I am a current C8 Z51 Stingray owner who has been dying to get into a Z06 to try. I happened to find one available locally on Turo and figured spending a day in a Z06 would be a good way to spend my Thanksgiving weekend.

The Z06 I rented is a 1LT convertible while I own a 2LT Coupe. I personally find that many Corvette owners have a hard time writing detailed accounts of the differences between the two cars so this particular post will have LOTS of detail and will be a long read. The big question I am trying to answer is if the Z06 is enough of an upgrade over the C8 Z51. To save you the long read, the answer is a resounding yes.

Here is also a picture of the car in question: https://imgur.com/Eik50UF

As a reference point I’ve also spent a considerable amount of time in the following cars: V8 Audi R8, Audi TTRS, C5 Corvette Coupe, C7 Corvette Grand Sport, C8 Corvette Z51, Chevy Camaro V6, Lotus Elise, Lotus Evora N/A, Lotus Evora 400, Ford Focus RS, Alfa Romeo 4C, Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifolgio, Tesla Model 3 Performance, Porsche Taycan 4S, Porsche Taycan Turbo, 718 Cayman Base, 997.2 911 Turbo, Mercedes AMG GT.

Power:

To be honest I am a little disappointed with the power in the C8 Stingray. Now don’t get me wrong the Stingray is objectively a very quick car. However I daily drive a Model 3 Performance and am just addicted to the instant torque it provides. So in comparison to the Model 3 Performance the C8 Stingray feels like its lacking a little “umph” even though the Stingray is objectively quicker than the Model 3 performance. The other thing I’ll note about the C8 Stingray is the engine sound is almost a little too quiet from within the cabin. On the exterior the Stingray actually sounds pretty dang good, but from within the car it just doesn’t have the volume or raw emotion that previous generations of Corvettes used to have within the cabin.

The Z06 basically solves every issue I have with the Stingray’s power characteristics.

Now everyone describes the Z06 as being a fairly “peaky” car where you have to get it higher in the rev ranges to really feel it pull. While this is generally true, I found that the Z06 feels much more responsive than the Stingray at virtually any kind of throttle input. For instance, I feel like the Stingray has a throttle map which very much manages torque until you’re at certain speed and then the car really starts to wake up. However this throttle map makes the Stingray feel a bit sluggish off the line and the torque curve of the Stingray just doesn’t warrant really revving the car out.

The Z06 in comparison feels like it’s instantly wanting to move, even at low RPM’s, and as you burry your foot into the throttle the power just builds and builds and builds all the way to redline. I also want to note that the torque curve on the Z06, though technically more peaky compared to the Stingray, is still very broad. I often found myself feeling like I was getting plenty of torque at say 6,000RPM which is still way below redline. A peaky torque curve is something more akin to my old Elise where the torque was had from 6200 rpm to 8500rpm and it was completely gutless everywhere below. So if you’re worried about torque on the Z06, don’t be. It’s insanely responsive and wants to pull you all the way to redline.

The only real “con” I found with the Z06’s torque curve is if you’re in a high gear and are below about 3500RPM. It feels like the car kind of has a hard time pulling itself out of those low RPMs and you don’t feel like there’s tons of power being generated. In contrast the Stingray feels like it basically always has a little “grunt” down low. However this “con” with the Z06 is only noticed if you’re doing stupid things in manual mode. The automatic shifting logic basically always keeps you in a very responsive rev range, and in manual mode you naturally feel inclined to keep the car in higher RPMs, it’s not something you have to think about.

To give some objective measures on the power differences. A 2nd gear wide open throttle pull on the Stingray is typically good for about .6G. On the Z06 a wide open throttle pull at 2nd gear is good for .7G. But what I will note is the pulls on the Z06 at every gear just felt much faster, much harder and much more satisfying. Highway pulls on the Stingray can sometimes feel a little lack luster or sluggish, while the Z06 feels perfectly rapid on the highway. As I said earlier the Stingray has me looking at my Tesla and wondering if ICE cars truly do deserve their death. To me the Z06 leaves very little to be desired in terms of speed, acceleration, etc.

