ZL1 to Corvette 1 Year Report

[u00bgg2]

So Ii thought I would report back out to the group for those considering the change.

I traded the 2013 ZL1 in last year for a 2019 GS, the wife never like the Maro and frankly as a result would only travel with me in it if we were taking the highway on a longer type trip. This bothered me as I actually like my wife and enjoy her company.

So I was able to find a vette that was in my price range, color I wanted, options I liked and the wife really liked it.

So did the deal and I will tell you it is fun but not in the same way. I am 50 or so years old, grew up in small town america with most kids wanting a muscle car. I was fortunate to have a few in my youth and the Gen5 ZL1 to me is in that category. It was just fun, not the classiest car on the road but did most everything well and was just a ton of fun.

The vette is cool, but it is not the same. I enjoy driving it, does everything well but just does not have the "get stupid factor" that I enjoy.

But the real big difference that I have noticed is the owners. I grew up with corvettes, my dad easily owned 30 in his life and passed away owning a 65 and a 66. His group were average guys who liked cars and wanted to have fun with them. The Corvette group spends more time worrying about what plastic trinket they are going to install next. I have never seen more posts on a forum complaining about little nick nack shit that means nothing, get out there and do something with your car, drive that thing.

So I will tell you that the people on this forum, specifically this sub are folks I like be around. You guys do a great job of supporting one another and actually having some fun with the car and doing with it what it was intended to do.

So before I get T Bagged here, I am not bitching about the car per say, I know what I am stating is a first world issue, and means nothing in the grand scheme. I like cars, I like people who like cars and I was just surprised by the over all attitude shift from one make (same brand) to another.

I still read this forum from time to time, and would eventually like to get back into a ZL1 some day but in the mean time you guys keep doing what your doing.

Brian

[Bigtime53]

Glad you came back and gave us your thoughts on the vette. I to have had 3-4 corvettes earlier also. I myself like the ZL1 more than a corvette but I will admit I sure would rather have one of the last vettes with the motor up front than what is offered now. I just do not like the looks of the new ones. I guess a word to the wise is if your looking for a sports car you better start thinking of getting one now cause in 5 more years everything it sounds like is going to be electric and the rumble of the ol gas engine will no longer be made in cars anyway. I hope that really don't happen!!

[Lou gill]

I was at wedding this summer, walking in a 20’s year old guy stopped and looked at my ZL1 convertible and said,”Dude I would drive that car, I said it’s a great ride, he said yea you should have a corvette, I said no way, he said yea corvettes are for old men”. I am 56!

[12oclockshadow]

I've had several camaros and did own one 2007 Z06 stock. So what the poster is saying about the corvette thing I totally get it. The Vette is a nice drivers car but I have gotten way more excited to drive my ZL1 even when it was stock. The Camaro just gives me this itch to drive it more. Also my wife hated the Corvette and loves the ZL1

[ariZona28]

I just recently picked up a modified C5 Z06. It's kinda beastly to drive, throws codes now and then, needs a little maintenance but it IS fun. I get thumbs up everytime I pass a local golf course. My Z/28 is all original, hauls ass and is very comfortable while doing so. I really LIKE the Z06 but I LOVE the Z/28.

[Kevin C-ZL1]

I agree with everything said previously. My ZL1 is my first Camaro and I am thrilled with it. It brings back the muscle car feel from the old days. I'm hoping to get my hands on a 5th Gen Z28 in the next year or so.
I have owned Corvettes for the last forty years, most -6-- were 427/435hp cars and they were a blast to drive, but also a lot of work to own and maintain. I had to buy my gas at a local airport to get the octane I needed. I still have a 1969 L89 I bought in 1979.
I think the thing that drove me away from Corvettes was the change in the people who were owning them. Forty years ago, it was folks who spun a wrench on them and were regular people. Now it's mostly people who are "look at me in my Corvette" types, trying to out do the next guy. I don't mix well with those folks.
Just my opinion, but I like the old school brutishness of the ZL1.

[2013ZL1FUN]

I can relate to that, Kevin C-ZL1!

[Bigtime53]

Originally Posted by Kevin C-ZL1

I agree with everything said previously. My ZL1 is my first Camaro and I am thrilled with it. It brings back the muscle car feel from the old days. I'm hoping to get my hands on a 5th Gen Z28 in the next year or so.
I have owned Corvettes for the last forty years, most -6-- were 427/435hp cars and they were a blast to drive, but also a lot of work to own and maintain. I had to buy my gas at a local airport to get the octane I needed. I still have a 1969 L89 I bought in 1979.
I think the thing that drove me away from Corvettes was the change in the people who were owning them. Forty years ago, it was folks who spun a wrench on them and were regular people. Now it's mostly people who are "look at me in my Corvette" types, trying to out do the next guy. I don't mix well with those folks.
Just my opinion, but I like the old school brutishness of the ZL1.

