Ami Qualität empfehlenswert ?

[siggi-annette]

Hallo Gutzi,
was ist los, du bist ja wieder der Alte.

Gruß

Siggi

[fsahm]

LG Schumi,
dann lese mal einen Testbericht von der alten Z06, 2004er durch,
denn dort wurde die ältere Kiste mit 3.96 sec von 0-60 mls (96.36 kmh) als Mittelwert getestet. Also doch nicht arg so langsam, wie hier öfters behauptet wird.

Final Fast:
We Toast the C5 Corvette's Final Year with a Test of the 2004 Z06 - Page 1 of 6
by Hib Halverson
text and images ©2004 Hib Halverson
No use without permission
Discuss this article Email this article
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 ass 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?
Famed road racer and GM Performance Division Chief Engineer, John Heinricy, has driven a Z06 to three-straight SCCA T1 Class National Championships, besting Vipers, Porsches and whatever else the persistent but still loosing side wants to throw at America's Sports Car.
2004 is the last year for the Generation Five Chevrolet Corvette. It will be replaced late this summer by the "C6", so we thought a farewell drive in a C5 made sense. General Motors Communications loaned us a '04 Z06 equipped with RPO Z16, "Le Mans Commemorative Edition", which includes a lightweight, carbon fiber hood and a red-accented, white strips over Le Mans Blue paint scheme which mimics the look of GM Racing's '03-spec. Corvette C5R Le Mans race cars.
This particular road test car was interesting in that it was not part of GM's regular media fleet and actually belonged to Dave Hill's Corvette development team. It's VIN was quite low, 00025, and it was built in April of 2003.
A Shock Valving Change that's, well...Shocking.

Don't get me wrong. I think big thumpin' motors with lots of power are like sex with Britney Spears: you could never have enough-but, while the Z06's 405hp LS6 is quite an engine, what makes the '04 Z06 a smart bomb in the bang-for-the-buck category is its ride-and-handling and refinement. Want to win drag races? (At least for now) Get a Dodge Viper. Want a car which laps road courses quicker than most of the world's production sports cars, feels race-car-crisp on the street and is reasonably civil when driven to the grocery store, the post office and the cleaners? Buy a Z06.
First thing I did with this Le Mans Blue bullet was run it up Glendora Mountain Road. Just 20 minutes from my Southern California office, "GMR" is the closest place the "extreme performance enthusiasts," whom Chief Engineer, Dave Hill, claims are the market for the Z06, can get for a driving workout.
I quickly reacquainted myself with the car's neutral balance, great steering response and, if I really went into a corner too hot and sloppy, its slight understeer. A mile or so up are three hairpin turns, each at the end of a short straight.You come up to these first hairpins hard on it at the top of second gear or in mid-third, then brake hard while heel-toeing a downshift to first or second.
I don't trail brake C5s because they rotate easier than other cars. Once I turn-in; braking's done. Around the apex, I keep the car balanced then, as I exit; I roll on the throttle. Off a slow hairpin, Z06 is capable of power oversteer. While sideways is fun; smooth and controlled is quick. I stay smooth, get the power on soon and with confidence. The rear suspension does its job in spite of a sometimes choppy surface.
After those hairpins, come esses, more hairpins, a second-gear right hander then a fourth-gear straight onto which I accelerate, hard, through the rest of second, third and into fourth. With the gas mashed to the floor, the LS6 working towards its 6000 rpm peak and the fun meter pegged; a left-hand sweeper approaches rapidly. Again, the road undulates here and there. This is one of few places on the first part of GMR where you really haul ass and, as the suspension works over these rough spots; I notice the '04 Z06's body moving just a bit less than what I remember from Z06 trips over GMR in the past. Off the gas. Onto the brake. Back a gear and into the sweeper.
Entering fast turns over a few bumps, the '04 Z06 is more comfortable at the limit than were '01s,'2s and '3s. I didn't have to work quite as hard on smoothness. This increased "forgiveness" during corner-entry builds confidence. Clearly, GM made some useful changes in shock valving and we'll get to those changes in a minute.
The left sweeper ends in a 90-deg. right. Then, there are esses and another hairpin, all linked by short straights and, finally, I arrive at a turnout at the end of the first part of GMR where I always park and think about whatever I've just driven.
It doesn't get much better than a Z06 on this road. The car's ride-and-handling neared perfection and two problems kept it from getting there. The brakes were a little soft, probably from the fluid being boiled before we got the car. The left side tires had their shoulders worn off, probably on a skid-pad, also, by whomever had the vehicle before us. The car felt slightly different in hard lefts than in rights, and, during the following week, whenever we were on the highway; it pulled to the left.
What basic qualities make a C5 handle well?


