Northstar

novajeff: what was your second place vote?

2006 Dodge Ram Mega Cab Too much is never enough—or is it, now? by Gary Witzenburg From TCC You say you're feelin' a bit cramped and capacity limited in your full-size crew cab pickup lately? Well, Dodge may have the truck for you. Obviously unsatisfied with bragging rights for the most available pickup power (with the 345-hp HEMI V-8) and torque (with the 610-lb-ft Cummins Turbo Diesel six), Dodge now boasts the longest, roomiest crew-cab cabin with the most people and cargo room. And just so no one misses the point, they're callin' it "Mega" Cab. Dodge created this super-size showcase of pickup innovation by bolting its six-foot, three-inch bed onto its long-wheelbase heavy-duty 2500 chassis and extending the cab 20 inches beyond where it ends with the eight-foot bed. The resulting 111.1-in cab is a full foot longer than that on Ford's F-150 Crew Cab, and that added length is apportioned into a clever combination of unprecedented rear passenger room and cargo space behind the seats. Three models, two trims, multiple features Available in 1500, 2500 and 3500 models and SLT and Laramie trim, Mega Cabs boast 44.2 limo-like inches of rear legroom and the first reclining rear seats ever offered in a pickup. Not only does each section of the 60/40 split rear bench recline from 22 to 37 degrees, it also slides forward and folds flat to provide a class-leading 72.2 cu ft of inside storage volume. Mega Cab 1500 and 2500 come standard with the 5.7-liter HEMI V-8 and a five-speed automatic, while the latter offers the muscular turbo diesel as an option with six-speed manual or five-speed automatic. The extra-brawny 3500 gets only the diesel. The $32,760 base SLT is well-equipped with air conditioning, AM/FM/CD four-speaker stereo, speed control, power windows and locks, keyless entry, overhead console with "mini" trip computer/compass and four-wheel disc brakes with ABS. For roughly $5K more, the Laramie adds leather upholstery, six-way power driver's seat, heated front seats, dual-zone climate control, power sliding rear window (because it's too far back to reach), chromed aluminum wheels, security alarm, Sentry Key engine immobilizer and upscale audio with a six-disc CD changer, Infiniti speakers, SIRIUS satellite radio and steering wheel spoke-mounted controls. Major options include full-screen navigation (integrated into the radio), rear-seat DVD, power sunroof and adjustable pedals. Bold outside, plush inside Dodge Truck Design VP Rick Aneiros succinctly sums up the styling: "The prominent chrome grille, supported by strong contemporary headlamps and a massive front bumper, gives the Dodge Ram Mega Cab a tough and intimidating appearance that is undoubtedly the face of Dodge Ram." Laramies also wear chrome on their front bumper and side sills. The spacious six-grown-up cabin has a wide front-center console full of bins and cupholders, and an optional "business console" under the middle front seat cushion provides convenient storage for a laptop and/or other stuff. The gauges and controls have a precise look and feel, and the materials are surprisingly nice even in the base SLT. The front-hinged rear doors swing out nearly perpendicular (85 degrees) to the body, opening a cavernous 34.5-inch-wide portal to ease getting in and out of the back - especially useful for loading and unloading large items such as, maybe, a big flat-screen TV. In addition to prodigious room and reclining seats, lucky rear-seat riders will enjoy their own HVAC outlets, reading lamps, stowable center armrest with cupholders and (available) DVD with wireless headsets and integrated game ports. (Who wants to drive this time?) Driving impressions We drove HEMI V-8 and turbodiesel Mega Cabs on freeways and rural roads and found them, well, BIG. Yet they ride and drive much more comfortably than you might expect-as well as any long-wheelbase full-size heavy-duty pickup and better than most. The 5.7-liter HEMI gives strong response at a touch of the throttle and hits its 375-lb-ft torque peak at 4200 rpm and its 345 max hp at 5400 rpm while the five-speed automatic shifts smoothly and unobtrusively. As those fortunate to have experienced this delightful engine already know, the result is smooth power delivery from rest and at any reasonable speed. The 5.9-liter Cummins turbo diesel six, by contrast, unleashes all of its massive 610 lb-ft of torque by 1600 rpm and its 325 peak horses at just 2900 rpm. This is great for off road and quick launches with heavy loads but renders the first two ratios of the six-speed manual of little use on the road. If you start in first (not recommended for normal launches), you'll need to shift almost as soon as you release the clutch and again by maybe 15 mph. The optional automatic upshifts quickly enough to mask this musclebound oil-burner's narrow torque band. Standard on 2WD models is relatively precise rack-and-pinion steering, while 4x4s use a quick-ratio (13.4:1) recirculating ball setup with just 2.75 turns lock-to-lock and (Dodge says) the industry's tightest turning circle for sharp corners and close-quarter trailer maneuverability. Front suspensions also differ: 2WDs sport a sturdy independent layout; 4WDs an even more rugged rigid-beam front axle. Both use durable mono-tube shocks and a heavy-duty solid axle with longitudinal multi-stage leaf springs. The large, strong, fade-free four-wheel disc brakes are ably assisted by standard ABS with Electronic Variable Brake Proportioning (EVBP), which improves front-to-rear braking balance at light loads. Who is it for? In this day of sky-high fuel prices and no relief in sight, who really needs a truck this big or a cab this roomy? We can envision a lot of potential buyers. First in line will be contractors, construction workers and other professionals with heavy-duty towing and hauling needs. Then will come lots of racers, boaters, horse haulers and fifth-wheel trailer campers whose long-distance travel needs and desires will outweigh the added fuel expense over somewhat smaller rigs. Not to mention NFL linemen and NBA centers eager for spacious room in chauffeur-driven vehicles less ostentatious and with more cargo capacity than your average stretch limo. Because these heavy-duty trucks fall above the 8500-lb ceiling for fuel economy ratings, EPA city/highway numbers are not available. If you have to ask, you probably don't want to know.

From TCC The chances of Delphi Corp. winding up in bankruptcy court are rising as the United Auto Workers balks at the concessions demanded by Delphi's management. Claudia Baucus, Delphi spokeswoman, said the company would not comment on the discussions with GM or the UAW. Richard Shoemaker, head of the UAW GM Department, also has declined to discuss the ongoing discussions with GM and Delphi publicly. However, according to accounts from local union leaders who attended the GM Council meeting in Chicago recently, Shoemaker noted Delphi's management has presented the union with a long list of demands, including sweeping cuts in wages and benefits. Delphi also wants the rights to close plants, he said. Plant closings are now barred through 2007 under the terms of the current Delphi-UAW contract, which expires in 24 months. Shoemaker also expressed doubts about whether the discussions could produce some kind of agreement before the mid-October deadline hinted at by Steve Miller, Delphi's CEO. Miller has said that if Delphi was going to file for bankruptcy it was better to do so prior to Oct. 17, when bankruptcy laws are scheduled to change. Among the solutions sought from the UAW in the preliminary talks are the transfers of more than 7000 Delphi employees back to GM.

The front looks pretty interesting; I think it would make a good 2nd gen VUE.

Yeah, the first three Lambdas will be making their debuts. Evok hinted at a 4th one coming sometime, and I doubt it will be coming as soon as the others since we've heard very little about it (next to nothing).

The ULS. The rumored Blue Devil? Umm, he's saying they haven't figured out what Buick will get but that they need to come up with something. With Zeta killed that at the very least postponed the Velite, if not killed it; and the Velite was to be the halo, so now they need to figure something else out, just as he said.

I think the only turn off for buyers that don't want AWD will be when they find out it's RWD. For enthusiats that's great, but most of the vehicles in this segment are FWD, and many soccer moms that could end up driving these probably like the idea of FWD better than RWD.

Obviously sales are going to drop when you only have 25k units of a vehicle at the beginning of the month that normally does at least 25k in a month and the assembly plant doesn't send any new vehicles to the dealers.

242HP should be more than sufficient to move around the Impala, at least for 90% of the population. The 2005 SS only had 240HP, so I'd say the LT/LTZ having 242HP is pretty good. The 3900 is supposed to be getting DOD sometime soon I think, so that should help out fuel economy.

By Brian Moody Date posted: 09-01-2005 http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drive...rticleId=107099 "The hot side stays hot while the cool side stays cool." "Tastes Great, Less Filling." "Strong enough for a man but made for a woman." Each of these familiar product slogans have the same hook — opposites that coexist. More to the point, they're opposites that complement each other to the point that they become the defining characteristic. And whether you're talking about a McDLT, Miller Light or a new SUV, it's the contrasts that make them interesting. The 2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara masters two competing opposites that often make or break so many small SUVs: on-road manners and off-road ability. Unlike the previous Grand Vitara (also sold as the Chevy Tracker), which was truck-based (had body-on-frame architecture) and quite capable in the rough, the new version features unibody construction. On a unibody vehicle, there is no separate frame and some body parts (such as the floors) are incorporated into the base structure of the car. The result is lighter weight and usually a smoother, more comfortable ride. But off-road ability is sacrificed as the unibody vehicle isn't as rugged. In order to keep the previous Grand Vitara's off-road character, the new version incorporates a ladder frame into the unibody structure for an extra measure of off-road performance while still delivering a carlike highway feel. Like the new Chex Mix, it's "Sweet and Salty" at the same time. After a whole day of on- and off-road driving, we're happy to say that the unibody/ladder frame design works well. Off-road, the Grand Vitara tackled rutted trails and steep hills like a champ while still delivering a quiet and comfortable highway ride. Off-road ability is further enhanced by full-time four-wheel drive with a locking center differential. It has three driving modes: "High Range" acts like a full-time all-wheel-drive system; "High Range Lock" locks the center differential for more demanding conditions like mud or snow; and "Low Range Lock" is for taking on the most serious off-road duties. We were especially impressed with how well the Grand Vitara's "Low Range Lock" kept the vehicle composed when coming down a steep hill. It feels a lot like a Jeep or Toyota as you can just keep your foot off both the brake and gas and let the drivetrain do its job. The Grand Vitara's ability to kick up dust is also enhanced by its 7.9-inch ground clearance. The only downside to the Grand Vitara's off-road ability is that bumps are not well isolated and the large, swing-open-style rear door made quite a racket as the terrain got rockier. Surely most Grand Vitara owners will primarily spend their time on the pavement and that's a much more pleasant experience when compared to the previous Vitara. We were very impressed by the new Grand Vitara's smooth ride and absence of engine noise, wind noise and road noise. This is by far the most pleasant, most refined Suzuki ever, with driving and handling characteristics that seem to meet or exceed those of other car-based SUVs like the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V. A V6 is now the only motor available on the Grand Vitara. This means the four-cylinder Vitara has been dropped and only the Grand Vitara remains. That V6 is a 2.7-liter unit making 185 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque — that's an increase of 20 hp, 22 lb-ft of torque and 0.2 liter of displacement over the 2005 Grand Vitara, and its engine stats are now identical to that of the Suzuki XL-7's. The Grand Vitara's V6 provides adequate if not abundant power. It never feels taxed or harsh and offers good power for passing and hill climbing. Ultimately it's the engine's smooth-revving demeanor that gets your attention. Despite the single engine specification, the Grand Vitara is offered in three trim levels. The base version is rear-wheel drive only and has a five-speed manual transmission. It's priced at just under $20,000, but it's no stripped-down version. In fact, all 2006 Suzuki Grand Vitaras include features like micron air filtration, tinted rear windows, steering wheel-mounted audio and cruise controls, remote keyless entry, stability control, and ABS. The Premium Package adds features like alloy wheels and a six-CD changer. But the real deluxe features are included on the XSport and the Luxury Package models. Most notable is the SmartPass system that allows you to enter and start the Grand Vitara without ever handling a key. The XSport also adds a five-speed automatic and fender flares. It's priced at $21,400 while the top-of-the-line Luxury version with leather, sunroof, 17-inch wheels and HomeLink will set you back $23,300. But none of these things would be all that impressive if it weren't for the Grand Vitara's truly excellent interior. It's miles beyond anything we've seen from Suzuki in terms of style, materials quality and luxury. The dash incorporates nice textures and flowing lines, and the gauges are housed in an attractive three-circle fashion with each ring surrounded by faux aluminum trim. The center stack is also bordered by simulated aluminum trim and the stereo controls especially feel more upscale than expected. The seats are comfortable for long drives, but the cloth seats feel a little comfier than the leather. However, the leather used on those seats is very soft. Overall, the Grand Vitara's interior looks and feels more like something out of a $30,000 SUV rather than a Suzuki with a starting price of $19,000. Suzuki's 7-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty doesn't seem like a contrast at all but rather a perfect footnote to an already good car. In the end, this new compact SUV seamlessly combines rugged off-road worthiness with impressive on-road manners. It looks and feels civilized inside, but barely cracks the $23,000 price point. Like Icy Hot, it's the 2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara's unexpected ability to balance opposites that makes it so appealing.

The headlights remind me of the B9's, but maybe it's just the angle. What's with the door guard strip being up so high? The interior does look good, but I think the new Aveo's looked better. All in all, I think the new Aveo should pretty much destroy this as long as it gets a new, more fuel-efficient engine.

Maybe it was the concept? That was a turbo I think.

The info I have says the Aura gets it mated to the 2.4 in March of '07 and it says the Malibu (next gen) gets it mated to the 2.4 in August of '07. The same sheet says the VUE gets it mated tot he 2.4 in June '06, so I'm guessing it's correct on the others too.

The current gen (now last gen) Civic was never cool with young people. The last gen (now two generations ago) was cool with young people to some degree. I can see the Si and maybe the coupe being cool, but not the sedan.

Lutz said it would be expensive to do but that it could be done. If the can justify spending $250 million on the Solstice (I believe it was the Solstice project that cost $250 mil, not just Kappa), I'm sure they can justify spending another $250 million to develop a longer Kappa platform and another car. If it only cost $250 mil to make the Solstice and Kappa, then the Sky probably only cost another $100 mil. On a longer Kappa they could do higher volume and probably three variants for $500 mil or so - Pontiac sedan, Chevy Nomad, and something else.

The Impala definetly isn't full size. Rear seat legroom is midsize but headroom and shoulder room seem to be like a full size.

Just saw a Mitsu Raider (with dealer plates) and a Lexus IS SportCross or whatever the wagon is called.

fordrules: yeah, that's the right width.

I PM'd Satty and he said it was for the most part a joke and not to include it because he didn't want any sympathy votes when other people should be getting the votes instead.

I'm pretty sure it is the BAS. I didn't realize it had an electic motor too until a couple months ago.

I get the hint http://www.cheersandgears.com/public/style_emoticons//AH-HA_wink.gif Maybe since the Tahoe is debuting at the Texas State Fair we'll see the Suburban there too, and since Chevy doesn't have a Lambda the only thing they'd have tot debut would be the Camaro concept and maybe the Silverado.

Looks good NOS. The grille looks bare without "CAMARO" on it though.

