Top Gear tests Corvette Zed-06
Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear fame recently got some seat time in a Chevy Corvette Z06 and was largely impressed with General Motor's best Vette effort to date. In this video Clarkson races the Z06 against the gasoline it runs on (after igniting a strip of it, of course) and leaves kilometers of the car's rear rubber on the track. Aside from the Yankee accent of the sat nav voice, Clarkson felt it was one of the most un-American American cars he'd ever driven, and it costs nearly 100,000 pounds less than the virtually similar Ferrari 575. In the hands of the Stig the Z06 ranked 12th on the Top Gear Power Lap list with a lap time of 1:22.40, which puts it ahead of the Lamborghini Murcielago and Pagani Zonda. Wait'll they drive the Blue Devil!
Thanks Ed for tip!
[Source: YouTube and BBC]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
J 12:46PM (5/17/2006)
excellent, proves once again when it comes to sports cars, simple, proven technology is often better.
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Peter 12:54PM (5/17/2006)
Of course leaves out the part where he says the Vette is a horror show in the real world and it is only suitable to be driven at a track.
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KillerGreen 12:58PM (5/17/2006)
"7 liters of American friendly fire" - Classic Top Gear.
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Gary 1:01PM (5/17/2006)
And the rest of the time Clarkson gave a HUGE list of reasons why he would never buy one for the road and why it is a 100,000 pounds less:
1. The ride is brutal
2. The gearbox is rubbish
3. The interior is horrible
4. The radio is useless
5. Too wide
6. The tire noise is defening
And he was stopped there by Hammond..
American carmakers still don't get it. It is not just the brute force, strap a rocket to the back of this and ?Watch 'er rip boys!?.. It is the whole package. Craftsmanship, art, precision, and finesse are words U.S. makers do not understand.
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John 1:02PM (5/17/2006)
I wonder why GM has to keep making an interior that causes people to call it "cheap", it's such a nice car.
What's the difficulty GM is having of furnishing a more luxurious interior?
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Peter W. 1:13PM (5/17/2006)
#4 Gary: US automakers understand that most Americans don't care for paying an extra $100,000+ for trim niceties in what is otherwise a track car (and I'm still pretty sure the Porshe GT3 and ferarri's aren't going to give you any sort of avalon ride). Otherwise, the list was sort of specious for American audiences considering one of his complaints was "the wheel is on the wrong side".
In the meantime, the nicer riding mere 400 bhp 6.0 litre version is 20K less and is less likely to crank up the hemmorhoids.
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GCH 1:14PM (5/17/2006)
Autoblog: thanks for posting the Top Gear show. it was my dessert during lunch. Indeed this Corvette may not be suitable for road and track as the Ferrari but again, it is a humble Chevrolet, not a pretencious Ferrari.
Therefore, the price difference....and I bet the Corvette is far more reliable.
In regards to the interior, I drove the previous generation for an article and I remember noticing the cheap material used and the clutch and gear shifting was more of a truck than of a sports car.
Still, I fell in love with the car and would buy it, even if it's not very practical.
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Aki 1:19PM (5/17/2006)
Ditto on the interior--Corvette interior seems more fit in a Cobalt. Of course, the Top Gear dude's mad for saying the steering wheel is on the wrong side--most of the world uses LHD, take a hint man. What's amazing is that it beats a Pagani Zonda. Nobody doubts it's an awesome performing sports car, but for that much money it wouldn't hurt to have a bit more luxury and sophistication.
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Sid 1:23PM (5/17/2006)
Peter W. is right. You want all of those luxuries, get ready to put down $100,000 more.
This is purely a "2nd" car. You keep a E-Class and then on sunny days, you take the Z06 out.
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Gary 1:28PM (5/17/2006)
Peter,
Chevrolet's site does not advertise the Z06 as a track car. If I missed it please show me. I don't think it is that we Americans won't pay for it (and it does not need 100,000 to fix it), but that they don't get it. People have been compaining for a long time about the interior and they don't listen.
The rides in the Porsche and Ferrari's, from what I have read and heard are not brutal. The GT3 is advertised as a track car (stripped, rollcage, etc) and so it the Ferrari Challege Stradalle. So you know what you are getting off the bat.
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David 1:41PM (5/17/2006)
Clarkson didn't describe the sat-nav as American because of the accent. It was the fact that the default search was for the closest fast food restaurant.