1. A combination of a perimeter frame (using C5's now-famous, hydroformed rails) a closed, load-carrying, drivetrain tunnel and, on the coupe, a "halo" bar above the seat backs, results in a structure which was stiffer than that of any sports car on the market when C5 was introduced in 1997 and which, today, remains one of the stiffest around.
2. CNC-machined, cast aluminum suspension crossmembers which provide a rigid and accurately positioned mounting for front and rear control arms.
3. Suspension with minimal toe change and optmized camber curves, even near extremes of travel. This allows ample wheel travel for a civilized ride while retaining suspension geometry optmized for handling throughout that travel.
4. Control arm and bushing designs which decouple ride and handling, allowing optimized handling with reduced cost to ride.
The Z06's "FE4" suspension adds specific, higher rate springs and stabilizer bars, unique, fixed-valve Sachs shocks, slightly different alignment, wider wheels and Goodyear's outstanding Eagle F1 Supercar, ultra-performance radial tires.
Wanting C5 to go out with flair, back in spring '02, Dave Hill sent his ride and handling Engineer, Mike Neal, to The Nurburgring, the famed German test track. The mission: make the 2004 Z06 even better.
"Even in the final year," Mike Neal told The Corvette Action Center, "we took pride in making improvements. We sat around and had a pow-wow-'What are we gonna do for the final year.' The easy thing was to carry over. We wanted that last one to be the best one yet which is the opposite of what I think a lot of companies might do in a final year."

The Nurburgring is not like a test track you'd find at GM's Proving Grounds and there's no race track like it, either. It's really long and more like a public road running through rural foothills than a dedicated facility for racing or testing. In fact, at times, Nurburgring is open to the public. Anyone driving anything from motorcycles to tour busses can pay their 14 Euros and take a lap. Though the road was built in 1927, it's not in disrepair as are highways in infrastructure-challenged states in the U.S. like Michigan or my own People's Republik of Kalifornia. What it does have, as a result of the rolling countryside and highway engineering practice common early in the last century, is lots of undulating, uneven sections, many blind curves, frequent elevation changes, basicially...its the Gravity Games for cars.
"It's not a race track." Neal said, "It is a road-a country road on which you're allowed to drive flat out. I believe there is a thousand foot elevation change. There are 157 turns (other descriptions put it at 176 or 177). It's long-I've always heard 14 miles."

"Every corner...you're not just getting lateral acceleration. You're in a corner at max lat with a big heave in the middle. You crest the hill, the car really unloads and you wonder where your grip is. A moment later, it's in a huge compression. You are crushed into your seat at the base of a hill and, man, it sticks like crazy."
"You have to learn the track twice. Once in plain view...to know where the left turns are, where the right turns are, which ones are fast, which ones are slow. Then, you start bringing your speed up and, now, what you weren't noticing before at slower speeds were these gigantic vertical accelerations. There's four places at Nurburgring where a Corvette is airborne and you're well over 100 miles an hour. You gotta relearn it because, now that you're goin' faster, you gotta change the way you pick your lines to take in account the way the car is loaded or unloaded in corners."
"Nurburgring really pulls out your weaknesses. You're going to learn a lot of stuff, but we don't optimize our tuning for there only. We'd have way too stiff of a car for anything in the states and people will hate it, so you have to temper everything. We learn what we can, then we come back here (GM Proving Grounds and on-highway testing) and apply what we've learned there to development and tuning we do here. Then, we go back and see how the whole combination works at Nurburgring."

