motor

RC45 · 03-09-2006, 01:04 AM

Well folks - after that hating here are the words of a Swedish owner..

http://www.z06vette.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95532

Originally Posted by Kjelle

Thanks guys..
The price at John Hall Chevrolet was $84.000 and change total with tags, tax etc. The markup was $9.000. Could not buy on an MSO because of import rules in Sweden. Cars have to be titeld. Question. Was the normal dealer markup on Z06:s as of right now? Great car. I have a many cars in my garage incl. a Fe. Maranello. Nobody drools at the Maranello when they see the Yellow Z06, believe me! What a car!
Kjelle/Sweden

There you have it.. hotter, faster, more desirable and almost cheaper...

bmagni · 03-09-2006, 01:43 AM

not really surprised, its just normal, they dont get as much vettes as you get ferraris...

its like buying an old mini cooper here. When the new one was about to be released, and I thought of buying one, a cooper S for 28 grand, but someone offered me a classic one for 43 grand, even right hand drive. which you can get at a lower price at europe...
maybe its older, slower and almost double the price, but it gets more attention than the new one, even when it was just released.

RC45 · 03-09-2006, 01:48 AM

Your comparison is not even close..

The new Mini is not a Mini at all... here you have a guy with an F550 in the garage buying the Z06 because of car it is

bmagni · 03-09-2006, 01:53 AM

well I was refering to getting more attention part.

RC45 · 03-09-2006, 02:00 AM

Originally Posted by bmagni

well I was refering to getting more attention part.

For sure.. the Mini/Beetle is an example where the new car did not mirror the original at all, and lost fans as a result - but captured that new starbucks fan base instead

bmagni · 03-09-2006, 02:07 AM

Originally Posted by RC45

but captured that new starbucks fan base instead

LOL, thats F territory

Sir_GT · 03-13-2006, 10:52 PM

Originally Posted by RC45

Originally Posted by bmagni

well I was refering to getting more attention part.

For sure.. the Mini/Beetle is an example where the new car did not mirror the original at all, and lost fans as a result - but captured that new starbucks fan base instead

You s Seattle's Best type o' bloke? or Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf?

nthfinity · 03-13-2006, 11:28 PM

^^^^
hey, missed your b-day

happy birthday sir_gt (there prolly was a thread) anyway... just a tad late

RC45 · 04-04-2006, 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by cheeky

No, mine hasn't been delivered...

...but finally I got to drive a demonstrator on Saturday, which was the nicest day (morning, at least) for a while.

Very impressed. Pretty well everything I've read turns out to be true.

The demonstrator's not got too many miles on it so I didn't rev it particularly highly, but nor was there any need to. What an accomplished car.

I'll only be telling some of you what you already know far better than I but here goes:

Acceleration was excellent, from any speed and in (nearly) any gear. 6th really is a toothless overdrive but that's great for its cruising purpose.

The noise that accompanied that acceleration reminded me of a fighter jet launching. If most of the noise at low revs was from the tyres, above 3000 it was very, very different - a real beast.

Comfort levels high and the seats were perfect for the purpose, at least for someone my shape. The Z06 is also clearly a very composed car and high cruising speeds did not feel particularly fast - possibly a dangerous trait!

Tranny rattle a minor annoyance but I found the gearshift positive and clean; certainly not something I would take issue with as some have done.

The cargo space, to my utter delight, not only accommodated my rifles (a key requirement of any car, for me) but also the large black rifle box that can house two of them when going on tour. The only other sports car I can think of that can do that comfortably is the TVR Tuscan that I am selling.

The car was an absolute beauty up close. Yellow is not normally to my taste but the VY demonstrator looked gorgeous in the sunshine outside my house and prompted queries from a neighbour within seconds.

A couple of bits of road (high up on the A3 and on a straight country road) provoked a bit of suspension bounce; but I drove the same stretches afterwards in the Tuscan and the experience was not dissimilar - it's just that you look for these things more critically in a new car. The Z06 also dealt with speed bumps with no more trouble than I'm used to.

