The Corvette has been a part of storied rivalries throughout the years. Usually, it came down to America’s sportscar and Germany’s Porsche. Though, in 2009, when Nissan finally graced U.S. shores with the R35 GT-R, the Corvette had something new to test itself against, and quite possibly benchmark.
Both cars do supercar tricks at a fraction of supercar pricing, so naturally, it’s inevitable for the two to be compared even though they accomplish speed, grip and cornering in very different fashion. And Motor Trend decided it was time for the newest generation of Z06 to face Japan’s Godzilla. Coming off high praise and incredible on-paper numbers, the 2015 Corvette Z06 seemed ready to duke it out with the tweaked 2015 Nissan GT-R Nismo.
The GT-R is a very different animal from the Corvette Z06. The GT-R puts you in the hands of AWD and computer trickery to bang out a lightning fast lap time. Power from its 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged V6 is up from 545 hp to now 600 hp. A six-speed dual-clutch automatic handles shifting, directing appropriate power to whatever wheels the onboard monitoring tech tells it to.
In the Corvette Z06, a more simple approach. MT‘s test car was equipped with the 7-speed manual transmission which handled and sent the supercharged 6.2-liter V8’s 650-hp to only the rear wheels, assisted by an electronic limited slip differential. MT‘s test car was also equipped with the Z07 Stage 3 aero package, creating more downforce than any GM vehicle ever produced.
The Z06’s extra 50 hp and lower curb weight didn’t stop the GT-R from leaving it a tad behind in a drag race, where Godzilla clocked in .4 seconds faster than the Corvette — but the 1/4 mile is where the AWD Nissan shines above all other aspects. But the Corvette’s sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires handed it a win on the figure eight, where a 22.3 second lap bested the GT-R’s 23.1 seconds. But these cars are made for the track, so that’s where both of these machines ended up next.
MT packed the two cars up and headed to the historic Willow Springs raceway where the two cars received a workout from none other than resident racing driver Randy Pobst. It’s hard to see loyalists cross-shopping these two models, but what they both try to accomplish is very similar indeed.
The results very well may surprise you, with shocking numbers put down by both budget-supercars. Without spoiling the entire write-up for you, Pobst walked away after driving both machines saying, “The Z06 is more fun. It’s a challenge. The GT-R is too boring. And I love the manual shifter. It’s old-school. I’m old-school.”
After a long track day, MT had to pick a winner. Subsequently, there always has to be a loser, too. Read the entire comparison test at the following link, here.
Comments
The AWD make’s the difference in it´s case
Regards From Spain
I would have liked to see the a8 Corvette z06 for a more apples to apples comparison.
*sigh* Yet another apples to oranges comparison. Guys, I’m like Randy, love the manual…but for all things holy put the automatics up against each other!! This would have been great to show how well the new 8 speed stacks up.
They make a solid argument on motortrend, $50,000 extra just to be 1.5-2 seconds faster? No thanks, the z06 is more than enough car for anyone with that kind of cash at hand, no need to pay the extra fee to be fooled by extra computers when you can learn to achieve that kind of performance on your own and be better rewarded for it
Maybe they need to do another test whit another driver?
I believe it’s a 3.8 V6.
Ken,
You’re absolutely correct, minor typo that got by us. Too much Z06 on the brain recently.
Cheers,
Sean
Good comparison in my opinion. But for the Z06 to be bested is quite surprising. As good as the Z is, and it’s awesome by every stretch of the imagination, I think the engineers need to go back to the drawing board and refine some aspects of it.
So as it stands, Godzilla is the victor. It simply outperformed the Vette in ways the average Joe cares about; namely 0-06 time and track numbers. Nevertheless, none of this puts the Z06 down in any way! It’s still the more fun car to drive and equally matches and exceeds certain vehicles many times its price range! So both cars are awesome!!!
and manual rear-wheel drive. automatic and awd. Such comparisons, however, is complicated, at least there was one case. Corvette tires, we do not know the condition and how it would act like an automatic. Transmission would have had to be automatic in this test. However, different paths may be different cars with different results. Under no path can be manual corvette definitely faster.
But the corvette must do the AWD version of this would be hard. wishing you ordered one matches AWD Corvette. AWD has more grip in all conditions. Simple as that.
who talked about it quite so funny car prices, I do not compare prices.
AND YOU ARE FULL OF BULLS**T BECAUSE I AM BIASED WITH THE Z06!!!!!!: mad:: mad:: mad:: mad:: mad:: mad:: mad:
P.S. I did not mean to offend you.
Keep in mind that this is the first year of the Z06 (it will get better) vs the last for the GTR. A brand new one is on the way and rumors are it will be significantly lighter.
Something was seriously wrong with the zo6 model tested at track time.All of that speculation about downforce is ridiculous.The driver even said that it did not feel like 650 hp and that statement is key in understanding why it underperformed.I would not be surprised if another head to head with another zo6 example will totally reverse the idea that the gtr is a superior track car.Torque always wins with race cars and that’s what these cars are is street legal race cars.
These guys new what the results would be when they put these two cars against each other…..they already had the performance specs. They wanted this episode to be controversial that’s why they choose the Zo6 manual instead of the automatic. The Automatic is on paper faster. Plus if you are using the manual you have to rely more on the drivers skills. The automatic would have been a fair comparison and less “controversial. “