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

[Swift]

Sound like great reasons for buying a sportscar

Well, yeah. Everyone knows the Elise is tight. But almost nobody would use it for a daily driver. Nobody. Now the vette on the other hand, I know a good amount of people that do use their vette as a daily driver. It's much more comfortable overall.

 

[TheCracker]

Well, yeah. Everyone knows the Elise is tight. But almost nobody would use it for a daily driver. Nobody. Now the vette on the other hand, I know a good amount of people that do use their vette as a daily driver. It's much more comfortable overall.

You see plenty of Elises being used as daily drivers over here. My step bro used his track biased S2 135R as his only car and daily driver for a couple of years, and even uses his even more hardcore Exige 240R as his daily now. You can't fit a large suit case in one but you can get your weekly shopping in the trunk/boot. Because they're lightweight the suspension doesn't have to be too firm and therefore they ride suprisingly well over rough surfaces and even pot-holes. As long as you don't have to travel hundreds of miles every day an Elise/Exige would make a perfectly decent daily driver. They have good fuel economy, decent stereos, air-con, electric windows and the most recent models have very comfy and supportive seats with adjustable lumber support - what more do you want?

Over here a LHD Vette makes a much more unattractive daily driver proposition, especially with a 7ltr engine and fuel at an estimated $4 per litre.

 

[Swift]

Over here a LHD Vette makes a much more unattractive daily driver proposition, especially with a 7ltr engine and fuel at an estimated $4 per litre.

Not to mention parking spot sizes...

You see plenty of Elises being used as daily drivers over here. My step bro used his track biased S2 135R as his only car and daily driver for a couple of years, and even uses his even more hardcore Exige 240R as his daily now. You can't fit a large suit case in one but you can get your weekly shopping in the trunk/boot. Because they're lightweight the suspension doesn't have to be too firm and therefore they ride suprisingly well over rough surfaces and even pot-holes. As long as you don't have to travel hundreds of miles every day an Elise/Exige would make a perfectly decent daily driver. They have good fuel economy, decent stereos, air-con, electric windows and the most recent models have very comfy and supportive seats with adjustable lumber support - what more do you want?

I'm sure some people can sacrifice to drive an Elise every day. But in America, if you can't fit a set or two of golf clubs in the car, it's not on the daily driver list.

 

[JohnBM01]

I've always called the Corvette as an "in-between" car. It can be a high-powered muscle car, but it's also a fairly respectable sports car. My favorite Corvette is the 1958 Corvette. The car is beautiful. I first seen it on Barrett-Jackson's auctions once. It was sort of a bluish-silver color that sort of sparkled the night sky under the showroom lights. I guess some of those chrome accents made the car really stand out for me. It's such a beautiful car. My second favorite is sort of a toss-up between the C5 and the 1963 Sting Ray. The 1963 'Vette was a bit more like muscle car than sports car. Just imagine it, though. Think about seeing one in your rear view mirror or passing you on the freeway. It's a mean dude. An all-business machine. The C5 has been my favorite modern Corvette as I can't really stick to the C6 too much. It is still a head turner for me when my parents are driving while I'm looking at cars. If I ever got one, I'd love to have or paint one in a dark blue or a candy-like red color.

As far as Corvette vs. Elise, the biggest advantage for the Elise is its lightweight. Or if you want to push the lightweight battle a bit, how about we match up the Corvette up against... the most powerful and capable Caterham (not that I know what is their flagship model)? I'd probably take the Elise on personal preference. I don't like the latest Corvette too much to actually like it and prefer it over any other car from a personal standpoint.

 

[exigeracer]

Well, yeah. Everyone knows the Elise is tight. But almost nobody would use it for a daily driver. Nobody. Now the vette on the other hand, I know a good amount of people that do use their vette as a daily driver. It's much more comfortable overall.

You are presuming all of this. Just because you know the Elise is tight, you are automatically ruling out the possibilities of people driving it on a regular basis. I know of plenty US Elise owners who drive their cars daily, probably just as many as Corvette dailies you know.

As Cracker pointed out, part of the Lotus formula is having a super stiff, responsive chassis so your suspension does not have to be very stiffly sprung.