Neither do I!!

[Annatar]

Originally Posted by u00bgg2

But the real big difference that I have noticed is the owners. I grew up with corvettes, my dad easily owned 30 in his life and passed away owning a 65 and a 66. His group were average guys who liked cars and wanted to have fun with them. The Corvette group spends more time worrying about what plastic trinket they are going to install next. I have never seen more posts on a forum complaining about little nick nack shit that means nothing, get out there and do something with your car, drive that thing.

And with that observation, you have crossed deep into the Venn diagram where sociology, psychology and anthropology intersect. Paul Fussel, a professor of English literature at university of Pennsylvania and a specialist in cultural history, discussed the subject at length in his Class: a guide through the American status system. GM themselves have worked towards elevating and engineering the Corvette away from the perception of cheap muscle for the proletariat to a machine capable of competing with the likes of Lamborghini, McLaren or a Ferrari, as became quite evident with the C7 and now the C8.

When I bought my ZL1, I bought it after watching a fellow colleague, the chief engineer of the Camaro team at GM give thorough presentations on the engineering his team did to make the vehicle into a do-it-all track weapon, and as my goal was to get into (semi)professional racing, there was an overlap (not to mention that GM is a long standing customer of a company where I previously worked at). I bought my ZL1 for what a car enthusiast would buy and own such a car, and I never expected to meet anyone else who owned such a thing here: I figured it would be a lonely life. At the time, because of my background and experience I worked in a shall we say cliche industry, so every morning as I'd stop at the traffic light, I'd be surrounded by high-end models of Maseratis, Porsches, Ferraris, Bentleys and Lamborghinis. One would look inside those cars and be blinded by the expensive, brand name White shirts and ties which alone costs thousands, and watches starting at $30,000 and easily climbing into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I never told this to anybody and the only reason I'm writing it now is because we are anonymous in this context, but it gave me a tremendous amount of personal satisfaction deep down, that I drove a lowly ZL1 for a 1/10th of the price they paid while having the same or higher amount of performance, looking better than their cars and being basically an unbreakable, bullet proof vehicle. A bonus on top of that was that those guys, down to a fault, would be hard pressed to show one what the major components of their super and hyper cars were, let alone work on them themselves, while I happily wrenched away on my Chevy and knew what serial defects were in the design before I had even bought it.

To them, the car was an ostentatious way of displaying their self-perceived power and success and nothing more; to me, my ZL1 was and remains a source of joy.

Imagine my shock, then, when I discovered that there is a huge community of U. S. car fans in the country where I live, but, as I'd discover soon thereafter, the class which was supposed to be a purely American thing seems to have seeped into the community here: mostly plumbers, heat technicians, Blue collar workers who had worked all their life, now in their 50's and 60's drove these cars. These were their mid-life crisis measures of dealing with it, showing to the rest of the world that they too had made it.

I said nothing and kept my observations to myself. Enthusiasts - yes, but all they talked about was more horsepower; I'd listen to a guy go on for ten minutes about all the modifications, but when I'd ask him

"and with the speed cameras everywhere, the fines we have, losing your license and the car getting permanently confiscated, where will you ever be able to feel and use all that horsepower, are you taking your car to the race track?"

it would stop the show in its tracks immediately. So different layer of society, but same as the ultra-rich guys in expensive White shirts, ties and watches.

The Corvette owners tended to also be older guys, but with one crucial difference: they were all self-made men, entrepreneurs. Started out as regular workers, made a small size company out of it. Although I didn't observe this myself, I was told by the other guys in the community that the Corvette owners looked down on them. Corvette owners liked to discuss the upgrades their vehicle possessed, but when I'd ask them whether they did it themselves, the answer so far, 100% of the time has been: "no, I had it done by a shop". That tells me everything I wanted or needed to know. I was still very much alone in my enthusiasm. To be fair to the Corvette guys, they have far more balls then the pony car owners here, as a good number of them took or takes their Corvettes to the race track, whereas the Camaro owners here just talk and talk about the modifications and the horsepower, but when the push comes to shove, they don't have the balls to take their cars to the race track.

I guess what I want to say is that my observations align with yours, and that with what GM has done with the brand, your observations are consistent with Corvette moving upwards in the social layers, so to say. It all makes sense (at least to me).

One thing I want to touch upon is the community here, which in my experience, as limited as it might be, has transcended a car community and feels like a big family, there to support one with good, useful advice and a kind word when one needs that little extra "pick-me-up". It's amazing and wonderful.