"We were over there three different times with the Z06. I was there in April, 2002. I had done tuning here. I went over there and did some. Then, I came back here and did even more. When I finished, I sent it back over there on the next trip-I didn't go, but Heinricy happened to be over there so I sent him sets of shocks. He loved this valving compared to anything else. I would say, we didn't just develop these shocks at Nurburgring. We used a combination of both places. In the end, we validated it over there on the last trip. John said it was perfect."
The cornerstone of shock absorber tuning is the "force/velocity" curve. It quantifies how much damping force is exerted for a given suspension velocity. Mike Neal made a significant change to the force/velocity curves of the '04 Z06.
A conventional hydraulic shock uses hydraulic fluid, forced thorough small orfices in the shock piston as it moves to provide damping. Flow through these orfices is contolled by disc valves located on the top and bottom of the piston. The way guys like Mike Neal "tune" the shock is by making changes to these "valve stacks".
"For most of C5," Neal said, "all I had to play with was disc thicknesss, diameters and the number of discs in each stack. There was a fixed pre-load for all those discs. The disc center is lower than the disc seat so the discs already have some bend to them. The amount of bend was fixed for most of C5. Then Sachs came out with an adjustable preload so I could shim that center up or down and put a different curve in those discs. I was able to take some preload out and make up for it by doing more things with disc thicknesses and so forth. Adjustable preload gives me more flexibility."
"That became available for '02. We made a rear shock valving change that year because I had gained that flexibitiiy where I'd been frustrated without it before. It was a quick improvment because I didn't really have a lot of time after it became available just before the '02 release. Since then, I've worked it more and came out with the '04 valving."
"The new shock valving results in less body movement and what movement still occurs is more poised and controlled. You want the body poised and the suspension doing the moving. Sometimes that means you need more damping, but sometimes it means you want less. In this case, we needed more in one area, less in another and more in a third."
"If you look at the shock's force/velocity curve, we went into the middle velocity range and took a little damping out, added a little bit more on either side of that, in the low-speed and at higher speed."
"Low-speed is body control, high-speed is wheel control and somewhere in between is everything else. If you think of body heave motions-goin' through swells-that's the lowest body speed you have to deal with. Next up, is roll motion, like you'd have in quick transients or crossing surfaces that differ side-to-side-like when you get 'head toss.' Roll velocities are higher than heave velocities because, in addition to spring stiffness, you have stabilizer bar stiffness, so your roll stiffness is higher. It's roll velocity on which we reduced damping. I had too much in that range. We lowered it, there, but overall, we didn't want to lose body control, so we made that back up in the low speed, body heave area and, also, just above the body roll velocity range."
If roll velocities are higher, how can reduced damping make the car handle better? If the car is overdamped in roll; the body reacts quickly to roll events, ride is annoying, the wheels can't follow the road such that they maintain traction and the car will not be as confidence-building or predictable on roads that are rough. The reduction of medium velocity damping allows the body to react a little slower to roll events. Handling improves because grip is more consistent and, of course, ride is nicer. There is a small difference, front to rear, in this reduction of medium velocity damping with the rear getting a slightly greater reduction. This difference is the key enabler of the car's more poised feel during corner entries on "choppy" surfaces which impart medium velocities to the suspension. The improvement was noticeable and contributes to the '04 being the most civilized of Z06's four-year run while still offering the ferocious, at-limit handling for which the car has become famous.
The supension development engineer's vocabulary is full of words quantifying the frequency of ride events. A "choppy" surface is not one causing large, slow suspension movements, such as crossing a dip or a swell, nor does it cause small, rapid movements, such ripple strips on the sides of Interstates or chatter bumps formed in an asphalt surfaces by constant, heavy traffic. Between those two, "choppiness" imparts a medium velocity to the suspension.
The Z06 shock valving has been altered twice: once at the rear for 2002 and again at both ends for 2004. Both times the changes revolved around improving the ride over choppy surfaces. In driving the '04 Z06 Le Mans Collector Edition, the improvement was noticable and contributes to the '04 being the most civilized of the Z06's four-year run while still offering the ferocious, at-limit handling the car has been providing since '01.
Besides the new shocks, there are two other changes. Front, upper control arm bushings now use higher durometer rubber to reduce compliance. This increases front "camber stiffness" under high cornering loads, especially during hard cornering over chatter bumps. The increased camber stiffness makes the front end stick a little better so, to balance the car, a little rear end grip was added by increasing the compliance of the rear stabilizer bar mounts. This had the same effect as a slight reduction in bar diameter but was less costly than tooling-up a new rear bar.
A Z06, by nature rides rather firm. It lacks the isolation and extensive damping of body movement one experiences in Corvette Targas and Convertibles with Magnetic Selective Ride Control but that's by design. Z06 is the extreme enthusaist's Corvette and, for its handling to be true to that label, it needs to ride more firmly. On the other hand, the Z06's ride is not so aggressive it can only live on a racetrack. For that, there is yet a fifth iteration of the C5 suspension tuning, called "T1," a special set of springs, stabilizer bars and shocks intended solely for race track use and available on an aftermarket basis through the GM Performance Parts program.
"It is a total win-win." Neal summarized his team's work, "We think the '04 Z06 handles better. We think it rides better. You can be a lot more aggessive with it on the track.
After a week in which we took to calling this car the "Blue Bullet"; we couldn't agree more.

A Bit Underhood
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.