The Z06 very much feels like you’re always riding this wave of rapid acceleration and how you use your throttle and gear shifting determines just how that wave crescendos. It’s a hard feeling to describe, but the car has much more of an immediacy and rapidness to everything it wants to do compared to the Stingray.

The transmission between the two cars feels insanely different to me. At low speeds the Z06 tends to slip its clutch much longer than the Stingray does. Under normal driving conditions, the shifts on the Z06 generally felt smoother compared to the shifts on the Stingray. I’m not sure if that’s just my 2021 being an earlier model and the 2023 Z06 being a little more refined as a result, or if the engine characteristics of the Z06 somehow allow for smoother shifts. Both the Stingray and Z06 give a shift “shove” when up-shifting under heavy throttle load. However the shoves on the Z06 are MUCH stronger and more pronounced. I once had a shift shove from the Z06 cause the traction control light to come on because it was so forceful. The Stingray’s shift shoves are still very gratifying, but nowhere near as strong. In short the transmission works great between both cars, but the Z06 feels like it somehow has much more personality in its shifts while also being much smoother when you want it to be smoother.

Exhaust sound is lightyears apart between these two cars. The Z06 feels like it is easily twice and half times as loud as the Stingray in both the interior and exterior. The engine note in the Z06 is sublime and sounds MUCH better in person than what you may gleam from a YouTube clip. The big thing is you can very much feel the sound of the Z06 when you experience it in person and the whole thing sounds much, much more impressive. Somehow with the way the Z06’s cabin is designed it feels like you’re perpetually driving through a tunnel and you’re just constantly hearing these amazing exhaust notes, reverberations, bangs and burbles, just bouncing everywhere. This is the most intoxicating car sound I’ve personally experienced.

Interestingly I find touring in the Stingray to be too quiet, and I basically only drive the car around in track exhaust. With the Z06, track exhaust can legitimately get a little too loud. So sport exhaust mode becomes much more of a viable option, and the car actually has a really nice blend of quietness and personality in touring mode. I found the Z06’s exhaust to be so rambunctious in sport and track exhaust modes that I’d instantly turn it to “tour” mode whenever I saw a cop nearby or even when I started driving around in heavier traffic because I was legitimately fearful of folks getting upset at me.

I will also say that the Z06 sounds and feels like it is going insanely fast without actually going insanely fast. I find this by and large to be a good thing, as feeling fast is generally more important than actually being fast on a public road. However I am also a little fearful that a Cop may pull you over for going say 8mph over, but you may be treated as if you were going 30mph because of how load and aggressive the exhaust is.

There’s some folks that complain about the Z06’s exhaust being droney at highway speeds. I found that tour was perfectly pleasant. Sport and track exhaust modes could get perceived as droney, but it wasn’t an unbearable sound by any means. The Z06 also has a “stealth” exhaust mode that’s very quiet and can help keep things even quieter at highway speeds. In short, I don’t think you really have to worry about highway drone with the Z06 if you’re using your modes appropriately.

All in all, the Z06 very much delivers the missing “oomph” in power delivery that I felt like my Stingray lacked. As someone who very much likes EV torque, I just can’t see anyone being dissatisfied with the Z06’s power delivery. After driving a Z06 my Tesla Model 3 performance felt slow. After driving a Stingray my Tesla Model 3 performance feels fast. So to me the power differential perceived speed are all legitimate wins for the Z06 by a margin that I wasn’t quite expecting.

Handling:

One thing a lot of reviewers commented about is how the Z06’s suspension is decidedly firmer almost on the verge of being too harsh to live with day to day.

In contrast the Stingray is probably the best riding sports car you can get at the moment and I’ve had absolutely no qualms with the Stingray’s suspension.

