2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 COTY Review: Flat Fabulous

Zora must be smiling down on the 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 from that great road course in the sky. More powerful and exotic Corvettes are coming, but this one may represent the zenith for America's sports car. It offers a Goldilocks combination of epic, linear, naturally aspirated power; just enough torque to keep two fat rear tires right at their limits of adhesion without heroic electronic intervention; and a balanced chassis carrying less than 40 percent of its mass up front. Electrifying the front axle, turbocharging this engine, and adding even more chassis wizardry may one day boost all the objective numbers, but we probably won't love such Corvettes as much.

Touch the starter, and the giant 5.5-liter flat-plane-crankshaft V-8's bark will wake neighbors before settling down to a jittery 800-rpm idle that, thanks to rigid engine mounts, makes the whole car tingle with a palpable sense of electricity that future battery-powered Corvettes will struggle to match. "It's worth its price on engine sound alone," buyer's guide director Zach Gale said. Features editor Christian Seabaugh added it "sounds like the trumpets of Jericho howling in your ear."

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Most judges took extra laps of the winding course, searching for some indication of the Z06's handling limits but finding only their own—and this is the "base" setup, not the Z07. Seabaugh likened its turn-in response to that of video game physics, while Mexico editor Miguel Cortina proclaimed the steering as perhaps the closest he'd felt to Porsche's: "It's direct, precise, and accurate."

Our test team praised the transmission shift logic and its ability to tolerate repeated launch-control sprints (with best results following a brief burnout to prep the tires). Road test editor Chris Walton appreciated that "it's not threatening in a way that some mid-engine cars can be" and likened the pedal action of the optional $8,495 carbon brakes to that of a Porsche 911 GT3—modulated strictly by pedal pressure, not travel. The Z06 clearly nails our engineering excellence criterion.

Our judges agreed the new Corvette Z06 begins to approach the performance drama of top-tier competitors like the Ferrari F8 Tributo, Lamborghini Huracán STO, McLaren 765LT, or Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series. That its Tour mode chassis setting offers comfort on par with or exceeding that of these cars' entry variants at roughly half their price (more like a third the performance variants' prices) stirred jingoistic pride in us and earned the Z06 huge value points.

Our praise for the Z06's engine and chassis performance was as unanimous as our disappointment in the car's overall design. Guest judge Chris Theodore felt the wider track and the redesigned side scoop graphic improved the C8's proportions and visually lengthened the car, but he found the aero add-ons (and 70th Anniversary sticker stripes) added further visual clutter to an already "enthusiastic, immature design."

The other criteria where the Corvette Z06 struggled somewhat were efficiency (it incurs a gas-guzzler tax of $2,600 to $3,000) and safety (no agency has tested a Corvette). But if the new Z06 had to sacrifice a little in those areas on the way to become a living legend, well, we imagine Zora wouldn't have it any other way.