The LS6 was introduced in 2001 with 385hp. The following year, it got bumped 20hp with a more aggresive camshaft, stiffer valve springs and lighter valves. It's remained at 405hp ever since. Some Corvetters compare LS6 to the LT5, a 405hp DOHC 350 in '93-'95 ZR-1s. The comparison proves the march of technology is always beneficial. The '02-'04 LS6 produces the same horsepower as the LT5 but does so with a wider torque band, two-valve heads, pushrod valve gear, slightly less displacement, less weight, better fuel economy and lower cost.
LS6's image was tarnished a bit by an oil consumption scandal in its first year. GM addressed the problem with a technical service bulletin fix in late '01 for all LS1s and LS6es consisting of second compression rings having a redesigned scraper face and a higher tension, oil ring expander. A new, LS6 valley cover with revised sealing was released early in '02. Both these fixes were put in production, the rings at the start of '02 and the valley cover during that model year.
One neat thing about driving an LS6 is its fat torque curve and that it likes to rpm. Whereas the LT5 before it, fell-off past 6000 rpm, the LS6 peaks at 6000 but stays fairly flat to its 6600 rpm rev limit. Another endearment is its exhaust sound, especially with the throttle wide open and the engine pulling to peak power. More sporting and a little louder than that of the base model, it's the first Corvette exhaust I can honestly admit that I could leave stock. The Z06 system is also unique in that its back half is made of titanium which makes it 18 lbs lighter than the standard part.
The LS6 has remained unchanged since '02 and the big story we wanted to focus on with the '04 was handling. Those interested in more, detailed information on LS6 can go to https://www.idavette.net/writers.htm and find a series of articles on the LS1 and LS6 engines.
The Z06 uses a specific version of the rear-mounted, Tremec T56, six-speed transmission having special gear ratios. The first three gears are lower and spread wider apart and the upper two gears are lower but closer together. Bill Zabritski, GM's Design Release Engineer for manual transmissions in performance cars, told the Corvette Action Center, "During development, we found the Z06 was quicker with higher ratios in the first three gears."
Of all the C5s we've driven, this '04 had the best shift feel. The only tiny wish we have would be a little shorter shift throw. That says a lot for a linkage that is half as long as the car and operates an internal rail shift mechanism less sophisticated than that in previous Corvette six-speeds.

The rear axle assembly used in the Z06 is generally the same unit manufactured by Getrag and used by all C5 manuals since 1997. It has one difference: a shotpeened ring and pinion which adds an extra margin of reliability to a powertrain having increased torque output.
An annoyance with our test car was an intermittent axle lubricant leak. Several times during our test, upon exiting the vehicle, we smelt that sulfur stink of gear oil on the exhaust. The second time this happened, we rolled the car into the shop, got it up on jackstands and inspected the rear axle. There were signs of leakage on the left side of the case, the rear spring and the suspension crossmember, but we couldn't find the source. Later, in talking with a Corvette service technician, we learned the problem is oil blown out the vent and is common with cars which get driven aggressively such that the lube gets hot. The easly solution, according to our source, is to run the fluid level about an 1/8-in. below the filler. A better solution might be a remoted-mounted vent (typical of some GM four-wheel drive trucks) at the end of a hose, a little distance away from and a bit higher than the trans. It's unfortunate GM couldn't address this during the eight years of C5 production.
How hard will this powertrain make a Z06 run? We installed our Vericom VC-2000 Vehicle Performance Computer then banged-off an astonishing best of, 3.85-second, 0-60 time. Performance in the quarter was equally substantial at 12.45 sec./118.0 mph. That performance was tested using timing with no roll-out, on a typical road surface and at the hands of a driver who can launch the car in a manner that won't run afoul of the "antipowerhop" algorithms in the LS6's engine controls software. We were also blessed with ideal atmospheric conditions: sea level, cool temperature and high humidity.
We think under more average conditions with average drivers, four-flat, 0-60 and high 12.5s in the quarter can be expected of these cars. Pretty damn incredible for a car that's totally stock.
Inside and Out
Some in the automotive press say the C5 Corvette interior looks "cheap". Yet, after a week in this car, I can't say the "old" interior is as nice as that in the new C6 or a Caddilac XLR but it's certainly not cheap.

The C5 cluster and IP are the bomb. The instruments are placed and accented visually to create a sort of 3D effect we've always thought was pretty cool-even cooler at night with the cluster's ultraviolet-lighting. Right then, coolant temp was shown, but the IP display can read all kinds of interesting and important stuff, some of which we don't even know.