I’ve personally found the Z06’s suspension to be great and perfectly livable on the streets. Yes the car is a little more willing to bounce and respond to the road, but the ride does not at all feel harsh to me. I’d characterize “Tour” in the Z06 to be somewhere between “Touring” and “Sport” in the Stingray. And I’d say “Sport” in the Z06 is somewhere between “Sport” and “Track” in the Stingray. To extrapolate on this, in the Z06 you could legitimately have your suspension in “Tour” and still enjoy some great performance driving. In the Stingray “Tour” can feel a little too soft so you almost always have to be in at least sport if you are driving spiritedly.

For the extra suspension stiffness the Z06 feels much more willing to respond to steering inputs (not that the Stingray isn’t very willing to respond to steering inputs already) and you do get the sensation that the Z06 is just a bit more “alive” and “responsive” than the Stingray is. What I did notice after driving the cars back to back is the Stingray’s steering transmits a bit more natural road feedback and the brakes on the Stingray actually feel slightly more natural to modulate. I have to assume in both cases this is because the Z06 has bigger wheels and brakes and just needs a little more electronic boost to manage everything. Likewise since the Stingray is a little more softly sprung I felt like it settled into and flowed with the road a little more naturally. So in a sense the Z06 is a more “alive” and “responsive” car but the Stingray actually gives you a little bit more of a connected more natural feeling with the road. However I want to emphasize that I personally think the people that are like “oh steering feel and connectedness is really what matters most” are full of bullshit (I used to own an Elise so I know what good steering feel and connectedness feels like) and I’ll straight up say that the Z06 has the better suspension to experience.

Overall handling characteristics between the Stingray and Z06 felt generally similar. Turn in felt comparable, with the Z06 offering a little more immediacy and grip. Both cars felt similarly planted and handled mid corner bumps well. In a sense, you can drive the Z06 with the exact same driving style that you would a Stingray and the Z06 will basically behave the same, it will just feel like a slightly stiffer more responsive car.

Interestingly I found that the Z06’s large front tires did very little tram-lining and I have yet to encounter the Ackerman effect with the vehicle. Tram lining was fairly common in my C7 Grandsport with similarly sized front tires and I very much encountered the Ackerman effect with that vehicle. So I am not exactly sure how GM managed to get those large front tires to behave so well, but it’s a legitimate win with the Z06.

Even though the Z06 wide body is a few inches wider the car did not feel significantly bigger or more unwieldy than the Stingray. I drove the Z06 through a fairly tight canyon road and had to make no adjustments compared to my Stingray in terms of driving style, overall sense of size, etc. If anything because the Z06’s steering feels a little more boosted I find it a little bit easier to manage at lower speeds or with more aggressive turning angles.

I did not get too deep into the brakes with the Z06 but it feels like there is even more stopping power available with the car and I found myself not needing to go quite as deep into the brake pedal to get the car to slow down. Braking on the Stingray is already phenomenal.

There are a few turns that I take with pretty high speeds in the Stingray and I was able to take those turns with much more speed/confidence in the Z06. In particular I have a sharp right hand turn into my neighborhood coming off a road that has a 65 mph speed limit. It is one of those turns where you need to carry as much speed as possible to not have someone traveling 65 mph slam into you, but because it’s a hairpin into a neighborhood, you can’t send it TOO much.

On this particular turn the Stingray performs very well, but has a tendency to have the front end wash out a bit if the speed is too high. With the Z06 I was able to carry a very high level of speed and still maintain control of the front end without the car wanting to wash out whatsoever.

All in all I would say the handling characteristics between the two cars feels like a less distinct difference than the power delivery between the two vehicles. This is more of a testament to the Stingray already being a phenomenal handler, with more capabilities than you would ever need on the road. The Z06 essentially takes those very same handling characteristics and heightens the feeling of responsiveness while also raising the overall grip levels even higher. I personally prefer the suspension on the Z06 as I think it makes for a much more exciting car to be in. But it’s not like the Stingray is not already a phenomenal handler. I do want to emphasize that even though the Z06 is stiffer, the suspension is never harsh or unbearable. For instance there were times where the Z06 felt more comfortable than my Model 3 performance.