YSS, I wasn't aware the Corvette could get 27mpg?

 

[Dave A]

In TopGear's combined tests it couldn't get over 20mpg, normal C6 or Z06.

 

[Swift]

You are presuming all of this. Just because you know the Elise is tight, you are automatically ruling out the possibilities of people driving it on a regular basis. I know of plenty US Elise owners who drive their cars daily, probably just as many as Corvette dailies you know.

As Cracker pointed out, part of the Lotus formula is having a super stiff, responsive chassis so your suspension does not have to be very stiffly sprung.

YSS, I wasn't aware the Corvette could get 27mpg?

I think it's funny how you guys put milage into the equation. If you can afford a 70K+ car, you're not worried about milage.

But you may be right aobut the number of daily drivers. But of course I "presumed" that. Because there aren't many elises on the roads hear at all so to find someone with an elise that's a daily driver is even more rare, where I live. I doubt we could find verifiable statistics on such things.

Again, you're coming from a standpoint that the I think the elise is a weak car. This is far from true. I've seen elises own Vettes on parts of the track. But then loose out in the straights. I've seen Vettes beat the elise in the twisty's as well. Basically to me it's like this: Elise - pefect autocross out of the box, ZO6 - Best performance car for the money period. (At factory specs, in America)

 

[Dave A]

I think it's funny how you guys put milage into the equation. If you can afford a 70K+ car, you're not worried about milage.

It'd be an advatage still. But on a sportscar, I wouldn't view it as the difference between choosing one car over another, unless they were identical in every other way.

I like the little disclaimer "(At factory specs, in America)" I can't counter you now .

 

[Swift]

I like the little disclaimer "(At factory specs, in America)" I can't counter you now .

Exactly why I put it in there.

 

[exigeracer]

I know that fuel milage isn't an issue, but YSS brought it into this, along with every other non-sportscar aspect, so I thought I'd counter, somewhat sarcastically, on the point that I knew the Elise is better.

 

[niky]

The whole point and/or pointlessness of the argument is the two cars, despite being both performance cars, appeal to different demographics within the sportscar buyers market.

Vette: old man's (50-something, baby boomer) car, sportscar *** cruiser, bought partially for the performance and partially for the sheer romance of the nameplate. That it's shtonking fast is beside the point... but it's a nice bonus.

Elise: bought for track duty. Yes, it can be used as a daily driver, but you don't buy it for that reason, much like you don't buy a Viper to commute to work, like some dolts do. You buy the Elise simply to be the fastest guy on trackdays.

Of course, you don't buy a Corvette to go to work, either, but you don't buy it for the track. You buy it to cruise. There's a good reason why the Corvette has intergalactic gearing compared to the buzzy little Elise.

 

[Swift]

Good points Niky, 👍

 

[YSSMAN]

YSS, I wasn't aware the Corvette could get 27mpg?

For the Z06: 16/26 MPG

For the Z51: 18/28 MPG

...And I know a few people who have been able to pull off 30 MPG with the Vette @ 80 MPH on the highway, and that was with the previous-generation C5 Z06 with the LS6 V8.

The combination of the skip-shift feature and the obsurdly tall 6th gear makes for great fuel economy, so much so that the Corvette is able to escape the gas-guzzler taxes here in the US.

 

[Poverty]

I think it's funny how you guys put milage into the equation. If you can afford a 70K+ car

TBH with you in this day and age I dont see 70k as all that much money for a professional, as the average University educated man in his 40's and 50's will be earning that figure per year, if hes in the right sector But then again maybe thats just a london thing.

On the highway the Z06 will get very good milaege, its in city conditions were its dreadful. I think that the C6 would be good for a everyday car, but the Z06 not so. Id rather have a GT3 with the softer less sporting suspension settings as its meant to be rather comfortable for a car of its nature, which was Porsches aim when designing it, yet it still manages to be as quick as a 996 GT3 RS 👍

 

[Swift]

TBH with you in this day and age I dont see 70k as all that much money for a professional, as the average University educated man in his 40's and 50's will be earning that figure per year, if hes in the right sector But then again maybe thats just a london thing.

