MotorWeek Road Test: 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

MotorWeek Road Test: 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

[@Dmax734]

Damn the zr1 is already 10 years old... and it’s still my dream car

[@nstg8]

I just bought a 2009, people think it's a 2019 all the time. GM was ahead of the game on styling on this one!

[@eljefe797]

Yup, still the best corvette of all time

[@browningbelgium1705]

11 years old and still my dream car. Only problem is I couldn't afford then and can't afford it now. Oh the irony!!

[@eljefe797]

@@browningbelgium1705 yes I was in 4th grade when this car came out and now I'm 18, planning on owning one in about 10 years

[@browningbelgium1705]

@@eljefe797 I could buy one today but would have to sacrifice other areas to get it and that doesn't work for me. I'd have to finance half the cost and be in debt. I'm getting too old in life to owe people anymore. I got a C5 Z06, so I'm blessed.

[@NoName-cn3cp]

MotorWeek will forever hold a special place in my heart.

[@speedwack]

This car is so bad ass. I turn 50 in 5 years, and I'm buying myself one for that birthday

[@richardmorris7063]

Now that's what a Corvette is supposed to look & perform like.

[@chrism1598]

Why wait...get it now. I've had a couple C6s and still have some years left in my 30s. My only regret was not buying one sooner!

[@2010challengerRT]

Just think, it will soon be time for them to re-upload this as a "Retro" review. A few years ago they put up the 2005 Mustang as a retro review. Living in the future is weird.

[@apexgt4]

I’m guessing they’ll only go up to what they don’t have uploaded already on KZbin, but maybe they will who knows, I’d like to see these reviews that aren’t quite retro in full hd

[@dnur567]

what a performance car. The Corvette ZR1 and the Nissan GTR certainly are taking it up to the performance establishment. The Corvette ZR1 has amazing performance

[@BlayzedBlue]

“Plastic fantastic”. LOL.? Love John Davis.

[@rubyred93chev]

You must have not been around older Corvettes? Because the name 'plastic fantastic' was once the common terminology used in fact to describe the third generation era cars.

[@goldenmanuever1176]

“Plastic fantastic” yeah that is an OLD name for this car. this ZR1 has a lot more carbon fiber on it. hood, roof and i think some panels are.

[@vendediesel]

There's alot of "just born" comments on KZbin these days. Annoying as hell.

[@jamesruiz4005]

He been saying since the 84 corvette I think

[@josephthomas8318]

I like how one of the test drivers completely butchered a shift and the video editor put it in the background footage 4 different times

[@AussieDude78]

You guys are so lucky in the States. Its gonna cost a whopping $400K AUD in Australia.

[@kingrandor3129]

still a beast

[@MrAtoZ-un3fk]

Amen! I've got a C6, and wow I can't imagine 625+hp!!!

[@DocWolph]

@1aceves Chill dude. He's just flaming you. The ZR-1 is truly a car to be proud of if you own one or are just a fan of Vettes. Also the black top is a Corvette standard and has been since the C4. Vettes look better with the black top.

[@g00dl00kinb0i]

The '90-95 ZR-1 actually was "like it" when compared to the '09 ZR-1 sir....Lamborghini was the fastest car in the world between those years and was making 492-523hp, C4 Z 375-405hp, those were exclusive people only numbers back then just like 638hp was/is today. Top speed of almost 180mph was also far above an ordinary sports car of the time....if you had the C4 ZR-1 you were KING until something really expensive could make you sweat a bit, just like today.

[@retrocompaq5212]

the grand sport offered similar performance with way less hassles and money meaning that the c4zr was a fail

[@g00dl00kinb0i]

@@retrocompaq5212 Yeah makes sense considering they only made it for one year and it was *after* the production of the ZR-1 ended. I guess a guy looking for a fast Corvette in '90-95 only had to wait for year/several years on a car he couldn't have had an idea was even coming. GM ordered the production of all Corvettes ceased in '96 so your silly point is just a waste of time to argue further. If not for Mark Reuss who disobeyed GM Central orders and kept his team working on C5 development there wouldn't be a Corvette today anymore. All C4s in the '90 were a loss to make/sell, both the GS and ZR-1 were killing GM financially while the base model was what barely kept the model years going, until '97 when the C5 revived the whole brand and brought it in the world stage of motorsport with team Corvette Racing.

[@kawasakiwhiptwo5821]

I can only imagine what they have in store for the upcoming ZR1. This is Chevy's opportunity.