It’s possible that Z07 equipped Z06’s have even stiffer springs and that could be what journalists are referring to. But for a plain Jane Z06 without Z07, the suspension stiffness is not at all the negative that some people have it cracked up to be.

1LT/Convertible VS 2LT/Coupe:

This is my first time in an 1LT equipped C8 and also my first time in a C8 convertible. I previously rented an 3LT Stingray and my current Stingray is a 2LT Coupe. So I’ve basically experienced every seat option, and trim option you can in a Corvette.

The good news is basically every Corvette trim and seat option is great! I was a little worried about the1LT feeling a little too “basic” since it is down on quite a bit of technology compared to an 2LT and 3LT but I actually did not mind being in a 1LT as much as I thought it would. Here are the main differences that stood out to me.

Though the 1LT has a “worse” sound system I personally did not notice too much of a difference between the 10 speaker system in the 1LT and the 14 speaker system in my 2LT. I literally drove both cars at the same volume with the same playlist playing and had a hard time picking up a major difference between the sound systems. I think the 2LT system has a little more mid-range base present, but it’s not noticeable enough that I think it should sway any buying decision.

Material quality between the 1LT and 2LT is basically the same. While the 3LT materials are nicer, they’re not SO much nicer that you feel like you’re missing out if you’re in an 1LT or 2LT.

The Z06 has the GT1 seats, which I personally do not like the look of, but I’ve found them to be perfectly comfortable to sit in and they honestly feel comparable to the GT2 seats in my 2LT Stingray. I also was in a 3LT with the competition bucket seats. While the competition bucket seats are cool, they’re a little too tight and aggressive in my opinion. So for me personally I’m a fan of the GT2 bucket seats because I think they look cooler, however the GT1 seats feel pretty comparable to me and they kind of came around on me the more I spent time in the Z06. So I don’t think you can pick a bad seat option in the C8.

The 1LT does not have heated or ventilated seats which is a bit of a bummer. However the Z06 ends up being so visceral and engaging that I was probably more okay not having these in the car than I would be if I was in a 1LT Stingray.

The 1LT also does not have a wireless charger in the rear pocket behind the seats. However I leave my phone in that back pocket every other time I am in my Stingray. So I think having a phone mount more upfront with a normal charging cable is a low-key blessing in disguise with the 1LT.

The big omission between the 1LT and 2LT is the lack of blind spot detection and front camera system. I personally found that the blind spot detection takes all of the drama out of having mid-engine blind spots and the front camera system makes parking a whole lot less stressful. If there’s a reason to spring for the 2LT it would specifically be for the blind spot detection system in my eyes.

Another item to note is the front lift system cannot be specced with the 1LT trim. While I don’t think the front lift system is essential in the Stingray, with the Z06 the front fascia hangs a bit lower and can be easier to scrape on driveways. So I would recommend trying to get a front lift with a Z06.

One other item I noticed is the 1LT does not have auto-tilt mirrors to help with parking like that 2LT has (at least that I could find).

So in short if your Z06 is a weekend only car, and you want to use it mainly as a point A to point A vehicle. A 1LT may actually be perfectly fine to live with. You have enough options to keep you properly comfortable while making the price point a bit more accessible. You basically just sacrifice everything that makes parking and preventing an accident easier. However if you plan to spend more considerable time in the car a 2LT is definitely worth the price jump. However if the 1LT is the only way you can get into a Z06 for some reason, don’t let that be something that deters you by any means.

This is also my first time in a C8 hard top convertible. I’ll go on record saying that I have generally been a coupe fanboy since I’m a fan of seeing the engine bay, but I think the convertible is a bit of a win all around.

One of the issues with the coupe is the targa top does create a pretty substantial amount of wind buffeting. I found that the convertible improves upon this wind buffeting by about 25% which helps make things a bit more livable. However the convertible aerodynamics aren’t quite as dialed in as they are on say the AMG-GT where you basically can’t feel the wind unless you put your hand above the windshield.

