Glad I’m not the only one. The thought of getting a manual C7 Z06 is very tempting, but I’m not entirely sure that I would be happy in the long run if I got rid of the Raptor.
First world problem I know
Rewind back like 2.5 years & I was driving a paid-for ‘15 GMC Sierra loaded w/ 6.2, also have a paid for ‘03 Z06 which @ time was cammed & had some other mods 35k miles great shape- I was literally in middle of making a deal on a then leftover ‘18 Z06 w/ M7 Tranny - plan was to trade in my ‘03 on it + $20k & had gotten the price down to like $70k w/ ttl (apparently manual vettes harder to sell) - THEN I ran into a deer in my truck & it got totaled.....C7 Z06 plans up
In smoke
I took the ins. Check for the GMC & took $15k of the $$$ saved up for you upgrade & went DD/truck shopping again- wound up in an ‘18 Raptor (that actually got totaled too around Halloween & I’m back in a ‘20 Rap but that’s different story) - a tuned Raptor IMHO is the best compromise of power/speed/versatility/size/looks/presence/fun/luxury for me- & I shopped around for everything in the $60-$80k range
in meantime I saved up some more “toy” $$$$ & dumped bout $22k total into my 03Z06 (didn’t have to be that much but I went overboard- could’ve just had it SCd w/ supporting mods for bout $12k- that’s also another story you could PM me on)
before i did that I drove all the vettes & stangs & bimers a C63 & even a Civic R (which is a ton of fun btw)
why I’m telling you this is b/c personally I came to this realization- when it comes to vettes ain’t nothing gonna touch em $ for $ in the pure performance/speed dept- that’s more or less common knowledge, but also worth noting - put up a C5, a C6 (which is really a C5.5) & a C7 on lifts side by side & walk underneath- be hard pressed to see much of a difference between the 3 - look under the hood of each & same thing the interior/exterior of C5/C6 are very similar & nothing crazy- those years also have many interchangeable mechanical bits & some still on C7, the C7 does have a much nicer interior/creature comforts- but that’s not why you buy one- esp when you have a nice DD
so I tell you this story b/c now I have a 700whp A&A blown **** injected cammed beast w/ a built forged motor, built diff, twin disc clutch, carbon fiber shaft, etc. w/ purchase of car & all the mods (including full stereo/MGW shifter/tires/Suspension/etc) over the years in total the tally is $52k
I have ZERO desire for ANYTHING in the “fast” dept until I see C8 prices come down AND see a beefier transmission in them & AWD. The C8 is a different beast entirely- a C5-C7 the same recipe w/ different flair lol- the C6 ZR1 is probably the pinnacle of the rear drive front engine manual tranny vette platform....they’re too much $$$ used. The C7 Z06 overheats & ***** itself on track w/o $$$$ in cooling mods. The C7 ZR1 also over priced. My C5Z weighs less than all of em & after engine break in w/ retune should be making 720-750whp - you don’t need more than this in a 3180 lb vehicle. It’s insane. It’ll annihilate a C7 Z06 in every measure & won’t overheat. It’s still fine to drive around town in - I usually have my 80 lb dobie in passenger seat (I put some foam cushion in footwell so she has a larger space to curl up/sit on & a chest strap to keep her from flying around if I’m getting on it lol)
you could purchase a car like mine for $25-40k depending year condition mods etc & there’s sooo many low mileage pristine examples out there
the Raptor is such a pleasure to DD & is so fun & fast in its own way between that & realizing whats capable w/ the right build & tune on my old Z really changed my mind bout having the “latest & greatest” toy car....that being said, i still have itch for 1 more vehicle & id prefer AWD & stick shift & 4 doors or a backseat that allows a car seat- a poor/sane mans hoonicorn to just beat on in any weather conditions that is plenty fast but not rocket ship send you straight to jail lose traction @ 100mph no problem fast like my death Vette lol
lastly- when I drove every sports car under the sun I was interested in before making decision to dump $$$ into Z, the 3 cars I liked the most regardless of price point were the C6 ZR1, the Civic R & BMW M2 in terms of just pure fun to drive.