The Z06's interior appearance is attractive, efficient and focused on providing information to the driver. Standouts are an easy-to-read instrument cluster and an IP display capable of reading the condition of engine parameters along with tire pressures. It even can display engine controls diagnostic information though we were unable to sample that ability because our test car had no Owner's Manual for us to find the instructions on how to use it and other features such as programmable exterior lighting, security system and keyless entry.
All Z06es have a "head-up display" (HUD) with which sporting drivers can read real-time, corner exit speeds. The HUD also reads speed, rpm and other data, and what information is displayed, is user-selectable. No other sports car in the world has this feature.
What other information should this car give the driver? One of our photo assistants, also a Corvette owner, suggested a compass and an altimeter-not a bad idea for a car that flies.
If there's a weakness of this interior, it's the seats. They have side support which is average, at best for a car with such incredible lateral grip and the seat back adjustment mechanism is just junky. Three different times, I got in this car, arched back in the seat to fish keys out of my pocket then had one side of the seat back suddenly lurch into a partially reclined position. I've heard occasional owner complaints of similar trouble. GM should have fixed that early in C5 production. Hopefully that improves in C6.
The end of the wiper stalk is too close to the 2-o'clock position on the steering wheel. When you're driving hard, zipping your hand from the wheel to the shifter and back, if you're not careful; you get the wiper lever, then look like a dork as the wipers dry-hump away while you downshift into a turn. That's another item that should be fixed on the 2005 Vette.
More on the plus side: other switches and controls are placed well. We like the sound system. We like the shift feel. Pedals are placed well and we like the metalic brake and clutch pads. There are even a couple convenience options I've grown to like, such as: the "memory package," which stores different seat and mirror adjustments, handy for a Vette shared by two, and the dual-zone air conditioning which allows me to run the HVAC cold but has my fiance, the Fairest Sandra the Red, not feeling like she's a passenger on the Idarod dog sled race.
Cargo space in a Z06 is certainly limited. It's less than even the Convertible. As the Z06 is a reasonably nice road car, this may be an annoyance to Corvetters who like to take long trips to events in their cars, but because Z06's emphasis is on performance with little compromises; we'll take the reduced luggage space in exchange for the stiff structure and less weight that come with the coupe body style. If you want to take trips, either pack light or buy a C5 Targa.
The outside of this car drew a lot of compliments with its rich, Le Mans Blue base color (which an English friend of mine insisted was "Royal" blue) and the stripe package matching the '03 C5R race cars. The wide white/narrow red stripes and the carbon-fiber hood are unique to Le Mans Commemorative Edition Z06.
On first glance, the hood appears to have a narrow section of unpainted carbon-fiber as a sort of visual proof that the hood is made of that ultra-light material. Close examination reveals this section to be part fo the stripe package rather than the actual CF surface, but there's no conspiracy there. To finish, clear coat, then mask-off a narrow strip of the hood prior to painting the rest of the panel would have been impractical in an assembly plant environment, so a section of "faux" carbon fiber was added to the white and red hood stripes which are a part of the car's overall graphics package. Trust us. The hood is, indeed, carbon-fiber. You feel that the first time you open it. Well...it's not just for the 10 lbs. less weight. GM wanted a little field experience with carbon-fiber body parts in a production application.


We asked Dave Caldwell, GM Communications' spokesperson for Corvette engineering issues about the use of "CF". "The trick on the 04 Z06," Caldwell told the Corvette Action Center, "is that the carbon fiber appears on a 'class A' painted exterior surface. (It's) Much easier to use carbon fiber in a location that is less visible - as it's really tough to get that show-quality appearance with this material and make it match the rest of the car visually. That was the essence of the engineering exercise on the 04 Z06, and we acheived it on the hood.
"Carbon fiber has obvious advantages, and some enthusiasts really value it. But it has drawbacks, too. Corvette has an established, stated mission to be a great value, to be a surprisingly good daily driver/tourer, to look great years into the future, etc. Carbon fiber doesn't really help us on those important aspects of the Corvette mission & legacy.
"So, yes, getting CF into production was a really important exercise for us, stretched our technical expertise, provided something unique and cool to the car. And it will no doubt help us evaluate if (and precisely how) we might apply this advanced material in the future."
Mr. Caldwell gets paid to both tell us the parts of the Corvette "story" GM wants us to know. He also gets paid to avoid telling us what GM doesn't want us to know...yet.
My spin on this carbon fiber thing is: GM wanted first wanted to try it in a low-volume application (about 2000 Le Mans Z06s were to be built) then evaluate not the results before it would consider "CF" in a subsequent, larger build of products. Will we see carbon fiber hoods on hundreds of thousands of Malibus? No way. How about the entire C6 line? Probably not, again, because of cost. Another clue that CF will not be used on all C6es is that, if GM was evaluating CF for that, the '04 use of it is too late in the process.


