[dmwtech]

Well I've officially converted over to the dark side. Exactly a year ago today, I bought my Lightning Blue GT350 and decided a couple of weeks ago that it was time for something a little easier and comfortable to drive. I had considered buying a ZL1 when I bought the GT350, but I still have no regrets. The GT350 was a phenomenal car!

I started searching for a used ZL1 in the Northern California area. I happened across a 10k mile 2017 Hyper Blue ZL1, PDR, A10, Exposed Carbon about 100 miles away in the Bay Area. I got it for what I felt was a fair price and I added the GM endorsed Ally 7 year, 100k $0 deductible platinum service contract to the vehicle. Thanks to the internet, I got a nice price match on that. I have no doubt the prior owner probably frequents this forum or others, because it was pretty well cared for with some mods being completed. It has the carbon dash, ZL1 on the steering wheel (instead of "Fifty"), along with the ZL1 tail lights and third brake light. The windows were already tinted as well. It also had a CAI on it, but was returned to stock prior to sale. The car is nearly pristine with just over 10k miles on it. I found maybe two small rock chips and one 3mm nick on one of the wheels which I touched up. The trip computer says it averaged 18MPG over 10.2k miles, which was pretty good IMO. On my 105 mile drive home, I averaged almost 24 MPG. Pretty impressive for a car with this much power.

I know many have traded their GT350 for a ZL1 and I can say that for an everyday driver, the ZL1 is much easier to drive, especially with the A10. While the visibility is not as good, I've gotten used to that within a couple hundred miles. It's more comfortable, rides better and handles good enough. I love the low end torque and the A10 is really, really good. I will say that I preferred the ergonomics in the GT350 better, along with the brakes (far superior in feel) and the exhaust note (hard to beat that noise at 8k RPM). However, I always felt nervous driving the GT350. It had a lot of tramline and the lack of low end torque made it hard to drive smoothly in normal traffic. It was like you could never just relax and enjoy the drive if that makes sense. I also was never a big fan of the forged piston slap in that engine. I'll also be honest that I've always been more of an automatic guy than a manual one. That said, I've owned a lot of manual cars over the years but prefer the automatics of today, such as the 10L90 and the ZF 8 speeds.

After having the ZL1 for about five days now, I can say that driving it is far less stressful. I just hop in and go. It's nice to have remote start again on my "toy". I like the tech in the car and there are only a couple of things which I don't like. The first is the active exhaust, which seems to have a mind of it's own and sounds odd at times. I know pulling the fuse in the engine compartment can leave the flappers open at all times and I'm probably going to do that. The second is that the brake feel just isn't that good IMO. The first time I had to stop quickly, I puckered up a bit. I've had AMG's and the GT350, where those seemed to have a really good brake feel with excellent stopping power, while I'd rate the ZL1 as no better than "good". The prior owner may have swapped pads, I'm not sure. I'll check it out over the next few weeks. I've gotten used to the brakes now, but it was a very noticeable change going from the GT350 to the ZL1.

As for 10k miles, hardly a squeak or rattle in the interior. No clunking from the suspension, though it does have the "wheel clicking" issue on both front wheels. I already torqued the wheels to 140 ft.lb, but the noise persists. Otherwise, I have not detected any other issues with the car. I will say it is a lot of fun to drive and it draws just about as much attention as my GT350. The second night i had it, a little boy and his mom ran up to the car at a gas station. He thought it was a "Transformer". haha. It was funny and I had to break the bad news to him that it wasn't. Any car guy seems to drool over it as well. I've found myself having to answer a lot of questions about the car, which is no problem at all. That's part of the experience!

Up next will be a new set of rear tires, a CAI and maybe a TM ported throttle body. I also ordered a ZL1 Addons front plate holder, splash guards and the magnetic jack pad/puck, along with a set of Husky liners.

The Old:


The New:











Richard - if you're out there, PM me. I'd love to chat with you about your prior car.

[JB'sZL1]

Congrats and welcome to the forum!

(Pssst: that Z looks soooo much better than that !@#$stang!)

[soceur77]

congrats, I'm almost pressed to say the previous owner changed the pads to something other than popular because the brakes on this car are imo pretty great!! Also the clicking noise could be an issue with debris in the wheel. I know it sounds crazy but took my car in fr the same thing and they said it was some debris. Cleaned out a certain way per GM and the clicking noise is gone. I didn't ask too many questions was glad the noise was gone.

[dmwtech]

Thanks guys. I work in the automotive industry and have been looking at the TSBs and PI bulletins for the ZL1. I'll pull the wheels off one of these days to check it out. I'll also check the brake pads at the same time. I may ceramic coat the wheels, hat and calipers as well.

I agree, I think the ZL1 is the better looking car.

[JB'sZL1]

I agree with soceur: the brakes are phenomenal. Although I have a gen5, when it comes time to replacing, I will probably go ceramic and forego a little stopping power over saving a lot of dust...the brakes are that good imo.

[DangerZL1]

If your wheels are staying fairly clean, then the pads have been changed. The ZL1 is known for having great brakes.

Congrats on the ZL1. It's amazingly close to the GT in color from the pics.

[dmwtech]

I checked the wheels after about 350 miles and they have quite a bit of brake dust on them.

The Hyper Blue and Lightning Blue are pretty close. Hyper Blue is a little bit lighter from what I can tell. They look similar with lower light levels. Both of first two pics were taken within 5 minutes of each other. It was dusk and wasn't overly bright in the showroom. When in the sun, the ZL1 is a bit brighter.

[mlee]

No need to pull a fuse for exhaust either. That was the 5th Gen fix.

Driver settings in the MyLink allows you to set it to Track (open) all the time or in Auto mode the Tour, Sport, Track button will control this. Lots of stuff to figure out on this one so just ask away. Plenty of help here.

Welcome..

[dmwtech]

Thanks. It seemed like even in track mode, it would alter the valving at times. No?

I've played around with the drive mode settings, for example setting the suspension to always be in Tour mode, but the exhaust still seemed like it changed even when forced to Track. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me.

[ScottMZ3]

Congrats! I'm up in Roseville, so I'm sure I'll see you around at some point!

[dmwtech]

Originally Posted by ScottMZ3

Congrats! I'm up in Roseville, so I'm sure I'll see you around at some point!

Thanks. That's cool - I head up that way pretty often. Do you guys ever have any get togethers around these parts?

[Ricco]

Congrats, there are a few of us here who have made the switch from a GT350.

[BlaqWhole]

I've had some harsh things to say about the GT350...but I always said it does look good. But the ZL1 is just a phenomenal looking car. In my first few weeks of owning mine I got more compliments and looks in my ZL1 than any other car I've ever owned.

Anyway, congrats on the ZL1! How did the guys on M6G take it? LOL!!

[mdmoore23]

Originally Posted by mlee

No need to pull a fuse for exhaust either. That was the 5th Gen fix.

Driver settings in the MyLink allows you to set it to Track (open) all the time or in Auto mode the Tour, Sport, Track button will control this. Lots of stuff to figure out on this one so just ask away. Plenty of help here.

Welcome..

Originally Posted by dmwtech

Thanks. It seemed like even in track mode, it would alter the valving at times. No?

I've played around with the drive mode settings, for example setting the suspension to always be in Tour mode, but the exhaust still seemed like it changed even when forced to Track. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me.

You actually do need to still pull the exhaust fuse if you truly want the valve open 100% of the time. There's still programming in track mode that closes them during certain rpm ranges and engine load points.