Price Car Corvette ZR1

Corvette ZR1 Design

Consider the alternatives. That 458? The chassis is flawless to the point of being distant, and you always get the feeling that the car hates you. Porsches? Almost universally lovely, but not as raw and toothsome as they once were.

The Bugatti? A technological wonder and one of the fastest cars on earth, but it’s doing way more work than you are; a blindfolded Lindsay Lohan could break lap records with that thing, and she drives like a dead moose. There are Paganis and McLarens and Shelby SSCs and such, and they are all well and good, but they all come with caveats. Most are fiendishly impractical, emotionally dull, or both.

The ZR1 is the biggest, baddest ‘Vette in Chevrolet’s arsenal. The supercharged 6.2-liter LS9 V-8 under the car’s carbon-fiber hood produces 638 hp and a massive 604 pound-feet of torque.

Computer-controlled magnetorheological shocks — made by Delphi, and the same technology found on the Ferrari 599 GTB — are standard, as is a great deal of carbon-fiber bodywork, an aluminum frame shared with the base Corvette, and carbon-ceramic brakes. As on lesser Corvettes, a two-mode exhaust system keeps noise to a minimum unless you boot the throttle. Curb weight is a respectable 3,353 pounds, or roughly as heavy as a BMW 1-Series M Coupe, which makes about 300 fewer horsepower.

What we have here is simply a monster. In terms of user-friendly performance, durability, cost per mile, and longevity, the ZR1 might be the single most competent car on the planet. That hugely powerful engine idles like a Camry, only rocking or misfiring on the coldest of mornings.

Corvette ZR1 Engine

The throttle is long-throw and progressive, the better to meter out power without letting an involuntary leg twitch throw you into the nearest ditch. The twin-rotor Eaton supercharger whines a little as it builds boost, but the engine barely makes a sound around town. The adaptive shocks work wonders; they’re compliant and comfortable when needed, firm when not. Below 3000 rpm, you tend to forget you’re in anything other than a base Corvette $113,500 base, $125,295 as tested  Chevrolet.