[Robmnrd]

The thing I'm most surprised to read in this thread is that the OP's wife did not enjoy riding in the ZL1... my GF genuinely loves it. The seats are arguably the most comfortable I (we) have ever sat in, the suspension (especially in tour) is lovely on all but the roughest roads, and the butter smooth speed changes (when not hot-rodding around) make everything so "easy". My GF falls asleep literally every time we take a ride in it that lasts more than 30 minutes.

Like any car enthusiast I watch autotrader and other car selling websites constantly for new/great deals to pop up, and a C7 Z06 for the right price would honestly probably supplant all of my current vehicle-plans, mod-plans, etc... but I do worry I may lose some of the DD-enjoyment factor... Which sounds weird given the "refinement" of the vette, but getting in the ZL1 every day and either just cruising or joy-riding (depending on situation) works so well. This thread kind of adds to that bit of doubt.

Edit:
Also, the 5th gen ZL1 (especially in certain color schemes) is in my opinion considerably cooler and more aggressive looking than essentially all other modern American muscle/sport cars. So getting to look at that menacing machine every day is pretty cool...

[Annatar]

That doesn't surprise me in the least and is anecdotally consistent with my own experiences: not a single female I had in the car cared about it, but they were all, down to a fault, gaga about Corvettes and Porsches.

Women love round cars, and the Corvette has that something aesthetically pleasing to women. A ZL1 is too aggressive looking, which is appealing to men and in my sojourns totally uninteresting to women.

I've also gotten comments that the pedals and the transmission are too hard when driving it from women having driven one. Again all of them preferred soft, smooth shifting manuals and light pedal feel, down to a fault.

While I disagree with their feedback and find it undeservedly harsh, I have to admit that I'd gladly own a seven-speed manual C7 ZR1 in addition to my ZL1, if it were currently not for other priorities.

[Limelight]

This thread was of particular interest to me as I am relatively new to my 2013 ZL1 which I got last June and enjoyed for 5 months before going into storage.

I debated purchasing several other cars, including the Lexus RCF before deciding on the ZL1. I haven’t looked back and am so glad I chose the ZL1 as it was exactly what I was looking for in my first muscle car/summer toy experience.

Funny comments re: females. I always use the term “sexy” when describing the Z and my wife disagrees. She says the car isn’t sexy - it’s manly and aggressive. She thought the RCF is sexy. Like others, she finds the Z very comfortable and gets sleepy when we go for cruises together and I’m not driving aggressively.

My brother in law picked up a stunning loaded 2017 GS Vette convertible last fall although I will agree it’s an overall more attractive vehicle, I enjoy the driving experience of the Z more. The Vette sounded great and felt more upscale obviously but the driving experience felt somewhat muted to me even in sport mode with paddles. I was completely comfortable and never felt like it was trying to kill me. I wanted something aggressive, raw and very quick - and the Camaro fits that bill perfectly.

It’s human nature to second guess major purchases and it’s reassuring to know that others with far more experience with other cars and brands than myself have consistently valued the ZL1. It says something when people leave the Z for more expensive or exotic machines but come back to it or miss owning it. I plan on keeping mine for a very long time.

[JBZL1]

Limelight, you nailed it, sometimes I feel like my ZL1 is trying to kill me!!! Having owned it for 6 years now it still scares the crap out of me !!

[Maro_89]

Originally Posted by Limelight

This thread was of particular interest to me as I am relatively new to my 2013 ZL1 which I got last June and enjoyed for 5 months before going into storage.

I debated purchasing several other cars, including the Lexus RCF before deciding on the ZL1. I haven’t looked back and am so glad I chose the ZL1 as it was exactly what I was looking for in my first muscle car/summer toy experience.

Funny comments re: females. I always use the term “sexy” when describing the Z and my wife disagrees. She says the car isn’t sexy - it’s manly and aggressive. She thought the RCF is sexy. Like others, she finds the Z very comfortable and gets sleepy when we go for cruises together and I’m not driving aggressively.

My brother in law picked up a stunning loaded 2017 GS Vette convertible last fall although I will agree it’s an overall more attractive vehicle, I enjoy the driving experience of the Z more. The Vette sounded great and felt more upscale obviously but the driving experience felt somewhat muted to me even in sport mode with paddles. I was completely comfortable and never felt like it was trying to kill me. I wanted something aggressive, raw and very quick - and the Camaro fits that bill perfectly.

It’s human nature to second guess major purchases and it’s reassuring to know that others with far more experience with other cars and brands than myself have consistently valued the ZL1. It says something when people leave the Z for more expensive or exotic machines but come back to it or miss owning it. I plan on keeping mine for a very long time.

Is your ZL1 and your brother in law's C7 grand sport both stock? Have you both ever raced each other for giggles? If so how did the two cars do against each other?