As someone who lives in Southern California. I find myself taking my targa top off A LOT. So the convertible makes the process just a bit easier and more seamless as a whole. For instance I don’t have to plan whether I am going to have a top on or top off ride. I just put the top on and off whenever I want. Another plus with the convertible is it’s easier to clean than the rear glass and engine bay on the coupe. Likewise you can also take the top off without losing any storage space in the rear, which I can see being helpful on trips.

In terms of cabin noise levels with the top on, I found the coupe and convertible to be pretty comparable. Both cars have a slight amount of wind noise in the upper “B” pillar window corner at around 80 mph or so. So it’s not like choosing a coupe or targa improves upon cabin noise significantly. The only thing I did notice is a slight whistling sound from somewhere on the Z06 with the top down. This whistling sound was not loud enough to deter from the driving experience by any means, but something to note. I will say since the Stingray’s engine is so quiet and refined you do notice cabin sounds a lot more readily than you do in the Z06. So in a weird way I would say build quality almost matters more in the Stingray than it does in the Z06.

Lastly, compared to my 2021 Stingray the 2023 Z06 felt like the infotainment system was faster and more responsive. Android auto felt crisper and faster to activate as well. This isn’t to say that the 2021 Stingray has a bad infotainment system by any means, but it was a slight difference that I noticed.

All in all, after having experienced pretty much every trim combination of C8 that you can. I think you will get a great experience regardless of what trim level you select. In a Stingray opting for at least a 2LT is probably more preferable. However in a Z06 (and likely E-Ray) 1LT through 3LT are all good options. I’m personally now convertible and coupe agnostic. The convertible is a lot more practical and convenient to live with, the coupe lets you see the engine bay while still allowing the top to come off. It’s a win-win either way.

Driving Experience and Final Thoughts:

While I enjoy my C8 Stingray, it honestly just did not win me over in the year that I owned the car. Yes the car is very capable, quick, practical, and legitimately fun to drive, but to me it just lacked a little bit of personality and a little bit of specialness to really become a “forever” car. In owning it the cons of buying $6.50 a gallon gas began to win out and I legitimately started to look at EV’s as the only option in my car buying future.

I rented the Z06 thinking that it would not improve upon the Stingray quite enough to really keep me away from EV’s. I figured the Z06 would be my last check box to say “Hey I tried everything and ICE engines just don’t do it for me anymore” and the Z06 just completely changed my perspective and totally renewed my love for Corvettes.

I think the first thing you notice in the Z06 is the car just somehow feels much more special than the Stingray. I think the Z06 gets a lot of somewhat valid criticism for looking too similar to the Stingray. However everything about the driving experience feels much more unique, fun, and responsive compared to the Stingray. The Stingray’s engine roars to life when you turn it on, but the Z06 feels like it blasts to life and then howls with the sound from another dimension when it turns on. There’s subtle engine vibrations in the cabin of the Z06 which makes you feel like the car is “alive” somehow. The steering inputs feel much more responsive in the Z06, and shifting feels like it’s a genuine class above the shifting in the Stingray. While I don’t have any concrete proof of this, when you drive the two cars back to back, it almost feels like GM chose to buy the better $1 version of a part for the Z06 instead of the 50 cent version for the Stingray. Everything just feels noticeably better somehow in the Z06. To maybe describe this another way, the Stingray feels like it’s almost an everyday car that can turn itself up into a really good sports car. The Z06 more immediately feels like a bona-fide exotic, that happens to be really good at driving and behaving like a normal car if you want it to.

The Z06 also feels like it delivers no matter what mode it is in. Touring feels like a great blend of sportiness and comfort. In a Stingray it feels a little too comfort driven and docile. Sport feels properly aggressive and engaging. In a Stingray the car is just starting to come to life in sport. Track feels like a proper “full kill” mode, whereas in a Stingray track is more of a “do you want to the road to be more bumpy?” mode. Heck I even find myself using My Mode in the Z06 to help quiet down the exhaust in stealth mode. Don’t get me wrong, the Stingray is still a wonderfully calibrated car. It’s just in the Z06 every mode feels good and necessary, whereas in a Stingray you’re generally using the modes to try to get as much life out of the car as possible.

