Latest news with #CorvetteZR1
The Drive
3 days ago
- Automotive
- The Drive
A Stock 2025 Corvette ZR1 Has Already Beaten Chevy's Official 0 to 60 Time
The latest car news, reviews, and features. Me telling you that the new Chevy Corvette ZR1 is quick is kind of like saying that water is wet. Of course it is, right? But now that people outside General Motors are testing the car with real instrumentation, we're seeing just how quick it is in the public's hands. For proof, a totally stock ZR1 on factory tires just ran from zero to 60 miles per hour in 2.2 seconds. Car and Driver conducted the experiment and named the beastly Bowtie the quickest rear-wheel drive car it's ever tested. It beat a European supercar, in true Corvette fashion, reaching 60 mph a tenth of a second quicker than a McLaren 750S. That's scootin'. Now, the 1,064-horsepower Corvette ZR1 has a lot more grunt than the McLaren, given that the 750S is listed at 740 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque. But that isn't always an advantage when it comes to off-the-line traction. The Chevy's Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R ZPs surely helped it succeed as they measure 345 millimeters wide out back; meanwhile, the Macca makes do with 305mm-wide Pirelli P Zero Trofeo rears. To round it out, the ZR1 weighs 3,831 pounds—a full 625 pounds more than the McLaren, but because the Corvette's engine is so mighty, its power-to-weight ratio is still better. That 2.2-second time achieved by Car and Driver is also a full tenth quicker than Chevy's own estimate, for what it's worth. I took these photos at the Corvette ZR1's media reveal last July. When a car looks this fast sitting still and has the stats to back it up, you know it's special. Caleb Jacobs The thing about the Corvette ZR1 is that the gap only grows as the speedometer climbs. The 5.5-liter LT7 V8 with a flat-plane crank and the largest twin turbos ever fitted to a production car is a total worldbeater. (They measure 76 millimeters apiece on the compressor side, in case you were curious.) Car and Driver says it trounced the quarter-mile in 9.5 seconds at 149 mph, compared to the 750S's time of 9.8 seconds at 145 mph. Beyond that, the McLaren was a full second slower to 150 mph than the Chevy, and it tops out at 206 mph while the ZR1 can go up to 233 mph. My guess is we're about to see a lot more crazy stats like this as the Corvette ZR1 takes on drag strips and road courses around the country. And while it's nowhere near cheap at $175,000 to start, it's a heck of a bargain compared to the $325,000-and-up 750S. It's undeniably the peak Corvette—at least, for now. Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@
Edmunds
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Edmunds
The 2025 Chevy Corvette ZR1 Is a 1,064-HP, $200K Bargain
That incredible power makes the ZR1 brutally quick, of course. For context, in a Z06, we recorded 0-60 mph in 3.2 seconds and a quarter-mile time of 10.6 seconds. For the ZR1, Chevy is claiming 2.3 seconds to 60 mph and 9.6 seconds through the quarter mile, but that's with rollout, a drag-racing relic that reduces the time but doesn't make much sense in the real world. Much more startling and significant is the Corvette ZR1's performance in third and fourth gear, where its 828 lb-ft of torque is felt most keenly. The Circuit of the Americas is a huge, flowing racetrack designed for Formula 1, and this tends to minimize the sensation of speed. Thankfully, the Corvette's built-in data recorder doesn't lie. At the end of the main straightaway, I'm braking from 177 mph. At the end of the start-finish straight, which includes a sharp incline, I'm cresting 155 mph. Last time I drove this circuit, I was at the wheel of a McLaren 720S and the Chevy feels appreciably faster in a straight line. If you're going to enjoy this car as its engineers intended, you're going to need to join the track day community. To extract the best from the ZR1, you need a lot of circuit to match a lot of car.
