[Ghost Rider 72]

Would like some opinions from you guys. Looking into getting a ZL1 (or a hellcat,dont throw rocks) for a weekend cruiser and toy. Are these pretty reliable and not some money pit for maintenance and repairs excluding doing mods?
I understand insurance, tires,gas. Not gonna run on track, just cruise and the occasional showing off. Curious as to the dependability of the power train.

[Xelor]

Try to locate a 2022 ZL1. According to GM Performance director of race operations the 2022 ZL1 is the best ever built.
Good Luck in your search

[JohnT]

I have a 2022 ZL1 1LE with just around 1,000 miles on it. No problems, no issues and love the car thus far. I am 6'3" and the car fits me just fine.
the only problem is that it draws a lot of attention being Wild Cherry Tintcoat in color and having Corsa Extreme Cat Back exhaust.

[gpskinzhut]

Have a lightly used '17 that, aside from the oil pump, has been my favorite fair-weather daily I've ever owned. Just tipped 20k. Got it in Jan with 14k on it. Been driving the piss out of her.

[SATINSTEEL1LE]

Ive owned both HC and two ZL1's. The ZL1's are rock solid cars. They are not tuned to an inch of their lives from the factory. They are very reliable, dont require some ridiculous oil weight and love to be beaten. The ZL1 was designed around its chassis and everything has been massaged to work with it.

The Hellcat on the other hand is a dodge. You are basically buying a badass power train shoe horned into a rental car chassis. They overpower their terrible stock tires at anything up to 60 MPH. They require a very expensive oil change. They are shit on gas. They also have 16 spark plugs and they are very expensive to replace.

I had a laundry list of issues with my 21 HC charger. It had several QC problems, a severe fueling problem and many other issues that I had to live with like paint runners on the edge of panels and interior QC problems.

The ZL1 I only had one issue with so far. The rear view mirror camera stopped working, dealer replaced mirror and its fine again.

[SATINSTEEL1LE]

Originally Posted by Xelor

Try to locate a 2022 ZL1. According to GM Performance director of race operations the 2022 ZL1 is the best ever built.
Good Luck in your search

I wouldnt agree with this at all. The 21 would be.

The 22 is a covid model. Meaning they are built by a skeleton crew of temp workers brought in to replace very expensive and seasoned workers that were early retired when Covid shutdowns happened.

Then there's the parts. MFRs around the world have had to lower their QC standards to allow more stock to circulate supply chains. A part that would normally fail QC for whatever reason, are now being allowed to ship due to lowering standards. Its the only way parts for electronics and autos and all other industries are able to make it to final assembly while we are still trying to catch up with supply chain interruption from Covid shutdowns.

Any car you buy from the end of 21 through end of 23 MY or even 24 I would consider a "friday car" or covid car. They will all have compromised parts and quality to some degree. The longevity of these cars/electronics and so on will be quite a bit less in the long run. There are car forums I visit of other brands where people are seeing more OBF or out of box failure of parts like fuel pumps and various modules and so on. Something that you'd never or very rarely see being bad at any point in a car's life. Or at least well down the road. Not within 1000 miles.

Sorry to say but any car you buy since the shortages and shutdowns have started, will likely be of less quality than the previous model years. This is a sad truth. I see it in the computer industry as well. Premature failure of parts that you wouldnt see in 10 years. Power supplies, CPUs, drives, motherboards you name it.

[L99BEN]

Originally Posted by Ghost Rider 72

Would like some opinions from you guys. Looking into getting a ZL1 (or a hellcat,dont throw rocks) for a weekend cruiser and toy. Are these pretty reliable and not some money pit for maintenance and repairs excluding doing mods?
I understand insurance, tires,gas. Not gonna run on track, just cruise and the occasional showing off. Curious as to the dependability of the power train.

I owned both the Hellcat and ZL1 a10.

To me the Hellcat was the more comfortable, practical, daily cruiser and the ZL1 was more of the weekend, track car. Neither have great visibility but the charger/challenger are easier to see out of and feel roomier inside. Both generally dependable modded or stock, though there can be sporadic issues with either. I did have a weird fuel system issue in my ZL1 with only 800 miles which required a tow. If you get a used Hellcat be aware of the common supercharger failures pre 2018 (crappy supercharger bearings). Both can be modded to be pretty fast though the the Hellcat make power easier. The ZL1 is much more track ready from the factory and around superior performer. Both have similar straight line performance (the ZL1 may even be a bit quicker) on paper but the Hellcat felt faster and more exciting accelerating imo.

If I were to get another ZL1 it'd me a manual vert or ZLE for the weekend/track.
You sound like more of a hellcat person to me. I'd recommend thoroughly test driving both to see which suits you the most.

[hawk02]

I will have owned my ‘17 ZL1 for six years come November. The only problem in those six years was a bad bearing on the supercharger idler pulley which was replaced under warranty. I did burp air out of the intercooler last week. I thought after 6 years that might be a good idea. Otherwise, it’s been oil changes and gasoline.

[ZX-10R]

Originally Posted by Xelor

According to GM Performance director of race operations the 2022 ZL1 is the best ever built.

Huh? It's essentially identical to a '19

[Blackbyrd]

Have an 18 with 55k currently its new to me, bought it in April.
And I've put about 2k on it.

Love the platform, and I came from a 06 GTO so definitely improvement in interior. No issues thus far other then cosmetics. I don't put a lot of miles on a car, this year has been an exception oddly.

I'm curious tk see if there are maintenance items folks mention. I didn't come across anything and I had concerns buying one with high ish miles.

[PowerDemon]

Took delivery of mine a couple weeks ago. I’m sitting at 590 miles so far and did my first engine and diff oil change at 500 miles. I absolutely love the car so far. It drives much more like a sports car than a muscle car. Good luck with your purchase

[ZLE dude]

I've owned my 2018 ZLE since new. 40,000 miles later and aside from regular oil changes, zero issues.

[USAFS197]

So, a lot of the responses you see above are inherently correct about the issues or lack thereof. However, you also have to ask yourself what you're looking for in the car, as far as driving experience goes. I've owned a Hellcat Redeye, a C7 Z06 and a ZL1 1LE. They are all very different but, the two GM platforms are very buttoned down and feel more like a serious machine. The Hellcat felt like a heavy weight cruiser that had more acceleration than it knew what to do with and some woefully disappointing brakes to accompany all that power.

But, it was significantly more roomy and comfortable than either GM car was. Both the Z06 and the ZL1 have a cockpit experience. You sit inside one and you're highly focused on the driving experience. Whereas with the Hellcat, it's more than just a heavy weight cruiser. It's also a comfortable and capable family sedan, too.

[Gunkk]

Originally Posted by Ghost Rider 72

Looking into getting a ZL1 (or a hellcat,dont throw rocks) for a weekend cruiser and toy. Are these pretty reliable and not some money pit for maintenance and repairs excluding doing mods?

Yes they are dependable as mistress cars, at least as much as hellcats, if not more.