Simply 48 hours in the past we named the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 the Motor Authority Highest Automotive To Purchase 2024. The united states’s sports activities automobile has claimed height honors every time it certified for the contest, profitable Motor Authority Highest Automotive To Purchase 2017 and Motor Authority Highest Automotive To Purchase 2019. This time it received our workforce over with its unique engine, intoxicating exhaust notice, and world-beating riding dynamics. The vote from our editorial workforce used to be unanimous.

However the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 isn’t absolute best. No car is. It might be higher. Right here’s how.

Chevrolet Corvette Z06

Give it a guide transmission

The C8 Corvette’s notable loss of a guide transmission nonetheless hurts our collective soul. Alternatively, the 8-speed dual-clutch automated transmission is a gem that cracks off lightning-quick shifts. In a 0-60 mph dash or on a monitor, it might completely smoke a model with a guide. However from a motive force engagement viewpoint, the method to #GiveAShift continues to be the want of many. We guess the take charge can be beautiful prime, too. Believe having the ability to run this flat-plane crank V-8 engine as much as its 8,600 rpm earlier than grabbing the following equipment. Porsche is aware of no 3rd pedal possibility on its GT3 used to be a mistake. What do you assert, Chevrolet?

Chevrolet Corvette Z06

Does this appear to be a Corvette?

Years after the C8’s debut, Editorial Director Marty Padgett continues to be adamant that the C8 doesn’t appear to be a Corvette. The Z06 amplifies the C8’s unique form with bulked-up bodywork giving the automobile a much broader frame. It’s all within the identify of serve as to feed extra air into that wild engine. However the brief hood and lengthy rear finish borne out of the mid-engine powertrain structure connote Ferrari greater than Corvette. Nevertheless it’s now not as chic as a Ferrari, with harsh traces that give it a dude-racer angle. Some softer traces would lend a hand. 

Chevrolet Corvette Z06

Improve the internal

The Z06 is a $100,000-plus supercar. The loaded check automobile we hauled round a monitor and again nation roads price $160,595, however it didn’t have an inner to check that worth. It could sing like a Ferrari, however the inner obviously hails from GM. The fabrics are great sufficient, however this isn’t top-shelf leather-based, the stalks and head-up show buttons may as smartly be out of every other Chevy, and the dozen-plus Chiclet-like buttons cascading down the middle console wall for the local weather keep watch over gadget are each onerous plastic and set inside a deficient design. They’re additionally complicated and difficult to make use of whilst riding. A minimum of there are buttons and knobs for some key local weather and infotainment controls.

Chevrolet Corvette Z06

Difficult for the New Steadiness crowd

Turns out I’m getting outdated. The groans and creaks that got here from me as I climbed out and in of the C8 Z06 would make my buddies chuckle. The fight might be actual for the New Steadiness and jean brief crowd this is most likely to shop for the Z06. The C8 Corvette is tricky to get out and in of with that raked A-pillar, low experience peak, and mid-engine roofline, and that’s the reason exacerbated by means of the Festival bucket seats our tester featured. The 911 is more uncomplicated to get out and in of. 

Chevrolet Corvette Z06

Make stronger the brake really feel

Many of the editorial workforce preferred the brakes at the Ford Mustang Darkish Horse greater than the carbon-ceramic brakes at the C8 Z06 all over ultimate Highest Automotive To Purchase 2024 trying out. Senior editor Kirk Bell famous the Z06 brake pedal felt slightly picket because of the brake-by-wire implementation. Everybody at the workforce famous the brake gadget required us to recalibrate the place the preliminary chunk got here in. This brought about Kirk to brake too overdue for the primary flip all over two other periods. He were given used to it after that, however no person complains concerning the brake tuning of a Porsche. That isn’t to mention those carbon ceramics aren’t sturdy. They’re greater than able to hauling the Z06 down from triple-digit speeds within the blink of a watch; they just lack the preliminary chunk we need.

Chevrolet Corvette Z06

This a lot for a Chevy?

When a Corvette’s worth of access breaks $100,000 we elevate our eyebrows. The Corvette is The united states’s perennial sports activities automobile, and it’s at all times stood for price. With a beginning worth of $113,190, which is way over the $106,395 it price a 12 months in the past, this isn’t your father’s Corvette. Nevertheless it’s a two-sided argument as a result of even at that worth, it may embarrass automobiles that price two times that a lot on a racetrack. At an as-tested worth of $160,595, the Z06 lacks the cachet that includes the Lamborghini, Ferrari, or Porsche badges, however its efficiency in step with buck merely can’t be argued right here. 

The C8 Z06 will more than likely cross down in historical past as one of the crucial particular automobiles to ever put on the Corvette badge. Corvettes that come after this, together with the twin-turbo C8 ZR1 after which the electrified model be referred to as theed Zora, might be sooner and extra robust however that may now not lead them to extra particular. This can be a benchmark in historical past for the Corvette and that makes a really perfect Highest Automotive To Purchase winner, regardless of some minor flaws.