Does the 2025 Chevy C8 Corvette ZR1 have twin-turbo V8 super car performance?

hey guys what's up it's Joe R from R's rides we are here at the 2024 edition of the Miami auto show I was walking by the Chevy booth and I was dragged all the way to this spot right here why obviously it's because of this car this is the allnew 2025 C8 ZR1 but before we get into this iconic name plate back again on a Corvette let's talk about what's going on here for most Corvette afficianados you go back to 1970 believe it or not the C3 Corvette had a special trim known as the ZR1 Zora's racer and that car had some special bits and pieces to help owners that wanted to go out on the racetrack with their vehicles fast forward to 1990 I was in eighth grade that was really where we see the ZR1 name plate take Center Stage known as King of the Hill it was a car that Chevrolet was working on for quite some time that revolutionized the way people looked at the Corvette not only did it compete well against Lamborghini Ferrari and Porsche but it also used a new engine platform with that 32 valve overhead cam V8 known as the lt5 fast forward to this model year 2025 we have What's called the lt7 now what I want to find out is if you're looking for a superar there's many to choose from but has the ZR1 taken the top dog place when it comes to which ones you should be choosing let's go ahead let's dive into our convertible convertible ZR1 first time you can get a convertible well technically second time if you're not counting the C7 second time you can get a convertible ZR one let's go ahead let's dive in and see is it that ultimate superar right off the bat it's a new color for 2025 called hysteria it may look black on your phone or your Apple watch that you're watching us on right now but this is actually a cool purple Hue of color it does have metallic flakes so when you go outside in the ma Miami Beach Florida sun it's going to Sparkle like a purple G G now up front you're going to of course get the same headlight design that we've seen on the C8 looking spectacular but you're also going to get extra width just like the ZO6 you're going to get over 3 in of width up front the whole front fascia is specific to ZR1 so you have these massive Corner air curtains that are going to bring your air into those massive vents with the heat exchangers behind them you get Standard carbon fiber splitter the rest of this is carbon flash metallic so we have our hysteria color that purple with the carbon flash metallic and carbon fiber splitter as we come across that low slung nose such a stealth fighter it looks like it was taken right off of a c8r race car so we have our iconic cross flags that goes back to 1953 down below it's nothing but functionality Center look at this you could put a freaking Florida grapefruit in there and fire it out at a McLaren like a missile that splitter extends out very aggressively and that's going to stop air from going underneath the ZR1 because guess what this car has a top speed of over 215 M an hour and we don't want to create lift with that now as we rise up the front hood area unique to this vehicle you can see the wire mesh because we have a large single radiator and the way that they work the arrow this nose is the same as what you would find on a c8r race car and that's been one of the things about the ZR1 is that some of the years it's looked a lot like a regular Corvette to the untrained eye definitely C3 you couldn't tell a ZR1 physically from any other C3 and on the C4 generation which went from 1990 to 1995 there's only specific spaces and places on the vehicle where it it really shows ZR1 the extra wide rear end the different side skirts the third mounted brake light was mounted up top things like that let you know it was a ZR1 and a lot of people didn't like the way it looked a lot like a regular Corvette even when we look at the C6 ZR1 beside some of the touches like the seethrough plexiglass window that showed you the Blue Devil engine that Supercharged V8 underneath the hood to the untrained eye it looked like a ZR1 with this vehicle nobody is going to Infuse this front end for a regular Stingray and that's a very good thing now as we come around the bend what are we working with wheel and tire setup so what you're going to find not only for 2025 do we have all new wheel design but you're going to get these wheels if you want that are a choice when it comes to ZR1 so you're going to notice the machine aluminum and then this gunmetal metallic gray finish we have our six piston Brembo carbon ceramic brake rotors and calipers so we have six piston calipers with those over 16 in in diameter rotors and of course carbon ceramic rotors come standard on the ZR1 they do not come standard on a Z6 that's one of the big differences you can get optional axle lift and ZR1 comes standard with magnar ride and the magnar ride has been specifically tuned for this particular performance car this super car but let me know what you think about the wheels with the hysteria color very very unique it's got the forged script that's lasered edged into the edge here to really give you the knowledge that this wheel is nothing but the performance side of the business and if you're wondering well Joe what's the size of these tires up front 275 on the width and a 30 series sidewall now coming down the side of the vehicle you are going to have your carbon flash metallic on the mirror caps this convertible has carbon flash metallic around the window frame and if I was able to put up the hard top because remember the ca Corvette first Corvette to ever have a folding hard top that's also painted carbon