Motor Trend
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Motor Trend
2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 First Drive Review: Absurdity and Then Some
The decreasing-radius S curves. The blind-entry, Turn 10 kink. The fast triple-apex corner complex comprised of Turns 16, 17, and 18. The deceptively fast Turn 19. These are the big challenges Circuit of the Americas (COTA) throws at a driver. Make no mistake, COTA is a satisfyingly special place to drive any quick and capable car, but when Chevrolet told us it was holding the official first drive event for the 2025 Corvette ZR1 at the flowing 3.41-mile, 20-turn Texas home of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix? There was a moment of pause and outright uncertainty. But Those Numbers! It's not that Corvettes in general haven't become incredibly capable road-course cars, especially over the span of the previous 20 years. But ZR1s have always felt more like poster children for big American horsepower bragging rights with each successive and even bigger-horsepower generation. To boot: The previous C7 ZR1 and its 755 hp at times scared the bejeezus out of our judges during MotorTrend's 2018 Best Driver's Car competition, inspiring comments like: 'Nerve wracking.' 'E veryone complained about overpowering the rear tires.' 'Even the ultra-savvy traction-control system was utterly overwhelmed.' 'The front obeys, but I never, ever trust the rear.' And finally, 'It's the equivalent of driving an Igloo cooler with 755 horsepower.' Not exactly a confidence-inspiring track record, no pun intended. No wonder we could feel the sweats coming on at the prospect of tackling a fast F1 track in the 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1. Its much-touted engine output: 1,064 hp and 828 lb-ft of torque, a seismic leap of 309 hp with additional-113-lb-ft icing on the rear-drive cake for good measure. What an Engine The ZR1 model was planned from the beginning of the mid-engine C8 Corvette's development, a decade ago, and its LT7 twin-turbo V-8 was likewise designed alongside the Z06's naturally aspirated 670-hp LT6 to create a pairing known as the Gemini twins. But use 'twins' lightly. Corvette engineers, likely annoyed by sweeping generalizations common in this era of fire-and-forget social media commentary, go to great lengths to remind us the LT7 is a far cry from being merely a boosted version of the non-turbo engine. Yes, the two eight-cylinders share the same block casting, 104.25-millimeter bore and 80-millimeter stroke, same-size valves, dual-overhead-camshaft architecture, and direct-injection. The dry-sump oiling system is mostly the same, save for the ZR1's turbo-lubricating and extra seventh oil-scavenging stage. But the LT7 ups the game with dished rather than domed pistons and shorter, redesigned titanium connecting rods, giving it a turbo-friendly lower compression ratio of 9.8:1 versus 12.5:1. Its flat-plane crank features more machining work on its counterweights, and the engine employs different camshafts and cylinder head castings with bigger combustion chambers. The intake and exhaust tracts are shorter to deliver quick turbocharger effect, and the LT7 adds a secondary port fuel-injection system to help deliver the massive amount of gasoline needed to create so much horsepower. With a total of 16 fuel injectors, all of which activate at full throttle (the car idles on port-injection only before incorporating both systems to varying degrees depending on what the driver calls for), the ZR1 will suck down 2 gallons every minute its gas pedal is stapled to the floor. As for the two ball-bearing turbochargers, they provide an equally gobsmacking bit of anecdotal trivia: Chevy says they can move so much air volume, they could aspirate an entire Olympic-size swimming pool in four minutes. The twin-turbo setup and its compressor wheels normally provide up to 20 psi of boost but can extend it to 24 psi to ensure consistent power output in hot conditions to minimize power loss. And don't worry about turbo laziness: The electrically controlled wastegates are tied to an anti-lag system that maintain some turbo-boost pressure even when you hit the brakes for a corner, meaning the blowers are preloaded so the LT7 is already set to provide the juice again immediately when you go back to the throttle. Of course, a motorsports-derived cooling system that employs a large front center-mounted radiator helps keep it all humming, and speaking of motorsports, think of the LT7's totality like this: Buy a ZR1, and you'll own a wildly uncorked, unrestricted version of the engine that serves as the basis for the V-8 used in the Z06 GT3.R campaigned in pro-level international racing competition, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Rolex 24 at Daytona. All the above is simply the nutshell version of what's going on inside the engine; click here for an even deeper dive into the LT7's technology. Imminent Destruction? Er, we don't mean the engine's durability but rather the bag of flesh and bones and brains behind the wheel. The thing about engine output like this, doubly so when your past ZR1 experience lingers in your head, is that it initially monopolizes your attention to the detriment of other good things at play. Still, Chevy—no doubt acutely aware of the multiple potential intimidation factors, from the ZR1 to the circuit—had the good sense to first put journalists on the racetrack in regular C8s as a combo driver