Corvette C6 ZR1 Quick Review

Welcome to Extra Throttle House. I'm Thomas. And I'm James. And today... Hey, I forgot what Extra Throttle House is. Oh, should I explain it? It's been a while. This is the extra channel where we do extra things because the main channel is for main channel stuff which is like really high production thingies and then the extra channel is where we do like all the extra things that we don't get to do in the main channel. Lower production, more laid-back, more of a conversation. Oh god, it's so... It was nice to do that. You did a great job. You did a great job. I haven't been able to say that in a while. I get in trouble from you every time. Today's conversation. Yes. The C6 and then we're gonna have to commit here to either Z or Z for the rest of the video. No, we don't because I'm gonna forget as soon as we pick which one ever. It's the Z06. Wait, which one is that? I don't know. It's the ZR1. That's right. It's the ZR1. We're doing great. Big deal. Extra Throttle House, ladies and gentlemen. Yes. So this comes at an interesting time. Yep. Because we've just seen the new C8 ZR1. Yes. And we thought we'd play with a C6 thanks to our good friend Jeremy. This is, uh, this car when it came out was ridiculous. Well, it's the same thing, isn't it? It comes with outrageous numbers. Yeah. Hopefully a good price-ish. Yeah. And just, yeah, just absolutely blows everything else out the water in terms of power. 638 horsepower. 638. Yeah. In 2009. It's, it had, it had, has a lot of crazy stuff. It's got a forged crank, dry sump, titanium connecting rods, hollow valves. Like, it's got some pretty serious stuff and a hopper of a supercharger. Yes. Well, this has a 6.2 litres. Supercharged V8. Yes. Some of the best things in life are 6.2 litres. I'm seeing this today. This is how I'm picturing it. Yeah. If this has the power and the sound of a Hellcat. Okay. And it's also, it's manual only. Yeah. But it's a sports car, right? Because we've always said the Hellcat's a wonderful sofa. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What if this is a sports Hellcat? Well, doesn't that make it an American dream? It does make it an American dream, but the problem is, is that it is a two-generation-ago Corvette. And kind of, no matter what you do, it's still... Here, you know what? I'll come over here. I'll show you something. But it's true, Cor, this is back when it was front-engined. No, no, no, come on. I'll show you this and then this will kind of explain most of what I'm saying with... Right. Do you know what I mean? Those brake lights are really loyal to that panel. Yeah, they are. Anyway, so that kind of is the issue with this, but the performance per dollar is crazy. Well, and we've been a bit cheeky. Yeah. Because this featured for a moment in our C8 ZR1 walk around. It did. And Thomas said it has 638 horsepower. This particular one... Doesn't have that. Doesn't. It has what's called the Lingenfelter 710 package. Yes. Which gives it 710 horsepower. It's stock plus. It's stock plus. It's got the, it's got the, the exhaust at the back is the same, but the headers and the mid-pipe are different. And then there's other stuff and tune and boost and stuff. Lots of bolt-ons and a tune. Yeah. It also has chrome wheels. Well, that was part of it. So this is a fully specced ZR1. This was brand new in 2009 for $122,000 US. US. And now this one was picked up for... Just over a hundred Canadian. Just over a hundred Canadian. And it's probably sellable. Sellable? Yes. Right now for a little bit more than that. Yes. Based on the market. Which is interesting, because that puts a rear-wheel drive, supercharged, 638 horsepower manual sports car in the same price range as Cayman GTS 4 liter. Right. Amira. Yeah. The new Stingray. Like, yeah. Which this has more power than. So theoretically, you're looking at something brilliant. And yeah, you can, you can shave in those wheels. Well, it's funny because they, so it's got the ceramic brakes. That was a first on a Corvette, right? And they're blue. And they're blue. Because the Z06, they're red. Everything's blue. You got the blue one. You got the blue cover on the engine. And you saw the blue on the new one. Yeah, the blue on the new one's very cool. If this comes out before the embargo of the new one, we are in big trouble. Big trouble. Hopefully you're watching this after. Yeah. But no, I was gonna say is that the mirror polish on those wheels make it so that the Corvette that's written on the brake caliper kind of goes Corvette. Because it kind of works it. You can't make fun of chrome wheels. You own a car with chrome wheels. What? No, I don't. What are you talking about? Yes, you do. No, I don't. Yes, you do. Literally, what are you talking about right now? Yes, you do. I can't say it out loud because it's a surprise car. But you have bought a car that's featuring the road trip and it's gonna have chrome wheels. Oh crap, I do. And you love that car. I do love it. So now what? Maybe I like chrome wheels. What's happened? Okay, so the interesting thing about this is you can see the top bit of the engine through that bit. Then that's fun. Okay, this comes from, yes, it is. You remember this era. Windows in hoods. Everything that's see-through is amazing, right? Yes. Even if it's a Gameboy color. Let me see some stuff and it feels special. Yeah, yeah. Differences from the Stingray and the Z06 of this generation is instead of one air vent blade here, it's these two. Yeah, it's a bit more aggressive. Yeah, I think