Left hand drive (in the UK, remember) was NO problem whatsoever. In town, the only time it was an issue was when trying to see round stopped buses in order to pass them. Otherwise, city driving was fine and kerb-crawling on the first sunny day for ages was made easier by LHD in a RHD country! On dual carriageways, again no problem at all; and, given the propensity for the majority of British drivers these days to hog the outside lane, being able to see more clearly underneath them (i.e. to their left) was no bad thing. The really pleasant surprise was that, after having blasted past a couple of cars on some real twisties, I realised that I hadn't even thought about being on the "wrong" side of the car while doing so. The process just hadn't been any different and I hadn't had to think about it any differently. And on long, straight, single lane roads, one could just hold back far enough to be able to pull out safely to have a look, then go.

Now, those twisties... anyone who knows me will know I've been saving some good stuff until last. The test drive was planned to take us down to a couple of roads that I know very well, each with a series of quite tight bends that you can carry speed through. They are the roads on which I was mightily impressed with the TVR Sagaris a few months ago. The Z06 performed beautifully. It felt very, very planted through the bends and the brakes felt magnificent. My Tuscan was waiting for me at Racing Green, so I was able to drive both cars on the same roads soon after each other. The Z06 had a bit more of a kick to it and felt, I think, slightly more planted than the Tuscan, and speeds through and out of bends were slightly higher. Were they as high as in the Sagaris a few months ago? I'm honestly not sure; that had been the most confidence-inspiring car I had ever driven round those bends by far. But I'm pretty sure the Z's acceleration from corner to corner and its brakes will have made up for any difference in speed through the bends, if indeed there was any.

That said, the ONE criticism I would make of the Z06, which was all the more obvious in that environment, regarded the steering. It was not at all quick enough for such a high performance car. And feedback was nowhere near positive enough. I'd argue the wheel's a bit too large too. But these are not killer points.

I jumped back in the Tuscan afterwards and boy did it feel light by comparison. But it also felt a lot less torquey (despite being much more so than most cars); and the Tuscan's rush from 4000rpm upwards was suddenly a lot more obvious, highlighted by the Z's low end power delivery.

The Tuscan's still a great car but, after this, am I looking forward even more to my LMB Z06 arriving in June? You bet!

Original thread...

http://www.z06vette.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96259

coombsie66 · 04-05-2006, 06:21 PM

Very interesting, mind you, going from a TVR ANYTHINGS gunna seem more refined!!

RC45 · 04-05-2006, 10:07 PM

Thanks for using the correct topic coombs...

hehe

callen · 04-05-2006, 11:37 PM

lol at coombs comment, but he does have a point, older TVR's do have a reputation for being a little raw, so I would hope the new Z06 could out gun it... but that said, I love the corvette, always have. The new C6 is world class IMO, and the Z06 only improves on that point. Great car, great choice. I only wonder if it is as cost efficient in the UK as it is here....

dangerously_cool · 04-06-2006, 05:53 AM

That was a great write-up but I don't think the Z is cheap in Europe.

coombsie66 · 04-06-2006, 05:56 AM

^^ lol, 'a little raw' yes, my dads friend used to own a cerbera 4.2, and i got a ride one day, mind you the button to open the passenger door had stopped working, and we had to bump start it, and when he did give it some it sounded rough, and wasnt as quick as i'd expected it to be, to which he replied, oh its in for a service soon, they get a bit like this just before!
Some other friends went out to test drive a TVR Grifith 500, got 5 miles down the road and it broke down...
Ive heard stories about the tuscan as well, they are all weekend cars. Whereas i'd hope the Z06 would bridge the gap slightly between performance weekend car, but still remain refined enough to use during the week. (although i really am not a fan of the interior).
But then to drive the Z06 day to day, you'd pay for the cost of the car in petrol in about a month over here!!!

RC, im not afraid of the 'big bad muscle car' section

Shinigami · 04-06-2006, 06:08 AM

Yeah, unfortunately the markup on the Z in Europe is anything but nice... I think they add like 20-30 thousand dollars on top of the original price

Mind you, it's still very cheap for what you get! I think In switzerland it's being offered for just under 110,000chf (about $85-90k). You need to pay double that or more to get similar power levels.

The TVR has incredible looks however :shock: