M3 SMG II meets Z06

[SDbboy]

Up until this point I really didn't know much about the Z06 other than I had heard it was really fast, after tonight I realized all of the hearsay.

Coming out of Kroger today I see this guy taking pictures of my car and then he quickly asks if its mine and I said yeah. We get to talking and we decided to give each rides to see how the cars contrast. We agree to meet a few hours later after I cleaned my car and emptied the groceries out.

To make a long story short we both ended up giving each other demos, racing from a 40/50/60/100 rolls and from a stop all the way up to 160 MPH and finally test driving each others cars.

All I gotta say is the Z06 is the don dadda of sports cars. I only pulled on him a few times briefly then he quickly caught up and this was with me using launch control and spinning all over the place through the first 3 gears.

In every single gear no matter what speed the Z06 pulled on me at least 2-3 car lengths no matter what I did, (kicking down to the lowest gear possible, shifting at redline, sport mode, Sequential/Automated modes).

Oh and his car corners every bit as good as an M3. And you can easily get sideways doing 80 MPH if you kickdown and shift like a champion. His car is loud as f**k too.

I honestly thought my car would do better against him but I was proved wrong ,very very wrong. At one point he rolled down the window and asked me to stop playing and really race, which was what I was doing the entire time. :emo

Anyway the Z06 is a monster of a vehicle with gobs of power and torque. The first thing I'd do if I had one is get a fat steering wheel like mine but other than that its damn near perfect performance wise.

He liked my car too and I even showed him how to do a launch control (I felt bad cause I hit the rev limiter a few times on his car :12: ) , he liked how smooth and quiet my car is and all the "James Bond" stuff as he called it.

Heres some pictures of both of us at Kroger. His girlfriend video taped all the runs in which in all but 2 I was annihilated. I might post them here but its a kick to the mouth to any E46 M3 owner.








Brian

[QuestMCoupe]

Wow...nice pictures. It looks like you guys have almost the same color.
I'm not surprised on the outcome of the races though...from stories that I've read on here, hardly any e46 M3s are able to beat LS1s and the Z06 can easily take LS1s. I think the last dyno I saw of an e46 M3 showed around 270-280rwhp and the Z06 is rated 405hp.

[FrankW]

I wouldn't mess with Z06 those thing are crazy fast. Nice story.

i'm surprised how much the camera makes the topaz blue looks like the blue on the Vette.

[M triple]

I spent 3 days last summer driving one of those bad boys(Z06) around Moroso at the Justin Bell school. These cars are UNREAL on the track. What is really amazing is that other than safety equipment, all they do to prep these cars for track duty is brake pads, that's it. Amazing car!

[SDbboy]

I funny thing about the Z06 is if you drive it slow like I did (at first), out of first gear it will force you into 4th gear, there like a plate or something that blocks the grates to 2nd when you go slow. Very weird but if you drive it hard this will never happen so its not really an issue. Anyone understand why it does this?

Brian

[///MTV]

The Z06 is the best sports car money can buy for 50K or less. Granted the interior and dash look like they came out of a silverado, but it takes no prisoners. Add a reasonable $10K in engine and suspension mods and it will be absolutely unreal

Had I not gotten my M Coupe, I would own a Z06.

In defense of the M3, you can carry 4 people and its an I6 vs a V8. While youre comparing sports car "fruit", its still apples to oranges in that respect. I have also heard that build quality after a year is somewhat spotty on the z06...still an amazing performance vehicle.

[c steve]

It's a rough life, what should I drive today?


My S54 M coupe is fast. The Z06 is -- much -- much faster. One hell of a car.

[c steve]

I funny thing about the Z06 is if you drive it slow like I did (at first), out of first gear it will force you into 4th gear, there like a plate or something that blocks the grates to 2nd when you go slow. Very weird but if you drive it hard this will never happen so its not really an issue. Anyone understand why it does this?

It's how they manage to get the fuel ratings they do. You can buy a CAGS eliminator that plugs in and removes this "feature" -- but a few of the Z06 and Camaro guys have had their entire warranties voided when the dealer found out. B.S.

[SilverStreak]

Gorgeous pics, Brian! Love the color of your car!

The 1-4 shift is GM's way of ensuring a good mpg rating for the EPA. You can buy a fix for that for like $25 from places like rksport, edelbrock, mid-america, etc. Or some guys even know how to disconnect it and install a fuse, etc, for next to nothing.

The Z06 is a monster, almost feels like a big block when you drive it. Guys around here do nothing but slap on some slicks and they are running 11's...

