Chevrolet Z06 Recieves Price Hike, New Color Added to Corvette Line

  • Thread starter Thread starter YSSMAN
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It was the Porsche and Ferrari-beating performance of the car for less than half the price, much like today's Z06. The combination of the high-tech GM/Lotus designed LT5, all-new suspension, and performance levels that had never been seen by the Corvette made it an instant-classic with Corvette fans and made it a performance icon on the American automotive landscape.

I met a guy who paid $75K for his ZR1, brand-new in 1993 (or was it '94?). Thats a lot of money not only today, but back then as well. I belive that in today's dollars, that would be right about $100K, for a Corvette no-less.
 
NSX-R
I do however disagree with the "don't drive often" part... Why buy a sports car if you don't like driving?:)
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It's not about liking driving, it's about how badly your back can feel after a couple of weeks driving your stiffer, harsher, sportscar one and a half hours every day to and from work. Ofcourse out on the open road, country lanes or a track I'd totally agree that I'd rather be driving a sportscar, but to and from work, every day, every week, it would make me feel like a cripple before I hit 30.
 
live4speed
It's not about liking driving, it's about how badly your back can feel after a couple of weeks driving your stiffer, harsher, sportscar one and a half hours every day to and from work. Ofcourse out on the open road, country lanes or a track I'd totally agree that I'd rather be driving a sportscar, but to and from work, every day, every week, it would make me feel like a cripple before I hit 30.
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Well said 👍 This is of course why sport coupes like the BMW 3 series are so popular.
 
Absolutely, a compromise of sports and practicalitly, comfey enough to be easy to drive in traffic and to use day to day. And sporty enough to have a bit of fun too.

That's why people don't care that there's saloons with a bigger boot, or coupes with more cup holders or a bigger glove compartment;), they're after the sports compromise, which BMW tends to be the market leader at.
 
ultrabeat
You'll be wanting the 911 then...
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For another 25-30k. Nah...

Besides, we already have a thread comparing the ZO6, Ferrari and 911.
 
Wow $4,300 for a bigger glove box, which I would say is pushing the boundaries lol.
 
Sounds to me like GM originally priced the Z06 low, possibly with little profit margin, and are now increasing the price to what the bean-counters think they should have been charging for it from the start.
 
Maybe theyre looking to make back the money for the flying roofs? Or maybe this extra money is to cover the expenses on any modifications on the new models they made which prevent axle breakage and flying wheeels?
 
YSSMAN
Its still the biggest bargain here in the US performance and price wise, as nothing else comes close for $70K.
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Lotus Elise comes terrifyingly close to beating the Z06's performance on track and solo-events, and often does. It also costs far less (we're talking almost half), and if you want to pick a fight, the ForcedFed 275 kit would slaughter the Z06, and still undercut the price by twenty thousand dollars.

If we're talking performance vs. price, the Z06 is still behind the Elise. Ask anyone who has driven both before purchasing, barely any could justify the 30,000$ price difference for a car with less edge and feel.
 
While I agree that the Elise may be a more focused track tool, the Corvette still has longer legs than the Elise, better acceleration than the standard Elise, and a lot more in terms of creature comforts.

They're just not in the same car category. :)
 
niky
the Corvette still has longer legs than the Elise and a lot more in terms of creature comforts.

They're just not in the same car category. :)
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Those are both unrelated to usable performance, which is what we are comparing here. I think I've only heard of two Elise drivers who have topped out their Elises.

And they race in the same category.
 
That much is true. Of course, since there's nothing quite like the Elise in the US, they can't give it its own category... :lol:

But they're definitely not in the same category size-wise or comfort-wise. If we start off in the direction of best-bang-for-buck, irregardless of size or class, I'm going to pull the superbike card out... :lol:
 
Having 'long legs' in a track enviroment is more of a down side than anything else - how many tracks in the world do you suppose you could ever hit your top speed in a road-geared car? - not many i guess. Top speed is no more than an a irrelevant pissing contest really.
 
niky
That much is true. Of course, since there's nothing quite like the Elise in the US, they can't give it its own category... :lol:

But they're definitely not in the same category size-wise or comfort-wise. If we start off in the direction of best-bang-for-buck...
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We have started in the bang-for-a-buck, read YSS's first post, the part that I quoted. I fail to see how the Elise is lower in this kind of comparison to the Corvette.
 
Because, in its current state of tune, an Elise is actually slower 0-60 than a Corvette, and the top-of-the-line Exige 240R is a few ticks slower than the Z06 at about 3.9 (claimed).

I know it means bull on track, and I have stated that the Elise/Exige are probably better track weapons than the Z06, but then, it's still a different type of car. Most people shopping for Vettes are usually cross-shopping with Vipers and Porsches, not Elises. If someone wants an Elise, they're going to buy one.

And in the US, it's usually highway ability that counts most, that's why longer legs is a big plus for the Vette.

I'd love to have an Elise, but I can't see an Exige owner using it as often in conditions as varied as a Vette owner would use his Z06 in. Of course, that probably means I'm getting too old and rickety to actually own one.

I'm not saying the Elise is lower, just that it's a different kind of car. As such, it's more track-focused, lacks creature comforts, and it's incredibly small, with almost no luggage room. It's a pure sports car / track car, while the Corvette is more a sportscar / GT, which competes with 911s, Vipers and Ferraris. Of course, the Vette isn't as posh or polished as the 911s or Ferraris, but it's more than a match for them in ability, which is what muscle lovers love to go on about.

