Chevrolet Corvette Z06 review: an astonishing V8 with a free car thrown in

What is this thing?

It’s the Chevrolet Corvette Z06, now sold officially in the United Kingdom through proper ‘Vette dealers with its steering wheel on the right.

That may be music to the ears of Brits who’ve made a Le Mans pilgrimage in the last 20 years and returned besotted by the unmistakable tummy-rumbling roar and vibrant yellow blur of the Corvettes. They might be tapping up the UK’s five official dealers from the tingling memory of those enthralling 3am sensory overloads alone.

Photography: Jonny Fleetwood

What powers it?

A 5.5-litre naturally aspirated V8 that revs to 8,600rpm, for which the Corvette engineers took a heavy dose of inspiration from the similarly flat-plane crank 4.5-litre V8 in the phenomenal Ferrari 458 Speciale. If you’re going to glance at anyone’s homework, the greatest modern supercar is a wise place to start.

The ‘LT6’ engine here produces 439lb ft from 6,300rpm while its 637bhp peak lands a mite before the redline, encouraging you to wring each of its twin-clutch transmission’s eight ratios for all they’re worth. Its 0-62mph time of 3.1secs and 195mph top speed are just one interpretation of its performance. The life-enhancing sound the whole endeavour generates is quite another. No wonder the V8 is given such reverence, a pair of glass panels allowing passengers and onlookers alike to ogle it at will.

Can you tell they fan-girled Ferrari?

Yup. It sounds exotic enough to change perceptions of what a Corvette represents. Whether you’re enjoying its high pitch at high revs or its low-down, chuntering bass, it enthralls all who find themselves nearby. It feels like a racecar butting up against its pit limiter in crawling traffic – and yes, that’s a compliment.

With such vast performance, you need to be smart about enjoying it in public. Lock the Tremec ‘box in manual, hold third or fourth out of a village, and you feel a deliciously linear swell of power before everything goes banzai towards the rev limiter. The lack of turbocharging or electrification is real, and to be savoured.

Or you simply kickdown to second for a breathless onslaught towards the speed limit. It’s a powertrain with as much depth as drama and you can play tunes with its paddles all day long. And much like its Speciale idol, a fevered downchange into second is entertainment itself. You don't need corners or handling when you've got sensations like that.

I’d still like to know how it turns…

It’s less immediately playful than a Speciale always was, proving its handling influences were drawn from elsewhere. The tenacity of Corvette’s illustrious endurance racing programme, perhaps. Or a certain Porsche with a rollcage and a wing. Its wide, sticky tyres cling onto gravel then ping it around the arches at parking speeds like a proper racetrack refugee. Indeed there’s a lot of tyre here – 345-section at the rear – which does somewhat elevate this car’s ability beyond mere road speeds.

But you can still enjoy glimpses of its madness and with warmth in its Michelin Cup 2 Rs you’ll be astonished at the corner entry speeds you can get away with. It would need a track (or some very wet weather) to begin to display anything other than obscene grip, but it's an extraordinary experience nonetheless.

Just watch bumpy British lanes where the Z06 proves a bloodhound to their inconsistencies. Those still-wide 275-section front tyres are very keen to hunt out camber and surface changes and if you commit a lot of throttle on a narrow road, you'd better be ready to keep the car on line. But as long as you hold on tight, there's enough feel and feedback through its oversize, oddly shaped steering wheel for your confidence to quickly grow. All the while you feel strapped intimately into the experience, the cabin wrapped around you.

Corvettes are pretty cheap, right? How is the quality?

Once you’re over the dizzying stack of climate controls and chintzy screen graphics this is a really special place to be. While the Z06 visually exudes a trackday air, there’s lots of leather, plush trim and equipment inside. Small wonder it weighs 1,714kg – almost 300kg more than the lightest trim of 992.2 GT3. But while the ride is undeniably firm, it feels like you could drive to Le Mans and back quite easily in this without qualm. Beyond frequently stopping due to its 17.1mpg fuel consumption, of course.

There are exotic touches like its Lamborghini-esque reverse gear lever and its GT3-like glimpses of wing in the side mirrors, but tech rules in here; there’s no view of the rear spoiler at all in its wide-angle rear-view camera, which does admittedly take much of the pain out of maneuvering a mid-engined car in front of a phone-wielding crowd.

Natty animations as you switch between drive modes are distracting rather than amusing (they even reboot the head-up display, right at the point its speed or rev readout might be useful) but this is otherwise a surprisingly practical and liveable thing, its combined 356 litres of luggage capacity perhaps unexpected but all the more likely to encourage properly using this thing. Even if it’ll undoubtedly perform its most convincing routines on a race circuit.

You’ve avoided the price question.

Yeah, that one’s awkward. In the US of A, the Corvette Z06 rolls out of Bowling Green, Kentucky and towards your chosen dealer with a $121k starting point. That’s £90k with a rudimentary currency conversion. You’ll pay double that figure at a UK dealer, with base Stingray prices beginning at £98k and the mighty Z06 from £183k – though a browse of offers as we write takes about 20 grand off that latter figure, at least. Perhaps the Great British public still need convincing.

The car you see here, specced with Brembo carbon ceramic brakes (£6,940), carbon wheels (£9,460) and the racecar-aping Competition Yellow paint (£1,910) – among other options – lists at a princely £208,984 before any discounts. Admittedly that’s right in 911 GT3 territory, Porsche infamous for its money-sapping configurator, and if you’ve owned numerous examples (or you want something offbeat) the Z06 has the staggering depth of ability and soaring soundtrack required to make it a genuine alternative. Not least with its wheel on the correct side and some properly warranted dealer support. And viewed as an astounding V8 with a free car thrown in, it could almost be perceived as good value…