Corvette Z06, C5, C6, C7, Compared - What you need to know | Everyday Driver TV Season 4

the z06 is a high performance

corvette

you might think its just a badges exercise but not with the z06 resurrected from the 1963 car which actually wasn't a very good track car but zora arcus dunton made a track version called the z06 which has proven braking better handling a long distance fuel tank it was a racing car and less than 200 were made it wasn't until this fifth generation

corvette

, the c5, that Chevrolet released another z06 this is the point Corvette Optimum This is why these cars are here, this car is a monster, it has been redefined by GM, they

know

very well

what

they are doing and have had so much experience that they are now very deliberate with

what

they want it to be. be the corvette.

It's amazing to have all three. They generate the z06 together because they see that it is a refinement of the same idea. The best thing is that if you want a high-performance Corvette, you can probably afford one. He's watching all the

driver

s. We do a TV show podcast and YouTube. channels dedicated to great car driving adventures and helping you find a car you will love subscribe and ring the bell so you don't miss a thing. This is the fifth generation of the c5, in fact it is the 2003 50th anniversary main event and a z06. This z06 was given quite a few unique features that set it apart from the other c5s.

First of all, it has a hardtop and you can tell that this rear glass is not a hatch. It has a trunk inside. The C5 generation is not my favorite of a From a stylistic point of view, I don't like the overall length of the car and I don't like the look of the hardtop, the wheelbase increased, it's actually quite long now and the car too It looks like it, but I think with this generation the design team is trying to satisfy too many people, this owner hasn't done much, mainly just changed the exhaust and this

driver

's seat.

Now the driver's seat is a welcome change because the original seats of this generation were not very good, it feels like the factory seat should. I've felt it, but it's okay, GM has had problems for a while with the seats, all the engineering went into the frame, the chassis, the engines of these cars and then the interior, all the controls, all the buttons are kind of like that. in a swollen shape and there are no sharp edges that define them. the materials, it's really just one material everywhere here, this is the 2008 chevy corvette z06, it has that big monster 7 liter engine in the front, it's actually 5 inches shorter than the c5, which doesn't seem possible when you see them together but this is actually the smallest car tom peters is the guy whose styling of this car looked at the previous cars for inspiration and then really sharpened things up with shorter overhangs that's what makes it for me , you could argue that the interior isn't great and while I would say it's not luxurious I don't think it's offensive either I think it's aging well these seats aren't perfect but they are solid and a huge hatch you can almost do tours at Home Depot in a 6th generation corvette overall this is pretty well put together it's just not an Interior that you really look at and think wow that's amazing, it's passable, it works, it doesn't have the panel spacing and finish issues of the c5.

These are some of my favorite gauges, they are very easy to read and just as fast as this engine. it throws you down the road, you

need

to be able to follow it quickly, the c7 corvette has now moved into the car category, you think, wow, I want to have one of those when I'm older, adults do this and the best thing is that it doesn't It doesn't take much money, the owner of this 2015 c7 z06 bought it for 65,000, it had 12,000 miles on it and he bought it because he wants to go to the track. GM put a lot of effort into this interior, well they broke.

In the case of the C5 and C6, this arch in front of the driver is very reminiscent of the C4. Their gauges have become a combination of really useful digital gauges and traditional analog clocks on the sides. The seats are still for fat Americans. Honestly, other than that. I like that the steering wheel has become smaller, very thick, really huge, flat bottom. GM is serious about this car. The C6 Z06 did not have a removable top, but the removable top is here. All of these Z06s have the one-piece elevation lens. and it fits beautifully in the rear, that's true for the entire c7 line, but it's great to see it here on the z06.

This one specifically has this smoked glass that actually adds a lot of light to the cabin. GM continues its tradition of putting plates on the dashboard to tell you what your horsepower is. I'm not really sure it's necessary, but there's 650 horsepower, 650 torque here. The Corvette people are very used to their badges and badges and they are still doing it. 650,650. Here at the instrument panel they really like their car, but the good thing is that you will also like it. Covercraft brings it to you every day. Use the code every day for free shipping in the US on the C5 generation, you can get the The third generation v8 engine now had 385 horsepower, but with the z06 they went up to 405.

