abcut973

I was at the chevy dealership today. They have this very aggressive camaro ZL1: wide front and rear bumpers, big wheels, muscle hood, brembo brakes, etc... Curious about it i ask one of the salesman to give me a little decription of the car. As some of you may know it's 6.2 V8 supercharged delivering 580 HP and 550 of torque. It's got plenty of features like our cars (backup camera, navigation, bluetooth, performance monitor, LSD etc...).
Then i ask to fire it up a little and at this exact moment I'm very surprised by the loudness of the OEM exhaust . It's got quad tips that look like 3.5" in the back and honestly it sounds louder than our OEM.
So my question is why not buying this coupe as it has more power, almost same weight and aggressive bodykit from factory? Plus price wise it is less expensive.
It would be interesting to have your thoughts on this. I didn't test drive it but those of you who own/or have owned one does it handle the same as ours? What is the main criteria that would make you choose a c63 over a ZL1 or vice versa?

Sanders27

I think the whole point of an AMG is the craftsmanship behind it. There are several less exspensive and better performing vehicles out there but to me they lack "it". IE: I like watches, yeah I can buy an auto fossil that tells time but I would rather have a hand made timepiece that also tells time. To me there is simply no comparison, no disrespect to the ZL1 but it is a Fossil watch compared to a Breitling.

forcefed6.4ford

No matter how fast or fancy it is, it will always be just a Camaro. Pennsyltucky water fall hair optional.

MikeTc63

That was a "Perfect" answer lol..

johnnyblaze

Here's my FBO C63 vs a Modded ZL1

He walked me after 130ish by 2 cars.. He was trapping 158+ I was trapping 150's

chrisridebike8

There's always something faster or more luxurious or whatever. When it comes to cars, for me it's about feel. Does the car talk to me? What I feel through the steering wheel, the brake pedal and the seat of my pants means more to me than all out performance. With that said, going fast sure is fun! Drive it and then decide. I almost traded my C63 for a Roush RS3 mustang because of the noise and feel of the car. It talked to me and just made me smile.

roadtalontsi

go drive it. do you want a cheap gm thats fast and disposable? you'll understand what these guys are talking about. i dont know fossil maybe a little too much of a compliment.

Im not saying its not fun by any means, id drive the **** out of one but wouldnt ever own one. just like a shelby mustang. You'd be better off checking out gtr's too

ilovemaui1

The Zl1 is pretty awesome car and tough to match the performance for the price.

cyberorth

Ok Benz is no breitling. May be omega

Karl901

Just remember, beauty is is in the eye of beholder.

Sanders27

Haha true it was the best I had as I was falling asleep. And Fossil may be a little low also. How about Seiko to Omega??

abcut973

In that case I would prefer a Tag Heuer
Actually i'm not looking to trade my sedan since i was at this dealership for another matter. But it got me thinking. I did buy my C63 because I drove it, because of the performance, the sound and the way i felt about it while testing it, the quality of engineering, material used for the interior, comfort and so on.... over BMW. I never imagine or put into consideration a muscle car though, no offense there. I did check the interior quickly and it felt a little empty.... It's probably lacking some subtle touches that I'm used to see in the C or any other german cars
Can performance overshadow style and quality on the long run meaning for a daily driver, particularly when you can have the best of both worlds in one car?
For sure I'll find some time to drive it for fun and curiosity...

Merc63

I see these at the track all the time. They are heavy, 4400lbs and I was blowing them away with a rce gas tune and headers when they had a blower on them.

frcotting

If your boss was throwing a party at his house in the Hamptons, would you rather show up in a Camaro or a C63?

deeoh

It's on the Hagerty Hot List for 2013 Class of 2033. http://www.hagerty.com/Hagerty-corpo...-Hot-List-2013 I think this company knows a little bit about future car valuations. Where are the AMG's, btw?

ilovemaui1

I don't think there is any comparison between a Merc and Chevrolet. The Merc interiors are far superior to the chevy and it is a completely different market. If I in the market for the fastest, most powerful car for $50,000, I would definitely buy the ZL1. The depreciation will be much lower than 90% of cars on the market and the car will have a following for many years to come. If you can buy one and put it in a time capsule it will be worth a lot of money in 20 years. An original ZL1 is worth a couple hundred grand but that is because they only made 69 of them.