the Z06 still got this. Okay, and then yeah. Otherwise, it doesn't look that difficult. ZR1 plastered everywhere. Carbon fiber roof? Carbon fiber fixed roof. Oh, does it come out? No. No, it doesn't. In the C7 it does, and in the C8 it does. Oh, interesting. This is fixed. You cannot turn this into a Targa-y thing. What do you think about the way that this looks in general? This is, this is from the era before I moved to North America. This doesn't do much for me. I never lusted after it, and to me it just looks very Florida. I don't know. That's so accurate. Oh my god. Yeah. Yeah, so I, I, it's never, it's never been something that I've been super interested in. Oh, so the thing is, of the American cars, this is the one that interests me the most, but further from this, there's so many other cars that I would be more interested in before this. But this is, again, this is a supercar killer, although for that price, it's not that far off supercars from that time, but, well, it's pretty far off. I mean, this is 458 era. 458, and then that started at two something, right? Yeah, so when you ask me how this looks versus that, yeah, but you know, this has, this has some razzle-dazzle. You know, you open the hood, it opens forward, like, yeah, and it's all carbon fiber, and we've got carbon fiber side skirts. It's got lots of stuff. It has, it has a lot of stuff, and it, and it does have chrome wheels. Well, this has the performance package as well. You're bringing that up. And then, as part of that, it would have come with sport cup tires, but this is, he's put on the extreme condoms. Extreme condoms. Because a car like this goes through its tires in, you know, like a twice a day, three times a day. I think we should, we should find out. Should we drive it? I'm driving. All right, here we go. Oh, it's loud in here. It is loud. Okay, he's got a little bit of push there. I thought we could gently discuss the interior. Yeah, gently. Go ahead. Go right ahead. So this has got the full thing. So it's the leather package. Potent. That is potent. I think the Pioneer was able to break from 60 feet, or whatever it is, whatever the measurement is, 60 to zero miles an hour in 98 feet. Okay. Which at the time was a feet. Ah, I see. I see. Right, yes. So we've got leather package, we've got carbon fiber going on. This is quite American in here. It's not massively different to the, like, like the new one, the cabin doesn't differ that much from Stingray and Z06. Right. Yes. This has got some, like, it's the leather is nice. I don't mind it. But like, kind of no matter what you do, you mix that leather with this carbon fiber, and it all American premium, very American premium. It's as good as it gets for the era, though. Yeah, right. It's fine. I don't mind it. I slide it around a bit. The seats are horrible. They're horrible. Yeah. There's, there's no like, edge bolster. It's just a soft, you just kind of go like this, just kind of flow off the side of the seat. It's no good. When we did the C7 ZR1, we said it's a Viper Hunter. Yeah. So this would have been the Viper Hunter of its era too, and Vipers never really messed around. It's more livable in here, whereas the Viper made your back sore. This sort of just lets your back do its thing. It's like, it's like an astronaut who's been in space too long. Everything starts to go to gooey and bone density reduces. The shifter's really nice, actually. Yeah. I'm really, I'm really enjoying, it's got really obvious gates, and the clutch is really nice and easy to use. It's a good manual experience. Sounds brilliant. Sounds brilliant. It sounds pretty epic. So this has, the ZR1 has tall gearing, except. Yes, very tall gearing. Let's put some load into it there. Oh, okay. And unless you get the performance package. Yes. Then you get shorter gearing. So this has that. So for performance stuff. Oh right, it's got shorter gearing. Than the normal ZR1. I wouldn't want the gearing to be any longer than this. No. This is perfect. It feels, feels correct for this car. Oh, I got traction control on. Good. That's what's happening here. Good. Just gonna turn that right all the way off there. Oh, seatbelt's locked up. Is it way off now? I'm surprised at the luxuries it has. It has a heads-up display. It's got a heads-up display, it's got heated seats, electric seats. Yeah. It's got a power steering wheel, like it has power steering, but it has a power steering wheel, like I can electronically adjust it, yeah, which is nice. There it is. You're losing your vocabulary. It's 2009 America Thomas speaking here. They had a long way to go, okay. Now this is, so interestingly, I was kind of, I was expecting it to be a little bit, what's the word, I don't know, a little bit more delicate in the front end, a little bit more sports car. Right. It's still very brutish, everything about it, like I can feel the mass in the front end. This is when, this is like US gets the reputation for hammer versus. Yeah, like of all the cars in the US, this one was the sport one, right? But even still, I'm finding, like especially compared to what GM is doing now. Yeah. Like this still feels like, it feels like it's not quite as sordid as it could have been. It's a lot of grip. We've come a long way. We've come a long way. Come a long way. But I mean, does it feel like Hellcat as a sports car? Yeah. Yeah. I'd say it does. It'll do that. It'll do that. That's when it, that's when it makes sense is right in that moment. It's kind of weird. So the more I drive it, the more I'm realizing