The only other cars in the Elise's category would be the Tommykaira (or whoevertheheck makes it now) ZZ-S, the ASL Garaiya (though production is admittedly very limited... I've never seen one, at least), and the various British track-cars, like the Radical, Caterham, and various Westfields, Tigers, etcetera...

Now if we were to bring up the Noble, that'd be interesting...
 
I'd rather have the Old Hugger Orange. Like mentioned earlier, it's so close to butterscotch.

Even at the new price, it's the best Super Car money can buy over here.





Well except maybe for a Exige or Mosler MT900r



[edited because i was wrong lol]
 
No you get BMW's and Mercedes cheaper than we do as well.
 
An SLR is £317k which is $600k.
A BMW M5 is £63k which is $120k
We also pay more for American cars.
A Cheverolet Corvette C6 Cabriolet is £55k which is $104k.
 
and then the most of the other europeans have to pay huge taxes on their cars. And seeing as the vettes got a huge engine they will have to pay more tax ontop of that. The only other EU country that I can think of the vette possibly being a bargain is germany. But then again they have their porsches, which they can get for a fair price.
 
exigeracer
Lotus Elise comes terrifyingly close to beating the Z06's performance on track and solo-events, and often does. It also costs far less (we're talking almost half), and if you want to pick a fight, the ForcedFed 275 kit would slaughter the Z06, and still undercut the price by twenty thousand dollars.

If we're talking performance vs. price, the Z06 is still behind the Elise. Ask anyone who has driven both before purchasing, barely any could justify the 30,000$ price difference for a car with less edge and feel.
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From 0-60 the two are pretty close. Its after 60mph where the Z06 would destroy the elise. If I had to choose I would go with the Z06 just because it has so much more power on tap. Also knowing that your car can hit 200mph would be awsome.

I like the new color. You can prob tell by my avatar that I like orange cars.
 
exigeracer
Lotus Elise comes terrifyingly close to beating the Z06's performance on track and solo-events, and often does. It also costs far less (we're talking almost half), and if you want to pick a fight, the ForcedFed 275 kit would slaughter the Z06, and still undercut the price by twenty thousand dollars.

If we're talking performance vs. price, the Z06 is still behind the Elise. Ask anyone who has driven both before purchasing, barely any could justify the 30,000$ price difference for a car with less edge and feel.
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In "some" cases it's a drivers race. But a Lotus Elise doesn't have the raw power to hang with the ZO6(or porsche and ferrari in the other comparo). Sure, it's a sweet looking car that simply DOESN'T produce body roll. But we're talking over 300 horsepower difference here. 190hp to 500hp. The thing that keeps the Elise on par with the ZO6 is it's weight. It weighs over half a ton LESS then the ZO6, 1984pounds vs 3150pounds. Sure, that's excellent and makes the Elise a true contender. But to Americans that like the power...well, there's no replacement for displacement. :sly:
 
I guess that it really comes down to who you are, and the Elise will always lose that argument on any American-based board. I would take the Elise/Exige over the Corvette, I'd have myself in your mirror the whole time with a bigger grin on and an extra 28,000$ cash in my pocket.

The Elise also underwent 2 price increases (albeit a thousand each time, and more or less justified unlike this one) and a massive colour lineup change from 05 to 06.
 
exigeracer
I guess that it really comes down to who you are, and the Elise will always lose that argument on any American-based board. I would take the Elise/Exige over the Corvette, I'd have myself in your mirror the whole time with a bigger grin on and an extra 28,000$ cash in my pocket.
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You would. Then they guy in his Porsche would blow buy us laughing, only to be passed by me in my vette a few seconds later. :sly:


Your right though, us Americans love our cars. I would pick the Z06 over the Elise/Exige, If I had the money for a Z06. However, I would buy an Elise/Exige if I had the money, in a heartbeat. I love Lotus, but not as much as the AllMighty BowTie and it's Flagship.
 
exigeracer
Lotus Elise comes terrifyingly close to beating the Z06's performance on track and solo-events, and often does. It also costs far less (we're talking almost half), and if you want to pick a fight, the ForcedFed 275 kit would slaughter the Z06, and still undercut the price by twenty thousand dollars.

If we're talking performance vs. price, the Z06 is still behind the Elise. Ask anyone who has driven both before purchasing, barely any could justify the 30,000$ price difference for a car with less edge and feel.
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Its probably a bit old to bring it back up, but I must apologize for being without the internet for a few days...

Anyway, let me clear a few things up here. First things first, I love the Elise, and it would generally be in my top-three for the "if and when" category of sportscars. That said, it is a very different animal as compared to the Z06, and when looking at it in terms of how the two cars perform for Americans, the Corvette wins out. Why?

- Comfort
- Size (overall, interior and storage as well)
- Ease of Use
- Similar Fuel Economy
- Overall Liveability
- Similar Performance (overall)

As you noted, you could save $20K and supercharge an Elise, but you could also save $20K and buy a perfectly capable Z51 Corvette as well. Again, the Corvette wins for many of the same reasons...

Now I'm not calling the Elise or Exige a bad car by any means, but it caters to a very different person. They are generally younger, into racing (on a semi-professional level), and are prepared to make the comfort sacrafices overall by comparison to the Vette.

I'd love to have an Elise, but I personally would rather spend the $50K US on a Z51... But thats just me...
 
YSSMAN
- Comfort
- Size (overall, interior and storage as well)
- Ease of Use
- Similar Fuel Economy
- Overall Liveability
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Sound like great reasons for buying a sportscar :rolleyes:
 

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