Just Drove The New C6 - WOW -

Gents, Yesterday I drove my neighbors new C6 Coupe with the Z51 package (I think that is what it is called) and I was very impressed, although the interior is still to Dupont for my taste, but for 50K � you sure do get allot of car and performance for the money. The liner performance made my 996 feel like a pig, well maybe not a pig, an athlete pig maybe� The transmission shifted very well (but the linkage was not as crisp as the 996) seats and overall feel was great. Handling was dam close to my 996 if not on par. The exterior is really a work of art, I truly feel in love with the car, makes me think of owning one down the road. Maybe�. Anyone have an experience with them? Or better yet with the new C6? My neighbor wants to know, he is also a little American Car shine� P.S. He just returned his 996 C4 for the C6. Only Time will tell if the C6 can stand the test of time as the 996 does.

I agree...with the new Z06 coming out...GM hit a home run with this car. For the money, the C5 is still a great buy. Durable drivetrain and excellent power and handling. the only real draw back on the c5 is the interior. YUCK! Talk about tupperware. Stay away from the early C5's ('97-'98) as they had some minor tranny issues. Also stay away from the 2001 Z06. They had major engine oiling problems. such as blow by on the #6c cylinder. GM offers a repair for this, but this means a bunch of local GM shop monkeys crack open your car and replace pistons. No thanks. The C6 appears to be a nicely update car. My complaint is still the vietnamese suspension. I.e. leaf springs. However, you can update the car with a full set of adjustable coilovers for arouns $1500-2500. I researched these cars before I bought my 996. Chad

I agree that both the C6 and especially the C6 Z06 are fine cars. It's rumored that the new 500 HP Z06 will sticker around $70K which will make it an outstanding performance bargan. It's been a long time since I've owned a Vette and the only thing that makes me hesitant about buying the new Z06 is the Chevy daler near me. My son use to get his Chevy Prism serviced there, and the service they offered was the absolute pits. Now there's a Caddy/Jag dealer about a mile away from the Chevy dealer and the Cady dealer offers outstanding service. It's unfortunate that the Vettes aren't sold and serviced at Caddy dealers.

First DE of the season for me was 3 weeks ago. I payed tag with a C6. The owner had a 951 in the distant past, and he was very knowledgeable about cars, including Porsches. He is also a veteran of DE's, been doing them for 15 years, he said. Great guy to talk to. The interior was not bad, at least to me. It would be something I can live with. He had the Nav unit and a host of other goodies in there. He also had the performance pack. Looked and sounded awesome. Played tag with him most of the day. He had that thing going. Unfortunately, it still can't hold the corners. Straights were not the length of VIR, and his torque could not make up for his slower exit speed. At the end of the day, he was going to trade that in with a C6 Z06 as soon as they came out, heh-heh-heh . BTW, the C6 Z06 will come in at a C2S price of about $80K. Now, which car would any one here go for, I wonder ?

A recent article in Car&Driver predicts that the base price of a Z06 will be under $65K. Dave Hill who knows about as much as anyone about the Z06 speculated that a loaded Z06 will have a sticker around $70K. A 500 hp/500lb/ft engine in a car with a curb weight of a little over 3000 lbs will have super car performance. I wouldn't dismiss the new Z06 too quickly. Let's wait at least until the car mags get to test drive them before we start forming our opinions.

I have had a few Corvettes, my last a 2001 C5 with Z51 and a host of other performance goodies. The car was amazing. It was totally reliable. No mechanical issues, ever! No squeeks, rattles or anything. I really loved it. The one thing that botherd me though was the interior. Cheap plastic. I looked at and drove the C6 before I bought the TT and the interior has certainly been improved. The performance seemed about the same as my modded C5. I went with the TT to try something different thinking I could always trade it in for a C6 Z06 when they are available in Sept. The Corevette is a bargain compared to the Porsche. For the average person I find the Corvette to more car than most would desire. What really bothers me about the 996 is the little squeeks and rattles. My car just hit 20k miles and my 2001 C5 had 20k miles and had no rattles! Go figure. Anyway, I can't wait to see the new Z06. It should be amazing. Adam

Adam: It's been quite some time since I've owned a Vette, and my experiences were not that good. Lots of squeaks, rattles, and other annoying quality problems. I'm happy to see that GM has made some great quality strides with the C5 and from what I've read the C6. I have a question for you. What kind of service were you getting from GM and was it costly to maintain your C5?

I came very close to the C6 when I bought my 996 last fall. The vette was wonderful with a much improved interior and was crazy fast. The one issue that swayed me (besides my wife's love for the C4cab) was the steering feel of the C6. While it would handle nicely, it felt disconnected and tended to float around much more than the 996 (and I test drove the C6 with Z51). I just could not get over the lack of confidence in the vette with the loose steering/handling feel. The only other concern I had was the plethora of electronics (keyless ignition, nav, etc.) in a first year GM car...scares me.

