View Single Post
      06-13-2016, 02:32 PM   #732
crfine88
Colonel
crfine88's Avatar
437
Rep
2,747
Posts

Drives: E86M
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Cave Creek AZ.

iTrader: (19)

Well this may be a bit cathartic, but here goes

Excited to be back in a Z4 M coupe!

As the saying goes, “grass is always greener…” Well I went down this path chasing another amazing car. My best friend Joe (aka brother from another mother) started tracking and bought a C6 Z06. His terrible influence lead me to sell the IB M coupe and pick up Z06 of my own.

The Journey to Z06 ownership:
Selling the M coupe was an interesting experience. I loved building the car, but hadn’t realized how truly attached I was until the day I sold it. At the time of sale, I had been working out of state and only coming home a few days at a time. The car was in the middle of multiple projects, maintenance and repair that I did not have time for. This was when I decided to make the jump to Z06 territory.
It was an exciting transaction. The car went to a fellow enthusiast. On the day the new owner was coming to pick up the M I gave the car one last detail. I found myself moving slowly as if the final detail was some sort of long good bye (lol, sappy…I know). I then stacked the boxes/packaging from all modifications along the wall in my garage so the new owner could select what he would like to keep. This image always stick out in my memory because it had been the culmination of several years’ work.

With the M coupe sold, the hunt for a C6 Z06 began!
I had been looking for a sub 30K mile 2008/2009, when I came across 2006 that peaked my interest. The car was one owner, all service records, 11K miles, Victory Red and located in Laguna Hills CA. After speaking to the owner, I sent a deposit and booked a flight. If everything lined up the plan was to drive it home that evening. It ended up being one of those cool car buying moments when the seller has under promised and over delivered. The car was showroom condition; Difficult to tell it had ever been driven. Exterior, interior and engine bay were flawless. The only indicator of use was the scratched up plastic lower valence. I was traveling with bank check and contract in toe. We signed the contract, exchanged check for car, and I began the exciting drive home! (Side note, at 5’-10” you can comfortably sleep fetal position in the back of a Z06)

Why the ZO6:
After spending several years building the M coupe, the Z06 was very attractive for a few reasons:

-Power: In stock form at 500HP, the Z06 was at a HP benchmark I wanted to meet with the M

-Torque: In stock form at 400ftlb, the power was “on-demand” in a way that I found less scary and more useful coming out of turns than I had anticipated.

-Weight: All that power and torque weighting in at 3147lbs

-Oil management: Dry sump oil system (no oil starvation during high speed turns)

-Transmission: Audible gear grabbing motorsport sounds + rear mounted for weight distribution (like another car many of us know and love… the ALMS M3.)

-Wide Track and Loads of Rubber: The car sits very stable in turns at high speed & it is easy to run 295 up front with 345 rear with no fender modification. The experience was great handling and plenty of grip to handle the power/torque

-Brakes: In stock form, the stopping power matches the car ability to move

-Electronic Gadgetry: TPMS dash read-out. This rocks! Know what the individual pressures were at each corner was something I always wished the M had. Mild to wild exhaust. Silly name, awesome concept. Electric button to make exhaust civilized or loud! Push button start, w/ no key insertion needed! Heads up display (cool idea, but ended up not really using this).

-Maintenance Cost: Just check out Rockauto.com and do some cross comparisons to our beloved M coupe. I was amazed at how inexpensive wear items were for a relatively expensive car.

For me the Z06 in stock form met all the performance benchmarks I had been chasing while building the M coupe. I still believe that if performance is all you are looking for, a low mileage C6 Z06 is one of the best values out there. Trying to meet those benchmarks in a Z4M will cost quite a bit more than buying a Z06.
Z06 ownership was a blast, but ultimately the car did not “check all the boxes” for me in terms of a complete package. Despite the many upgrades in performance and gadgetry, I still missed my M coupe. Ultimately, the Z06 ended up not being the car for me.
__________________

Last edited by crfine88; 06-13-2016 at 02:57 PM..
Appreciate 2