I rented out a 2022 C8 Z51

General Discussion
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Before I get into what I think of this car, I am going to be renting out some other cars and give you my reviews of it. I am not a professional, so my reviews are coming from renting out the car long enough to hopefully give you some information from a regular person’s experience as opposed to what you read from the big name automobile critics.

Ok, now onto that ‘22 C8 Corvette I rented out. Is it as good as advertised? At least in my opinion - every bit so. Give GM credit, while this is the 8th generation Corvette, it is their 1st generation SuperCar and with the ZR1 their 1st generation HyperCar - they did a great job to say the least. I can hardly wait to see what the C9s are going to be like, somehow I think they are going to be amazing. Back to the C8. What other manufacturer is going to provide a car that can hit 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds (and on YouTube a few people have done it in 2.7) with a Stingray. Top out speed of 194 mph (not that you’ll ever get to see that speed unless you go to a drag event where you can legally do so). This car is truly amazing and lives up to every bit of hype it got. For $85,000 with the Z51 and mag ride options, you are getting a tremendous amount of car for the money.

Positives –

1. The raw power, incredible power for the cost of the car, just flat out addictive and fun. This car is so stable at high speeds. I topped out at 141 mph, however, I feel this car would still be rock solid at its top out speed of 194 mph.

2. Different driving modes easy to switch to.

3. Excellent visibility front and sides

4. Side view mirrors excellent.

5. Comfortable for tall people. Some say being tall is a disadvantage for this car, but I am over 6 feet tall and had no problems with front visibility, and my being tall is a big advantage in looking over blind spots in the rear over my right shoulder.

6. Rear view mirror – can have traditional or camera assisted. Camera assisted is outstanding, you really get a very wide view of your rear surroundings with camera assisted rear view mirror.

7. Very tight turning radius, easy u-turns this car literally turns on a dime.

8. Outstanding handling. It is highly responsive and precise to say the least.

9. Engine sound is amazing. Love it.

10. Nice warning system for collision or vehicles near by.

11. Beautiful car.

12. Flat out fun to drive.

13. Runs at very low RPM for a high performance car. A little over 90 mph still under 2,000 RPM.

14. Modes very quick to change.

15. Outstanding cornering and going through curves.

16. Nice displays for each mode you are in. Very nice.

17. Very comfortable to drive - if you are tall like me, it’s not going to leave you sore, and it is easier to get in and out of than you might think.

18. Very responsive car, can get yourself out of bad situations as long as you are focused on driving.

19. Great entry level exotic.

20. A tremendous amount of car for the money.

Negatives –

1. Big blind spots if you look back over your shoulder. However, I was able to learn techniques to still see good when looking back to sides, it takes time to adjust and will continue to do so, but it takes effort and patience.

2. The engine cooling fans were always on – possibly it was just this car. On a cooler day, the fans were not constantly on, so that was good to know.

3. Interior was on the noisy side due to rattles at times.

4. Rides on the rougher side.

5. Rear glass window fairly hot from engine.

6. People constantly looking at you, you are the center of attention, other sports cars wanting to challenge you. Resisting the temptation to beat them and avoid getting yourself in trouble.

7. Air conditioner could use a little wider openings if possible.

8. Rear view mirror with camera assist makes car headlights look like they are flickering, which can be distracting at first. Also at night, shut off camera assisted rearview mirror when backing up, you will see better.

9. No option for a manual transmission. A manual would make this car even more fun regardless if you lose a tenth of a second or two on your 0-60.

The engine area has honeycomb openings to help allow for engine cooling. Amazon offers special covering plates so water doesn’t get in if you wash your own cars like I do.

Overall, a C8 Z51 is an amazing car for the money. For a stock car, good luck finding a car in that category that offers you the performance for the money this car does. A Toyota Supra is a great car for the money, but still it is not as fast as this car. Then there is the NIssan GT-R but the starting price is $122,000 for a 0-60 of 2.9 and top out of 191 mph. If I am going to spend that much money for a car, I’ll take a Z06 for slightly less. In conclusion, wow, the C8 Z51 is an amazing car for the money, and again I can hardly wait to see what GM is going to do with the 9th generation Corvettes - somehow I have a feeling every C9 will go over 200 mph, but then again where will you go that fast. Give GM an A+ for the C8

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Just where did you do this ?

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Good question.

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Just sayin is all, kinda like people that say borrow instead of loan. Normally if you say rented out, it means you are renting it to someone else. If you are just renting it yourself, just say I rented it. Less confusing, but I’m really not interested.

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I may be wrong ( I was wrong once last year ) but I just have trouble taking FSH003 serious .

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I can hit the interstate and in a few miles, have a place with no exits for miles and hit some high speeds, as quick as the C8 is, you could hit 140-150 in seconds before slowing back down, the OP didn’t say he drove for 20 miles at those speeds…
My fun car would hit 120mph before I shifted to 3rd before I re-geared it, now it only hits 80 before I have to shift to 3rd…

It all depends on location, road and traffic conditions…

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When the car has very quick acceleration you don’t need much space. Back in 2002 my boss bought a C5 Z06. A few months into it he showed us the speeding ticket he got…he was on a straight stretch of US101 on the Olympic Peninsula and a state trooper clocked him at 122. That should have been a trip to jail but the trooper let him off with a warning and a $400? ticket for doing 90 in a 60.