It's a 405 horsepower ls6 of force and 400 foot-pounds of torque. This is a powerful car for not a lot of money. The owner of this co6 bought it. A couple of years ago, for 18,000, with about that amount, 15 to 20, you could find c5 c06. I was surprised to get into this car and really felt like the solidity of the 405 was off the showroom floor, but what you can do with these cars is cheap racing. cars well this car showed up it did a four second 0 to 60 time at the time very few cars did it more interestingly it was one of the first to break the eight minute barrier at the Nurburgring 752 now, 15 years later, all kinds Many things are chasing breaking the seven minute barrier, but in 2003 the eight minute barrier felt like the sound barrier that was incredibly difficult to overcome and this z06 did it.

I love that GM put the ls6 engine in this car specifically for the z06 this is the c606 dear god that's fast this is the c6 give me just a second hello this is the c606 it has the 427 cubic inch engine for the first time in 30 years GM offered the 427 cubic inch engine which is the 7 liter in the chevy corvette I have barely scratched the surface of this engine barely 4 000 nothing scarce nothing everyone

need

s a 500 horsepower car in their life this is one one of those cars where you should get a free pass, show that you can drive it and then yes, you get to go fast because you have a seven liter engine, I'm just cruising, I'm talking to you and I'm not thinking about it and I'm going at a speed limit unrestable right now in the era of hellcats and electric cars, 500 horsepower no.

It doesn't seem like much anymore, it's crazy to think about, but it's the way the engine makes power, this is what they talk about when you say instant torque, but it's a progressive thing, it's just a constant push, this six-speed has a stubby little lever and you'd actually expect the throws to be very short as a result they feel a bit longer than you'd expect. Am I being picky? Yeah, I'm looking for things to be picky about because this is just fun. The good thing about this is also the low price and by low I mean 40 thousand this is the car, it is better in all statistics in all categories except top speed, than the zr1 here is the difference between the power in the c6 z06 and the power in the c7 z06. from a 7 liter naturally aspirated engine to a 6.2 liter supercharged engine, what that means as a driver is where the 7 liter had the most power at the peak of its rage screaming, this it has from a stop, honestly , the engine loses some of that personality. that existed in 427, so there's nothing to it that you can discover, it's just a wall of power all the time.

Thank you so much. I'm doing 4,000 rpm in third gear right now just out of curiosity, let's do this, hold on. 7th I'm doing 1400 rpm 1400 rpm in 7th gear the z06 also matches the revs of both paddles behind the wheel so here we're going to shift from third to second it matches perfectly it's a bit controversial because it doesn't really teach you the fundamentals , it does it for you, but in the track situation, it actually makes the car better and faster. It's the best combination of a dual clutch, being really fast on the track and still having the joy of a GM manual. the camaro and they also put it in a cadillac gm has to get some kind of mileage out of this engine because what else are you going to put it in except a car like this?

From a driving perspective, this car doesn't look like it's 15 years old, yeah okay, the interior lets me

know

that this was still during the all-engine design bubble period, but the driving dynamics here are really impressive and I can just throw this car into a corner, look at this sweeper, it's fast, it's capable, it's not going to get away from me, this car turns very well, interestingly, there's still more control than some new cars. I like the comments here, not only can you go very fast in this c5 z06, but you can feel like you can learn to go even faster. this is a car you could really grow up with, it feels like a car that someone built just to keep track, that's the origin of the name z06, that was zoro's intention, so here we have in the c5 a car that There's no doubt you could just take this and follow it carefully and think about this, this car is almost 20 years old and it doesn't squeak or rattle, it feels solid.

GM has solved the structural problems at this point and solved them for the long term. Not surviving the Nurburgring simply by being a car that goes fast in a straight line, you have to be able to handle potholes, mid-corner breaks and tight blind corners, for this car to run below eight fifteen years ago means that they marked it well and Now on this secondary path I just don't have to think about it much. Can I speak to you. I can stomp. I can know it's going to hold up and if something surprises me, I can change the attitude of the car and everything. just follow this will embarrass more cars than you think, but the perception is still that you have a corvette and you're going to drive fine and unfortunately we see too many owners just cruising in the third lane at 60 miles per hour. and i want to talk to you about this car, the z06 is the sweet spot.