Theres a difference in buying a 70K sports car and a 70K luxury sedan. Generally speaking, someone making 65K a year could afford say a BMW 7 series if they really wanted to. But it would be their only car. With the sports car it would be at least the second car and hence they wouldn't worry too much about mileage.

On the highway the Z06 will get very good milaege, its in city conditions were its dreadful. I think that the C6 would be good for a everyday car, but the Z06 not so. Id rather have a GT3 with the softer less sporting suspension settings as its meant to be rather comfortable for a car of its nature, which was Porsches aim when designing it, yet it still manages to be as quick as a 996 GT3 RS 👍

no argument here

 

[Poverty]

Theres a difference in buying a 70K sports car and a 70K luxury sedan. Generally speaking, someone making 65K a year could afford say a BMW 7 series if they really wanted to. But it would be their only car. With the sports car it would be at least the second car and hence they wouldn't worry too much about mileage.

Ah yes, I never thought about it like that 👍

 

[harrytuttle]

Theres a difference in buying a 70K sports car and a 70K luxury sedan. Generally speaking, someone making 65K a year could afford say a BMW 7 series if they really wanted to. But it would be their only car. With the sports car it would be at least the second car and hence they wouldn't worry too much about mileage.

Ah yes, I never thought about it like that 👍

Do either of you live off your parents? If so, this explains the cluelessness of your statements. In major cities like New York (and its surrounding area), the cost of living is so high that $70K is nothing. Living in the city itself, you'd be lucky to have any car with that kind of income.

Outside these cities (Maryland, for example) the cost of living is lower, but not so dramatically that one can spend his entire annual salary on a car. Show me someone who does that (regardless of income level), and I'll show you someone who has serious credit issues 6 months later. And this is, of course, taking into consideration that the owner could even finance it. At that income-to-expenditure ratio, they might as well mortgage the car and the house.

No personal offense to any of you, but I haven't heard such groundless statements since WMDs were reported having been seen sometime, somewhere in some desert...I think.

 

[YSSMAN]

Whats the problem with throwing MPG ratings into the discussion? I'd say it is one of the strong-suits of the car, added of course to the great performance overall, so why not mention it?

Given how it seems that world opinion often places most American cars in the "backwards, pre-historic" category, I think its fun to dangle the fact that the Corvette gets the gas mileage of a regular sedan and can still manage to eat the F430 alive.

...But thats just me...

 

[Swift]

Do either of you live off your parents? If so, this explains the cluelessness of your statements. In major cities like New York (and its surrounding area), the cost of living is so high that $70K is nothing. Living in the city itself, you'd be lucky to have any car with that kind of income.

Outside these cities (Maryland, for example) the cost of living is lower, but not so dramatically that one can spend his entire annual salary on a car. Show me someone who does that (regardless of income level), and I'll show you someone who has serious credit issues 6 months later. And this is, of course, taking into consideration that the owner could even finance it. At that income-to-expenditure ratio, they might as well mortgage the car and the house.

No personal offense to any of you, but I haven't heard such groundless statements since WMDs were reported having been seen sometime, somewhere in some desert...I think.

What are you talking about? who would pay ALL of there money for a car? That makes no sense. Nobody does that. Not even people that make 150K a year. You pay monthly or lease the car for about 700 a month.

People DO do that all the time. Sure it puts that in bad financial shape, but it doesn't stop them from doing it.

Also, people that live in the city generally don't NEED a car. Especially in NYC. The subway and other public transportation is so good that it's simply not needed.

So, yeah, you can do it. Is it smart, nope. But it can be done. Also, who said you had to buy brand new. You could get last years model and save 10K. But whatever.

 

[exigeracer]

Whats the problem with throwing MPG ratings into the discussion? I'd say it is one of the strong-suits of the car, added of course to the great performance overall, so why not mention it?

You yourself stated that it is the best performance car for the money, and I showed you a competitor. You then brought in all sorts of features of the car that has nothing at all to do with performance for your money. Gas milage and comfy seating is not performance, which the Z06 is meant for.

And neither is glovebox sizes, but GM thinks it's a justifiable addition, a 4,500$ glovebox. How you people don't think that's ludicrous is beyond me.

 

[YSSMAN]

Hold on just a second... Why do you seem so upset about everything? Take a chill, calm down.

