Been wanting to upgrade from my 5th gen. I'm so torn!!

[sscamaro]

Save some money. Just supercharge your car and get more HP than a 5th gen ZL1. My SS has 642 HP without a cam. See below.

[Stormcloak]

Depends what you want to do. Out of those 3 personally, I'd go with the newer 1LE, or try to swing a 6th gen Z06 (reserve some coin to get the valves sorted out).

[zr1chris]

Originally Posted by sscamaro

Save some money. Just supercharge your car and get more HP than a 5th gen ZL1. My SS has 642 HP without a cam. See below.

Looks like you got close to $20k in mods which I can get a ZL1 for that same $20k plus my trade. I'd rather get the stock ZL1 that I can count on being reliable rather than a car with tons of mods that are more likely to break or cause other things to break.

[gringo]

Originally Posted by zr1chris

Looks like you got close to $20k in mods which I can get a ZL1 for that same $20k plus my trade. I'd rather get the stock ZL1 that I can count on being reliable rather than a car with tons of mods that are more likely to break or cause other things to break.

It's a never ending senario though. You upgrade to a stock ZL1 and then you mod that for more power. After so many mods, it becomes just as unreliable as the SS with $20k in mods.

If you want "Toyota" reliability, you got to keep it mostly stock and be happy with the performance you have. However, for a lot of people, that's hard to do because they get used to the performance.

As the saying goes, you can never have enough power.

[zr1chris]

Originally Posted by gringo

It's a never ending senario though. You upgrade to a stock ZL1 and then you mod that for more power. After so many mods, it becomes just as unreliable as the SS with $20k in mods.

If you want "Toyota" reliability, you got to keep it mostly stock and be happy with the performance you have. However, for a lot of people, that's hard to do because they get used to the performance.

As the saying goes, you can never have enough power.

I haven't added any performance mods to my SS in 3.5 years. Pretty sure I'll be happy with the performance of the ZL1 as is. I want to be able to drive the car whenever I want, not have it sitting in the shop getting repairs and spending more money again.

[SecondZ28]

Originally Posted by sscamaro

Save some money. Just supercharge your car and get more HP than a 5th gen ZL1. My SS has 642 HP without a cam. See below.

ZL1 is not just a supercharger..

MG9 trans, 9.9" diff, MRC, 6-piston front brakes, aero..

Intake/pulley/tune has me sitting at 688 hp..

Originally Posted by zr1chris

Looks like you got close to $20k in mods which I can get a ZL1 for that same $20k plus my trade. I'd rather get the stock ZL1 that I can count on being reliable rather than a car with tons of mods that are more likely to break or cause other things to break.

This exactly.

[Aaron0731]

Originally Posted by SecondZ28

ZL1 is not just a supercharger..

MG9 trans, 9.9" diff, MRC, 6-piston front brakes, aero..

Intake/pulley/tune has me sitting at 688 hp..



This exactly.

Agree

[sscamaro]

Originally Posted by zr1chris

Looks like you got close to $20k in mods which I can get a ZL1 for that same $20k plus my trade. I'd rather get the stock ZL1 that I can count on being reliable rather than a car with tons of mods that are more likely to break or cause other things to break.

I did all the installing of my mods. Total cost for performance mods was $11,060. I have put 47K miles on it since the mods were added. Still runs like a charm and never had a problem.

[zr1chris]

Originally Posted by sscamaro

I did all the installing of my mods. Total cost for performance mods was $11,060. I have put 47K miles on it since the mods were added. Still runs like a charm and never had a problem.

Good deal in your case but I'm not a mechanic. I'd have no problem installing little stuff but a Supercharger and other things like that and id be in way over my head. For someone like me to do all the mods you did would still definitely be at least in the upper teens which still also gets me into a ZL1 if that's the route I choose.

[Taylortoons]

I really like the stripes on your ride. When I am done with my red phase and chrome my rims, I will prob go with your exact setup.

Regarding the car itself, I was looking for a ZL1 convertible 6 speed for quite a while, but couldn't find "the one". A friend of mine told me about GPI and I decided to build a car to my tastes (found a 2011 SS conv LS3 with 24k miles last April). I have about $20k in mods and my car sits in the garage more than anything else, but when she gets out, OMG, it's pure madness.

Looking back, I wouldn't have been happy with a ZL1 for very long before I wanted more power out of it. Good luck with your decision, but your car is badass the way it is and would be even more badass with some performance mods!

[zr1chris]

Thanks!

[gringo]

Originally Posted by zr1chris

I haven't added any performance mods to my SS in 3.5 years. Pretty sure I'll be happy with the performance of the ZL1 as is. I want to be able to drive the car whenever I want, not have it sitting in the shop getting repairs and spending more money again.

That is what you say now, but you will eventually want more. Trust me, that's how it works for gear heads and car enthusiasts like us. If you weren't either, you be driving some stupid Kia or something. As fast as the 5th gen ZL1 is, it could be faster or rather be made to "feel" faster.

The 5th gen ZL1 was prone to heatsoak in high ambient conditions. So, it will start to feel sluggish and not so fast in those situations. Then, you will start adding mods to mitigate it and the mod cycle will continue once again.

Go read some posts over on the 6th gen forum. The way they make it sound, the 5th gen ZL1 was slow and heavy. Of course, this perspective is coming from people who now own the 6th gen ZL1, but the perception is there.

If a person has to modifiy their SS with $20k worth of mods to meet their needs, they will undoubtably modify the ZL1 after they get used to it. With the 10sp autos coming in '19 for the regular LT1 SS's, you will need those "mods" just to keep up. Heck, the current 6th gen SS gives a 5th gen ZL1 a run for its money, as is. However, the 6th gen looks like a$$ compared to the 5th gen IMO, especially the gross update for '19. So, I'd have to stick with the better looking car and mod that up.

I could always drive a slower beautiful looking car (IMO), but never a fast ugly one. You can always make a slower car faster with enough money, but it's hard to fix ugly if it's in the basic design.

[zr1chris]

Originally Posted by gringo

That is what you say now, but you will eventually want more. Trust me, that's how it works for gear heads and car enthusiasts like us. If you weren't either, you be driving some stupid Kia or something. As fast as the 5th gen ZL1 is, it could be faster or rather be made to "feel" faster.

.

Like I said, I've had my SS for 3.5 years and the only things I ever wanted to do was intake and exhaust. Intake more to continue dressing up my engine bay and exhaust to make it sound better. If I gain performance too then it would have just been a win win.

I mainly want a car that is a manual, handles better and sounds better. If I can gain looks better and is faster too then that's great too. All 3 of the cars I have listed do all of the above and retain at least a higher value than the car I have currently. If I want a faster car in 3 years I'll probably just trade that car in for a faster one but at least my money this time around is going into a car that's worth more. If I dump a bunch of money into my current one, my car won't be worth more and to a dealer it'll probably be worth less.

[Royal Tiger]

I voted Corvette, and I still think it’s the best fit for your objectives.