The following text spew is a collection of my thoughts on the 2024 Z06 after almost 3 weeks of owning it and just over 1300 miles on the odo. Warning: I’m verbose … I really like to write.
For reference, my previous Corvettes include:
- 1996 Collector Edition coupe with the LT4 engine
- 1999 Z51 coupe: modified by Lingenfelter Performance Engineering with their 383CID engine, exhaust, etc.
- 2007 Z06
- 2010 ZR1
- 2017 Z07-equipped Z06
I’ve also had a 2nd gen 2009 CTS-V and most recently a 2023 CT5-V Blackwinnnnnnnnnnng.
Failed Delivery
The Order
I assembled an order for a new 2024 Z07-equipped Z06 with the hard top convertible (HTC). Red Mist exterior, 3LZ black with red stitching interior, including suede and competition seats. The important part as it pertains to the delivery is that I also selected option R8C, or National Corvette Museum delivery. And that’s where the “fail” began. The car was completed in mid-late June and sent over to the NCM. I was set to take delivery on the 4th of July. The plan was to fly into Nashville airport that morning, take delivery of the car at lunch time, stay in a hotel that night, and then be on the road at 0400 Friday morning. And a few days before delivery, my car appeared on their delivery camera:
Fail 1: The Driver Seat
It’s not clear to me who to blame for this, but I think it’s a combination of Bowling Green Assembly Plant (BGAP), where the Corvettes are built, and the folks at the NCM. The day before I was set to fly in, I noticed on camera that some folks were working on my car. Specifically they were focused on the driver’s seat. I contacted the NCM and asked what was going on. Their answer: “The driver’s seat won’t move forward or backward. All other adjustments work, but it won’t move fore/aft.”
Well, I’m a runt at 5’7″, and I need that seat to move. There’s no way I could have accepted the car like that. I canceled my flight and hotel reservation because they couldn’t get the car back to the plant until the following Monday morning. The plant was closed for the week of 4th of July.
Monday morning, the car was returned to BGAP. Tuesday afternoon, it was back in the hands of the NCM with a brand new driver’s seat. The problem was: my schedule just wouldn’t allow me to make a trip to the NCM. That ship had sailed; just too busy at work. So it was time to find alternative transportation, which meant a truck.
Fail 2: The Trucking Company
Before I get into this experience, I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to use this post as a vehicle to thrash the trucking company. They made a mistake, the car was damaged, but they’re making it right. I’ll explain more in the following paragraphs, but please understand that I’m not trying to chastise them or shine them in a bad light.
I selected a specific trucking company that was referred to me by both the NCM and my Corvette salesman. They’re also a Lifetime Business Member of the NCM, too, which I felt was an extra positive. They picked the car up on the following Saturday morning, and it was delivered the next morning to me. But as the truck driver got out of his cab, he was shaking his head and apologizing profusely. “This has never happened in our trucks before. I have no idea how this happened and I’m so sorry!”
What. The. Fuck… did you do to my NEW CAR?! Somehow, the car shifted inside the enclosed trailer, the passenger rear fender nudged one of the vertical supports. There’s a chunk taken out of the SMC plastic. This isn’t something that can be painted, polished, and buffed out. It’s going to require a fender replacement.
The damage is localized to the right rear fender and it’s purely cosmetic. The car is perfectly functional and driveable. As I said earlier: the owner of the trucking company was on the phone with me the moment it was delivered, and he promised to handle all of the costs involved in returning the car to 100%, at any body shop I wanted. To that end, the car is going to D&V Autobody on the 5th of August for its cosmetic repair. I’m not worried about it. These guys are the best in the business, by a long shot (and believe me, they charge for it, too!)
In the mean time, I’ve driven it like mad and have over 1300 miles on the odo so far. Just under 200 miles to go before it can go to the race track. Let’s get into the review.
Appearance
I do love the Red Mist exterior color. I’m always down for a darker red color, be it candy apple, maroon, or blood red. No one does red like Ferrari, but I do like Corvette’s latest Red Mist. They were shooting for something akin to Mazda’s fiery red; they didn’t match it perfectly, but it’s close. Slightly different shade of red depending on the lighting, angle of sun, etc. My car guy buddy jokes with me and calls it “Boomer Red”. Each stop I’ve made at a store or gas station (good grief I’m stopping at a LOT of those…) it’s always the older guys that say, “that’s a nice color!” Maybe Sean’s right.
I chose the HTC with black nacelles, but body colored top. The black breaks up the red a bit, and right where it’s needed. From the side, the profile of the HTC really does look a lot like the coupe. Not 100%, but it’s close. GM clearly hit it out of the park with the C8 HTC in total: they’re accounting for 50% of all of the sales across all of the models. That even with the $7500 upcharge for it. Convertible Corvettes have NEVER had that kind of penetration; it’s clear the pent-up demand was there for a folding hard top.
The aero bits are a wee bit ostentatious, as some reviewers have noted, sometimes positively, other times not so much. GM’s all about function over form though; those aero bits weren’t just “tacked on” the Z06. They function at speed, on the track. So much so that the front end aero and underbody strakes are identical to what they’re putting on the bonkers ZR1; the latter only differs with the ginormous rear wing.
