| blkscls1z |
02-26-2012 12:33 PM |
Why I sold my C6 Z06 for a 370Z
Don't think for a second I would do something so stupid. Quoted from some nanny off corvetteforum.
Quote:
Usually an exit interview will shed more light on things than the entrance.
If you care to read it, the following is a brief summary of my Z06 ownership.
I ordered my Z06 in Jan 2011, and received it in Feb of the same year. Upon arrival, I noted that the body panels lined up a lot better than the 05/06 C6's I saw when I initially took a passing interest in the cars. The paint looked good, although it had orange-peal by simple design.
My first driving impressions after break-in were: HOLY CRAP! THIS THING IS A MONSTER!
I honestly wondered if I had bitten off more than I could chew with the car. Acceleration, braking, cornering. All were "off the chart". A Valentine 1 soon found its way onto my windshield and saved the day many a time. I was on cloud 9 with it.
Then came a bit of longer distance driving. The kind where you settle down and crank up the radio. I found that the radio quality was exceedingly poor. Speakers caused resonance that set body-panels to humming and sounded like the trunk-lid of a civic with a cheap subwoofer install. Very distressing in a $76K car. Oh well, it was fast.
Enter my experience at Spring Mountain.
This REALLY underscored just how capable my Z06 was. A complete track-ready animal. Also, I realized I would never track the car. I saw how fast we whittled the tires away, and what they cost.
I was stuck realizing that my car was going to be like an Olympic sprinter that walked everywhere he went. Traffic, and traffic law being what they are.
At about 3,000 miles, I got the small wrinkles in the seats, the seat sliding around on its tracks, and the other little quibbles that people have with these cars, in addition to the stereo that sounded like it had been transplanted from my late 80's mustang. Okay, not that bad, sound was louder, but resonance was worse.
Anyway, it got to the point that the only environment I was able to enjoy the car in was one of chest-thumping when I showed it to others, or when I was way out of line for a public road. Neither are traits I care to foster.
In the end, the Z06 really is a race-car with a license plate. The problem is that it tries to pretend that it's more than that. It's not. I found the interior to be somewhere between my former roommate's Cobalt, and his Cruze. Basically, an afterthought wrapped in leather-faced vinyl just because GM figured that people would want something that looked like leather, a sound system meant to distract a date from the pot-holes, and not much else, and seats that were meant to fit people from 120#-320# and had enough tolerance built into their mounting systems that even slow corners would cause them to slide on their tracks and make you feel like you were really pushing it.
Probably nothing more than my mother's first ride in my car underscored that better. After a quick romp that left her grinning, she said "My these seats are slippery, I could slide right off". My mother knows nothing of sports cars other than that they are pretty, loud, and she would like one some day. However, her words really hit a sore spot. If my mid 50's mom figured the seats were crap for performance driving, who in their right mind would ever actually LIKE them? I certainly felt neutral to displeased with 'em. The sheer number of aftermarket interiors and small year-by-year seat revisions underscore the point.
No, it is not the civilized car with a capable engine that it pretends to be. It is the engine mounted in a brilliant chassis with a slightly refined egg-crate for the driver to sit on and a few mildly entertaining distractions for when traffic ties him down.
This may sound harsh, but I spent the money, and I can call it like I see it--noone forces you to agree.
In the end, I found I was irritated with the car 85% of the time and begging to go to jail 15% of the time.
I decided I would be better served by a car that I enjoyed 85% of the time and got a decent rush from 15% of the time.
Exit 1LZ Z06, enter Touring/NAV/Sport/Manual/Coupe 370Z.
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Link to the original thread - http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-z...interview.html |
