans!!!). Happy to hear any thoughts on this one, but I truly have never experienced this before (not even in Vipers...the heat in those always seems to generally come from the engine compartment and/or exhaust system underneath, as opposed to this specific, localized heat issue on the center tunnel). It stayed like this for the last three hours/200 miles of my drive, and I even tried coasting down some long hills with the tranny in neutral to try and cool it off, but to no avail. Talk about heat soak... :confused
Otherwise the car is pretty much your basic Vette. Steering gets the job done, but it ain't exactly inspiring. Brakes are quite good, as is the calibration of the "Competitive Driving" mode. It lets you absolutely smoke the tires from a dead stop (way easy to do, of course), and it also allows some rotation in the corners before intervening.
There was one other element that I wasn't too fond of. The suspension is tuned for a very comfortable ride, almost suprisingly so. :eek But when I started hitting some of the bumpier sections of Route 58 I noticed a lot of kick-back through the steering wheel, and excessive bump-steer, at least in my opinion. I found myself trying to remember if the GT felt that way, but I'm sure if it did I would have noted it in that car, too. Now they are both in my garage but I haven't driven the GT for over a week. I need to take it out and confirm what I already know, which is that it has a far more settled/confident ride over bumpy roads. This was a bummer because it happened on both the twisties and the straights. I had to really concentrate when going fast across the barren parts of the 58, because it's only a two-lane road and relatively narrow. Not that I went that fast, of course. :banana (this thing gets up to 150 mph so easily it's really frightening, but so does the GT, and the GT feels far more settled at those speeds -- at least that's what I hear :rofl )
So, my final verdict? I wish Ford would have had the time to put the V10 in the GT, because my drive in the Z06 today convinced me that, in the end, I'm still a torque guy (guess that's what happens when your first car, at age 15, is a 1969 Plymouth GTX with a 440). Beyond the engine, the new Vette remains a Vette, and that means the GT is still the better car, :thumbsup even if it doesn't have as remarkable of system for power delivery. :frown
BTW, I'm keeping the Z06 through October 31, and we're getting a Tungsten GT and red Viper this Friday. I guess you all know what story is coming... :cheers
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