warm-up/COTA orientation exercise. No problems there after a chunk of lead-follow laps behind one of the Corvette team's hot-shoe engineers, but at least a little trepidation remained. Almost shockingly, it vanished as soon as we completed a few more laps of lead-follow while driving the 2025 Corvette ZR1 for the first time, before being let off the leash to lap alone at whatever pace we wanted to/were capable of. The lead car's speed was reasonable while clearly leaving plenty on the table, but as we probed deeper into the friendly throttle travel, it was apparent this ZR1 resembles its forebears in name only. Open the Floodgates Our first solo laps happened in a standard ZR1 equipped with the optional $8,495 Carbon Aero package and rolling on Michelin PS4 tires measuring 275/30R20 in front, 345/25R21 in back. Armed with some confidence about the car's baseline behavior from the lead-follow sessions, we focused first on rolling into the power off corners and onto COTA's front and back straights as quickly as seemed prudent, and an unexpected thing occurred: zero notable drama, save for big speed. Hit the hammer too abruptly, and the ZR1's tail dances and slides a bit, but it's easily catchable. Granted, Chevy insisted we not fully deactivate the car's Performance Traction Management system, and we weren't particularly inclined to argue with the requirement for obvious reasons. But this controllability was revelatory, considering how the previous ZR1 tended to pay the driving aids little mind. Suddenly the engine's output wasn't incomprehensibly untamable. Perhaps the latter should have been expected. Powertrain management systems and the Corvette have come a long way in recent years. It's also entirely conceivable our extensive experience with the latest asphalt-cracking electric cars and some of the world's recent hypercars has tainted our perception of what 1,000-plus horsepower and instantaneous torque should or does feel like—hell, we recently ran a Porsche Taycan Turbo GT Weissach to 60 mph in a comically perception-altering 1.89 seconds and through the quarter mile in 9.2 seconds at 150.1 mph. But that car carries an all-wheel-drive traction advantage compared to this Corvette's rear-drive configuration, with Chevy claiming the standard ZR1 on the PS4s and without the extra aero devices reaches 60 in 2.5 seconds and covers the quarter mile in 9.7 at 152 mph. Within a lap and a half—and this still sounds a bit ridiculous to say—we mostly forgot about the LT7's on-paper numbers and moved on to reveling in them. With the torque peaking at 6,000 rpm (and nearly there by 3,000 rpm), the horsepower doing the same at 7,000 (redline is 8,000), and those two output numbers intersecting at about 5,250, you have nothing but incentive to rev the piss out of the engine. And you'll giggle like a jackass as the V-8's part buzzing shriek, part bellowing howl delivers an emotional experience and connection the likes of which no acceleration-matching EV remotely approximates. Thanks to the double-take-inducing (for a combustion engine) linear torque curve, top-end power (not that we ever hit the ultimate top end in terms of road speed, though we did see a not-slow 176 mph on the back straight), and quick shifts from the reinforced Tremec M1K dual-clutch eight-speed gearbox, you'll neither notice nor care that more boring yet quicker-accelerating vehicles exist. The ZR1 pulls and pulls and pulls without turbo lag, reduction, or remorse. And hey, if an EV owner insists on yapping proudly in your ZR1-owning ear about the fact their car is tenths of a second quicker on a dragstrip, just hop in your seat, stand on your gas pedal, and you literally won't have to hear another word of it. Call it the enthusiast's problem solver, and besides, you really never liked that neighbor, anyway. Just take care to warn them not to walk behind your car—the exhaust alone can belch up to 37 pounds of backward thrust at WOT, so watch your legs. It Gets Even Better Our driving time was limited to lapping COTA to the exclusion of any public-road experience, so these dynamic impressions are limited to that context until Chevrolet provides us with a ZR1 for further evaluation and testing back on our home turf. That said, we detected no traits to suggest it won't be comfortable to live with as a car to roam your local streets in, even at socially accepted speeds. As for the scenario at hand, once you begin to grasp the ZR1's breadth of abilities, you focus solely on extracting the best performance possible within your abilities. To that end, drivers who enjoy track days, especially experienced and talented ones who hunt lap times, absolutely want to ante up an extra $1,500 for the full ZTK performance package. You can't order the ZTK bits without also paying for the Carbon Aero pack, so the total price for all the go-even-faster bits is $9,995 on top of the ZR1 coupe's starting price of $174,995, for a still-smoking-bargain total of $184,990. Pricing for the hardtop convertible model we did not drive starts at $184,995. With the ZTK goods you also receive a more aggressive suspension tune with stiffer springs (all ZR1s also include a manually adjustable track alignment setup, as seen on other Corvettes) and track-oriented Michelin Cup 2 R tires. There's now even more grip at your disposal, as the suspension and Cup 2 R rubber team with the aero bits—including a towering carbon-fiber rear wing and a hood Gurney flap, plus front dive planes, undercar