lionking

Been a while since I've been on the forum. Had a looooong holiday overseas. Was great to get back in the 350z and go for a spin. It's amazing how fast it feels when I've been riding around in tuk tuks at a max speed of about 30kph for the last few months. Or even worse - an elephant - the slowest moving mode of transport on Earth!!!

Had a stop in NY and while walkin around Grand Central Station Mrs. LK spotted Madonna and her kids hangin around this street corner and there was a massive film crew down the road. We thought they were makin a music video. Turns out that her husband, Guy Ritchie, was filming the new Corvette ad (she was just there to watch). We watched for a couple of hours as they built a ramp and jumped the Vette for one of the scenes. Turns out that the jump wasn't all that spectacular but what an awesome car for the price!!!
Just looked up some specs
0-60 4.1 secs - is that faster than a 350 Z???!!!

DavidM, maybe you could do an "on paper" comparo?

Anyway, it's good to be back in Oz
LK

mchapman

iTrader: (1)

That is allot quicker than a Zed.

5.5-6.0s is 350z territory.

lionking

A few pics

lionking

another

lionking

Last one.

lionking

Ok, I lied. This is definately the last one .... for now.

KY350

Welcome home LK. Thanks for the pics.
Vette looks v average from the front 3/4 shot and the steering wheel is just plain fugly.
Awesome perfomance though.

Apexi350z

iTrader: (3)

the interior of the vette looks awasome! thanks for the pics!

mchapman

iTrader: (1)

Ok that is a very ugly vette, they've certainly took a step backward with the styling.

nang3

i reckon that looks pretty sweet.. pity it would be at least $100K+ over here...

almost looks a bit like a Mazda from the front..

WhiteZed

iTrader: (8)

that is hot man

think

body kit / wheels / drop it on its guts
thats all that it needs ..

with that it would be so hot

interior is nice

excellant

DavidM

0-60 4.1 secs - is that faster than a 350 Z???!!!

Vette is a very quick car ... in particluar in terms of straightline speed. Afterall, picture a HSV engine inside a ~1400kg car. One of the latest US mags actually did a proper test here it is:

http://www.caranddriver.com/article....&page_number=4

They clocked it at 4.3sec to 60mph (96.5kph), 9.9sec to 100mph (160kph) and 12.7sec @ 113mph (182kph) over 400m. 9.9sec to 160kph makes noticably quicker than the M3, 911, the 300kW HSVs ... I think you need to go to 911 GT3 to get those numbers as it's not far of 911 TT.

To put the 350Z into perspective, the best US times extracted from the 350Z are 5.2sec to 60mph (96.5kph), 13.4sec to 100mph (160kph) and 13.7 @ 102mph (164kph) over 400m. That is a night and day kind of difference. Afterall, the new Vette clocked 200kph in ~15.5sec!!! The 350Z will maybe hit 170kph by that time, and needs ~23.5sec to reach 200kph.

ps. Check out this TopGear video of the new Vette ... quick car, but it does have some things (like the leaf spring suspension) which makes me wonder:

http://www.sleepy-fish.com/sleepy/To...orvette_lo.wmv (21Mb)

btw, The Vette never does too well in any tests out of USA ... even it's lap times are usualy ordinary. Though, the just superseeded model did recently manage to clock N'ring in about 8:17 ... which is 911 territory.

lionking

yea i thought it looked pretty hot in person but does need a few simple cosmetic fixes. lowering would be my first priority - this would improve looks by 200% strait away. that being said, this was the car that went over the ramp so the suspension was very likely modified (up) to do the jump.

DavidM - i also read somethin about .98 lat g's.

mchapman

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I read a review on an older vette 2 models ago?, which had transverse leaf spring suspension and they absolutely hated it, said it just did not work at all and was horrible to drive. It did everything you didnt want it to do.

I just did a google search and the 2005 model still has the same suspension. I could not buy the car based on this alone.

If the free trade agreement goes through we should be able to buy US cars free from the normal taxes. So they should be alot cheaper in theory.

ypwpat

Hello LK welcome back

Well about the lowering part.

I'm not even sure it will work on t he new Vette. It uses the Old Style of Suspension, which called an old Leaf spring. It's damn stiff from what i heard or seen on the Review.

Cheers
Yun

KY350

Thanks for the vette times / info David - I'm sure that LK was being facetious when asking if the Z was as quick.
The APS Z should be.
Will download the vid 2morrow as it will take at least 10min and I'm getting sleepy.

scathing

The 'Vette could do with some lowerering, I think. There's too much wheelarch gap.

The body looks pretty good, I think, but that interior.....the red seats look garish, and the material looks like vinyl, and I could have sworn that the steering wheel came out of a car from the 80's.