Quanitifiable? I don't think you have to put a dollar figure on what car you think has soul. It doesn't have to be expensive. For me, my Boxster S has a lot more soul than my TT. It is all relative.

My $.06

 

actually it beat the tt's ring time by about 15 seconds and is about 10 seconds shy of the carerra GT. The GT2 is a few ticks off of the z06 on the ring.

 

Well put. And not too gay....okay a little.

 

Similiar to the Ford guys that bought a 360 to beat on when they did the GT

 

I recall the story of my good friends father who was from East Germany telling us of when he finally got his first car after anxiously waiting for his turn on the 8-year waiting list (and some think a 2-year wait for an F430 is long); a 1970 Trabant 601, the {archetype of Central Planning and a car that would remain the pinnacle of Communist engineering for nearly 30 years. He spoke of it with such zeal and sheer passion and always had a joyful smirk on his face when he told us of it. He was the envy of all of the other factory workers who would swoon and drool over it every morning, not even the Communist Party overseers at the factory had one, they like everyone else took the tram.

He loved that car, from its complete absence of any and all decadent capitalistic styling, 1-inch panel gaps to the 26hp 600cc two stroke air-cooled engine. He told tales of zipping around trams and round-about like he was in the F1 circuit. I don’t even think his present SL300 ignites his passion so much.

So would that mean that a Trabant has “soul�

 

Right...faster than Porsche's oldest 996 Turbo technology...non- X50 and non-X73, on 415 hp.

Do you think an X50/X73 Turbo might be in the low 7:50 to high 7:40 range?

Think the 997 Turbo might even be faster?

 

or, on par w/ Porsches GT3RS on different rubber

 

Also, it has been stated in the new Corvette Quarterly that the Z06 achieved the 7:42.9 from a dead start. The CGT got the 7:32 with a flying start.

 

Ultimately, a big part of the "soul" factor comes down to a person's experience, history, and interaction with his/her car...

 

Yeah, I wasn't trying to be too specific because as others have pointed out in later posts there's always a few "ifs" and "buts" related to the lap times of any manufacturer. I was just trying to point out they're comparable around the N'ring.

 

That soul speech was well put, very emotional. A little gay but but I think we all know what it feels like to really love a car

 

To compare a CGT to a Z06 is just plain retarded.

The Z06 does not stand a chance at the racetrack against a decently driven Carrera GT. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it, so let's not be ridiculous here. The cars are clearly in two different leagues and there isn't a single performance category where the Z06 beats the Carrera GT.

In regards to the time vs. GT3-RS, it may have Corsa System tires (which are not really R-compound tires) but only 380hp and maybe 100 lbs. less weight... so which is really the better sports car?

Chevy has done a better job than before with the Z06, but let's not get carried away. Having seen two in person and up close, I must say it is fairly impressive for an American car, it's like a Cadillac XLR with a Yukon interior and a Cobra 427 motor. Not really to my taste, but to each his own.

 

This has been clarified by several people that the Z *did* in fact use a flying start (pretty much like all 'ring times since it removes the start acceleration as a factor).

DT

 

I've been talking about subjective value at the various Vette forums, now that people want to compare the new Z to everything on the planet. I specifically posted _after_ people started comparing the CGT to the Z06.

There are subjective measures that have value - beyond the 3.9's, 1.02's, 11.7's, 198's, etc., etc. Someone said that anyone who buys a performance car based on the brand is not really an enthusiast. I asked about the hundreds of Porsche drivers at DE events every week (like the ones I attend are typically 1/3-1/2 Porsche) - they of course had no answer.

I suggested that everyone is subject to making consumer selections based on subjective criteria - I asked if there was anyone who had never purchased anything that had the same objective performance as a "lesser" brand, but they felt there was equity in the brand: a watch?, tennis shoes? electronics? Of course not, everyone is guilty of this to some degree.

This was more an argument in support of the 996/TT and not so much the CGT which I think is beyond comparison on both a subjective and objective level.

This is *why* I'm buying a TT and _not_ buying a new Z06.

 

Ya, you are right. A Z06 should not be compared to a CGT in regards to prestige, built, exclusitivity and the such. But, to say that it is retared to compare the two is, well, retarded.

C&D just squeezed a 3.4 0-60 and MT ran the car at 11.5@127. On the Z06 forums, there is a guy that saw one run an 11.4 bone stock.

Also, there is a video from one of the guys on the vet forums that owns a Ferrari and a C6 Z, and at Gingerman, he has the video of him chasing a CGT. He hung with the CGT pretty well. I can dig up the video for you if you would like.

In no way am I saying that the Z06 is better than a CGT IN ANY WAY, but, when it comes to performance strictly, the Z06 is damn impressive and can even give a CGT a run for it's money based on mag numbers AND real life driving on the track