I usually don't post modern cars, but lately, I am finding a few standouts; surprisingly enough, most of the modern cars that catch my eye enough to shoot are not premium marques, but premium offerings from rather mundane marques. I have secretly liked modern Corvettes in their most powerful (and most expensive) versions, and it's not just the C5 and C6 I'm referring to.
One of my earliest memories of having a favorite car was the C4 Corvette ZR-1. This model was produced 1990 to 1995. It looked slightly meaner than the standard Corvette, too, in addition to having a substantial power hike. It was also quite the handler for its day, too, and was very, very fast. Initially, GM was in talks to build a car based on the contemporary Corvette that could be the world's fastest production car. Unlike the standard Corvette engines, the ZR-1s LT5 was made by Mercury Marine, then shipped to the Kentucky plant to be fitting into this limited run of Corvettes.
Fast forward to 2009, when the Corvette C6 is in its midlife cycle; GM says the car desperately needs a refresh, along with a top tier model ahead of the 505 horse Z06. The result is the C6 ZR-1; packing a 638 horse version of the LS9, also found in the CTS-V, this 'vette is capable of hitting 207 MPH, and lapping the Nurburgring in a hair under seven and a half minutes. Yes, a sub $200,000 car completed the most hellish track on earth in less time than it takes to drive from Uptown to Augsburg College. Yowzers!
Oh, and the price? Less than half the cost of a Ferrari 458 Italia, or about $30,000 less than a Porsche Turbo. Sure, you can get more performance out of those two cars stock, but with the money you saved on purchasing your high end Corvette, you've got money left if you wish to do more upgrades-- not that 638 horses is anything to sneeze at by any means. It may be just a lowly Corvette, but it's still one of my favorite modern cars, and that's saying quite a bit.
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