I said what I meant, and I maintain the idea that the Z06 is still the best sportscar you can buy for $70K. To justify the means I listed reasons why people would buy it over the decidedly "hardcore" Elise and Exige, noteably because of the similar MPG ratings and the greater overall comfort by comparison to the others.

The point was to show that the Corvette has plenty of "civility" to the car despite the fact that it can tear-ass around the track, and still can be used as a daily driver... Your Elise cannot. Well, it can, but most sane people wouldn't do it.

As for the whole glovebox issue, I must point you to the origional story:

GM says the new Z06 has a larger glove box, the option of ordering OnStar, and improved interior acoustics.

OnStar accounts for about $700 there (as is the case with most GM vehicles), so I have no idea how much money was dumped into the car for the larger glovebox and acoustics.

Why am I not upset, even as a GM guy? Even at $70K, the car is still a steal, and untill someone else builds a car for that much money that can see 60 MPH in 3.5 seconds and top out at nearly 200 MPH (C/D has had the car at 207 MPH), I have nothing to worry about.

 

[exigeracer]

I'm not getting angry, I guess that's just how it reads. We already sorted out that the cars are completely different and comparing them is different pretty much on every level (although ForcedFed will take your Elise to 60 in 2.9 for 80K$ if you want to pick at numbers).

I don't understand how simply having the option of OnStar should increase the price of the base car. If you want OnStar, you should have to pay. If you don't want it, why are you paying?

If I had to, I'd take the Corvette in that nice deep red I've seen it wear somewhere. Very pretty.

We're definitely beating a really dead horse here though. This is not necessary.

 

[Poverty]

Do either of you live off your parents? If so, this explains the cluelessness of your statements. In major cities like New York (and its surrounding area), the cost of living is so high that $70K is nothing. Living in the city itself, you'd be lucky to have any car with that kind of income.

Outside these cities (Maryland, for example) the cost of living is lower, but not so dramatically that one can spend his entire annual salary on a car. Show me someone who does that (regardless of income level), and I'll show you someone who has serious credit issues 6 months later. And this is, of course, taking into consideration that the owner could even finance it. At that income-to-expenditure ratio, they might as well mortgage the car and the house.

No personal offense to any of you, but I haven't heard such groundless statements since WMDs were reported having been seen sometime, somewhere in some desert...I think.

It all depends on your situation. Most 40-50 years olds will probably also have a wife who is working, many will have already payed off their mortgage a long long time ago, especialy seeing as houses would have been alot cheaper in those days, and people spend a years wages on cars all the time. Most people living in London wont have a car, but alot of people live on the outskirts of london where housing is alot cheaper, and a 45min train ride will take them into the city center.

 

[Famine]

The whole point and/or pointlessness of the argument is the two cars, despite being both performance cars, appeal to different demographics within the sportscar buyers market.

Vette: old man's (50-something, baby boomer) car, sportscar *** cruiser, bought partially for the performance and partially for the sheer romance of the nameplate. That it's shtonking fast is beside the point... but it's a nice bonus.

Elise: bought for track duty. Yes, it can be used as a daily driver, but you don't buy it for that reason, much like you don't buy a Viper to commute to work, like some dolts do. You buy the Elise simply to be the fastest guy on trackdays.

Of course, you don't buy a Corvette to go to work, either, but you don't buy it for the track. You buy it to cruise. There's a good reason why the Corvette has intergalactic gearing compared to the buzzy little Elise.

I'd disagree.

The overriding complaint about the Z06 in Europe isn't that it isn't fast (it is, very much so), or isn't a bargain (again it is), or is made of plastic (so are TVRs), or handles badly (because it doesn't). It's that it is fundamentally unuseable on the road because the ride is utterly appalling. That's the complaint you hear time and time again.

The Elise is, on the other hand, perfectly at home on the road. The Exige... maybe less so, but I do know of several Elise and Exige owners who have only the one car. Let's face it, how often do you really carpool when commuting? You just chuck your laptop bag into the car - and the passenger seat is good enough for that - and go to work (the 1.8 Elise will rack up 40mpg on the commute) then at the weekend put the track wheels on and have a hammer.