To date GM has learned that using CF in a high-volume application is more difficult than it thought. At the Bowling Green Assembly plant, the CF hoods are painted like all the other sheet molded compound (SMC) body parts. Early in the '04 model year, GM discovered that the CF hoods could not sustain the temperature levels in the drying ovens used to cure the paint. It took a while to solve that problem and that delay made Z06/Z16s hard to get at the beginning of '04. Later GM had trouble with the CF hood suppliers not eing able to produce the volume they agreed to make. This also slowed GM's ability to make the Le Mans Commerative Z06es. A GM source told the Corvette Action Center in late February that only 780 Z16s had been built. Our guess is GM will not reach it's goal of 2000 cars so the Z06/Z16 end up more unique than originally planned.
Might a more limited build of "special" C6es for Dave Hill's "extreme performance enthusiasts" have a wider use of carbon fiber...say a hood, the top and the trunk lid? I'd say there's a chance of that. Combine that with the aluminum frame about which we've heard a lot of scuttlebutt and you'd have a noticable reduction in weight.
Ok. Back to the real world. In summary, fit and finish of the panels on this '04 road test C5 was what we expect of a car costing fifty-six large. The paint shop and final assembly at the Bowling Green plant earn our compliments for putting a nice finish on the car in-spite of the troubles caused by the carbon fiber hood.
We've always liked the C5 profile, even the rear fascia which has drawn a fair amount of opinion since '97. The only exterior item I'd change is the exhaust. I've always had trouble with the look of C5's four-pipes. Two, big, fat, black, round or oval outlets would be my choice.
Finally...
With a MSRP of $51,585 and it's refined performance, the Z06 is a value-heck, it's a bargain. Even with the Le Mans Commemorative Edition Package, and its $4,335 surcharge, the car still represents one of the better performance sports car buys.
Not only is the Z06 fun and available at a reasonable cost, but it's fairly cheap to operate too. Our observed fuel economy, over a distance of 634 miles was 22.3 mpg which seems to support the GM's composite EPA number of 23 mpg. Additionally, anecdotal evidence we've found on various automotive forum sites on the Internet indicates that other operating and maintenance costs for Z06es are less than some of its competitors, amongst which are: various Porsche 911s and the Boxter S, BMW Z-4, Audi TT and the Dodge Viper.
So...we're back to were we started, with bang-for-the-buck. No question, the 2004 Corvette Z06 has a ton of it.
Site Administrator's P.S.
Hib Halverson's road test of the 2004 Z06 Le Mans Commemorative Edition was originally written as a much shorter article for the February 2004 issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines magazine. In the spring of '04, Halverson worked more material into the story and added some late news about the Z16's carbon fiber hood then posted this article, here, on the Corvette Action Center.
Does Halverson put his money where his "road test mouth" is? You bet. He emailed us the other day saying that, in mid-March, he and his fiance purchased an '04 Z06/Z16 from Tom Henry Chevrolet in Pennsylvania. Interestingly, Hib and Sandy's new car is serial number 00039, only 14 numbers later than the car used for this road test. - Rob Loszewski, Site Administrator, Corvette Action Center
Specifications
Chevrolet Corvette Z06
General: front-engine, rear-transmission, rear-drive, 2-passenger, 2-door coupe. EPA vehicle class: sports car. Manufacturing location: Bowling Green KY, USA.
Price as tested: $56,720
Price information: base Corvette Z06 $51858; Le Mans Commemorative Edition package, $4335, consisting of: polished wheels, special badging, special stripe package, lightweight hood, memory package and electrochromatic mirror package. Destination/freight charge, $800.
Significant Standard Equipment: LS6 engine, manual trans., power steering, brakes, windows, mirrors and locks. Tilt wheel. Dual zone air conditioning. Head-up display. "Active Handling" stability control system. Traction control. Antilock braking system. Security system. Active keyless entry.
Entertainment: Delco-Bose AM/FM stereo radio w. compact disc player. and 6 speakers.
Engine: 90° V-8, aluminum block and heads. Composite intake. Cast iron exhaust manifolds.
Bore x stroke: 3.90 x 3.62-in/99x92-mm
Displacement: 346 cubic inches/5.66-liters
Compression ratio and recommended fuel: 10.5:1, 93-octane (R+M/2)
Valve gear: roller hydraulic cam, pushrods, roller rocker arms, 2.00-in intake, 1.55-in exhaust valves with potassium/sodium-filled stems.
Ignition: Distributorless, inductive, crank-triggered, individual coils.
Engine and emissions controls: General Motors Powertrain/Delphi sequential electronic port fuel injection with electronic throttle control, feedback spark and air/fuel ratio control, dual 3-way catalysts, EGR and air injection upon start-up and OBD2 emissions controls diagnostics.
Mfg. rated SAE net power: 405hp@6000rpm
Mfg. rated SAE net torque: 400lbs/ft@4800rpm
Rev limit: 6600 rpm.
Drivetrain
