If I Pay $300,000 for a New C8 Corvette ZR1, Should I Buy a ZORA INSTEAD?

Hey everybody, how's it going? Welcome back to the channel. I'm having a great day. Today we're back inside the Speed Phenom Film Studio and we gotta continue off where we left off in the last video about markups. So I keep calling dealerships and they're telling me, $100,000 over a sticker Austin, $150,000 over a sticker. It just, it's getting so expensive. It's getting so expensive. I'm like, I'm looking at this vehicle going, if I were to get this car through paying these prices, I would literally be throwing away $150,000 above the sticker price that you'll never see ever again. It's pretty shocking. Just to think about it. It's not even like depreciation. It's a fee you have to pay to get into owning the car. And then if the car depreciates, let's say in the future, you're going to lose more and more money. It's going to keep going down. So you could lose $200,000 if not more. I do know a lot of people who buy these new cars. They pay big markups. A lot of the times they're able to kind of ignore it or just consider it as a loss. But when getting a new vehicle, I just view anything over sticker as an instant just gateway fee that doesn't help you or I can't reasonably pay that gateway fee and feel good about myself here on the channel doing that when I'm recommending, you know, you guys to look at different options on trying to find these cars at MSRP and more. Today in this video, I want to dive more deeply into this perspective of getting this car, paying a markup, and whether or not you should actually just cancel the order. Should you just forget about the Corvette ZR1? I know based off all of our reactions on it here on the channel, people have been super pumped. I've been super pumped. I remember sharing my journeys with the CA Corvette Stingray, sharing what that vehicle can do on the racetrack. No one was really tracking and we're like the first ones out there putting on track camera settings, going to Big Willow, Willow Springs. The ZR1 so far is the fastest Corvette in every single way. The fastest one for a top speed over 230 miles per hour, 233 miles per hour to be exact. Secondly, 0 to 60 2.3 seconds, was it, or 2.5, it's just crazy fast. Quarter mile 9.6, 9.7 seconds at over 150 miles per hour. I can see why the hype is so big. I can see why, and I know why you guys have been telling me to make more content on this. You guys want to see it. But the question at hand for people who are interested in getting this car, or are looking at this car, is that if you have to pay $100,000 over sticker, $150,000 over sticker, this being the ultimate Corvette ever right now, what if there's going to be a better one over the horizon? And if there's a better one over the horizon, wouldn't you still want to get that better one, if money wasn't of a concern? I know personally, getting the ZR1, my end goal would be to get the Corvette Zora, the hyper car version of the Corvette, if they make it. The Corvette Zora could have all the technology from the E-Ray, plus all the drivetrain upgrades out of the Corvette ZR1, the powertrain upgrades, with the 1,064 horsepower turbocharged V8. Then if that vehicle is coming out over the horizon, let's imagine that I paid a lot over sticker for this new Corvette ZR1, I have it for about a year, a year or two, then this Zora comes out, what happens when I go to sell the ZR1 for the Zora? Would I lose all that money, or would I have to keep the ZR1 and have to find a way to get the Zora on top of the ZR1? These are all variables that you need to consider. The Zora is going to be more expensive than the ZR1, it has to be, if they go down this road making a hybrid hyper car. They can get a ton of horsepower out of that vehicle, I'm sure the technology is going to be groundbreaking from Chevrolet. What if they sell it similarly to how Ford sells the Mustang GTD, where there's an application process and those of you who apply and get accepted, you have secure access to getting one of these vehicles through the dealership that you want to get it at, and at MSRP. That would be fantastic. I know with people trying to buy the Corvette Z06 the past couple years, a lot of them paid over sticker, a lot of them want the ZR1, a lot of them will be selling their Z06 for the ZR1. So are you losing money by doing that? Have you lost money? These are all important things to consider, they really are. I want to know your thoughts. If your end goal is to get the ultimate version of the Corvette, and you're calling around at all these different Chevrolet dealerships trying to find a good place to get this new car, let's say you have to wait a full year, you don't have a year one allocation, but then you sign a contract saying I'll pay $50,000 over sticker. What if the Zora gets revealed right when you're buying your car? How would you feel? Would you feel like you wasted a year or two years on a waiting list to get this car, paying top dollar while the new one's over the horizon? I think this is already affecting Corvette Z06s. I'm sure many people who are going to be in the market for a Corvette Z06 saw the Corvette ZR1 and said to themselves, actually I'm not going to get it, or I'm not going to pay a markup, I want to wait for this even more incredible version of the same car I want to get. Those are all variables I want you guys to consider. I think on my end, my end of the spectrum, if I can't find a way to get the Corvette ZR1, then I think it would be best, would be best to get the Corvette Zora. