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"The words &amp;quot;Now we&amp;#039;re talking&amp;quot; come easily to the tongue when you first head out onto the track\u2014or highway\u2014with the Z06. Here we have the complete Corvette\u2014which was everyone&amp;#039;s favorite car on this road trip and track session. Why?        2012 Chevrolet Corvette Z06    Start with the engine. It&amp;#039;s a naturally aspirated 7.0-liter, but it&amp;#039;s hard not to think of it as 427 cubic inches, because whatever traditional magic that number evokes is realized as soon as you step on the accelerator. Built by hand at GM&amp;#039;s Performance Build Center in Wixom, Michigan, the aluminum V-8 puts out 505 bhp at 6300 rpm and 470 lb.-ft. of torque at 4800 rpm and uses lightweight titanium intake valves and connecting rods to help things stay together. This is a powerful and torquey pushrod engine, but it&amp;#039;s also a modern one, in both turbine-like smoothness and faultless throttle response. No old-fashioned big-block lumpiness here. Docile around town, it gets up and howls at high speed. It sounds like something from the N\u00FCrburgring or the Mulsanne Straight. Which it is, incidentally. Buried in the small print of the sales brochure is a N\u00FCrburgring lap time of 7:22.7.        2012 Chevrolet Corvette Z06    It helps that this is the lightest Corvette in the lineup (3310-lb. curb weight), thanks to an aluminum frame and extensive use of carbon fiber in the fenders and floors. Our car also had the optional carbon-fiber hood, roof, rockers and splitter.   Integrated with the Magnetic Selective Ride Control is a Performance Traction Management (PTM) system that the Z06 shares with the ZR1. This lets you dial up five different levels of traction management: Wet, Dry, Sport, Sport II and Race. All levels allow you to just bury your foot in the accelerator and steer the car, while the Sport and Race modes progressively bleed off interference. Full Race mode still corrects very subtly for lost traction, yet\u2014according to Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter\u2014allows even professional drivers to improve their lap times.        2012 Chevrolet Corvette Z06    At my moderate skill level, I found Dry to be a nice exploratory setting and Sport II to be the most helpful on the track, but there&amp;#039;s a setting here for every level of expertise\u2014and weather. On the track, the Z06 is the easiest and most reassuring of this group to drive\u2014torquey, fast, forgiving and beautifully balanced, with great feedback through the steering. The huge Brembo calipers and carbon-ceramic rotors also have great feel and lots of stopping power.   And on the road? There&amp;#039;s really no suffering attached to all this track-ready capability; with ride control on the Tour mode it makes as pleasant a traveling car as the base or GS models. The only drawback is the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup Zero Pressure tires, a part of the optional Z06 Ultimate Performance Package, which includes the carbon-ceramic brakes. Almost slicks, they&amp;#039;re &amp;quot;optimized for warm, dry conditions.&amp;quot; In other words, don&amp;#039;t drive to grandma&amp;#039;s house for Christmas in a snowstorm. Or rain. For any kind of regular street use, we&amp;#039;d go with the non-race rubber.        2012 Chevrolet Corvette Z06    All this excellence\u2014with the added packages for the Brembo brakes, Cup tires, extra carbon fiber, premium interior upgrades and Centennial Edition\u2014does not a cheap car make, and brings the total cost up to a heady $101,760. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/reviews/a20918/2012-chevrolet-corvette-z06/>