Single-plate dry clutch, flexible prop. shaft inside rigid torque tube. Rear-mounted, Tremec T-56, six-speed, transmission, aluminum case, steel internals w. computer-controlled 1-4 "skip-shift" feature.
Transmission ratios: 2.97, 2.07, 1.43, 1.00, 0.84, 0.56 and 3.28 reverse.
Chassis-mounted rear axle assy. w. clutch-type, limited-slip differential.
Final drive ratio: 3.42:1.
Chassis/Body
Structure: steel perimeter frame, closed structural tunnel, steel/aluminum/magnesium cockpit structure and halo bar.
Exterior: Sheet molded compound with carbon fiber hood.
Suspension/Steering
Ft: aluminum short/long arm, aluminum knuckle, transverse composite spring and steel antiroll bar.
Rr: aluminum short long arm, aluminum knuckle, toe control link, transverse composite monoleaf spring and steel antiroll bar. Monotube, fixed-valve hyd. shocks. Hyd. power-assisted, speed-sensitive variable effort, rack-and-pinion steering.
Brakes
Type: four-wheel disc with vacuum power assist and antilock system.
Ft: 12.6x1.26-in rotors, 263-sqin. swept area.
Rr: 11.8x1.0-in. rotors, 158-sqin.Swept area.
Wheels/tires
Type: Spun/cast aluminum/Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar, steel-belted, asymmetrical, ultra-performance, street radial.
Ft: 17x8.5-in./P265/40ZR17
Rr: 18x9.5-in./P295/35ZR18.
Interior: SAE volume: 52 cuft. Cargo volume: 13.3 cuft. Bucket seats, driver 6-way power adjustable, passenger 2-way manual adjustable. 3-point, manual, shoulder/lap belts. Dual air bags.
Weights and measures
Wheelbase: 104.5-in.
Length: 179.7-in.
Width: 73.6-in.
Height: 47.7-in.
Ft. track: 62.4-in.
Rr. track: 62.6-in.
Ground clearance: 3.9-in.
Frontal area: 21.3 sqft.
Curb weight: 3118 lbs. (published) 3108 lbs (as tested)
Ft/rr. weight distribution: 53/47%
Capacities:
Crankcase: 6.5-qt.
Cooling system: 11.8-qt.
Fuel: 18-gal.
Calculated Data:
Engine Hp/cuin: 1.17
Vehicle Power/weight ratio: 7.67:1
Vehicle Weight/displacement ratio: 8.98:1
Performance (conditions: sea level, cool, damp, typical road surface)
Acceleration:
0-60: 3.96-sec. (observed avg.)
0-100: n/a
Standing 1/4-mi: 12.57-sec./114.8-mph. (observed avg.)
Braking from 60/80 mph: n/a
Top speed: 168mph (estimated) (rev. limited)
Fuel Economy
EPA ratings: 19 city, 28 highway, 23 combined
Observed fuel economy: 22.3.
Analysis: Vette v. Viper
Some in the car hobby see the Chevy Corvette versus Dodge Viper contest as pretty one-sided with image and brutality combining with acceleration and speed to make the Viper a landslide winner.
No question, Viper cuts a more dramatic profile, offers its driver a more frenzied driving experience and can accelerate faster than Gray Davis' limo leaving the California Governor's Mansion-and that's quick! While the Vette and Viper are comparable up to 60 mph, past that, the Viper's 8.3-liter, V10 behemoth (525lbs/ft torque and 500hp) has it getting to the drag strip finish line about four tenths sooner. We've seen published accounts of 12.1 quarters and we bet under perfect conditions, the car might go high-11s. The Dodge is also the unquestioned winner in the top speed contest with 190 mph to the Z06's rev limited, 168 mph.
But let's widen our focus. Let's consider efficiency, ride and handling, refinement and cost. Efficiency? Even though the Dodge weighs 300 pounds more than the Z06, it beats the Corvette on power-to-weight ratio, 6.82 to 7.67. That's where the better acceleration numbers come from. It's engine displaces 506 cubic inches but generates only 500hp. On a horsepower per cubic inch basis, the Dodge V10 is 0.988 compared to the LS6's 1.157. Clearly, there's an efficiency gap in the engine department.
A Viper has somewhat better brakes and, yes, it's better on a skid pad by a couple tenths of a g., but otherwise, the Z06 seems to have the edge in handling. When Vipers and Corvettes face-off with each other on road racing tracks in SCCA T1, the Z06 is often the winner. A Viper rides hard, so hard in fact, that the media which have road tested even the improved '03-'04 models say things like, "...rides like a Nathan's Hot Dog cart." and "...bangs and crashes as if jumping curbs."
Other road tests tell of problems with squeaks and rattles, uncomfortable incidences of excessive cockpit temperature, particularly the footwells, and high levels of interior noise. One of these publications said about value in its '03 Viper test, "But, the truth is the Corvette Z06, some $33K less costly, is more effective because it's half (their italics) as difficult to drive." Though we've not tested the current generation Viper, we'll take our colleagues' words for it.
Not only does the Viper sell for more than half again as much as a Z06, then costs its buyer a $1300 luxury tax surcharge; it, also, earns its owner a whopping $3000 Federal "Guzzler Tax" hit because of its powerful, but inefficient engine.
Is the Viper the landslide winner some say it is? It's sure quick in a straight line but, otherwise, we're not so sure.
So, what does a Corvette Z06 need to completely de-fang those Vipers? A bigger motor with, say...500 hp and a little less curb weight.
Trust me, you've got about two years to wait. In the meantime, the Dodge Boys better stock-up on Depends.