The original 1969 ZL1 was the brainchild of Fred Gibb Chevrolet. GM agreed to produce the aluminum block 427 if Fred Gibb Chevrolet would purchase a minimum order of 50 vehicles. Gibb agreed to 50 vehicles under the impression the motor would add $500 to the camaro price. The first cars showed up on cold, snowy night and Gibb was shocked to learn the upgrade was closer to $7000. Gibb was unsuccessful in selling 50 ZL1's and is the only dealer GM has ever allowed to return vehicles. Eventually other muscle car dealers filled in the gap and 69 vehicles were sold.

esses

i saw the new Z28 a couple of weeks ago at Indy and it looked awesome with its massive carbon ceramics, huge front splitter and matte white paint. The interior was OK — perfectly fitting for its track focused design. Very similar in execution to 996-generation GT3's.

you can't compare it to our face-lifted C63's — cars designed to be fast, comfortable, daily drivers full of comfort features and assembled using quality components and materials. They are not track cars.

Different horses for different courses.

AMG 17GT

I'd say its more like Jim beam vs Blantons bourbon.

And take a look at both cars after 2 years. That Chevy wil look and smell like a turd.

Point2Point

I most respect the ZL1 for its handling - the GM engineers did an amazing job tuning the setup to make this heavy beast corner so well. I think the C63 BS would have to work pretty hard to out run a ZL1 on the track. The upcoming Z/28 will be even more of a track beast.

I'm not bothered by the Camaro's lack of snob appeal. The biggest thing that keeps me away from buying a Camaro is the terrible outward visibility. It feels like you're sitting in a tank.

Ingenieur

2 different animals but the ZL1 is the real deal: 7:42 at the 'Ring
a lot of bang for the buck, and to each their own

irablumberg

It truly depends on what you want from a car. The C63 sedan is very nice because it can take 4 people comfortably and 5 people with a bit of a squeeze. The back seat of the Camaro is for emergencies and / or punishment only. Also, the C63 is smaller, lighter, and much more maneuverable around town with much better outward visibility, thus more relaxing to drive as a daily driver.

For pure numbers, the 2012+ C63s with the PP will beat a ZL1 in a straight line stock for stock. The ZL1 does handle well with the magnetic suspension, particularly for such a heavy car, and will likely do better on a twisty road course.

Thus, it all depends on what you want in your car. I needed a relatively small but very comfortable family hauler and the C63 sedan was by far the most fun car in that class. The ZL1 just does not fit that category. The CTS-V sedan might, but my wife who is the primary driver felt is was too big (and too Cadillac ;-). I did enjoy my CTS-V while I owned it. It was a more relaxed driver than the C63, but the C63 is smaller and easier to drive in town.

Get what fits your needs and makes you happy.

USCGTO

You sure about that? Worst case scenario, the ZL1 will be neck to neck with the C63.

If they end up racing from a roll, then the C63 will end up behind the ZL1 very quickly.
If they end up racing for anything more than a quarter mile, the ZL1 will out-muscle the C63 as higher speeds approach.

Handling, don't even bother comparing the two.


I like the C63, but the ZL1 outmuscles C63 in pretty much every category.

irablumberg

I have never driven a ZL1 and I have never taken my C63 to the strip, so none of this is from personal experience. However, looking at tests from the top car magazines, the 2012 C63 with PP is either equal to (Motor Trend) or faster than the ZL1 (Car and Driver) in the 1/4. Both cars appear to go very low 12s, but the C63 appears to have a slight edge.

Part of the C63 advantage is the transmission. I had a manual CTS-V and the shifting was great, but nowhere near as fast as the 7 speed auto on the C63 in S+ mode. The ZL1 is stuck with the same manual or an old school auto. If GM ever steps up with a dual clutch auto, it will be a whole new ball game as that will take at least a few tenths off the 1/4 time.

JRSJR65

Well put Irablumburg, that's exactly what it boils down to, personal needs and preference. I test drove all of the above almost bought a new ZL1 convertible. Dealer wouldn't stand behind their counter offer when I called them to the table on it as a cash deal so I walked . Really enjoyed going back to that dealership on other business in my older and less expensive C63 family car to laugh about it with the sales manager. The ZL1 still sits on the showroom floor, (still very nice with more amenities than the C63)! All personal preference and needs for sure. Very pleased with my choice, fits my 4-door life.

TTA850

It's close, in the spring I went to the track with a buddy who had recently purchased a ZL1. Both of our cars were bone stock and we are both experienced drivers. His best run was 11.99 at 116+ vs my 11.91 at 118+ and it left us wondering how does a car with 100hp more and only 100lbs more weight come up second

Of course that's stock to stock, once modified its gonna take a lot more for an AMG to keep up and in my opinion there's a point where the Camaro will not be caught - the LSx market is just incredible and can make more power than most can imagine.