that up to the limit, it feels like it's going to be a bit cumbersome, but then in that, at the limit or past it, which we just were, it makes more sense. Do you think, do you think it has ZR1 curb appeal for a hundred thousand dollar car? It doesn't look that different to the Stingray. I know the performance is there, but they almost, it's almost slippery. You know, when you talk about the new one, the new one looks like a Huracan STO version of the Stingray. It just looks so crazy. Yeah. I don't know. I don't in general, like the styling of this generation. So I don't, I haven't formed really an opinion of it compared to its underlings. Right. So yeah, it doesn't, I don't know. It doesn't really. Before you can't argue with that. That's cool. And all the noise is back there. It is all back there. Yeah. It's no, it's a good, but we've, we've, we've so recently been, I didn't mean to interrupt you Drifter. We've so recently been on this track in the Amira and the Z06 and it's like, this is not that far off in price now, at least from Amira. Well, it's interesting. Like, so let's just compare this to the Amira for a minute, because that's a really interesting thing to bring up because they're, as you say, about the same price. Yes. And in terms of like an analog driving experience, I'd say they're on par in terms of how connectedness. Yeah. Or like at least how much they're talking to you as a driver. The Amira obviously is a more refined, more delicate, lighter, more grippy, more grippy up on its toes type of sports car. This is a bit more of a sledge hammer, but, but in, but in their own ways, they are equally as engaging. But would you say it's the same buyer? Probably not the same. No, it just isn't the same buyer. It just, it's just not the same buyer, but it, but it's an interesting thing to show you like, you know, across the ocean. But you know, we say that the Jeremy who owns this came from a McLaren 720S. He did. Yes. So we, who are we to say that it's not the same buyer as a British mid-engine sports car? Well, the reason that Jeremy brought this is because he was talking to me and I said like, why don't you try something that's go back a few years, try something simpler, more analog, something that like kind of, you know, makes you feel like you're more involved. And this is what he chose. And it suits him perfectly. Right. Seeing him take this thing down the drag strip is a sight to behold. He's got the thing lit in third gear. He's a drag racer. He's a drag racer. The car's just going like this and it looks wicked. It sounds amazing. And he said he loves the manual. He loves driving it. And like that, that's exactly what, what are you, what are you missing? What are you missing? You're not me personally. You're not missing digital gauge cluster. Cause who cares? I don't care. Yeah. Yeah. The actual, the interior of this is not insulting. It's just fine. It's just fine. Yeah. So yeah, I agree. So, so why don't I love this thing? Do you know what I mean? Like you're talking about a supercharged manual as connected as an Amira. Yeah. You know, analog thing. Why don't you love it? I think, I think just for me, like the, the, the, this era of GM, it just, there's no desirability for me. Right. I just, I was never excited about it. I was in this era, I was into European cars. Right. So like, I just, I just don't, it doesn't have any nostalgia for me. It doesn't have anything. I know. It's just, it's not the right thing for me personally, but I can, I can see why these are holding their value. It's much more rare than the other cars. It's got a boatload of power, makes an insane noise. It's got a manual with that amount of power. I get that. I get it. The Z06 of this generation is still more of a deal. And if you get the late, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but if you get the later Z06, the 2010, it benefits from stuff that the ZR1 has, but I imagine they come at a significant discount. And if you stick an exhaust on it, how different is the experience going to be? The interior looks identical. It looks identical. And like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because yeah, I suppose the thing for me about this car that is the least relevant is how quick it is in a straight line. It's more about the sound and the fact that I get to shift this. It's a good shifter. I drove it before. The shifter's great. The clutch is great. Yeah. Like that, that's the best part about it. Like it is quick, like foot down right now. That's great. That is very substantial, but you can get a lot of that with less fear. Yes. Right. So in a Z06. I wonder what C7 Z06 go for, because that was, we drove that and that was fantastic. I bet they're not far off in price. If maybe they're even a bit cheaper. Yeah. And then that was a nuts car, but it didn't have any traction. And this is why, like, you know, with the new one, with the mid engine and the nuts power, it feels like even though it's the engine has changed where it is, it feels like now that we've been in this, it feels like the perfect new ZR1. It breaks boundaries. It's still rear wheel drive. Yes. You know, having not driven it. Yeah. It feels, it feels like it's earned its name. And it has blue stuff. It has blue stuff everywhere. On its engine, in the thing. They've gone blue and I like it. No, this was, this wasn't really as much of a review as it was a couch chat that happened to take place in a Corvette ZR1. Only because these seats are slippery leather couch seats. That's right.