2006 Chevrolet Impala 3.5 LS Retooling GM’s bestseller: Chevy touts more for less in the next Impala ANDREW LUU Published Date: 9/5/05 2006 CHEVROLET IMPALA 3.5 LS ON SALE: Now BASE PRICE: $21,990 POWERTRAIN: 3.5-liter, 211-hp, 214-lb-ft V6; fwd, four-speed automatic CURB WEIGHT: 3553 lbs 0 TO 60 MPH: 8.4 seconds (mfr.) FUEL MILAGE (EPA COMBINED): 24.6 mpg Of all the trim levels available for the 2006 Chevrolet Impala, the first car sold to a customer was a top-of-the-line V8-powered SS. Sounds like something a diehard Chevy fan would buy, doesn’t it? Actually, the customer is an Orthodox priest, and like many Chevy buyers, he is loyal to the brand. Believing he survived a serious accident in his previous Impala SS due to the car’s safety, this priest swore right then and there he would buy another Chevy. For a long time Chevy could count on such loyalty—something akin to home-field advantage—to help it sell cars. While it’s an edge Chevy still enjoys in the truck game, such allegiance to its cars withered long ago due to years of consistently formidable opposition and inadequate responses to that from GM. So right from the get-go Chevy aimed to offer a lot more than just the golden bow tie in developing this new Impala. For example, you can choose from three engines, all more powerful than before. The base 3.5-liter overhead-valve V6 churns out 211 hp and 214 lb-ft. Then there is the 3.9-liter V6 with 242 hp (2 more horses than last year’s SS) and 242 lb-ft. Each features variable-valve timing, a pushrod first. And for the hot rod parents, Chevy has a 5.3-liter, 303-hp, 323-lb-ft V8 that can deactivate four cylinders to save fuel. And yes, you’ll need the e-brake to do a smoky burnout. Styling-wise the new car looks like a big Malibu, with softer, rounder edges. In other words, the Impala looks anonymous. That’s not always a good thing, but for a car that must please hundreds of thousands of drivers, ordinary has a proven appeal. The interior takes on the same generic approach, but this time around there is greatly improved fit-and-finish. The Impala also uses higher quality materials, though there are still some hard plastic pieces. The car is 1.4 inches taller. It is 0.4 inch longer and track also grows 0.4 inch. The 110.5-inch wheelbase is unchanged. Legroom shrinks by almost an inch in back, but there is more head room. The Impala is larger than a Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, yet head and legroom are neck and neck among the three. The Chevy leads the way in shoulder and hip room, particularly in the rear. There is an innovative flip-and-fold feature in the rear. Prop the rear cushion upward to reveal a small storage bin, or all the way forward for a large secondary trunk complete with grocery-bag hooks. Fold the seatbacks down to expose a flat pass-through, which expands the already generous 18.6 cubic feet of trunk space. A MacPherson strut front and independent tri-link rear (replacing rear struts) suspension system does a decent job when hustling down the back roads. The Impala leans first, then sets in predictable fashion. Its turn-in response is tighter than a Camry, and the car beats its predecessor in overall isolation from road disturbances. New dual-piston calipers up front work well, but like Ford’s new Fusion, ABS does not come standard on the base LS or LT Impala. (ABS is standard on both Camry and Accord.) The SS employs thicker stabilizer bars all around and dual-rate springs in the rear. Combined with larger 18-inch wheels and Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires, there is at least enough grip to put smiles on most faces. GM claims 0 to 60 mph passes in 5.7 seconds for the SS, 7.8 seconds for the 3.9-liter V6 and 8.4 seconds for the base 3.5. Each engine is mated to a four-speed automatic, and while the competitive set is fast moving to five- and even six-speed setups, the Chevy engines generally make more torque at low rpm and don’t require the extra ratios. On sheer value the Impala makes a compelling argument. Pricing starts at $21,990 for the base 3.5 LS ($790 cheaper than last year), $25,420 for the 3.9 LT and $27,790 for the SS, each reflecting GM’s move toward actual transaction pricing. Despite lower MSRPs, the Impala has more equipment, including standard front and rear side-curtain airbags and an auxiliary jack to play your iPod or MP3 player through the stereo. The new Impala still falls short of the Accord’s refinement and a rede­signed Camry is expected next year, not to mention the recent introduction of the Fusion—all sure to give this Chevy a run for its money. But there is no doubt the new Impala is a dynamically stronger car in every way. And one thing is for sure: Chevy moved 290,295 Impalas last year—good for third overall behind Camry and Accord—and this new model is improved enough to stay in the hunt.