airflow-channeling strakes, and an underwing from the Z06—to make for a mightily good-handling car, even one we expect to tip the scales at an approximate and far from svelte 3,900 pounds. Huge 15.7-inch front and 15.4-inch rear carbon-ceramic Brembo brakes handle the business without fade when it's time to bleed off the huge momentum. As for the aerodynamics, Chevy says the ZR1 thus equipped is good for a total of about 1,200 pounds of downforce, or a 33 percent improvement compared to the Z06 with the Z07 package, without adding significant drag. That's partially also due to the way airflow is managed around, over, and through the car; say goodbye to the front trunk storage, for example, thanks to the mid-mounted cooler and aerodynamic desire to pass wind through the hood. Importantly, though, this impressive peak downforce comes at the ZR1's 233-mph top speed, so it isn't exactly relevant to your track-day outings. Also, that much-hyped top speed is for the standard base ZR1 without the drag-inducing aero bits; with those addendums installed, it drops to mere, ahem, 224 mph. For somewhat more practical application, the Corvette team says downforce measures 978 pounds at 186 mph and 180 pounds at 80 mph, the outcome being that drivers still greatly benefit from the aero performance in a variety of corner types and at a wide speed range. And So? Back to where we began: Flying into COTA's esses, the Corvette turns into the initial fast bit with aplomb and easily sheds mph while remaining stable into the multiple, ever-tightening corner radii that follow. By now, we've stopped giving the power, torque, and their delivery a second thought and are hellbent on getting the chassis rotated into corners without asking too much of the tires. Where we heard plenty of rubber squeal in the non-ZTK car, there's barely any of it in the max-attack ZR1. The blind kink at Turn 10? We're almost certain it can be taken flat out, or maybe with a quick, slight throttle lift that's even less conservative than what we're doing. Yet with high risk and zero reward other than an ego stroke no one else will ever see or know about, we can't quite get there, leaving just a bit too much margin every time and leaving us searching within. It's exactly the kind of thing that makes serious drivers smile. The same feeling applies, though a bit less, through the fast section at Turns 16–18 where the car remains remarkably hooked up even as the exit seems to stretch for too long, and even more so for Turn 19. The latter is the track's penultimate corner, a mind-screw of a left-hander with loads of paved runoff on the outside of its exit curbing so you can throw away a bit of caution. Regardless, no matter how much we reduce our braking and increase our turn-in speed, the ZR1 effectively mocks us, the chassis' responses indicating that bigger cajones would pay big dividends if only we could muster more belief. It's at this point we realize the ZR1 has become, like many immensely capable modern super sports cars, especially ones with extra-grippy rubber and meaningful downforce, a mental battle. The incredible difference compared to previous generations is how you don't find yourself ever thinking the car is the problem, and instead of wanting to park it and get out as soon as possible, you crave more and more laps because you know there's more to extract from yourself let alone the machine you're piloting. That's another great sign of a rewarding driver's car. We also know, for our imaginary yet beyond reasonable money, the ZTK and Carbon Aero packs are the way to go. You'll need the stickier tires and the better traction if you want to replicate the ZR1's best official 0–60 and quarter-mile times of 2.3 seconds and 9.6 seconds at 150 mph, anyway. Its Own Kind of Thing For all the ZR1's capabilities, also know this: Although we climbed out of it with a fair amount of sweat on our face as the result of high ambient temperatures, a satisfyingly physical driving experience thanks to the big grip levels, a high level of required concentration, and not out of any fear or intimidation, Chevy intends the new ZR1 to be a gonzo-performance all-arounder. It's meant to be usable and livable in daily life, not a strictly track-use special. In that sense, the engine makes the car's portly weight compared to something like a Porsche GT3 RS, a McLaren 750 or 765 LT, or even the Z06, a nonfactor when it comes to feeling like you've been strapped to an RPG as you hurtle down straightaways and out of corners. On the other hand, if you're a driver who craves absolute razorblade handling responses more akin to an actual GT-style race car, this isn't the Corvette that's going to give you that sensation. Something like the GT3 RS almost certainly will pull more lateral g through fast transitions. The ZR1 is more deliberate in its responses and requires more patience, relatively speaking, when searching out its dynamic limits. It'll throw down quicker lap times than those types of cars on all but the tightest low-speed road courses, but it's going to get you that lap time in a different and raw-power-based way. It's simply another kind of animal and an utterly absurd one at that. If nothing else—and there is plenty else—the Corvette team has patently changed what 'ZR1' means in the Corvette and supercar pantheon, and that alone deserves commendation. More to the point: There are no Igloos here, but you're going to wish you had one loaded with cold drinks after driving it.
