This is to funny. Andreas aka Just_Me have been posting stories about our little meeting in Halmstad two months ago and I didn't have a clue.
First let me correct a few things. I have experience from sportscars before the Z06. I'll get back to this later.
Last year it was time to buy a sportscar so I went shoping. Looked at the RS4 but as JM wrote the salesman was a real a-hole so no buy. Looked at Porsche 997 S. Nice ride and my wife realy liked it. But to me it was all about hand stiched leather and no power. Not what I was looking for. Somewhere in between the Audi and the Porsche I had learned that the Z06 realy would arrive in Europe so I started to read all I could find about it.....and boy was I suprised.
Early december 2005 I stoped at the Corvette dealership here in Gothenburg. I left after ordering the Z06. Now I had to wait for a loooooong time.
I March 2006 I got the call....the Z06 had arrived. I went to look at it and fell in love! A few days later I picked it up just to drive it to the garage as it was still snow and ice outside. Another loooong wait but now for better weather.
April came and the weather slowly started to get better. April 17 I took the Z06 to the race tracks for the first time. It was a very nice event even though we had to drive in heavy rain mixed with hailstorms (Spelling?). But the Z06 showed it self to be steady as a rock even under these condtions. Here are a few pictures from the event:
After this first event I've had time for some more track days and I can tell you that the Z06 performs very well on the racing tracks.
Contrary to the claims of Jeremy Clarkson the Z06 is good even as a daily driver. As expected the set up is stiff but not to stiff. The cluch is easy to operate. And it's a joy to drive through town as it's a real head turner. I'm getting tumbs up all the time which is nice. In a Porsche no one notice you here in Sweden as we have them in every street corner.
Haven't done the 1/4 mile yet as the oportunity hasn't showed up. Hope to do it before autumn though.
Build quality is rather good even thoug the interiour is not up to the standard of the best European cars. But it's good enough and I would compare the Z06 interior to the Porsche 996 which also felt a bit plastic.
Ohhh, I promised to get back to the other sports cars I have experience from. As JM wrote I have not owned a sportscar before. But I have close friends who are filthy rich. One of them has a collection of Ferrari's and Maseratis and he used to own some Porsches, which are now sold as he doesn't like them. He has the money to not care to much about his cars so I have been able to drive them and drive them hard. Even on racing tracks. And I can tell you that the Z06 is just as good or acctualy better than the Ferrari 360 and 430, not to mention the Porsches. On the public roads I'd say that the 360 still is inferiour to the Z06 but the 430 is a very nice ride and probably better than the Z06. Porsche is a bit to refined for my taste and, with the exception from the 997 TT and the CGT, to slow.
I went with the American muscle and I haven't regreted it yet. The Z06 still brings a big smile to my face every time I drive it. Sure, as JM wrote, it's not a practical car but still you can put two big bags in the trunk and drive off. Couldn't do that in a Ferrari or even a Porsche. For practicality I have other cars.
If money wasn't an issue I would probably choose the Ferrari 430 over the Z06. But as things are I think the 430 is to expensive to buy and own and its hard to justify the price difference compared to the Z06. No Porsche in production could match the Z06. Although I still have to try the new 997 TT as I think that car seems like a real brute.