[SDbboy]

Thanks Dave, the guy who owned this Z06 said hes run an 11.8 1/4 mile with slicks on

Honestly the Z06 is a little too much for me. Ripping through the gears at 6500 RPM its a brutal experience afterwards I'm left asking "Am I in the gang yet?" I'm not sure I could handle that everyday.

Brian

[SilverStreak]

I'm curious, what was his first name??? I know of a guy down near you in TX with an 02 Electron Blue Z06 who runs 11's on slicks...

[tlaselva]

Originally posted by dallasbboy
I funny thing about the Z06 is if you drive it slow like I did (at first), out of first gear it will force you into 4th gear, there like a plate or something that blocks the grates to 2nd when you go slow. Very weird but if you drive it hard this will never happen so its not really an issue. Anyone understand why it does this?

Brian

It's CAGS, which stands for Computer Aided Gear Shift. It allows you to shift from 1st to fourth at around 2000-2500 rpms. When you reach around 2000 rpms in first gear the CAGS light on the dash comes on and the computer closes a gate in the shift pattern to guide the shifter from 1st to 4th.

It's a device that has helped the V8 get 28 mpg on the highway, which is a good thing cuz it makes the Vette exempt from the gas-guzzler tax. Less money to the government.

Oh, it's also easily defeatable, with a $20 Cags eliminator, or just take the rev's beyond 3K, which at that point the CAGS is disabled.

[4-BNGR]

I don't know about you guys but, Kroger RULES

But seriously, beautiful cars!

[SilverStreak]

The CAGS doesn't help the highway mileage so much as it does the around town mileage. The 6 spd with 2 over drive gears takes care of the highway mpg.

I think if you rev it above a certain rpm (2500? 3000?) in 1st gear and shift it will let you go to 2nd, but if you're driving slowly or taking it easy, it directs you into 4th gear for city mpg figures, etc...

[Stuttgart951]

Really cool story - good to know there are still nice "car people" that can get along.

[vjlax18]

All 6-Speed vettes from I think 91-up have the 1-4 skip shift. The CAGS eliminator thing is only 2 blank ends of a connector. To disable it, you just unplug one connector, but the kits keeps the connectors from getting dirty. The skip shift works on not only RPMs but also the % of throtle being given. The skip shift on the C5 is way better than on the C4. The C4 would grind if you tried to go into 2nd (if you didn't see the light), the C5 is just smooth as can be. Plus the C5 has the power to actually run the car from 1st to 4th.

[Greg]

Well if the M3 had the M5 engine in it, it would be a better match up. Also if you put 285s in the rear, and 245s in the front of your car, you could push over a G in the turns like the vette. It's proportional.

You could not expect to keep up with a car that has 70 more HP!
Common! You did well. Again if you had the same HP numbers, you would have been side by side with this guy!

Must have been a pretty site those 2 blue beasts!

Don't stress brother, that car is one of the fastest (stock) cars you can encounter. Everything else is not quite as fast pretty much...

[Ron17]

Originally posted by c steve
It's a rough life, what should I drive today?


My S54 M coupe is fast. The Z06 is -- much -- much faster. One hell of a car.

Do you really own an S54 M Coupe, a Z06 and a Type-R???

[Dark Helmet]

beautiful cars.... great pics.... *right-click, save*

[MKit]

niccce

[frayed]

I too have been on the track in a Z06. They are brutally fast, and can do everything well: turn, brake, accelerate.

On a road course, it takes an exotic costing 2 or 3 times as much to challenge a well driven Z06. Even though I'm not much of a Corvette aficionado or GM guy, for some reason, I always find it satisfying to watch the Z06's run around the track and sodomize 600+ hp Vipers.

[Ron17]

Originally posted by frayed
I too have been on the track in a Z06. They are brutally fast, and can do everything well: turn, brake, accelerate.

On a road course, it takes an exotic costing 2 or 3 times as much to challenge a well driven Z06. Even though I'm not much of a Corvette aficionado or GM guy, for some reason, I always find it satisfying to watch the Z06's run around the track and sodomize 600+ hp Vipers.

I imagine it's that "little guy taking out the big dog" effect. People always love to see that. I know I do!

Now, if I could just find someone who has an M3 that'll beat a heavily-modded GTI...

[dave is cool]

Originally posted by Ron17
Do you really own an S54 M Coupe, a Z06 and a Type-R???

Ya, I'm wondering the same thing :

[vjlax18]

Originally posted by frayed
sodomize

:

Uh.... he said sodomize.

[dave is cool]

By the way, nice attempt at blurring out the rear license plates, you can still somewhat make out the Vette's plate