Motor Trend selects Best Driver's car for 2015

[Dodge_Guy]

Big announcement this week: Motor Trend selected their annual "Best driver's car". Take a wild guess which car did not finish (because it broke)? Yep, GM's top of the line: 2015 Z06 (track pack car)

If you'll recall they recently tested a Yellow 2015 Z06 (with all the special track options and super sticky track tires....Michelin sport cup 2 tires, all the aero, etc..) against a 2015 Nissan GTR and the GTR was faster...and GM was pissed. GM said the alignment was off. (i.e. GM gave Motor Trend a car with a bad alignment to test). Yeah right.

This time, apparently they claim the Z06 was pulling timing among other things. In case the link doesn't work: Here is the part about the Z06 (copy pasted from their site):
http://www.motortrend.com/features/p...r/viewall.html


This was written by GM's #1 fan - Johnny Lieberman
"It didn't work. The damn Z06 retarded spark by 8 degrees, and the 1.7-liter TVS supercharger refused to make boost. No one knows why. Chevrolet came up with a "bad gas" theory, but Big Nasty got filled at the same Chevron stations as everyone else and even swallowed 8 gallons of 101 octane in an attempt to get the supercharger to wake up. No luck. What we have here is a failure to compete. What a pity. Allow me to explain why.
Potential. Have another look at the numbers: 650 horsepower; 650 lb-ft of torque; big, brawny Brembos, 15.5-inch carbon-ceramic rotors with six-piston monobloc calipers up front, 15.3-inch carbon-ceramic rotors with four-piston monobloc calipers on the rears; relatively light weight due to its stiff aluminum chassis; and in Stage III Aero guise, the Z07 package records lateral acceleration of 1.17 g, thanks in part to the massive, super-sticky Michelin Pilot Sport 2 Cup tires (285/30R19 front; 335/25R20 rear). If any car has a chance at dominating Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, it's this Chevy. This is the horse you bet to win.

1:38.60. That time is the best lap that our sick Z06 managed to squeak out. Here's a list of cars from this year's BDC the broken Z06 was able to limp around Laguna quicker than: Mazda Miata (1:50.68), Volkswagen Golf R (1:46.95), Bentley GT3-R (1:43.51), Lexus RC F (1:43.20), Cadillac ATS-V 6M (1:40.18), Mercedes-AMG C63 S (1:40.50), and the Cadillac ATS-V 8A (1:39.65). Also, the totally healthy Cadillac CTS-V managed to just pip the lame Z06 by 8 hundredths of a second (1:38.52).
Those bested competitors are just from this year's group of contenders. Dig into the history books and you'll see the busted 'Vette was also quicker than an Audi V10 Plus (1:38.70), Shelby GT500 (1:38.70), Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG (1:38.82), Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series (1:38.90), Porsche 911 Carrera S4 (1:39.19), and a Chevy Camaro ZL1 (1:39.20). Chevy fans can take solace in the fact that even when wounded, the Z06 is quicker than most other high-performance machines. But can you imagine what time a working Z06 would lay down? Remember, the ZR1 managed 1:33.70. Sigh.

From Angus MacKenzie: "Kudos to GM for always manning up and putting its cars forward for the most grueling performance test in the business. So it was disappointing to see Big Nasty sidelined by a mysterious engine problem not even the GM techs on hand could figure out. And disappointing to also discover that a car supposedly specially earmarked for BDC testing had been sent to us with worn-out brake pads." Oh yeah, the brake pads were in terrible shape. Had the Z06 been making full boost, one of us might have been in big trouble on 198.
Final thoughts: There's simply no excuse. Chevy's now thinking that California's 91 octane confused the computer when it mixed with 93 octane from Arizona, where we picked the car up. I say that's bogus because not only is California the Z06's largest market and our "premium" fuel a known quantity, but you're going to tell me this is what will happen to skinflint owners who try and save a buck or two by filling their cars with midgrade fuel? That, and this entire ordeal, is unacceptable."

[FrgMstr]

The is fucking hilarious. Too bad the Focus was not there to knock it down a peg.

[TitanSnake]

What would be even funnier is if someone found a way to hack into the car like the issue we had with u connect, or some built in nanny control put the car into some valet mode after they started thrashing it.

[Stealth]

I think an intercooler hose was unhooked or something. The car was way down on power.

It just boggles my mind that GM, Dodge, etc.--any manufacturer--would not check and shakedown ANY car given for testing. Testing is advertising and can increase or decrease sales and brand reputation. Just crazy!

[ViperSmith]

I think an intercooler hose was unhooked or something. The car was way down on power.

It just boggles my mind that GM, Dodge, etc.--any manufacturer--would not check and shakedown ANY car given for testing. Testing is advertising and can increase or decrease sales and brand reputation. Just crazy!

Well, that is the latest excuse. First it was bad gas. Then it was 91 mixed with 93, then it was intercooler, but then people saying intercooler was on and off.

So in reality, who knows.

[Simms]

"Big Nasty"??? Are you kidding me?