Down sides: I’m not sure how much I like the way the side intake vent juts out and includes the door panel. It makes the door WAY larger, width wise, than it needs to be. You need a lot more clearance when you open the door. I feel Tom Peters and Kirk Bennion might have done a bit more polishing here. But I’m also not an aerodynamicist, so I have no right questioning Kirk’s fantastic work, he really is a genius. Peters, on the other hand, is hit-or-miss.
Interior
The entire C8 line-up shines brightly here IMHO. Each successive interior in the Corvette generations as been leaps and bounds better than the previous one. Specially the jump from C6 to C7; Ryan Vaughan who I’ve had lunch with numerous times did a super job with it. The move to the 8th gen car kicks that interior quality and layout up a notch or five. The driver is very much the focus in the C8’s interior; the passenger is literally along for the ride. Wonderful materials; all of the touch points are soft and comfortable. My interior is all black leather or suede with red stitching. I generally don’t like the appearance of uncovered carbon fiber so none of the interior trim in mine has it.
I chose the competition seats for an extra $500 because I do intend on getting this car on the track soon. This is a choice folks have to be VERY careful with, unlike in previous gen cars. The C8’s comp seats REALLY are … let’s call them “cozy”. For reference, I’m a pipsqueak at a little over 5’7″ (all legs), and ~32 inch waist. Basically: short and skinny. The comp seats have adjustable side bolster supports, but even in the full “open”, they’re definitely there. I can feel them, along with the seat’s actual thigh supports. Not annoying or bothersome for me, but I could easily see if you’re larger around than I am, you might not be too happy in them for long periods of time. I’m glad they have harness slots because the first modification I’m going do to the car is install a Brey-Krause harness bar. In fact it’s sitting in my garage waiting for the fateful day I decide to take a knife to my interior. Heaven help both me and my car!
The “wall of buttons” that a lot folks have complained about are a non-issue. You don’t interact with them at all other than to set your temperature for the HVAC, and perhaps enable/disable the heating or ventilated seats. Driver and passenger have their own controls and both sets are easily reached and understood by their respective person. It looks odd, and that’s probably why most people who complain about it do so.
Down sides: I really think the passenger needs a properly attached, low, next to the seat, holy shit handle. There’s nothing there for the passenger to grab onto other than the door handle, which isn’t a comfortable or steady grab. GM missed here. Also if we include the Infotainment system as part of the interior (vs functionality or something), the Google-powered system is abysmal. It’s an absolute disaster, and the infotainment folks at GM need to be hanged by their pubic hairs in public for that one. I’m not bitter at all about it. Not one bit. Nope. It’s slow, kludgy, requires your car to be online somehow for various functionality, etc. It’s garbage and it’s a curse on all GM vehicles now, not just the Corvette. Hate. It. But so do the Corvette engineers.
Driving
So here’s the important section, really. I won’t go into the song the engine sings now that I’m past the 500 mile break-in. There are a plethora of YouTube videos out there that can do a much better job at that with audio demonstrations while revving or driving. This’ll just focus on the driving dynamics and feel on the road as I haven’t been to the track. Yet.
Yep, I followed the 500 mile break-in to the letter and number. I kept the tach below 6K until 500 miles, and then lit into it. I also swapped the super-sticky Cup2R tires out for a set of the E-ray’s runflat all-season tires for street driving. The Cups are still mounted on their OEM wheels and ready for track duty, but I wanted to drive on street-oriented tires when not tearing up Summit Point Raceway. I selected the all-seasons because I want to be able to drive this car ALL year, even in the winter, assuming no precip. The OEM PS4S tires are at risk of cracking when used in colder winter temperatures.
Break-in aside and keeping the tach in the ‘sane’ section, I still took some corners fast on the very first day of owning it. To me, happiness isn’t around the corner, happiness IS the corner. I have a collection of favorite cloverleaf corners not too far from me, and I went into the first one a bit delicately. I had it in Z mode, with all the settings cranked to TRACK mode. First corner, I took it easy in my new supercar, and it gobbled up the pavement like I was driving at 10MPH on a straight. No stress whatsoever, even though I was doing 55-60MPH around it. Hm. Ok. This sucker’s got some grip to it, even with the all-seasons. Next cloverleaf, I dropped it back to My Mode, which has everything in softer TOUR settings. I took this one faster, starting to smooch 70MPH or more and it’s then that the all-seasons started howling a bit. The PS4S tires, had I equipped those instead, would have been silent. As would the Cups. These all-seasons are louder, more audibly communicative, more progressive, but with lower overall grip.
After 500 miles of careful break-in on various side streets, limited access highways, and highways, I finally cracked it open. The scream is epic, as we all know. The thrust once the tach gets above 4K is also noticeable. It wants to pull and pull and pull all the way to 8600. This is in STARK contrast to ALL of my former GM high performance vehicles. I’ve never been a fan of gutless DOHC engines that need to rev to get their power. And I have to say it’s going to take me some time to really appreciate this one, too.