[@kawasakiwhiptwo5821]

@Jay'sWorld! Hybrid? Well,if it has to be.

[@kawasakiwhiptwo5821]

@Jay'sWorld! The production car land speed record was set by a fully petrol car.

[@ctcdarkness]

@@kawasakiwhiptwo5821 that’s a completely different thing bud. The market is shifting and most to all automakers have stated that by 2035 they’ll be mostly electric if not entirely. You’re 14. If you’re gonna bring something up make it relevant.

[@kawasakiwhiptwo5821]

@@ctcdarkness My desire where the ZR1 is concerned has nothing to do with relevancy.

[@ImmortanDan]

@Jay & Laong's World!🤪²⁰²¹ “Instant torque” is an overrated buzzword: pretty much every high-performance 2WD car has enough torque off the line to exceed the traction limit of the tires, and hypercars priced similarly to the new electric ones can get pretty close to the same with 4WD.

[@jacobwhittington2462]

I just found an old school binder from elementary/middle school of this car. Ah, the good old days.😊

[@maxthehulk]

@mcrissjr yes corvette zr1 smokes nissan gtr its a truth

[@YukonDemon]

I love pretty well all Corvettes, but the C6 ZR-1 is my hands down favorite. Was never really in love with the clear window on the hood. Didn't hate it either but I always found it kinda goofy. I just loved the fact that they could use old school pushrod technology and build a car that could compete with the best in the world at a fraction of the price of most cars that would get near it, performance wise.

[@eljefe797]

I will get this car once I have my career set. Dream car.

[@ZR1Terror]

What a beauty!!! I saw one in McAllen, Tx., some lady drives it.

[@TheRichardF10]

Thats a sexy ass car!

[@1aceves]

I don't find the black top cheesy at all, dude!...It's all carbon fiber and to me it looks great!...nothing wrong with it at all!...I think the car looks more exotic that way and to differentiate it from the Z06 and regular C6 Corvettes!...1,500 ZR1 customers each year are not complaining about the black top, now are they??

[@JOSESANTIAGO-jb8ii]

My favorite car corvette ZR1

[@Commander76]

The GOAT 🐐

[@danziger69]

My next car. Such a classic beast...

[@danieldanforth9625]

My all time favorite corvette

[@browningbelgium1705]

True that!!

[@stillsearching1284]

Now would be a good time to pick one up.

[@SolamenteVees]

Love the copyright-free version of Live and Let Die.

[@pauloararaquara]

The best looking and the best Corvette ever!

[@eljefe797]

And still!

[@richardmorris7063]

Couldn't agree more!Any color would b fine in fact ill take the yellow w/ black top & tint.

[@TangoR34]

do they make RHD?

[@contraststriker8198]

Like if you think the C6 ZR1 still the best corvette ever made. A true icon.

[@ballinkid909]

can you afford it?

[@richardmorris7063]

Still the best looking corvette in my eyes.Yellow,red,black it makes no difference.

[@stoneeh]

it's actually "zed-ar-one". english seems to be a hard language in a country where it is native

[@torres3800]

Gunmetal grey for me please

[@nstg8]

Do you mean Cyber Gray Metallic?

[@youngestson6537]

Excellent A1.TOPNOTCH

[@sahzookey]

i need me dis

[@diablowrathltd]

@HighCardWins to lazy. ill take ur word for it

[@jaredp1516]

118k!!! holy shit

[@joeysixtysix]

Badass car but I never understood the window on the hood all you see is an engine cover.

[@gtperfection1596]

well I own one and it is stupid but at the same time its cool speaks to the inner 5 year old boy in all of us..

[@nstg8]

I too have one, and yes it's kind of stupid. But also you need to not take everything daddy Doug says as gospel and then repeat it. That isn't an engine cover, it's the top of the intercooler.

[@browningbelgium1705]

It's a window to what dreams are made of.

[@johnmcaleese8459]

@@browningbelgium1705 I hear that ! Never owned a Vette and was told I would outgrow (age) the desire to own one. Well at 56 I still haven't. I believe I'm going to say to hell with my financial advisor/investor and get myself a toy. 625hp. Yes !! 2022 sounds like a plan to me and that's what matters. Haven't burned rubber since my first car back in '83 which was a '71 Challenger R/T. Sweat my ass off in the summer. Yeah, a nice dark Burgundy. Lol

[@Bmackins94]

@redshift1340 i wish did to

[@diablowrathltd]

@jogga123 hood is carbon fiber. window is glass. chrome is probably plastic

[@Towelman20]

not much can keep up with the zr1 on real world evry day driveing roads.