Most importantly, the Z06 just doesn’t ever leave you wanting more. I think objectively speaking it isn’t the fastest thing out there, especially with some very potent EV’s and hybrids coming around. However the car just gets so loud when you press on the throttle, it feels so immediate and rapid, and it just pulls and pulls and pulls that you find yourself letting off the gas before the car has run out of things that it can give you. I think I only took the Z06 up to redline a handful of times, not because I didn’t want to go up to redline with the car, but because somewhere between 2,000 RPM and 6,500 RPM the car delivered enough emotion, vibration, volume, speed, etc. that getting all the way up the 8,600 RPM redline just wasn’t necessary. I had been satisfied by all that the car had given me.

I will also say burying your foot into the throttle of the Z06 very much feels like holding on for dear life, but in a good way. The car puts its power down perfectly, and you’re just a little scared by everything that is happening. The car feels fast regardless of what speed it is going. The Stingray in comparison is a bit more of “here’s a torque pull that feels less impressive than EV, and now you’re well past the speed limit” the Z06 is “holy crap I can’t believe we just did that” and you may have only gotten yourself up to 60mph.

Likewise the Corvette has a bit of a reputation for being a supercar killer. In the Stingray you kind of get the sense that you can keep up with a Ferrari, Lambo or McLaren, but that you really shouldn’t be there. In the Z06 I saw a group of Ferrari’s and Lambos drive past and the immediate thought was “I could legitimately fuck all of those cars up with this.” I think “putting the world on notice” is a very good slogan for this car.

I also want to emphasize how emotional the car is. The car just gets so loud, fires off all of these incredibly pops and bangs, the shifts feel like they are legitimately kicking you if done under the right conditions. It’s just sensational. I’ve been in raw cars before (owned a Lotus Elise) and I really appreciate how the Z06 is a perfectly curated motoring experience. You get all of the visceralness of something like an Elise with an overlying refinement to make everything livable, easy, and confidence inspiring, the second you want that visceralness to end. It really is the best of both worlds.

I drove the Stingray and Z06 back to back this morning just to make sure I wasn’t in some honeymoon phase with the Z06. I literally tried to keep everything as constant as possible. Drove the same exact route in each car. Had the exact same playlist at the exact same volume, etc. The big difference between the two is the Stingray just does not feel as fast or ready to perform right out of the box. I found myself really having to dig into the throttle to get the car to wake up, only to quickly find myself over the speed limit. Within the cabin the car’s engine, even in full loud mode, felt almost nonexistent unless really stepping on the throttle. In contrast, just getting to the fun road in “Tour” mode with the Z06 put a smile on my face. Slight throttle presses brought plenty of satisfaction. I of course did drive the car fast, but the joy and engagement that I spent so hard trying to find in the Stingray just presents itself so immediately and readily in the Z06.

For me the Z06 can legitimately be a forever car and it’s something I’m very much looking in to purchasing. I was also quite interested in the E-Ray from a pure performance standpoint, but I think the emotion and visceralness of the Z06 (along with packing plenty of speed and performance over the base Stingray) is worth the trade offs that an E-Ray could provide. I think the instant torque of the E-Ray is cool, but I just can’t see how GM is going to make the engine sound loud and present enough in the E-Ray for it to feel like a better experience than the Z06.

Now I don’t think the Z06 is quite worth a $180K price tag or anything like that. However I think you get tons of value at the $120k-$140K price point that a modestly specced Z06 MSRP’s for. Fortunately the market for Z06’s is somewhat cooling down, so little (or modest) markups could be on our horizon somewhat soon. If you like your Stingray but don’t love it, a Z06 is likely the car you want to love.