Mad, Mad World: Chevrolet’s Corvette Z06 enters the supercar segment—and changes the game MAC MORRISON Published Date: 9/5/05 2006 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 ON SALE: Now BASE PRICE: $65,800 POWERTRAIN: 7.0-liter, 505-hp, 470-lb-ft V8; rwd, six-speed manual CURB WEIGHT: 3132 lbs 0 TO 60 MPH: 3.7 seconds (mfr.) FUEL MILAGE (EPA COMBINED): 18.8 mpg “I saw an automobile once when I was a kid, but now they’re everywhere. The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry.” When recently paroled Brooks Hatlen penned those words to his former prison mates in the film The Shaw-shank Redemption, he meant them as an indictment of a world that bore no resemblance to the one he knew pre-incarceration. Fifty years on the inside will do that to a man. As far as the “big damn hurry” goes, he may as well have been talking about today. It wasn’t long ago pre-pubescent boys triggered a running shortage on Lamborghini Countach and Ferrari Testarossa posters. In the golden, bewinged and bestraked supercar age of the 1980s six figures bought you machines that you might now mistake for the work of a remedial Art Center student. Drive almost anything from that era short of a Porsche 959 or Ferrari F40 and you’d be justified in wondering what all the fuss was about. That thought recurs often in three days spent hammering across Europe in the new Corvette Z06, and especially on the downhill run into arguably the most exhilarating corner in international road racing. The undulating Belgian tarmac known as Spa-Francorchamps allows drivers no synaptic downtime over its 4.334 miles, but the left-right-left Eau Rouge complex is the star of the show; in Formula One’s pre-traction-control era drivers spoke of it in reverent tones and needled one another about which of them could stay flat on the throttle all the way through. The Z06 powers out of the second-gear La Source hairpin to begin the lap and cracks the 120-mph threshold before braking at the bottom of the hill. A road car, even one of Z06 caliber, does not produce enough aerodynamic downforce to make it through Eau Rouge flat, so it requires brief application of brakes to scrub off 15 or 20 mph and plant the nose. The suspension makes full use of its travel as the Corvette plunges in. It then lightens yet keeps the rubber planted when the car flicks right and climbs a steep grade that provides the road-racing equivalent of going vertical in an F-16. Back on the throttle down the Kemmel straight, the 7.0-liter LS7 V8’s roar shakes the Ardennes forest as the Z06 accelerates fantastically, even when the speed surpasses 140 mph. The digital head-up display reflected in the windshield indicates 162 mph just as the trackside 200-meter board warns it is time to brake again for the third-gear right-left at Les Combes. The rest of the lap brings more of the same: An atomic forward rush presses flesh and bone into the seat, interrupted only when the brain protests the car cannot possibly enter the approaching bend this fast, even though Chevy claims the Z06 will maintain a 1.04 g lateral load during steady-state cornering. But time and again the Z06 proves it can. The ginormous Goodyears (275/35ZR-18 front, 325/30ZR-19 rear) bite into the road and hold the line, and the suspension—with roll stiffness increased 15 percent front and 16 percent rear over a C6 with Z51 performance package—keeps the car flat and stable. Right-foot precision determines whether the Corvette maintains its neutral path or kisses the exit curbing in tidy four-wheel drifts. Back in the pits the Corvette guys are all smiles. “What did you think,” chief engineer Dave Hill inquires disingenuously, like a kid asking his math teacher how he did on a test to which he stole the answers. A-plus, Dave. There is no grading on a curve here. The Z06’s $65,800 base price marks it as the greatest value in supercar history, and the performance means those poster-buying kids should now lust after a Corvette, value or not. The price/performance combination also explains a lot of the pre-launch speculation and fanatical enthusiast effort to uncover any sliver of official information (Dec. 13, 2004). An SAE-certified 505 hp at 6300 rpm and 470 lb-ft of torque at 4800 rpm mean the Z06 will run with anything not named Carrera GT or Enzo, give or take a few obscure low-volume specials or million-dollar dreams like the