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The big purpose of renting this car was to get to know it, strengths, weaknesses, seeing if I could adjust to blind spots and still find ways to have good vision which I was able to do. Get a feel for the car. I never once floored the car, there were more than enough times where I hit the accelerator and the car just bolted out. If I should lease out this car, one of the nice things GM does is offer a 2-day course at the Ron Fellows school in Pahrump, NV. I felt my time really getting familiar with the car would be more beneficial than ripping around in it non-stop. I did the right thing, if I should lease this car, I feel like I can get right in it and be much more prepared for not only the 2-day course, but driving it in general. If I lease this car, I will have 2 fun-filled days at Ron Fellows school, pushing a school provided C8 to its limits.

davesmopar, the 141 mph I hit was not sustained. It was not for 20 miles, it was not even for 20 seconds, it was short burst, you’ll see more in my reply to Volvo.

Volvo, so this is where it happened. There is a stretch on a highway in our area where it is one lane each way and part of it gets curvy. After the 1st curve is a straight stretch around 1 1/3 mile before it curves again. You could see around the curve that far down if you have excellent eyesight, I have 20/12 vision and outstanding peripheral vision. Well, there was some very, very slow moving equipment which caused a massive back up of traffic the line behind me was much longer than in front of me. We were moving about maybe 10 mph. When I came around the curve where the straight run was, that when I spotted the slow moving equipment and about between 1/2 and 1/2 a mile of car in front of me. I got irritated moving so slow and scanned the area, not one car coming the opposite direction - not even around the distant curve. None of the other cars were passing the snail paced equipment. I hit the accelerator (no I did NOT floor it either), the car just rocketed past everyone I was at 141 mph so fast it was amazing. Once I got past the equipment I let off the gas and slowed down to 65 mph. Cops patrol the area, and I thank God there were none out that time I was on the road. I gotta admit, I was laughing several times after that on my way home because I did not get caught. So there it is.

Outside of that on the interstate I hit up to 105 mph for a few brief bursts, but not sustained time at that speed.

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Sounds like you live in a rather congested area. If you get to visit Pahrump NV one day, you may find there are some straight desert roads with little to no traffic and visibility of 5 to 10 miles. High speed driving can result in a deadly crash, an activity I do not encourage.

There is an annual organized high-speed driving event in Nevada: Silver State Classic Challenge.

Silver State Classic Challenge Inc.

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There are many places out in the mid west where they do some 1/8th mile street racing and hit speeds of 180+ mph in under 4 seconds, some even can hit 200 mph in the mid to high 3 second range and producing well over 3,000+ HP, they block off the roads on both ends when doing so…

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Which is fine but FSH was passing a long line of vehicles in a rented vehicle that he may not have had sufficient time behind the wheel . I don’t care how much he braggs about his vision what he did was not the act of a responsible person .

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If one or more of those folks had the same idea to pull out ang go around, it would have been splat at 141. Two cars wrecked. You are unlikely to see a car moving up that fast when checking your mirror.

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Never said it wasn’t dangerous, it is the adrenaline rush, but flying an airplane, helicopter, skydiving, high voltage line workers, fire fighters, LEO’s etc etc etc is all dangerous, and yes sometimes things go very bad…

When you are driving fast at any speed your mind gets hyper focused on everything around you and in front of you, you are already thinking 10 steps ahead of you, like what if someone pulls out, there are typically signs if you are watching out for them before someone just pulls out in front of you…
Heck I could be on a road all alone and coming up on a curve while speeding and my mind is already thinking what if a ball joint breaks or whatever, how will the car react, how will I react, what can I do, what should I do, you are constantly thinking about what if, what if and what if this or that happens, at least that is how my mind works as well as others I have talked to…

If you see a vehicle coming up on you crazy fast behind you and there is room to move over, don’t, that driver has already planned out how and when he/she will go around you, they already have the timing down in their minds, but if you move over as he/she is about to go around you then most likely someone will crash…

Now are their some idiots out there driving fast that shouldn’t even be driving the speed limit, yepers and there is no hope for them no matter how fast or slow they are driving…

But I do get it and understand what you are saying, speeding is unsafe and can/will affect others, but again so can a lot of things…

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Super cars are driven at very high speeds on the autobahn in Germany, but they do it at about 4am to avoid traffic that might interfere by going at more sane speeds. It’s legal where they drive and they take steps to make it as safe as they can. It’s still not safe, but as @davesmopar says, that’s part of the fun.

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Back to the grammar portion. Saying “rented out a” when you mean “rented a” is like midwesterners saying “this here car” when they mean “this car”.

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When I saw the road tests on the new ZR1 and ZR1X I started playing the lottery. I won $11 so far. Sigh.

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I would say that the first Corvette “Supercar” was the C4 ZR1. It was competitive against the Countach, Testarossa, and 911 Turbos of it’s day. An argument for the C3 ZL1 and ZR1’s could be made, but they were unicorns, I want to say less that a 100 made in total. Hypercar? The C7 ZR1 ZTK is at least in the conversation. The C8 ZR1 definitely is though.

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When southerners say y’all they mean you. The plural, all y’all, means all of you. You, of course, know that since you live in Florida.

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Then there is “these ones”. Don’t know what part of the country that’s from. I suppose though these being plural so ones being plural of one. Normally you’d just say these or those. Maybe just too hard to stop with one word.

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Western PA says y’uns instead of y’all.