Edmunds 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 Full Test and Video

[Bartek Sikorski]

Brute Force, Mild Manners

Brute force, a quality we can't help but assign to any car generating 638 horsepower, is by definition anything but subtle. Yet the 2009 Chevy Corvette ZR1 manages at once to be both brutally quick and remarkably mild-mannered. Its quarter-mile acceleration is quicker than any production car we've ever tested, its chassis is benign but highly capable and its carbon-ceramic brakes are mind-bending in their effectiveness. This new Vette offers an unlikely combination of performance and real-world usability that we're proud to experience in an American car.
This combination is as rare as truth in a presidential debate. Honestly, most of the ZR1's competition (think Dodge Viper ACR) or Nissan GT-R)) is less capable and makes a much larger compromise in typical road driving. With the 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 we have a machine that is engaging to drive, capable of making insane numbers on the test track and also a legitimate road car.

Insane Numbers
We hit the track early in the morning with the Corvette ZR1 when the temperature is low and barometric pressure is high — an ideal combination. The corrected results (which are slightly slower than the numbers the car actually runs) are truly impressive. The 60-mph mark arrives in 3.8 seconds (3.5 seconds with 1 foot of rollout like on a drag strip). The quarter-mile disappears in 11.5 seconds at a staggering 128.3 mph.
The last Dodge Viper ACR we tested hit 60 mph in 3.7 seconds (3.4 seconds with 1 foot of rollout like on a drag strip) and completed the quarter-mile in 11.6 seconds at 124.2 mph. The less-powerful Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is only marginally slower at 3.9 seconds to 60 mph (3.6 seconds with 1 foot of rollout like on a drag strip) and does the quarter in 11.7 seconds at 123.2 mph.

The Inside Line records continued to fall as we moved on to our handling tests. In direct contrast to the Z06, the ZR1 is stable, communicative and easy to control on its way to a 74.7-mph pass through the slalom. This is the second-fastest slalom speed we've recorded from a production car, behind only the Porsche 911 GT3 RS at 75.3 mp

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