still-coming-any-day-now Bugatti Veyron. And with a 16/24 city/highway EPA mileage rating, the Z06 is even exempt from the federal gas guzzler tax. Chevrolet claims 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, and first gear is good for 62 mph. But it takes restraint to keep from burning the tires down to their cords. To avoid a one-two shift and to help put the power down efficiently, the Z06 gets the gear ratios from the C6 rather than the Z51’s shorter cogs. Chevy says the quarter-mile passes in 11.7 seconds at 125 mph on the way to a top speed of 198 mph. Granted, AutoWeek’s track test of the standard C6 indicated Chevy-quoted times may hedge toward the optimistic side, and we will have to connect our timing gear to a Z06 to discover whether that is again the case and to what degree. But in the course of driving the car at Spa, Germany’s Nürburgring F1 track and on public roads, we found the Z06’s performance exceeds its on-paper promise (Jan. 10). The Corvette team says one goal for Z06 was to build a car owners could drive on any closed circuit and not have to worry that “anything would leave you in the dust, even if it cost five or six times more money.” Chevy pulled out the obligatory Nürburgring Nordschleife lap times to make the point: With Jan Magnussen, winner of the 2004 and 2005 Le Mans 24 Hour, at the helm, the Z06 clocked a seven-minute, 42.99-second lap of the 13-mile Green Hell, 16 seconds faster than a Z51-equipped C6. Porsche’s $440,000, 604-hp Carrera GT, with a seven-minute, 32.44-second lap, is the only production car to have gone quicker. For perspective, Lamborghini’s $283,000, 580-hp Murciélago clocked in at seven minutes, 50 seconds, and the $452,000, 671-hp McLaren-Mercedes SLR at seven minutes, 52 seconds. Thus Hill is being modest when he comments, “Our benchmark car was the Porsche 911 Turbo—that’s a car we purchased and have present whenever we’re doing an important assessment.” And then he can’t resist taking the expected swipe. “We also have a Viper, but we knew we were going to leave the Viper far behind,” he adds, fighting to suppress the hint of a mischievous schoolboy smile tugging at his mouth. The new, more powerful Viper GTS may prove Hill wrong, but he could to varying degrees add 911 Carrera S, Aston Martin DB9, Lamborghini Gallardo and Ferrari F430 to the hit list. The new 997-series 911 Turbo, like the Ford GT, should match up well with Z06, but even if these cars ultimately prove quicker, they likely won’t leave the Z06 “in the dust.” Those cars will also demand buyers dig far deeper into that offshore account. Inevitably some will do so. The corollary to the Z06’s price and C6 origins is that it does not possess the same seductive exoticness or provenance as some of its European competitors. Aside from the three-inch-wider bodywork with flared fenders, rear brake ducts and hood scoop necessary to feed the endurance racing-derived 427, there is not much to tell potential gawkers the Z06 is light-years ahead of the everyday C6. You have to get close to spot the unique, half-inch-larger exhaust diameter and bigger wheels, tires and brakes (14.0-inch front, 13.4-inch rear) with red six-piston calipers. It takes an even keener eye to notice the racing-inspired aerodynamic trip-strips in the front wheel openings, as well as the larger-radius front wheel wells that reduce turbulence as air escapes and runs down the car’s sides—another lesson gleaned from the racing effort. Bring a magnifying glass and you still won’t detect the carbon fiber fenders, wheel house and floor, or the aluminum frame. The cockpit is standard C6 fare save for lighter, two-tone seats (the passenger seat loses its power adjustment feature to save weight) with meatier side bolsters and Z06 embroidery, and a revised instrument cluster. The seats provide decent support during heavy cornering, but the prominent center tunnel limits the size of bolster that Chevy can wedge in; drivers who plan to perform consistent track work will crave more support. We would also like Chevy to offer the telescoping steering wheel as standard. Carbon ceramic brakes would improve performance even further, but Chevy won’t offer them until it can do so at a “reasonable” price. Continue reading: http://autoweek.com/article.cms?articleId=103066

If you want to pick between stuff you've already done that would probably be acceptable.