Ausserdem wurden hier im Forum des öfteren Quellen von Videos angegeben, wo die Kollegen in den Staaten u.a. auch gegen den wunderschönen Gallardo Straßentest zeigen.

Wenn nun dieses sehr schöne, teure Sportgerät der C6, Z06 nicht wegfährt, im Gegenteil, meist nicht mal einmal mitkommt, dann ist doch alles andere reine Thoriegerede mehr als müßig.

Anscheinend kann etwas nicht gut genug sein, das lediglich halb soviel kostet, wie z. B. Dein schönens Teil von südlich der Alpen. So verstehe und lese ich das heraus.

Auch Fahrer eines AMG 55 müssen erst einmal genug "A*sch in der Hose haben, wie ich es bei der letzten Heimfahrt vom Corvette-Italia-Clubtreffen in Richtung Norden auf der A9 erlebt habe. Hinter Nürnberg ist die A9 wunderschön 3-spurig ausgebaut und wunderbare langegezogene Kurven mit Höhenunterschiede.
Da es am Sonntagmorgen sehr ruhig auf der Strecke war, bin ich dort mit 275 im 5ten-Gang nach Hause gefahren. Hinter mir eben dieser besagte Mercedes, der versuchte, mir auf dieser Strecke zu folgen. Hat aber bei den schon heftigen G-Kräften aufgegeben mir zu folge und zog auf die Mittellinie. War anscheindend ein "Sonntagsfahrer".
Da mein Neffe hier in Bremen an den Teilen zusammenschraubt, kenne ich das edle Teil auch und schätze die Qualität. Nur, wer fährt solch ein Teil am Limit? Nicht viele, oder?

Bleibe beruhigt bei den "Lieblingsfahrzeugen, die Du z.B. für Dich herausgesucht hast und lass uns mit unseren amerik. Teilen, die ein anderes Flair haben, zufrieden.

Denn es ist mir persönlich wirklich egal, ob ein anderes Sportfahrzeug eine halbe Sekunde oder evtl. auch mehr auf der Nordschleifenumrundung mehr oder weniger braucht.

Gruss
Friedel

[superphoenix]

----GELÖSCHT----

[ehemaliges Mitglied]

Original von siggi-annette
Hallo Gutzi,
was ist los, du bist ja wieder der Alte.

Gruß

Siggi

Und was genau möchtest du von mir wissen? Wie war den "der alte Gutzi"?

[ehemaliges Mitglied]

----GELÖSCHT----

[fsahm]

----GELÖSCHT----i

Schumi, hast Dich eben selbst disqulifiziert!

Gruss
Friedel

P.S. Gibt es kein Ferrariforum? Oder ist es dort zu langweilig?

[fsahm]

Wir haben hier bei uns im Corvetteclub zwei Ferrarikollegen.
Mir macht es auch dann noch Spass mit denen unterwegs zu sein, selbst wenn die mit über 290 an mir vorbeifahren.

Warum sollte ich neidisch sein, mich ärgern oder ähnliches?

Im Gegenteil, mir macht es viel Spass, diese Teile mal richtig unterwegs zu sehen und habe Freude daran.

Andere Sportwagenfahrer sind dort anscheinend wesentlich empfindlicher, scheint mir.

Frei nach dem Motto: "Ich habe den Längsten und muss deshalb auch der Beste sein" Basta! Reines Imponiergehabe, das ich in meinem Alter nicht mehr benötige.

Gruss
Friedel

P.S. Langsam geht mit die "EGOMANIE" hier auf den Senkel, weil es rein garnichts bringt.

[Camaro WS6]

Ich möchte gerne mal nach den Sinn fragen:

Warum geht ein Nicht-Corvette-Fahrer in ein Corvette-Forum und verkündet dort, wie toll doch andere Autos sind gegenüber der Corvette?
Warum macht man sowas? Ich verstehe da keine Logik drin...

[fsahm]

"Weil denen 50 Cent an einem EURO fehlen".

Reines Stänkern in einem fremden Forum, mehr nicht!!!!!!

Gruss
Friedel

[Camaro WS6]

Haben die Langeweile? Oder keine Freunde? Keine Freundin oder Frau? Man kann doch seine Zeit kostbarer nutzen als so.
Ich könnte einen Vorschlag machen: Ich habe einen großen Garten, da muss noch einiges beschnitten werden. Meine Terassen müssten mal gefegt und entmoost werden. Ein paar Wände könnten neue Farbe gebrauchen, etc. Ich biete hiermit einen Platz, wo unnütze Zeit zu etwas sinnvollem eingesetzt werden kann, und das völlig kostenlos.