I'm buying a ZL1-1LE, but....
 

The ZL1 is the first car to turn my head since buying my Hellcat Charger.

But!

I'm always surprised at how car companies rarely see the bigger picture for better sales.

When I went to look at a new Lambo Hurican and found that I'm too tall for it, the manager said it was the number #1 reason for losing sales. He also said that the complaints about that had been going on for years, but the company wasn't bright enough to design a cockpit like Porsche does. No Lambo for me!

So lest you think I'm some sort of class warrior, I've got complaints for these goofy car companies with their strange packages and inability to offer a car a certain way.

Enter the ZL1-1LE and ZL1

1) No A10 tranny.
After talking with two dealers, I now know that my opinion of this goofery is shared by many. There are a TON of reasons why the 1LE should allow an A10 option and really NO reason to leave it off. 14 lbs is NOT enough of a weight savings. Virtually everyone I speak to wishes they could have the A10, at least as an option.

2) ZL1 has no options for aero package.
Huh? Why not? The aero package would be useful on a regular ZL1 via downforce. Those interested in having a slightly faster car could skip it. Others might prefer the looks of the aero package. Adding the aero to a ZL1 looks to be a PIA and expensive.

3) Back seats.
A few tweaks could have made better back seats. I spoke with a fellow at Chevy who said the failure to create more room with a better seat design had to do with COSTS. Oh boy. I would have happily paid more.

4) Steering wheel.
It's awful. Was something wrong with leather? The wheel feels like a frozen plush toy and it will absorb oil from hands fast.

So...waiting out the holidays and hoping these guys tweak things and offer a bit more versatility in the packages.


R.

Well okay then.

Thanks.

Found a pic of OP:


http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...44/247/297.png

1. A10: great auto but heat soaks bad after 3-4 goes around the track and needs cool down laps. Doesn’t belong in an extreme track package ZL1 1LE.

2. Agreed. Aero should be offered as package to non ZL1 1LE owners.

3. Shouldn’t have back seats at all.

4. Had a leather wheel in my 16 2SS. Suede in ZL1 feels amazing and high end. Wear driving gloves if you’re worried but doesn’t seem to absorb oils.

I did yell at some clouds today!

I'm 54 and not quite officially old yet, but I have no clue as to why I can't have Chevy build me a car the way I want it.

ZL1 1LE
A10 Tranny
Red Hot
No Black hood
Black stripe (including hood)
Proper leather wrapped wheel
Red seat belts
Aero Package (of course)

I'm going to talk to the folks at Chevy about this directly. Nothing to lose in asking, right?

R.

Hmmm...did not know about the heat soak on the A10.

So if I'm driving hard on a twisty back road for 30 minutes, what exactly happens to the tranny?

I've driven the Charger Hellcat like a madman on back roads and never detected any loss of performance with the A8.

More info?

Thanks!


R.

I've not had a single issue with my A10 heat soaking and ran 6, 20m sessions at Autobahn CC. Left in auto mode and running 2:54 laps.

3.56mi and fairly technical track. So it doesn't stay up in speed for very long periods of triple digits to get a ton of cooling flow.

I would be surprised if you could overheat the trans on a public back road in that time unless you were just sitting in traffic and lot moving a lot. Just too many variables to account for that would prevent you from running that constantly without slowing, stopping of having to back off.

Contrary to the anti auto naysayers, it's a great transmission. Like anything man made, it's not perfect, but it's hardly an instant overheat like some like to claim.

The history behind the 1LE package has always been accompanied with a manual gearbox.
The steering wheel affords better grip than a standard leather wheel. I have the same style wheel on my car and it cleans easily with
just a damp cloth.

Why on earth does Ford Mustang offer a backseat?
Why would Chevy Camaro offer a backseat? Why!
Who are these people who actually sit back there?

Sounds like you need a regular ZL1 with aero....easy.

If you got money to burn (meaning you don't want to do this yourself) you can pay me to do it for you and deliver it personally. Let me know. ;)

I agree. if Shooter wants a 1LE the way he wants it and has money to burn (It sounds like he does, he was looking at Lambos) simply buy a ZL1 and change out the parts. That's exactly what I'm doing. I wanted a ZL1 1LE A10 convert. I already have most of the parts, wing comes tomorrow and calipers next week. I will post pictures when completed.

You have what you want, it's called a ZL1, that's the base to start from, buy what you want in Aro parts and have at it, the ZL1 1LE comes only in an M6, here is why, if you add the A10 to this car you will get heat soak, it's only a matter of time, it's not the trans that heat soaks it's the motor, and the car goes in to limp mode, and your done for the day, look at all the ZO6 corvettes with the problums, get the regular ZL1 it's more what you want, this is a track car you can drive on the street, not a street car you can drive on the track.

**citation needed. Actual facts, dates, times, names, configurations on the Camaro ZL1 platform. I've seen some incidents of trans wonkyness, but they're isolated and not anywhere near pervasive like the C7 Z06 A8s.

The simple fact the you compared heat soak on C7 Corvette with an A8 and small frontal area to an A10 Camaro with huge frontal area, more heat exchanging systems, etc. shows you're full of conjecture and speculation on the topic.