The 2018 Corvette Z06:
Alan Little recently became the proud owner of a 2018 Chevrolet Corvette Z06. As the new vehicle was delivered, still clothed in the factory cover, he noted, “I loved watching the delivery truck loaded with Corvettes show up the Saturday morning it came.” Unfortunately for myself, I was not there to witness the event, but I was able to talk to him a bit about the brand new car.
He has now owned the car for about 3 weeks. As I pulled up to him and his car for our interview and photo shoot, he remarked that the odometer had just crossed the 500 mile mark on his way to our meeting location. A smile swept across his face which also caused one to cross mine, as we both knew what the infamous 500 mile mark means for a new car. The break-in period was finally over! For me, it was simply a milestone that any other car enthusiast would understand to be a significant event. For Alan, it was as if the sun had finally poked through the clouds after a prolonged week of rain and bad weather. He was finally able to experience the car’s full performance potential.
That’s a good thing, because all of that potential amounts to 650 horsepower and 650 lbs./ft. of torque. Weighing in at a little more than 3500 pounds, the car will launch from 0-60 miles per hour in 2.9 seconds. For comparison, a Ferrari 488 will accelerate from 0-60 miles per hour in 3.0 seconds, a Lamborghini Aventador will cover 0-60 in 2.9 seconds, and an Audi R8 V-10 Plus will complete the 0-60 run in 3.2 seconds. This means that the Corvette Z06 outruns the Ferrari and Audi while staying neck-and-neck with the Lamborghini, all while being offered for a little over $88,000.
For most people, that sounds like quite a bit of money, and it certainly is. Consider the price of the other cars though. The Audi R8 V-10, being the cheapest of the compared cars above, starts well over $150,000. The Ferrari and Lamborghini climb toward and over the $250,000-$300,000 price mark. That is staggering. You may be thinking that I am comparing apples to oranges here. Traditionally, many think of American cars as ill-handling, unrefined, straight-line performers that throw their drivers off the road after failing to successfully complete a turn. While this may have very well been somewhat true in the past, times are changing.
While the Corvette has never really been on the same page as true muscle cars of the past, it has certainly held comparisons of being quite brutish, cheap, and unable to handle on the road or track when compared to Italian, German, or Japanese exotics. Fast forward to today. Alan can confidently say that the perceptions of the past have been shattered by what the new Corvette can do. “Handling with the three drive modes are all completely different from each other. Touring mode is very comfortable with magnetic ride. Steering in touring mode is very sensitive and shouldn’t be used for any kind of track driving. Sport mode tightens everything up a bit, and from what I’ve read, it is the most common choice. It gives the driver more assurance that the tires will hold their cornering at higher speeds, but the driver will also feel more of the bumps in the road. Track mode is for the ‘unlimited driver’ who is daring enough to push it to the limits. It will easily pull over 1.0 g of lateral force, and the tires, transmission, and engine seem to beg for more.”
The automotive industry is definitely changing. With those changes, the cars being produced by American manufacturers are following suit. Consider not only the Z06 but also the Viper, which is sadly ending its production run. Both of these performance cars are shrugging off the perceptions of the past. Once cheaply made and a bit raw, both have made incredible strides toward being legitimate supercars. Both are now serious performers, and while the Viper’s story ends here, the Corvette’s lives on. One area in which the Viper and Corvette are different is the continuously improving practicality and comfort of the Corvette. While the Viper is a hardcore track contender, Alan can take his Corvette to a day at the track then ride back home in comfort and luxury, something the Viper would be hard pressed to accomplish.
The Z06 has successfully become all things to all people. “It will occasionally be used to travel to and from work, but it most likely will not be the ‘everyday driver’, even though it’s so sophisticated and comfortable that it could be used daily”, says Alan. For that reason alone, it is well worth the price tag. A good comparison would be a top notch athlete that can play multiple positions on the field or court. Most teams pay a high premium for somebody that can do everything at any given moment. The Z06 is like that, except for the fact that you pay much less than the “premium price” to experience a quiet ride home from work or a from-the-factory track performer… it’s really up to you in this car.
The most important element of any car like this is the experience it provides its owner. It is evident that Alan is already in love with the car. “Each time I get into it, it’s like a new start, no matter how good or bad the day has been. It can relieve stress when going down the road in comfort, or it can get adrenaline flowing really fast if the throttle is pushed even just a little. I always feel absorbed into it, and it’s almost like the car is knowing exactly what my mind is thinking.”
Describing the 2018 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 isn’t a tough task, but what the car accomplishes by just being itself is a monumental achievement. Asking a car to do so many things is incredibly difficult. Of course it isn’t as if you are buying a sports car, minivan, and SUV in one vehicle. Vehicles that try to accomplish that end up lacking in one of those three areas. What you do get is two cars for the price of one. The Z06 is easily drivable on a daily basis, but is also ready to battle at any autocross event or track day. It isn’t intimidating unless you desire it to be. The car is willing to change in a heartbeat to be whatever you want it to be.
Two cars for the price of one is pretty impressive, but you still get a little more than that. You get an experience… a feeling… a living thing that wants to provide you with all it can so that you can have the best time of your life. In a word, the 2018 Corvette Z06 is perfect. Alan certainly thinks so… and he knows, because he owns one.