fast1: Believe or not, I got great service from the 2 local dealerships that serviced the car. Both dealers had mechanics employed that only worked on Corvettes. It is my understanding that these mechanics go through special training to work on the 'vete. Maintanence costs were cheap. I mean really cheap. $65 for an oil change w/6.5 liters or Mobil One Synthetic. Tires lasted about 20,000 miles. I purchased a 2 year extended warranty through GM for ~$950 with zero deductible. The car never really needed any major work. No electrical gremlins, no squeeks, no rattles, etc. I had an HVAC control replaced under warranty. I had dual roofs and neither rattled. I drove it all year round, even in the snow! I got a nail and subsequesnt flat with the left rear runflat tire w/1000 miles on the car and Goodyear replaced it free of charge. Read the fine print in the tire warranty. . The car is really impressive for the money. As for the steering, once you track the car and get accustomed to it, it's not that bad. Not as good as Porsche but not that bad either. I have driven so many types of cars (Ferrari's P-cars, Aston Martin, etc.) and the Corvette always left a smile on my face. It's the only car I have owned where kids of all ages (adults) give you the thumbs up while driving. I have never gotten that in of my BMW's, Porsches, etc. I have always felt proud to drive an American car and good that it was a good value to boot. Just my $.02. Adam

I think anyone who dismisses the new ZO6 is fooling themselves. From what I have seen, the car has all the ingredients to be a world class car. Engine, chassis, brakes, running gear. And for the money, a great buy at 68 to 70K. Now, with that said, it is no 911 (btw-never saw a 997s for 80k). Not to say it is inferior, just different. I could of purchase a lot of different cars but I chose a 911 b/c of it's nature, the way it mishandles and behaves. It is truly a drivers car. I am sure the Z06 will be an amazing car but it will not feel like a 911- Just my 2 cents. P.S. I was not impressed with the C6

GM's main reason for using the transverse leafs, front and rear, on the C5 (applicable to the C6 as well) is, believe it or not, space. To do a proper coil-over suspension, the shocks on the car would need to be mounted at a more vertical angle. This would require not only redesigning the lower control arm (no big deal) but also the upper shock tower (big deal.) Said redesigned shock tower would cut into the rear storage compartment (no big deal) and, up front, the engine compartment (REALLY big deal.) The leafs allow the shocks to be mounted at a slightly more horizontal angle, thereby lowering the shock tower and not cutting into interior space. As for advantages vs. disadvantages, there aren't many at all. Seperate coil-overs offer you independent wheel adjustments, allowing you to change the spring rate on the front right wheel without affecting the rate on the front left, if you desired. Over-all, the 4 coils may actually be a tad bit lighter than the two big leafs. In reality, those are the only two advantages coil-overs have. I can hardly wait for the 2005 Corvette Z06. It has an aluminum chassis. Here is some information about the new Corvette Z06. http://www.corvettemuseum.com/specs/2006/ The new Z06's LS7 is now rated at 505 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque. It has 72 hp/liter but isn't stressed like some other engines. The new Z06 has dry-sump lubrication. http://www.theautochannel.com/F/news...11/034631.html Here is an in-depth article about the LS7. http://popularhotrodding.com/tech/0504phr_ls7/ Article about the new Z06's floor panels http://waw.wardsauto.com/ar/auto_flooring/index.htm Pictures of the new Z06 http://members17.clubphoto.com/john8...33/guest.phtml Here are the front brakes of the new Z06. Each 6 piston caliper has its own brake pad. This opens the valve in the exhaust after 3,500 rpms or when full throttle is applied. This Z06 is on a trailer. Rear brake duct.

i wanted 4 seats: it was simple.

That new Z06 is a hell of a car, I hope it sends a very loud wake up call to Stuttgart.

Adam: Thanks for sharing your experiences with your Vette. I'm happy to hear that GM seems to have gotten their act together. It's apparent that there's a disconnect between perception and reality for the Vette. As far as the '06 Z06 is concerned, I talked to a salesman at Kerbeck's and he told me that they will be charging MSRP + $800 for dealer's prep. Naturally there will be many dealers around the country that will be asking $10 - $20K over MSRP, but there's always Kerbeck. I had the opportunity of driving the C5 Z06 at a local track and had a ball with it. I can't imagine increasing the Z06's HP and torque by 25%. As far as Porsches are concerned I've owned three and my experiences with each car was great. Of course I wish they didn't cost so much to buy and maintain, but otherwise they were everything I expected plus some.

I had driven a C6 before I bought a used 02 red 996 6 speed. I have been a long time corvette fan owning 2 C4 vettes and a C5. I was taken in by the hype chev was speading and was expecting some thing mind blowing. But when the C6 was made public it just did nothing for me. The built quality on these cars are not even close to the 996 I now own. I mean for christ sake my car has a suede head liner. Ever seen that on a vette. Porsche rules. It took me 3 vettes to realize they are built like crap. They do drive great and look nice, but there interiors look like they are from a caviler. I was sitting in my C5 one day and was looking around the inside and just realized this car has the build quality of a caviler. I am really impressed with the built quality on my porsche to say the least. Maybe it's because this is my first german car but the are so far ahead of anything the American car makers are doing.

I think it will be a great car! I need back seats though....It should be a great car just like the 997...each is great in their own right!

I just had coffee with a former corvette owner... he owned 5 of then including C5 and said he would never buy another corvette again... looks good on paper BUT...

I drove C6 on an autocross track. I was not impressed. The seat bottoms felt like cheap mattress and I can feel the springs. I sat in 2 other C6 and they were all the same. Performance seems good. However, the interior still has more to be desired. Acceleration seems to be slightly slower than my 02 996 but not by much. I walked away knowing that the car is a good value but not for me. I knew what I wanted and if I wanted a good value, I'd have kept my modded RX7 TT which had similar performance to stock 996.