Car and Driver
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
First Test: 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 Enters Another Dimension
In C/D's exclusive first instrumented test, the new ZR1 hit 60 mph in 2.2 seconds. It also blasted through the quarter-mile in 9.5 seconds at 149 mph. Those numbers make this Corvette ZR1 the quickest rear-wheel-drive car we've ever tested. A thousand horsepower makes a particular sound. It's a compact tornado ripping across the plains, a 30-foot swell curling across a shore break, an airlock blowing out in deep space. It's the sound of a placid afternoon breeze that was minding its own business until the 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 showed up, its twin ball-bearing turbos cramming up to 26.1 psi of boost into its LT7 5.5-liter V-8. The ZR1 is rated at a strangely specific 1064 horsepower at 7000 rpm, and you'd guess that GM aimed for an even thousand and overshot the mark. That's not the case. The horsepower goal was simply "as much as possible," and it turns out that the envelope of possibility extends to four-digit output, a 233-mph top speed, and a yet-undisclosed Nürburgring Nordschleife lap time that's likely to embarrass the $300,000-plus Mustang GTD more than a little. For a frame of reference, this year's Indy 500 qualifying average speed was 231 mph, and you can't buy Álex Palou's Dallara for a starting price of $178,195 at your local Chevy dealer. View Exterior Photos Michael Simari | Car and Driver Strap In It would be disingenuous to claim that the ZR1's performance is easily accessible. When you first climb in, it's best to treat the accelerator pedal the way a bomb-squad crew treats a wired-up bundle of explosives—careful, careful, lest you trigger the boom. Perhaps the ZR1's most important instrument-cluster display is the tire temperature readout, which gleans its information from the TPMS sensors. If the display is blue, that means you'd best not show off while leaving Cars & Coffee. If it's green, that means you'd still best not show off while leaving Cars & Coffee, but your power-oversteer spin will happen slightly farther down the road. If it's red, you're a hero because that means you drove hard enough to actually make the tires hot. View Exterior Photos Michael Simari | Car and Driver HIGHS: Straight-line performance of the gods, aero upgrades, typical excellent Corvette value. We drove the ZR1 at GingerMan Raceway in Michigan, and the morning began with cold rain. That provided a good opportunity to confirm that a rear-wheel-drive car with 1064 horsepower and 828 pound-feet of torque, wearing Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R tires ("not recommended for driving in wet conditions," per Tire Rack), is not ideal on a chilly, damp day. The ZR1 on wet pavement feels like a normal car on snow, with the front tires washing wide on tight corners at barely more than 30 mph, and the 345/25ZR-21 rears flaring into wheelspin at perhaps 25 percent throttle. Fortunately for us, the skies cleared, the track dried, and eventually the ZR1 got to demonstrate its talents. View Exterior Photos Michael Simari | Car and Driver Shrinks Racetracks GingerMan is a fairly compact circuit—2.1 miles—but the ZR1 is going to make every track feel tight. It's a cheetah let loose in a Chuck E. Cheese, an F-22 flying combat maneuvers in your grandma's attic, a Tyson Fury title fight held in an elevator. The ZR1's acceleration is so explosive that it's hard to find a frame of reference, but let's try. The 2006 Corvette Z06, with its 505-hp LS7 engine, hit 60 mph in 3.6 seconds. The 2025 ZR1 is almost that quick over the next 60 mph—it runs 60 to 120 mph in 3.9 seconds. In 23.8 seconds, you're at 200 mph. And that's with the optional giant rear wing slowing it down. Powering out of GingerMan's penultimate right-hand corner onto the long straight, you head uphill before the track flattens out, and the ZR1's accelerative ferocity makes that gentle transition feel like a launch ramp, the car going just a little bit light over the crest. In just about any other car, there is no crest right there, just a barely discernible transition to flatness. But behind the wheel of the ZR1, reality warps to the power. View Interior Photos Michael Simari | Car and Driver And that power is usable right off the line. The ZR1's 2.2-second 60-mph time