Now, I've always thought Corvettes were pretty cool, but they've never been my favorite car or anything. However, I'm really impressed with what Chevy has done with the new Vette, the C6 looks much better than the C5, in my opinion. The whole car just looks smaller, lighter, and faster, the way a sports car should. Knowing a Z06 version was in the works, it was no big suprise when it was announced for 2006.
A few weeks ago I went to the Denver Auto Show (which was much better this year, btw, than the last couple years) which is where I first saw the new Z06, and this car suprised me more than any other car at the show. I'm not sure what it was exactly, but I fell in love with this car the moment I saw it. They have added just enough to it from the base model to make it look far more aggressive and sporty without going overboard, including brake vents and a tiny spoiler (if you even want to call it that). It was up on a platform so people weren't allowed to sit in it like many of the other cars, so I wasn't able to see what they did with the interior, but I imagine it's a lot like the regular Corvettes.
The car is powered not by a 5.7 liter, but a muscle car proportioned 7.0 liter! That's right, a 427! Just like in the super vettes back in the 60's. Very cool. And this size isn't just all talk, this small block (yep, a 427 small block lol) puts out a monsterous 500 horsepower at 6200 rpm, 475 foot pounds of torque, and redlines at 4-cyl territory: 7000rpm.
Now, if you're still not excited about this car, you should be, because not only does it look cool and have tons of power, the thing only weighs just over 3100 pounds! By comparison, the V-10 powered 2006 Dodge Viper SRT-10 Coupe, that also has 500 horsepower, weighs 3450 pounds. So I'm looking forward to see how this thing handles on the track. The low weight of this car has a lot to do with it's cool factor: it has an all aluminum frame, carbon fiber front fenders, and balsa wood sandwiched by carbon fiber floor boards! Why balsa wood? I have no idea, what do I know about making cars. I don't yet know, nor do I want to think about, the price this car will be; surely out of my budget. My guess is about $60,000 USD, we'll see if I'm right later this year.
Anyway, here is the car itself:
I gotta say, that's a pretty cool yellow, but grey looks much, much better, which is the color of the one they had at the Denver auto show.
This image (and others of this yellow car) are all over the net, however I got mine from Fast Autos.net, an excellent resource for cars.
Check Chevy's website for more information on the new Z06.
