fatherlarry
10-17-2006, 08:19 PM
In so many cars, today, engine compartments look so neat and understated. Other than red coil covers and an "LS6" plate on the throttle body, the engine looks like that in any other C5. It puts out 405 SAE het hp. Rated with the old gross power system of the bygone Muscle Car era, it would make about 450hp. Understated, indeed. No wonder the car runs mid-12s.
It's a rare Chevrolet executive who gets more than five sentences into a discussion of product before saying the word "value". A dictionary in my office defines "value" 18 ways. I read the first four, then decided: heck with this! Let's define "value" as: bang for the buck.
If there ever was a Chevy with value; it's the Corvette Z06. The "bang" is performance and those cars are 3100-lb. bunker buster bombs, right through the doors at foreign car companies, particularly the Germans, which once ruled the hard-core fringe of the high-sports segment. Deafened by the blast, their marketing types are left crying, "Die Amerikaner...sie treten unsere Zugpferde mit dieser Z06 und das zu einem Preis mit dem wir nicht mithalten können!" Rough translation: The Americans are kicking our *** with this 'Z06' and doing it at a price we can't match.
Its charter is simple: extreme performance presented in a civilized manner at reasonable cost. Three years after its 2001 introduction, this car is a benchmark by which sports cars for aggressive drivers are judged. On race tracks and autocross courses all over America, it spanks cars carrying prestigious foreign nameplates and costing upwards of half-again its price.
Don't believe me?
http://corvetteactioncenter.com/specs/z06/2004roadtest1.html
It's a rare Chevrolet executive who gets more than five sentences into a discussion of product before saying the word "value". A dictionary in my office defines "value" 18 ways. I read the first four, then decided: heck with this! Let's define "value" as: bang for the buck.
If there ever was a Chevy with value; it's the Corvette Z06. The "bang" is performance and those cars are 3100-lb. bunker buster bombs, right through the doors at foreign car companies, particularly the Germans, which once ruled the hard-core fringe of the high-sports segment. Deafened by the blast, their marketing types are left crying, "Die Amerikaner...sie treten unsere Zugpferde mit dieser Z06 und das zu einem Preis mit dem wir nicht mithalten können!" Rough translation: The Americans are kicking our *** with this 'Z06' and doing it at a price we can't match.
Its charter is simple: extreme performance presented in a civilized manner at reasonable cost. Three years after its 2001 introduction, this car is a benchmark by which sports cars for aggressive drivers are judged. On race tracks and autocross courses all over America, it spanks cars carrying prestigious foreign nameplates and costing upwards of half-again its price.
Don't believe me?
http://corvetteactioncenter.com/specs/z06/2004roadtest1.html