My preference is for torque NOW. Yesterday, even. I’m an engineer and I understand the mathematical benefit of revving an engine to snot and gone to get its power: you can take better advantage of gearing that way. There’s no argument with that. Historically though, while other cars were revving out and taking advantage of their gearing, I’d shift to 4th and pass them on the track like they were going backwards. IMHO there’s no better automotive power plant than the mighty mouse, AKA the chevy small block. But GM couldn’t get the power levels they wanted out of a small block, within their FE, emissions, and reliability envelop, without charging it somehow. And the guff they took for delivering a charged Z06 for the 7th gen was enough for them. It was NA or bust, and that meant a DOHC engine. The FPC just adds to the effect with its ultra lightweight, allowing the engine to hit its redline even quicker. As I said, this is going to take some getting used to.
The HTC is just.. Awesome. I’ve never been a convertible guy prior to this car, but assuming GM continues HTCs for future Corvettes, I’m convert’d. It’s so relaxing to be out in the car during the early evening hours, when the sun is getting lower and it’s less likely to bake me. My friend and I went out on a post-dinner, top down cruise after our long drive (see below) on Saturday night. She noted the same thing: it just felt good to be out there with the wind our hair but not being cooked by the sun. It’s louder in the cabin with the top down, of course, but we could converse without yelling.
Road-going
I’m separating this section out specifically because this past weekend I took it and my pretty lady friend on a nearly 200 mile trip around the middle, western, and northern parts of Virginia. A crude screen grab of GOOG maps here:
This trip was a great combination of highways, side streets, and limited access highways. The best and most focused part of the trip is in the southwestern section, VA’s Rt. 211 over the Shenendoah mountains. 211 is a gem of a road. Folks blither on online about the “tail of the dragon”. 211 puts it to shame, IMHO. Perhaps I’m biased given how close it is to me, but I’m a sucker for it. Two lanes up the mountain (one down), perfectly on-camber banked corners, some tight, others long sweepers. Because of a spate of deadly motorcycle accidents on the road at +100MPH, Rappahanock county, the county that owns that stretch of road, decided to drop the 45MPH speed limit to 35MPH. Let the logic of that set in for a moment…
We set off at around 11:30 Saturday morning and got to it. First stop on the nav system is the town of Sperryville, VA which is at the foot of the first mountain that 211 crosses. We didn’t actually stop there, it was just a waypoint to get me to the correct part of 211. From there it was up and over the mountain at speeds of… Wellll we’ll just say I might have been in reckless territory several times (in VA that’s +20 over any posted limit or 85MPH anywhere). I won’t confirm that though; no one saw me do it, so I didn’t do it. The car? Those corners were a joy and a joke. So much fun to take in the car, at speed, but if the car could talk to me it’d say, “is that it? Come on, man!” my passenger was not frightened, spooked, white-knuckled, or anything. She just sat there with a big grin on her face, enjoying the G-forces. But I had to behave because it was the end of the month, and we know cops would out looking for ticket-bait. On the way down the first mountain, we did happen upon another motorcycle accident. Taped and flared off, cops everywhere, no idea if the rider made it.
Into Luray, we stopped for fuel and a bio break, then off to the second mountain near New Market, VA. This one is posted at 55MPH (…) And nearly as fun as the first one. We cleared that one in no time, at much faster speeds, and way higher Gs. Giggling all the way. The car really just eats that stuff up without any complaints.
The rest of the trip was longer, flatter, highway sorts of driving until we got back home. Total trip time was around 4 hours. Some notes:
- The transmission when in auto and the cruise control on takes a few MPH drop before it downshifts to catch back up to the set speed. I don’t like that because it makes me as the driver less predictable to other drivers. So I manually downshift when I see a hill coming. I never needed to worry about that with any of my previous cars because even in their tallest gear, holding 70-75MPH over a mountain was cake.
- Comfortable. When we got home, the only comment from my navigator was that it was nice to stretch her legs; otherwise no issues with discomfort whatsoever. And to be clear: she did NOT get out of the car in Luray, only I did.
- I think I managed 19.2MPG at the best during the trip. That’s comically bad for a GM performance car; I’m used to mid-20s even from the 650HP Z06 in the C7 line. But such is life with all that rolling resistance.
Summary
I need 1500 miles total on the odo before it sees time at Summit Point Raceway, per the owners manual. GM will cover breakages at the track under warranty, but they won’t if you take the car there before 1500 miles. So best to just follow their rules. I also have to drop the car off at the body ship next Monday for its repair work. I have no idea AT ALL how long that’s going to take.
Overall I’m impressed. I’m happy to be back in a corvette, which is where I belong. There’s nothing at all wrong with my previous 5BW, and if I had the funds, I’d have both. But I simply do not have that kind of liquid. Also, I want the ZR1. No question I want it. Badly. But that will be at a price level that’s beyond my means. So like the 7th gen ZR1 when it released, it’ll be a source of envy in a good way.
More to come, once I get it out on track. Thanks for reading!
