Some interesting examples from 15+ years ago, rental cars, a few random Vettes and a recent rattling ZR1. Funny as rattling is not a comment discussed hardly ever in the ZR1 section. I have almost 13k hard miles on my ZR1 and I don't have any rattles or problems at all. Guess I'm just lucky with this one as I was with my 08 and 01 Vettes and several Chevy pickups and a bulletproof 08 Yukon Denali. I have a leased CTS-V as a work car and it has 15k brutal miles in a year (think rental car CTS-V) and its been a tank.

Again, guess I'm just lucky and most GM products are crap and Porsches never have any issues like coolant lines blowing, leaking RMS, rattles, blown engines, center lock issues, etc.

 

No need to get defensive Mr. Heartbeat Of America

Not saying a Porsche is not without quality faults, but overall I think they are above average quality cars. I've done very well with the last 4 and only Porsches I've owned. Lucky?

I'm seriously considering a C07 pending price, weight and 991RS.
Love the direction they are taking the C7 and the fat *** Z28, awesome even more so at the price points. The C7 looks like quality inside we will see how it does.

CTS-V reminds me the last time I sat in one was when I was in the Caddy showroom, very cool car but I still thought the interior looked cheap like an early C class Benz looks cheap inside and I test "sat" in it to see if my wife would like it. She did not. Went with a much slower BMW instead that has 17K miles now and amazingly has never been back to the dealer yet, all the confusing gizmo's work. I think anyway because I have no idea how it all works and the shifter is maddeningly annoying BTW..
My last BMW bought in 2000 broke so often it sat in the driveway for 3 months while the lease ran out.

The last CTS-V I rode in was a 4 year old 60K mile one and I could not believed how trashed the drive line and suspension felt..

The new CTS looks beautiful and has a very impressive interior with materials similar to the high end C7 Corvette options. The SS could be a very nice daily for little money like the Chrysler 300C.
http://www.cadillac.com/future-cars/...S_|_2014%20cts

I also instructed in some Corvette's and the C6 still feels crude to me in terms of suspension and steering feel. Looking at the interior also prejudges on I suppose.

Just had a lot of bad luck with Chevy's and I'm somewhat luckier than most they say.

 

Fair enough. Everyone has their own personal experiences and opinions. I've had good luck with GM products and you've had bad. But, I wouldn't make any preconceived judgments about how well the Z/28 is going to hold up on track and over time. It's going to be a pretty robust vehicle based on its hardware and GM has gotten pretty good over the past several years at screwing stuff together nicely for the most part, despite your personal experiences. The objective quality data supports that trend.

I agree Porsche makes a high quality car overall, one of the best. But, like any product designed, engineered, and built by humans, it's not going to be perfect. Same with every other car on the road.

 

enjoy...

 

Uh oh, this is sure to be faster than the ZL1, probably quite close to the 3.8 RS.

 

I don't think any stockish Z06/C6 would survive the punishment Peter puts on his cars. Between the brakes and motor issues from the LS3 and LS7 (and maybe hub issues still) Sebring and the heat would have it's way with them at some point with Peter's driving that many days in those temps and then going on Mancation. That being said, Peter has never kept any of them very long, but I don't know that they would have lasted that long even. I wouldn't trust one to.

The LS9 seems to be pretty solid.

 

Any OE street car treated like a race car will have problems. Porsches are no exception to that.

 

DE is not a race, cars are driven mostly at 50-80 percent of their capabilities, in traffic, waiting for point bys in 20-30 minute sessions spread out over a day.

But there is a relative scale of extent and number of potential problems and those reputations are built at DE's around the country every weekend. Porsche has been much more reliable than Chevy for many years until we got to the Centerlock and Coolant Hose issues. Coolant hoses on older 996's is one thing, but on new GT3's is unacceptable. Still not as widespread as the LS3 or LS7 go boom from what I've seen.

 

^^ Exactly, guys we're on the extreme side of DE perhaps, but than the Z28 version of a 3000lb C7 could be the ticket.

The 991GT3. Maybe equal fun, equal dependability, but still double the price. remains to be proven but the signs are clear enough to start looking around browsing alternatives for when my warranty runs out in 2017.

I've not been to the track in months and wont be for months looks like, but I plan to come back angry

Many, many cars will be fine for beginners driving 6 track days a year, some will be dependable for an advanced driver for maybe 10 weekends, but very few can take 40+ track days a year with a knucklehead who decides to drive every available minute of every track session, with 15+ days at Sebring.

 

Widespread GT3 weaknesses:

+ Clutches/Throwout bearings
+ Cam gear bolts backing off and grenading that end of the motor
+ OE LSD defective when new

 

Viper: http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1...viper-ta-video

 

I thought about a Viper as I'm a bit of a Mopar fan.

 

Ran against a kid (20's) this weekend that had a 2006 Race prepped Viper with some moderate aero and race tires. Ran 1:28 with only a few sessions under his belt at Road Atlanta. Watching his videos, with more knowledge of the track that's worth at least a couple of seconds. Car looked extremely composed and well set up.

My point is that if you set them up right you don't have to be scared of them, and you can get the newer ones with more hp, aero already on them and a warranty. Just slap on some tires, set that bad boy up, and go to work. The engines are stout, gear ratios aren't great, but easily changed. Fairly easy to make faster and tons of upside should you decide to go further. Speaking of which, you can get the Gen III for around 40-45k. I think the Gen IV with a set of Moton's would be an outstanding DE cup car.

 

Exactly. My ZR1 has been very robust on the track and I'm quite hard on it, but I'm not abusive either. GT3's are legendary for their track worthiness. I had good luck with an '08 LS3 Vette prior to my ZR1 and ran it pretty hard too. Just had to short shift a bit as oil temp got over 285F or so as that was my personal comfort zone on Mobil 1 synthetic oil. Same with my '01 LS1 Vette, no issues at all besides a lot of rotors, brake pads, and tires.

Besides the weird valve guide issue on the LS7, I am a very firm believer that outside of full race conditions, the LS motors are pretty stout on the track, especially the LS9. If you don't put an aftermarket tune on the car and you add the extra quart of oil for track work on the wet sump engines (as specified in the owner's manual), you really shouldn't have issues. The LS3 and fair number of LS7's blow up due to not enough oil and/or aftermarket tunes/cams, etc.. I've seen it time and time again. Stocks ones do grenade occasionally, but it's pretty uncommon.

I could break a GT3 just like I could break a Vette if I wanted to, but I normally try to respect the mechanics of cars I drive on the track and am sensitive to driving them hard, but not abusively. It's worked so far.

In short, I'm a proponent of both Porsche and Corvette/GM(obviously). I just don't want someone to dismiss them based solely on an old stereotype. Chevrolet has come a long way from the C4 and prior days and it seems to be only getting better as the C7 looks to be very track worthy. I can't wait for the Z06 and ZR1 derivative along with the RS version of the 991 GT3.

We are all blessed to have car companies fighting it out as the consumer is the ultimate winner.

 

I love Chevy!