is the best number we've ever seen from a rear-wheel-drive car and matches the all-wheel-drive Porsche 911 Turbo S. The Corvette's launch control is very clever, and very adjustable—our best results came with a 3500-rpm launch at 10 percent slip. There's a burnout mode to clean off the tires, which is both useful and a crowd-pleasing warm-up to perform before cracking off a 9.5-second quarter-mile at 149 mph. Mind you, that result was on an unprepped surface. At a drag strip sticky with traction compound, there's surely more to be had. LOWS: Needs a bigger gas tank, normcore interior, brakes and handling don't make proportional gains. Not that this is a drag car, even. The ZR1 is optimized for destroying road-course lap records, especially when fitted with the $1500 ZTK Performance package (magnetic selective ride control and the Cup 2Rs), $13,995 carbon-fiber wheels, and the $8495 Carbon Fiber Aero package. You'll know the aero package by its enormous rear wing, which helps the ZR1 generate more than 1200 pounds of downforce. Up front, the Corvette's forward trunk is sacrificed for cooling and aero, with air flowing up from under the car and through the hood. There are also brake-cooling ducts on the rear fenders and, above those, more ducts to feed cool air to the turbos. Those are the obvious ZR1 tells, but if you're still unsure what you're looking at, the split rear window is the definitive signifier of a ZR1. Besides nodding to the C2 split-window from 1963, the center panel is vented to provide yet more cooling. View Exterior Photos Michael Simari | Car and Driver As the tires warmed up and the track dried out, we began to realize that the ZR1's outsized thrust dictates a particular driving style—quick hands, early on the brakes, but stoic with the throttle until the steering is unwound. It's helpful that the LT7 provides all manner of aural feedback on its state of readiness, but basically you can assume it's ready to pounce within a fraction of a second. The turbos are integrated into the exhaust manifolds and have their own speed sensors, with the engine management system always striving to keep the turbines spooled up. Even when you abruptly back off the throttle, you hear a lingering screeee as the turbos keep spinning, a high-pitched overlay to the LT7's guttural flat-plane howl. GM knew, when it was developing the Z06's naturally aspirated LT6, that there would be a turbocharged version, so the LT7 was optimized for its mission from day one, with a new intake, strengthened pistons and connecting rods, and a whole extra port fuel-injection system complementing the direct-injection setup. View Exterior Photos Michael Simari | Car and Driver You might infer, from the dual fuel-injection systems, that the LT7 swills gas, and you'd be right. In fact, the ZR1's voracious thirst and relatively small 18.5-gallon fuel tank will be the constraining factors in track-day shenanigans. We weren't trying to set any lap records, and still the ZR1 managed barely 50 miles before demanding a pit stop. One tank that included the five-mile drive back from the gas station netted less than 4 mpg. Out on the street, the EPA reckons you'll see 12 mpg city and 18 mpg highway, hence a mandatory $3000 gas-guzzler tax. While it's a fine practice to occasionally pit in and let the red mist dissipate, the ZR1 insists you do that on a regular basis. That's for the best, we think, because the ZR1's historic leap in horsepower doesn't come with commensurate gains in braking and cornering—how could it? The ZR1's 1.13 g's on the skidpad is, of course, a top-of-the-food-chain number, but still not quite as good as the 1.16 g's we saw from the Z07-equipped Z06. (At 3831 pounds, the ZR1 weighed in at 165 pounds more than the Z06, an admirably minor gain, but still a gain.) And although the ZR1 gets upsized 15.7-inch front brake rotors, the largest ever fitted to a Corvette, its braking performance mirrors the Z06's: Stopping from 70 mph requires 140 feet of pavement, and 100 mph is scrubbed in 273 feet, compared with 139 feet and 274 feet for the Z06. View Interior Photos Michael Simari | Car and Driver The interior, too, is a doppelgänger for the Z06, if not the base Stingray. There's a boost gauge and a ZR1-specific Top Speed mode, which basically tells the stability control that you plan to go extremely fast in a straight line, but the base 1LZ interior on our test car is standard-issue Corvette. Our test car was very superleggera, lacking even heated seats, but who needs creature comforts when you've got 1064 horsepower? That should occupy your full attention. How We Got Here It's tempting to look ahead and ponder the Corvette team's next move—hey, what if you combined the E-Ray's hybrid all-wheel drive with the ZR1's engine?