[@eljefe797]

Not even today

[@BMan100]

sorry to say but, ZED-R-1 is the Canadian saying and such, Zee-r-1 is the US saying...and the ZED-R-1 is a ferrari killer..

[@Stu282]

I'm guessing you live in the UK, like myself. And as far as I'm aware they won't be producing them in right hand drive which is a shame and a loss because it is likely to restrict sales here, and speaking of sales - the price. It will go on sale, I believe, stating from £103,000 - which is just too much!

[@richardmorris7063]

The C8 s will b.

[@SavageListener]

Why does Callaway and Lingenfelter need to exist if Chevy can already make something better for less?

[@Camaros5678]

im just saying what it is cause you said black top like you didnt know what it was

[@Camaros5678]

top black??? its called Carbon Fiver...

[@ctcdarkness]

Fiber* and no all corvettes had a black roof unless optioned otherwise since the c4.

[@andersonfirmino8925]

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍🇱🇷🇱🇷🇱🇷🇱🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

[@andersonfirmino8925]

Love car import software 🇱🇷🇱🇷🇱🇷🇱🇷👍👍👍🇧🇷🇧🇷

[@Spideynw]

Yes, and carbon fiber is black. Your point is?

[@theapeman1989]

that guy talking sounds like the traxxas rc guy,lol the new t-maxx, stronger,faster,wider lol, zr1 is #1

[@diablowrathltd]

@HighCardWins it must have been a upgraded Z06

[@2010challengerRT]

A few years ago they put up a "retro" review from 2005. I wonder if they'll just re-upload this as a retro review pretty soon? We live so far in the future now, that something that came out in the era of youtube can be considered retro. It's scary.

[@gstevie97]

Retro Reviews are anything that came out before MotorWeek's KZbin channel. They started the channel in 2008 if I remember right.

[@Spideynw]

The black top is cheesy, except on the all black zr1, which is extremely sexy.

[@ballinkid909]

paganis cost 400,000 and are faster

[@camirocz]

Similar performance in 2009??????The gtr was running 11.8 at 120 mph.Nothing similar to me there.Yes a 2012 or 2013 gtr is a very fast ride.

[@keefgto6654]

camirocz eh its got awd, launch control and 1million computers. Zr1 is a complete beast and takes skill to drive

[@radio187]

when you start saying the proper "zeta," I'll jump on board. "Zed" is dead, baby, Zed's dead.

[@iceman5815]

It's still second best..z06 looks better..it still looks cheap and it doesn't have that exotic look of the viper,gtr,ferrari,lambo, and most other imports. I rather buy a gtr or viper for the money.

[@akvalues]

100,000 $ I'LL PASS

[@vettedude418]

i dont care what effin color it is when im wooping any mustang or ford gt's ass INSIDE it

[@mossow71]

vettedude418 ford gt is faster than this and a gt 500 runs tight with this

[@ohguy1991]

So you're comparing a $100,000 + ZR 1 to a $35,000 Mustang??? What an idiot

[@ctcdarkness]

Erock the GT500 was way more than $35,000. You’ve had a few too many to drink sir. We’re cutting you off

[@iceman5815]

I think I'll buy a GT-R and either hand it over to Hennessey or Cobb to be modified. I seen the Cobb and Hennessey GT-R and holy shit they're super nice. U can get a Hennessey for about 120k. Cobb..I'm not sure yet. I like the GT-R simply because u can drive it under any situation and all that technology with it.

[@SuperColossal33]

faster top speed, yes. faster around a race track, no.

[@Spideynw]

Who said I did not like the ZR1? I love it in black and grey. One amazing looking car, in those colors. Otherwise, it looks like a pos.

[@oreally8605]

2009 GTR cheaper

[@JerkVegas86]

Sheldon Harris Trash!

[@fxuz7906]

and slower

[@MICKSHRED]

Ugly and trash

[@viperGT55]

All it is is an upgraded corvette..not that much different looking than any other corvette

[@MICKSHRED]

Your sir, sit down, youve had one too many drinks.

[@loocee]

Another GM turd!!

[@Spideynw]

Maybe Corvette owners like cheap looking cars...

[@littledeel]

God this show is so cringy.