I feel the transmission. I feel the weight distribution. I feel even more thoughtful about the handling of this car. The worst thing about cornering in the 6th gen is actually the seats I have to hold on to the seat and that gives me the impression that the car is recording while the car pours wonderfully, it has much more than I ask for because I am sliding out of the seat and That makes me hold back a little. I'm still going as fast or faster than the C5 but I don't feel as confident, but that one had an aftermarket seat, the ride quality is there and it's a difficult balance to get right, you have to get the layout right first. of weight with the transaxle that I love and that was introduced in the C5, but then you combine it with a suspension and it has to be a performance car.

I can see how this car can appeal to comfort and when you're in it it's an accessible car. I guess that's what I like so much. I want it to be more, I want it to have a more special perception, but once I drive it, it becomes completely. Far away, I don't care everything you know about how cars work culminates in the c7 and by that I mean tire temperatures, by that I mean the track surface and the street surface, what are you going what to do with the car? This car will get away from you. so easily it has five driving modes it has of course the wet weather driving mode and you activate it with the switch here on the instrument panel and then you can go to eco mode and the owner told me I didn't buy a car four-cylinder, I don't want to deactivate the cylinders, so of course the Touring mode, which is the most comfortable mode in the car, softens everything, but then you start to get dramatic, it goes to Sport mode and then to Track mode.

It has different flavors of Track mode. all the way, which you better have your will in order if you're going to choose that mode, the suspension is even higher than on the c5 and c6, there's so little body roll here it's really surprising, however, im not moving in the seat good seats just throw the car and watch it stick thats possible right here on the c706 its so flat in a corner so hard you can destroy cars with this thing there aren't many that can really beat a c706 This car carries a huge stick and just waves it around, just hits everyone around it.

If you find yourself on a big mountain road or race track in any of these z06s, you'll be very happy. What I love about this C5 is that it's just so accessible so affordable new in the early 2000's this is a 50k car right now it's an 18-20k car so you end up with over 400 horses of power, a six-speed manual transmission, and a car that drives terribly well with its owner. he saidHe changed the water pump and changed the oil and it just runs Now it's a Chevy He's not picky You can hit this car and yes he drives it three

season

s a year.

I'm amazed at what the c5 represents to people. because it's the easiest way to make this c6 c06 honestly feel like a perfectly modern sports car, follow this and race them all and beat most of them, it's easy to become one with this car, everything i think it is Correct about my driving style, cornering and my speed and my operation of the controls match what I think I should do if you belong to the loss of big, powerful American cars. Would you like to have a sports car? A genuine sports car. Are you looking at a seven-liter engine with a lot of power?

Lots of anger and wicked fast on the straights and at every turn I am amazed at the balance of this car, as aggressive, furious and fast as it is and how smooth, comfortable and useful it is. I wonder if future corvettes will be as useful as this one and this is a tribute to Zoro, this c7 feels as far as we can push it, it feels like the last hurrah of the traditional corvette configuration, but it doesn't go quietly, it goes with an angry growl, goes with an attack mode we really couldn't get much more American than this here, I mean come on z06s, it's red, white and blue.

I'll have you know that we didn't plan the red, white and blue cars and then we looked at them and said, yeah, we're going to go with that, so GM has made the z06 package something that they brought back starting with the c5 generation, but in Actually this is the enthusiast's choice and you've heard us talk about Corvettes as an aspirational brand because they're so affordable, but now here's this group within a group and by the same token, if you don't drive your car, you should. do it because if you have any of these three, these are not mobile cruisers, they are not drivers, they are designed to be accessible and on the track, yes, absolutely, and this is what I love about all of this. discussion there really isn't a winner here there's just a question for you about how much money do you have you have 18 grand and you're going to go i would like a track car everyone is going to say miata i love miatas miatas are cool v8 Okay, come on 18 grand make that happen you can have 80 grand for this new one but this set is purchased for 65 grand you can do it anywhere in our normal drivers budget discussion you can have a z06, you can kill it on the track, i suspect both. most of these cars are more capable than the people who buy them, you can convert them into them, I'm excited if we had something to take away here, it's really quite simple, they're just z06s for everyone, it doesn't really depend on your driving level, it depends .

How much money you want to spend influences your driving style and your budget. That's the best thing about these z06 cars. You may not have considered the Corvette your most fun car, but if you haven't already, you should take it seriously. Look because whatever your budget there is a great one and it says z06 right on the side, everyone needs a 500 horsepower car in their life, there is a lot more here than we have been led to believe.