—but we think the ZR1 merits a moment to reflect on how incredible it is that this car exists. Back in the bankruptcy-era days of the 638-hp C6 ZR1, Chevy wasn't even sure if it could improve on the 505-hp Z06's 60-mph time because the rear tires were already at their limit all the way through first gear. Then Michelin worked some magic, and the ZR1 shaved off a few tenths. But at the time, 638 horsepower was all the Corvette could handle and then some. View Exterior Photos Michael Simari | Car and Driver The seventh-generation Vette brought the 650-hp Z06 and the 755-hp ZR1. As one Corvette engineer told us, "You'd drive the Z06 for a week and think, 'Eh, it could use another hundred horsepower.' You never drive a ZR1 and think it could use another hundred horsepower." And yet, here we are. They added another hundred horsepower. And another hundred after that, and another hundred after that. And then nine more for good measure. Prior super-Vettes, as good as they were, played by rules established in 1953: front engine, rear drive, and (almost) always a pushrod V-8. The new ZR1's sole guiding ideology is the pursuit of maximum capability, and so it makes an exponential leap in performance—who'd have thought that 755 horsepower would ever seem quaint, let alone so soon? View Exterior Photos Michael Simari | Car and Driver The benchmarks are moving fast. The 1990 ZR-1's 375 horsepower, so staggering in its day, is now considered a normal output for a family SUV. Will 1064 horsepower ever seem normal? We doubt it, but if you're stout enough to want a taste of that future, the ZR1 is ready right now. As for whether you're ready for it, there's only one way to find out. VERDICT: Chevy builds an earthbound rocket. Specifications Specifications 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 Vehicle Type: mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 2-door targa PRICE Base/As Tested: $178,195/$205,265 Options: carbon-fiber wheels, $13,995; ZR1 Carbon Fiber Aero package, $8495; ZTK Performance package, $1500; Competition sport bucket seats, $995; body-colored split-window trim, $995; microsuede-wrapped steering wheel, $695; black exhaust tips, $395 ENGINE twin-turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 32-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, port and direct fuel injection Displacement: 333 in3, 5463 cm3 Power: 1064 hp @ 7000 rpm Torque: 828 lb-ft @ 6000 rpm TRANSMISSION 8-speed dual-clutch automatic CHASSIS Suspension, F/R: control arms/control arms Brakes, F/R: 15.7-in vented, cross-drilled carbon-ceramic disc/15.4-in vented, cross-drilled carbon-ceramic disc Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R ZP F: 275/30ZR-20 (97Y) TPC R: 345/25ZR-21 (104Y) TPC DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 107.2 in Length: 185.9 in Width: 79.7 in Height: 48.6 in Passenger Volume: 51 ft3 Trunk Volume: 9 ft3 Curb Weight: 3831 lb C/D TEST RESULTS 60 mph: 2.2 sec 100 mph: 4.5 sec 130 mph: 7.1 sec 1/4-Mile: 9.5 sec @ 149 mph 150 mph: 9.7 sec 170 mph: 13.1 sec 200 mph: 23.8 sec Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.2 sec. Rolling Start, 5–60 mph: 3.0 sec Top Gear, 30–50 mph: 1.8 sec Top Gear, 50–70 mph: 2.0 sec Top Speed (mfr claim): 225 mph Braking, 70–0 mph: 140 ft Braking, 100–0 mph: 273 ft Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 1.13 g C/D FUEL ECONOMY Observed, Track/Street: 4/13 mpg EPA FUEL ECONOMY Combined/City/Highway: 14/12/18 mpg C/D TESTING EXPLAINED Reviewed by Ezra Dyer Senior Editor Ezra Dyer is a Car and Driver senior editor and columnist. He's now based in North Carolina but still remembers how to turn right. He owns a 2009 GEM e4 and once drove 206 mph. Those facts are mutually exclusive. Tested by David Beard Managing Testing Editor David Beard studies and reviews automotive related things and pushes fossil-fuel and electric-powered stuff to their limits. His passion for the Ford Pinto began at his conception, which took place in a Pinto.