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to do all I can to get the car, and that's the main game plan right now, it's still 90%, that's the path, but that slight final percentage is making me think, what if I just held off and got the Zora? What if they don't make a Zora though, and then I lose access to the Corvette ZR1? I don't want to do that, I know how capable this platform is, and I really want to show you guys how it performs on Circuit of the Americas, Road America, even Willow Springs Raceway, those are all big thoughts in my head, and you guys know here on the channel we love traveling to different road courses all over the country. We haven't been able to do that for a short while, it's been a lot of fun here with setting up the whole new branch of Speed Phenom, and you guys have probably seen it throughout the other videos where I mention it, but we're here inside the brand new studio, stuff has been just going crazy lately, changing with everything that we're able to do here on the channel now. Now we're not only stuck on the internet online, but we're able to reach people in person and help people in the local car community, or just viewers like you watching these videos. So if you are interested, come out to the shop, Speed Phenom Film, we have tons of really cool cars in the showroom with the lights, come out, if you need PPF, paint protection film to protect your brand new investment, your new car for 2025, so that you don't get any rock chips, etc., consider coming out and getting some PPF put on your vehicle, it'll help protect against those rock chips. Secondly, we also do color change wraps, if you have a new Tesla, a Cybertruck, and you want to make it green, or some other color, we can definitely hook you up for that, or also for other enhancements like ceramic coating and window tinting, these are all things that we do here in our car enhancement studio here on the beach in Carlsbad, California, right above San Diego. So if you're interested, hey, give us a call at 760-496-8607, or email support at speedphenomfilm.com for a quote, a 10% sale is going right now. Anyways though, moving on from me talking about the shop, it's going to be clear why the Zora is going to be the hypercar, I'm pretty sure, having all-wheel drive, the electric system out of the E-Rage, just imagine leveling up the ZR1. I guess the reason why I'm so inclined to go towards this route of getting the best version of the Corvette is because each one clearly is a stepping stone. If you look at McLarens, like my McLaren, 750S, or custom MSO car, McLarens aren't really like that anymore, meaning if you want the super series car, the best one there is, is the McLaren 750S, the 765LT is 4 years old, no warranty, outdated, infotainment in tech, and just the suspensions, the previous generation suspensions, the newer one, so this is just the best version of the super series McLarens. The best version of the, let's say, hybrid entry-level McLarens are the Artura-like Spiders. Finally, if you want the highest performed McLaren, you have to jump into an Ultimate Series car, and those are a million dollars and completely different. There aren't, let's say, five different versions of the 750S. With Corvette, you can go from a Z06, a ZR1, maybe a Zora, they all are basically the same body though, that's what I'm trying to say, the Senna is not the same shell as the 750S. They're all the same body here, and they're all available at the same exact time. There's no other vehicle other than the 750S available for a high-level super series McLaren. Also, for a Ferrari, you just have the 296 GTB and GTS. You don't have a Pista out, so it's very singular on the direction that you can go. Porsche is what I would say is the closest to Corvette, with having GT3, GT3 Touring, these are all variants that are very similar to each other, but different at the same time, all using the same body, figuratively speaking. That's why I think the drive to keep leveling up and get a better and better version, the same as that car, is so high. I really want to get the Zora, I want to get the ZR1, I want to know your thoughts, lastly, in this video. So please, let me know your thoughts in the comment section down below about my shocking decision to shift focus to the Zora, if I can't find a good deal for this ZR1. Are you going to do the same, and is it worth it? If you enjoyed watching this video, please hit the like button, it really does help me out, and subscribe for much more great content coming out your way, while you do that, the notification bell, so you're up to date with all the new videos the second I post them. I'll see you in the next one.