Video: 2024 Chevrolet Corvette Z06: Greatest Corvette of All Time?

(engine starting) (engine revving) (engine revving) Whereas for the better part of 70 years, the Corvette has almost always sounded and looked like this. (engine revving) That's pretty freaky, right? I mean, it sounds like we dubbed in a clip of an old Ferrari ripping around. But lemme tell you, that's all American, baby. That's exactly how the Z06 sounds. It's pretty crazy. Now, as you'd imagine, there is a crazy engine making all that crazy sound. That is a 5.5 liter naturally aspirated V8 with a freaking flat plane crankshaft. And we're gonna get into what that means a little bit later. But for now, I just want to ask, does this crazy radical departure from the norm make this the best Corvette in history? We're gonna talk about it. Don't worry, this is not a comparison. We are not about to compare a base C7 Stingray against a C8 Z06. That would be ridiculous. But hey, you got the point. It looked good, it sounded good. And without further ado. (snapping fingers) (upbeat music) So I've said the term flat plane crankshaft quite a bit here without explaining what the heck it is. And well, you are in for a treat because I am not an engineer. So you are gonna get probably the most dumb downed explanation that I can possibly offer for this. But I do know that there are two primary benefits or rather characteristics of a flat plane crank V8. One is that it allows for an even firing engine. Compare that to the odd firing cross plane crankshaft V8s, what are even firing V8s? Well, you got the Ferrari mid-engine V8s, McLaren's V8s, some Lamborghinis. The second characteristic or benefit of having a flat plane crankshaft is that it is very quick to, well, by comparison to spin up to red line. That's why compared to the caramely rich roar that we are used to in Corvettes and Mustangs and Challengers and all sorts of stuff like that, you get the Ferrari shriek, the titanium chainsaw, the crazy howl of supercars that you were very used to seeing around and hearing flooring it down the straits of tracks. As a result, the red line is significantly higher on the C8 Z06 than it was on the C7 Z06. Now I don't have the C7 Z06 red line numbers on hand, but I do know that this is roughly 2000 RPM higher at 8,600 RPM. (engine revving) Oof. (engine revving) Yeah, that doesn't sound like any Corvette I've been in until now. (engine revving) Wow. So let's put all this engineering theory into practice. If the question is, does this drive like a C8 Corvette? Yes, everything you see here in the interior is as you left it in the base Stingray. I mean there's nicer materials like you have carbon fiber here on the steering wheel, carbon fiber paddles, but you've still got the same climate control spine here in the middle, the same shifter, the same dual screen setup. You've got the same base kind of MagneRide suspension. You've got the same transmission, you've got the same lift. Now there's different tuning on the suspension, there's different tuning on the transmission. But for the most part, the view out the front, the view out the back, and how it feels in the middle is just very similar to a very high spec C8 Stingray. Of course, all that familiarity goes out the window the minute you turn this engine on. (engine starting) (engine humming) 'Cause there's no other better way to put it, it feels like a Ferrari. And I don't know if Chevrolet likes that or hates that. They knew that was inevitable. Whereas, I mean, heck, we have on record that Chevrolet in engineering this car, the C8 Z06, benchmarked a Ferrari 458, which was Ferrari's last naturally aspirated mid-engine V8 Ferrari. And that was built somewhere in the early 2000 teens to mid 2000, late 2000 teens. I'll be honest with you, to really suss out the dynamic differences between a standard Stingray and a Z06, I'm gonna need to be on the track. So the best I can give you is how crazy this thing sounds and feels and accelerates. But for the most part, I'll tell you this, the base Stingray feels like a very exotic car with a very American heart. It feels very much like its mid-engine competitors from other European brands. It is bigger, it's cushier. There's more room in here to move around. And as usual, there's removable roof in the form of a physically removed Targa. But when you take that already exotic platform and you throw in that crazy ripsaw of an engine out back, I mean, I'll be honest, this thing feels three times the price. Or rather it offers a driving experience that is three times the price. And yeah, I do know that this thing at a baseline costs about $110,000. But I will say this, being a Corvette, you do get a decent amount of daily comfort, daily use comfort outta this. In the standard tour driving mode, which you can think of that as the most comfort-oriented drive mode. There's also sport and track and then a aggressive personalized Z mode and a personal mode. It's not too bad. There is, admittedly this is a carryover tune of the, or an upgraded version of the eight speed dual clutch found in the standard Stingray. And I think due to the engine's high revving racy character, the transmission is a little bit more aggressive than I'm used to on the Stingray. But overall, the brakes, these are huge, beautiful carbon ceramic discs on all four corners. They're really powerful brakes. Suspension is fairly compliant. And we do have some carbon-backed sport seats here, but I'm a larger guy and it's not too bad. It's fairly usable. You do also have a ton of trunk space and a ton of rear storage space behind the engine. It does get very hot, so don't put any ice cream back there. But overall, yeah, if you're familiar with a C8 Stingray and you found that to be comfortable, you're just gonna be a little bit less comfortable in the Z06. Chevy absolutely dialed this thing in. From a track-oriented perspective, which again, I know I am not on a track, I have not driven this on a track. I can just feel how it reacts on the road, the sensations and all, the urgency, how ready it is. This has to be one of the most dialed in cars, or sorry, dialed in Corvettes GM has ever made. In this experience, it all comes down to that engine and it is an unbelievable engine. It's still a liter larger than the largest naturally aspirated Ferrari V8 that was ever put in production. But this engine is so reactive, so urgent. The transmission is not the best dual clutch transmission I've ever driven, but it does more than a good enough job managing the engine. Shifts are quick, it's pretty reactive in manual mode. It's as reactive as you've probably driven in most dual clutch cars. If you leave it in auto, it is tethered to different drive modes and track mode's gonna make it really super hyper aggressive when it comes to shifts. Sport mode, less so, touring, less than that. But overall, this is a extremely tactile engine and the power is fantastic. It feels like a supercar. Heck, it is a supercar. There's no, anybody that says the C8 Z06 isn't a track-oriented supercar is insane. They just call it a sports car, disregard it. It's ridiculous. I'll say that the throttle tuning is impeccable. It's extremely reactive, especially in the more performance-oriented drive modes. Again, this will feel most at home on a track, but it is extremely, extremely fun to drive on the road. Suspension tuning is similarly impressive when you get in the higher, more aggressive Z mode, sport mode, track mode, there is very little body roll. Now we come to the part where I maybe try to answer the question, if this is the greatest Corvette in history. No way. I'm not about to kick that hornet's nest. It's all what you prefer. There's too much preference, too much history, too many Corvette models throughout history to answer that question. And again, it's all what you prefer. Do you want small block? Do you want hybrid? Do you want flat plane? Do you want front engine? Whatever you want. I will say, for me, as a longtime Corvette enthusiast, yeah, this has be at least top five, top three. Yeah, this is probably my favorite Corvette ever built. It's pretty incredible. This is easily one of the most engaging cars I've driven in quite a long time. That engine is unbelievable, especially when you consider what a value proposition this is. And yes, I am aware that this is $110,000 to start, but I'm telling you this driving experience, unmatchable for under $250,000. New or used, it's just that fun and that interesting and that engaging to drive. For now, I'll have the Z06, and of course for my full thoughts and review, you gotta go to cars.com/news. (upbeat music)