#CorvetteZ06

The Corvette Z06 is often hailed as “America’s supercar” or the “supercar killer,” and much of the praise comes as a result of its relatively decent starting price. The 2023 Z06 has a starting MSRP of just $105,300, less than half the price of the cheapest Ferrari. With options and upgrades, it’s possible to push the price of a Z06 convertible past $160,000, but that’s only a fraction of one Illinois dealer’s asking price. Volo Auto Sales has a 2023 Corvette Z06 3LZ on sale for $375,000, more than 2.5 times the car’s $148,495 sticker price.

The 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is here.

And on paper, it appears to be bad-ass in ways worthy of the Z06 designation.

Chevrolet’s Corvette Z06 will be revealed in full on October 26. In advance of that, the brand has put out the first official image.

This follows a teaser video from July.

With the mid-engined C8 Corvette just weeks away from production, hype surrounding the model has died down. The same cannot be said for the Z06 variant, which is the next ‘Vette on Chevrolet’s performance docket. While current details remain scant, news arose this week of the car receiving a humongous rear spoiler.

Sources familiar with the project tell GM Authority that the wing will be exclusive to the Z06 (for now) and larger than the unit found on the C7 ZR1 (pictured below the break), though similar in its overall shape. It’s said to be reminiscent of the spoiler found on the Koenigsegg Agera RS, which is adaptive.

The wheelbase of a 2001 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is 104.5 inches. The wheelbase of a Jeep CJ-6 is 103.5 inches. Other than winning trivia night at the weirdest bar around, having that sort of knowledge isn’t typically useful. But for Texas enthusiast David Whitener, it yielded an incredibly weird and impossibly cool track toy, and it’s now up for auction at BringATrailer.com.

I’m not sure I’m brave enough or outgoing enough to drive this, but dropping 700 pounds from a C5-generation Z06 has to make it frighteningly quick.

Alright … here’s the deal. It’s the year 2007. You can buy one of the highest-performing automobiles ever sold to the general public for a relative bargain — let’s say $70,000. It’s possible that you will pay less, particularly if you have access to an employee pricing plan. Then you can put 30,000 to 40,000 miles on said car over the course of nine years. Maybe a bit more.

When it’s time to sell that car, how much would you expect to get?

Let’s put this in perspective. Last year, Acura won the Edmunds resale-value crowd with a projected retention of 47.6 percent after five years. So if you could match that, you’d be at $33,320. After five years. After nine years? Well, that’s anybody’s guess. But it would certain be less than $33,320. With that in mind, what would be a realistic number to get if you just tossed the thing on eBay? Fifteen grand? Twenty? Would you believe… between $38,000 and $45,000?

If you’re currently the owner of a sixth-generation Corvette Z06, the above scenario is no dream.

Two years of owner complaints and embarrassing media coverage forced Chevrolet to do something about the Corvette Z06’s overheating problems.

The automaker plans to dial down the engine temperature of 2017 models by installing a new hood with larger vents and a modified supercharger cover, hopefully ending the overheating warnings that plagued Z06 models that ventured onto the track.

When you bring your halo-of-halo sports cars to a competition to sort out the “Best Driver’s Car”, you definitely want to give it a new set of brake pads, make sure all the electrical connections are seated properly, and maybe — just maybe — not send a car that was offed in a previous comparison test.

But that’s just what Chevrolet did for this year’s edition of Motor Trend’s “Best Driver’s Car”, and it came back to bite the General — hard.

A few weeks ago, on this very collection of ones and zeroes, I asked the question, “Why Does The Public Accept Car Reviews From People Who Can’t Drive?” I got several responses from you, the B&B, that seemed to indicate that a car’s top-end performance abilities don’t really matter to you when buying a car and that you can determine everything that you need to know about a car’s performance on a test-drive loop. Therefore, many of you suggested that whether or not a person is a good driver should not be a qualifying characteristic of an automotive journalist, because you aren’t particularly interested in ever driving your car in a way that would test its limits.

Okay. Hey, it’s your opinion, and I respect you for it. I couldn’t agree with it less, but I still respect it.

However, if the public really believes that the pointy end of a car’s limits on track or a curvy road don’t matter, then why the heck do so many people buy the performance variants of cars?

Buying a new Corvette Z06 soon? Would you like to build its engine? Chevrolet has a plan to make that happen, if you got the cash and the time.