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Allen 1:48PM (5/17/2006)
Go back in Corvette history...Z06 was a special option to the '63(?) That was basically....wait for it....YES, a TRACK CAR. Even though the current day Z06's are far more luxurious than the first. It's primary reason for existence is....YUP, you guessed it. THE TRACK. Chevrolet need not put that info on their site, you should KNOW what you're getting off the bat.
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villainy 1:53PM (5/17/2006)
Now don't get me wrong I love Top Gear and watch it whenever I get the chance, but you'd swear Jeremy Clarkson only leaves the UK kicking and screaming. If its not a British car he seems to have a neverending list of complaints for the car, the car's company, and the company's country (with the exception of japanese sub-compacts for some reason).
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Takeo 1:56PM (5/17/2006)
Still, At the top end it's probably not too much to expect a decent interior, even if it raises the price of the car by 10G. Certainly Cadillac has some very nice interiors and good fit and finish, maybe they should bring out a super-corvette model with a Cadillac done interior?
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Tim 2:05PM (5/17/2006)
Gary, generally I agree with what you are saying with the American vs. World cars. But, just for the record, one of Clarkson's "pride and joy" cars that he owns and often talks about on the show is the Ford GT. Americans definitely got it right with this car, even by Clarkson's lofty standards.
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Gee 2:07PM (5/17/2006)
Truth is that there is no other car in the close to the same price range that can compete with the Z06. Other rags have tested it against the Ford GT and it is faster then the GT. A couple of tenths here and there could be made up at the launch to where it will be faster thent he GT3 RS and 360CS. While they might not be totally Anti-American on that show, they are are however, anti-GM. Clarkson has a GT, and that car is in the shop more then it's on the road and he loves that car. His first GT was in the shop so often, they had to buy the car back from him. But yet, he loves that car. lol
And I don't know where they are going with this
1. The ride is brutal
As, all the cars that are faster then the Z06 are not luxury yachts and will most likely have as harsh of a ride.
2. The gearbox is rubbish The gearbox is German made, blame them.
3. The interior is horrible OK you got GM on that one, but it's a good trade off on what I am getting.
4. The radio is useless - end user error on this one, I have heard worse radios
5. Too wide - yeah, like the GT, Zonda, Murci isn't wide? Clarkson said it himself that he can not drive on a lot of the roads in GB because of his car is too wide.
6. The tire noise is defening - Totally exagerrated.
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Gary 2:14PM (5/17/2006)
True, Clarkson does have the GT, but the interior is still cheap. But he does not care. His childhood dream car was a GT40. He drove a GT43 once. So I can see how he would buy it. BUT, he also has said "I have never gone on a trip where I did not have a problem with the car...."
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Mean MutherTrucker 2:34PM (5/17/2006)
I have owned three Vette's and not one had an interior that my big ass didn't just snuggle in and love. This guy's got a mad monkey up his butt and if it wasn't this Vette it would be something else. You have to take what this Cookoo says with a spoon of Pablum.
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flash_e_gt 2:50PM (5/17/2006)
I read some of the comments above...I'm not really sure why people are taking offense to the comments above about the interior. My guess is that you have not actually sat in or driven the new Vette (The materials in my 93 Supra are still nicer for gods sake). I think Clarkson got it exactly right...and I think GM knows what it is doing on this car. Nobody will pay for a $100K GM, but they will pay 1/2 that for a car that performs like a $100k car and has a cheap interior. And as somoene said above, nobody who buys a Z06 uses it as a daily driver...you have another nice vehicle and you drive the Z06 on nice days/track days...no need for a perfect interior (or an interior at all) when you are tearing around a track. Gary, the person GM is advertising too on TV about the Vette is NOT who is buying the Z06...the guy buying the Z06 allready knows he wants it, what he wants it for and goes to buy it....it has nothing with GM advertising.
(I can't believe that this thing lets you write this much...wow)
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Proud Japanese 3:12PM (5/17/2006)
You Americans are so fickle. If the review isn't perfect then you consider it "anti-american". Jeremy hardly gives a perfect review for any car. The Z06 probably got the best of any bar the Veyron. I've read American auto magazines. They are just full of praises, but hardly of any negatives points. It seems that Americans are used to just glowing reviews and when suddenly their car gets critisized just a little bit, they go ballistic.
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