So the reality is the other way round. You can - and people do - buy the Elise as an only car to use on the road and on the track. Nobody (well... almost nobody) who buys the Z06 in Europe will buy it as an only car because it just doesn't function on the road. £100,000 for a track car is just too far.


Incidentally, I do quite like the C6 Corvette.

 

[TheCracker]

It all depends on your situation. Most 40-50 years olds will probably also have a wife who is working, many will have already payed off their mortgage a long long time ago, especialy seeing as houses would have been alot cheaper in those days, and people spend a years wages on cars all the time. Most people living in London wont have a car, but alot of people live on the outskirts of london where housing is alot cheaper, and a 45min train ride will take them into the city center.

Most 40-50 year old won't have paid off their mortgages yet (a 20 or 25 year mortgage is still a 20 or 25 year mortgage no matter how much you paid for your house originaly) and are probably supporting kids as well. I don't know of anyone who could afford to blow a years wages on a car, it doesn't make ecomomical sense to do so. Housing on the outskirts of London is still bloody expensive, especially within a 45 minute journey of the centre.

 

[Dave A]

Everything in London is inflated price wise, even the sausages. London isn't a good example of what the typial person living within the UK will earn and spend beacuse it's just so distant from everywhere else in the UK in regards to earnings and cost of living.

 

[Poverty]

Most 40-50 year old won't have paid off their mortgages yet (a 20 or 25 year mortgage is still a 20 or 25 year mortgage no matter how much you paid for your house originaly) and are probably supporting kids as well. I don't know of anyone who could afford to blow a years wages on a car, it doesn't make ecomomical sense to do so. Housing on the outskirts of London is still bloody expensive, especially within a 45 minute journey of the centre.

Well the average londoner is meant to be in debt as everyone wants the latest BMW, porsche, etc and alot of people are living beyond the means of their income at the moment, but most 50 year olds would have paid off their mortgage and if not their monthly payements will most likely be ridiculously low, and their kids would probably be young adults. Basically what Im saying is if the household is bringing home an annual income of 70k they could surely afford to buyt a 70k car and pay it off over a period of 5 years or so if thats what they wanted.


As for the exige Ive been told by a owner who has 3, that if you do a engine conversion, or nearly any mod that increases the power, the car will rise in value, unlike that of scoobies etc barring the huge power monsters.

 

[TheCracker]

As for the exige Ive been told by a owner who has 3, that if you do a engine conversion, or nearly any mod that increases the power, the car will rise in value, unlike that of scoobies etc barring the huge power monsters.

A mint S1 Exige would be worth just as much as a Honda VTEC engineed convertion (Most engine transplants tend to be Hondas) prices of S1 Exiges are on the up whilst prices of S1 Elises are getting pretty low. An S1 Elise with the same convertion will probably command a higher price, they tend to be done by only a handful of companies who have pretty good motorsport preperation experience and are therefore quality jobs. A lot of Subaru modifications are done by less experienced people who value dyno figures, noise and how the engine bay looks over sound engineering practises and mechanical knowhow.

The value of any modded car really relies on the quality of the job.

 

[YSSMAN]

I still don't see how the reviews of the Z06, and even the regular Vette, have it pegged with a horrible ride. Quite frankly, I'd say it is quite nice, and it will behave much the same as any regular car on sub-par pavement.

...Keep in mind, I live in Michigan, which has argueably the worst roads in the lower 49 states...

Of course, they are sportscars, so the ride is going to be bad in some cases. But as the saying goes here, if you want a better riding Vette, buy the F55. With the electronic ride control (Audi and Ferrari use the same system), day-to-day liveability increases, but the sporting ability does go down just a bit.

I'll stick with my Z51 and Z06 packages, thanks, as they aren't that bad.

 

[Dave A]

Over here the C6 Vette was highly praised on the road and the track, the Z06 was rated as fantastioc on the track but awful on the road, by a number of sources in the UK, I don't think I've read a single one that said anything notably good about it a far as driving it on the road was concerned. Other cars like the Lotus Elise are far better road cars than the Z06. But I'd say the normal C6 is better than the Elise as a road car (price aside) apart from the lhd being a major inconvenience.