Chevrolet
American Idol: the C5 Corvette Z06
By Andrew Gardner; photos by the author
Mar 17, 2005, 00:43 PST

[Note: video below! scroll down to the bottom for the video links]

One dream is fulfilled as I acquaint myself with those black vents, which direct fresh air  to those hefty 11.8-in. rear brake rotors. These brake vents, which are the most visible indicator that a Corvette is a Z06 rather than the standard coupe (no mistaking a C5 hatchback for a Z06, as the performance upgrade only comes in coupe form), have been a favorite earmark for many American car enthusiasts over the past several years. Those black plastic pieces represent great performance, achieved in true brute-force American fashion. It is now, at the end of the C5’s reign, that we take time to celebrate this awesome ‘Vette.

The Z06 name screams power. Although that brake vent has nothing to do with positive forward acceleration, vents and side grills in general have a way of making a car look meaner and stronger. They are like the shadows which help give definition to muscles. If you need the extra air for the motor or to keep the brakes cool, you know you’re dealing with a serious performance machine. “That brake vent has more power than my whole car!” exclaims ’98 M3 owner Steve Marsh.

The Z06’s aggressive look is completed with mesh air intake covers up front, five-pointed star wheels and big P295/35ZR18 tires in back.

Under the sexy, smooth hood we do find an ass-kickin powerplant, the 5.7 liter LS6 V8. This aluminum pushrod block pumps out 405 hp and 400lb-ft of torque. That is coupled with a scant weight of 3118 lbs to produce a 4.5-second 0-60 time. That puts this American standard bearer in rare territory, not far from supercar status.

So what does it feel like to jam the throttle down to that carpet-covered aluminum and balsa wood composite floor? Like being hit by a linebacker while not wearing any pads and being driven deep into the ground. No…ok no production car is capable of accelerating hard enough to send you to the hospital. But the experience is dramatic; you are pressed quite firmly into your seat. It seems the right most pedal in that moderately-dimensioned footbox is more a horizon zoom button than an accelerator. Come out of one corner, sight the next one 200 meters down the road, depress your foot and watch as the corner comes quickly to you. It is even a bit scary – when there are small bumps in the road this Corvette seems to just launch it self with great intensity from one undulation to the next. The stiff suspension transmits plenty of road surface information to the seat of your pants, the steering wheel, the mirrors…this added to slight imbalances inherent to V8s, which become more apparent at full throttle and high engine speeds, means the car vibrates a good bit (not like you’re operating a jackhammer, this car is well built, but it is hard to maintain perfect, complacent composure when running at maximum effort) when you decide to unleash the beast within. There is no mistaking that this car means serious business when it comes to moving fast. The Corvette Z06 offers astounding performance, academy award-winning choreography. That is true American small-block aluminum boot power that just kicks you right in the guts.

The experience of this exhilarating acceleration is magnified many times over by the sound coming from in front of and behind you. The LS6 V8 has a nice, meaty, American pushrod V8 low-engine speed rumble and burble, and it sounds deeply wicked as it accelerates up to 3000 rpm. This particular sound is partially developed through the Z06’s titanium exhaust system, which also sheds several pounds versus the standard C5’s pipes.

Above 3000rpm this motor hits race mode, where acceleration picks up greatly, and the metallic sounds of the valvetrain drown out all exhaust noises. That aluminum unit (with hollow steel camshaft and cast iron crank) screams its way up to 6000 rpm. It sounds like a racecar, and it accelerates like one too (maybe not a modern day racer, but a 4.5 second 0-60 time is certainly impressive). The LS6 sounds like the small block Chevy V8’s which powered 1957 – early 1970’s era racing Corvettes, particularly at higher engine speeds. Holding tightly onto that wheel, just trying to hang on, and having your head filled with these amazing sounds, you can easily be fooled into thinking you’re thundering down the Rahal Straight at Laguna Seca, cresting the hill and approaching the Corkscrew while fending off a pack of Cobras. Yet you’re on the street…this car will get you in trouble.

If any qualms are brought up regarding this car, we can always remember that GM got the heart and soul of this latest Corvette right. They done good on the motor, they did right where it counts.

And at that 6000rpm point, you release your already sweaty right palm from its mount on the steering wheel and grab the shifter of that Tremec-T56 6-speed. You find very nice, very mechanical action leading to a precise shift. The shifting is not easy, nor super smooth, but the linkage is excellent. Overall it feels very right for a car of this caliber – like it was built to handle over 100,000 miles of heavy-footed and high-torqued abuse.

Back on the gas, and flying through 60 mph, you are quickly approaching 90 mph, at which point you may soon be past the intuitive braking point – due to lack of familiarity with this car’s serious accelerative capabilities. You stomp on the brakes and note that initial push-in feels a bit soft; after that, pedal feel firms up. The brakes are fantastic, though. They grab hard and get the car whoa’d from 100 mph in a hurry. They allow for much late-braking, passenger-scream-inducing fun.

Dive head-on into that corner and feel sharp turn-in and great grip, thanks to the Z-rated Goodyear Eagle F1’s. Steering feel is solid and direct, with just 2.46 turns lock-to-lock. There is good feedback, which is something you can appreciate when you tap into that 400 lb-ft reservoir mid-corner.

There is noticeable but mild understeer, as we would expect for safety reasons. Adding more steering input gets your nose to that deep apex. Or, even better, lift off the gas and feel the front tires load up (yet without suffering much nose dive). The front end will strongly seek a significantly tighter cornering line. The Z06 is setup beautifully.