Car and Driver
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
Corvette ZR1 Is the Quickest RWD Car to 60 MPH We've Ever Tested
The 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is now the quickest rear-wheel-drive car we've ever tested, reaching 60 mph in just 2.2 seconds. That is one-tenth quicker to 60 mph than the McLaren 750S, and two-tenths ahead of the Ferrari 296GTB. The Corvette ZR1 continues to pull ahead as speeds rise, eclipsing 150 mph a full second ahead of the McLaren, which costs over $200K more as tested. Welcome to Car and Driver's Testing Hub, where we zoom in on the test numbers. We've been pushing vehicles to their limits since 1956 to provide objective data to bolster our subjective impressions (you can see how we test here). The 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 has one-upped the McLaren 750S while costing over $100,000 less. The 750S had become the quickest rear-wheel-drive car ever tested by Car and Driver last year, snatching the crown from the Ferrari 296GTB. But now the latest Corvette ZR1—propelled by a twin-turbocharged 5.5-liter V-8 emitting a whopping 1064 horsepower—has completed the sprint to 60 mph even quicker, blasting to the mile-a-minute mark in just 2.2 seconds. Michael Simari | Car and Driver That puts the Corvette ZR1 one-tenth of a second ahead of the McLaren 750S, which itself beat the Ferrari by a single tenth. While the 296GTB utilizes a hybrid powertrain that pairs a turbocharged V-6 with an electric motor, the 750S keeps it simple with a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8. The McLaren is an immensely potent car, the eight-cylinder engine producing 740 hp and 590 pound-feet of torque, but it pales in comparison to the Corvette ZR1's 1064-hp and 828-pound-foot output. The Corvette's horsepower advantage helped the American supercar overcome its significantly higher curb weight, with the ZR1 tipping the scales at 3831 pounds. That is 299 pounds heavier than the Ferrari and a massive 625 pounds heavier than the McLaren. But power makes up for a lot of sins, and the ZR1 is still comfortably on top when it comes to power to weight, with each of the LT7's ponies ferrying 3.6 pounds of Corvette compared with both the McLaren and Ferrari at 4.3 pounds per horsepower. Another key factor was the Corvette's rubber, with the ZR1 riding on sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R ZP tires with a 275-millimeter section width up front and an insane 345-mm section width at the rear. The McLaren, meanwhile, made do with Pirelli P Zero Trofeo tires measuring 245 mm wide and 305 mm wide at the front and rear, respectively. While the Corvette was only one-tenth of a second ahead of the 750S at 60 mph, that gap expanded as speeds rose. The ZR1 hit 100 mph in just 4.5 seconds, three-tenths ahead of the McLaren, while 130 mph arrived in 7.1 seconds, giving it a 0.6-second lead. The Ferrari, for context, reached 100 mph in 4.7 seconds and 130 mph in 7.3 seconds, sneaking back ahead of the 750S by each of those marks. Michael Simari | Car and Driver The ZR1's numbers only get crazier. The Corvette dispatches the quarter-mile in 9.5 seconds, crossing the line at 149 mph. The McLaren, meanwhile, needed 9.8 seconds at 145 mph, and the Ferrari completed the run in 9.7 seconds at 150 mph. Speaking of 150 mph, the Corvette reached that speed in a mere 9.7 seconds, a full second ahead of the 750S, although the 296GTB matched the Corvette's time. When the McLaren 750S beat out the Ferrari 296GTB for the title of quickest-accelerating RWD car tested by Car and Driver, there was a slight caveat. The McLaren only took the win in the sprint to 60 mph, losing out to its Italian rival in the dash to 100 mph, 150 mph, and over a quarter-mile. But the Corvette ZR1 unequivocally is now the king, triumphing over the McLaren and Ferrari in just about every acceleration metric. And the American monster did so while costing significantly less, with the ZR1 carrying an as-tested price of $205,265, versus $538,399 for the Ferrari and $449,790 for the McLaren. Caleb Miller Associate News Editor Caleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.