Balance is excellent, with 53/47 front/rear weight distribution. A smooth, solid, fast transition (unless attempted with way too much wheel- and tail-spin) is all you will get flicking this car through the esses.

The Z06 is no go-cart, but flat cornering is an apt name for its handling game. Cornering motions feel almost purely planar translations of the vehicle, very devoid of body roll. In-car excursions of your body relative to the seat are minimal to none, thanks to small but adequate side support. The great dead pedal is a much appreciated feature, providing more driver stability in corners.

That solid suspension is setup just right for this car. Sharp handling characterizes the driving in the Z06, and that is just what is needed to round out a complete and balanced performance package, considering the amazing motor this chassis carries. The stiffness does mean some sacrifice in road comfort, but rougher roads can certainly be traversed without a mouthguard. 

Road comfort is also compromised from a noise standpoint. The lightened Z06 body has less sound insulation than the standard C5, so road noise (especially from those big asymmetrical-treaded tires) is readily transmitted to the cockpit. As it is, though, the Z06 is comfortable enough for 8 straight hours on the road. This is not our favorite car for that task, but our old (54), tall (6’-1.5”), tired President Bob Gardner did that two days in a row, and ended the drive still quite happy.

Net effect is that the Z06 is built autocross ready. It is even track-ready, with great power, highly positive handling, and more than adequate (from a street-use perspective) brakes. Not seriously race ready, but it will be at home on the track.

Back to powering out of that corner, we re-iterate the car’s great grip – and now introduce its greater ability to overpower the tires and give oncoming traffic a nice ¾ view of that sexy car. Without any driver aids, this lightweight car would be a spin-happy fiend. But the Z06 is equipped with the fantastic Active Handling system. This program makes you look like a pro. It allows plenty of wheelspin for laying a little rubber off the line and making dramatic corner exits; we noted up to roughly 35 degrees of slip angle were allowed by this stability system. No, it won’t let you get the car fully perpendicular to the road and then automatically get the car straightened out for you, but you are quite in control the whole time. You look like you know exactly what you are doing while entertaining much squirrelly action.

Buuuut, if you think you are woman or man enough to handle the torque, Active Handling can be made inactive with the push of a button. Wheeeeeeee...

The interior of the Z06 is about as basic as it gets. There’s no storage space inside, no cupholders, no luxury items. There is pretty good room in the trunk, however, as there is no spare tire on this car (a patch kit is offered in its stead). The design of the center console is cheap for its plastic componentry and poor ergonomics. But then the gages look awesome, with a checkered imprint on the faces of the speedo and tach, and beautiful, bold blue lighting. And the seats are ultra-thin, to the point of appearing flimsy. But, the seats are positively functional and plenty comfortable. The carpet is thin and it is just stuffed under the plastic cover of the center tunnel; no snap-in fasteners, no ties, no glue, no nothing. Dad just pulled the carpet out from under the center tunnel cover, much to my surprise, right in the middle of the drive. Now I have seen an NHBA (boat drag racing) racer remove the carpet and scrape off every bit of the glue from the floor in an attempt to shave an extra tenth from his time, but I’m not sure the same mentality should have been applied to the Z06 interior. Then again, maybe I’m just not quite car crazy enough.

Those really are not very worthwhile complaints either. The carpet’s insecure attachment is really more funny than upsetting. If you just leave it alone (“stop touching me!”) and just use the interior like you normally would, you wouldn’t discover this flaw. You would find that the carpet looks just fine. And the most important feature, the gauge cluster, is both well laid out and attractive. The instruments are very easy to read, which is helpful when you have your foot to the floor and everything is vibrating a bit because the stiff suspension is trying to tell you the road is less than perfectly smooth. You won’t miss your shift point.

Conflusticated at how GM could charge about $53,000 (base) and give you an interior like this?

Remember that whole driving bit? Oh yeeeaahhh…

Where else do you get 400+ hp, 400lb-ft of torque? This side of $100K, about your only option is the $80K Dodge Viper SRT. That does get you another 100hp and 125 lb-ft of torque, and better overall performance, but that thirty grand is a huge difference in this price range. The old Viper didn’t quite compete when price is considered; the current Z06 is a comparable track car to the RT/10 Viper. The new Viper may outdo the C5 Z06, but that ain’t no fair comparison; the new one is promised to sport equal power and will likely leave this new Viper choking on its own venom.

After the Viper, you’ll have to go to Europe and spend more than double the Z06’s sticker – start at about $120K for the 911 Turbo.

Ok, you can go twenty grand cheaper and opt for a Mitsubishi Evo or a Subaru WRX STi, which have less power but comparable acceleration, 5-seat capacity and all-wheel drive. But let’s talk drivetrain lash. Let’s talk about a couple of 4-cylinder motors turbocharged to the brink of putting them on life support. Those cars do not seem to have been built with long-term reliability in mind.

Your pick. I’ll take the Z06. When you want steak, chicken drowned in A1 won’t do. When you want a V8, strapping a monster turbo on a four-banger won’t cut it.

This is my American idol. America’s first sports car is still America’s best sports car, and it’s better than ever. It’s beautiful. It’s sexy. It’s as fast as all get-out. It’ll leave you breathlessly begging for more. And it might leave enough in your wallet to buy your date dinner after you win their love buy outdriving a 911 Turbo. Well, maybe that’s a bit much of a fantasy if the drivers are evenly matched. But you can certainly hang.

And I know it’s Porsche’s motto, but when it comes to cruising or hammerin, the answer is “V8: There is no substitute.”   

VIDEO!!

Click on the links below to view videos of the Z06 in action!

www.motorsportscenter.com/uploads/video/2004z06/driving_away.AVI

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