flash metallic on the ZR1 you're going to get carbon fiber side sill extension so this is standard on ZR1 same story with the carbon fiber throughout on our air intake plus you'll notice the addition of the extra air intake on the side you can't miss the ZR1 badge even if you were blind but really this portion here just screams that extra aggressive what's needed for all the cooling because don't forget you open up the rear tanel cover all 2024 and 2025 Corvette Convertibles you can now see the engine so if we were to able to open this up you would see the new lt7 that's what they're calling the name the heart of the ZR r 1 it's a twin turbocharge 5.5 L flat plane crankshaft V8 so it's the engine right out of the it's right out of the Z06 but with two big Borg Warner turbos pumping out 1,64 horsepower and over 800 lb feet of torque you're how did they get to that you're looking at obviously the large intercoolers the large turbos they actually did different pistons and r ODS on this engine you have a second set of fuel injectors because you're going to need more fuel for more of the Bang from the spark and on top of that they even did CNC porting and polishing of the specific special heads on this lt7 so they really went through to produce that 1064 horsepower now one of the reasons why they decided to go a 1064 is originally it was going to be around 850 but when they heard that Ford was coming out with the Mustang GTD and that was supposed to have more than 800 horsepower they decideed you know what enough's enough we're going 1, 164 horsepower now as we come towards the rear when we look at the rear tires the wheels and the tires are going to be a little wider you could see the carbon ceramic rotors and remember just like before you could choose a plethora of different colors for your calipers and if you're trying to figure out Joe what is the size of this rear tire you're now looking at Believe It or Not 345 on the width that's a steamroller it's a steamroller with the electronic limited slip diff remember this is all-wheel drive the only Corvette that's all-wheel drive excuse me is real whe Drive the only Corvette that's all-wheel drive is the r-ray so something to think about and this is technically the first production Corvette to ever feature twin turbos right from the factory now if you know your Corvette history you would know back in the 1980s you could option off a box called the B2 UK option which your Corvette would go from Bowling Green Kentucky to Connecticut and Reeves Callaway over at Callaway Motorsports would add twin turbos to that l98 V8 but that was back in the late 80s and early 90s this vehicle has the turbochargers straight from Bowling Green Kentucky now as we come around the back just like we have a specific splitter up front you have a specific rear wing area and obviously this is what you're going to get on your standards ZR1 it's carbon flash metallic when we were in Detroit we showed you that bright yellow competition yellow color ZR1 that had the zt7 ZK zk7 ztk 7 option which gave you that big huge Wing the ztk option gave you the big huge carbon fiber Wing that is giving going to give you a lot of other extras on top of that now as we drop down rear end looks a lot like a Z6 so you got your LED lighting those Fender vents in the back I love the way they have the quad tip exhaust just like the Z06 this one has the polish tips obviously you could get black tips as well but when we talk about performance we're looking at around 0 to 60 in 2 seconds qu Mile in less than 10 seconds and if you've been paying attention top speed over 215 M an hour if you do the math at 200 mph you're traveling the length of a football field every second that's 100 yards every second this will go faster than 200 M hour but let's get inside and see if Chevrolet is still bringing that high-end fit and finish like they have for the C8 on this C8 ZR1 all right guys back inside this drop top C8 ZR1 it's one of those things that I wanted to do a separate review of Just this hysteria purple colored ZR1 convertible because we focus so much on that ztk track Edition with the competition yellow no official pricing yet production will start at the beginning quarter 1 of 2025 but expect it to be my guesstimation is that starting price will be around 170,000 and if you go all in with the ztk option that track package I think you're going to be looking around 210 $215,000 but if you compare that to a McLaren 720 740 whatever they got now you compare that to a Ferrari uh 296 GTB a Lamborghini Huracan stto you're going to be paying mucho daero been doing using a little Spanish here while I'm in Miami mucho daero for those vehicles but let's see how this one is option and if you're going to like it this color combo so without further Ado to the door panels love the way they're bringing more colors so you have the black leather material with that tan contrast stitching and then you have the tan leather carbon fiber nicely spilled right where the window controls are more stitching great design the Bose sound system and then a door pocket large enough for easily three Costco hot dogs and you're probably going to need the Costco hot dogs because after spending this kind of money on the ZR1 that may be the only way that you're able to to eat is a $150 hot dog from Costco more stitching the two-tone let me know how you feel about the tan I think it gives it a nice nice Pop I could see somebody going down uh Miami Beach cruising down the highway in this thing you're still going to get your 8 in infotainment system like before with this one has the optional performance data recorder Google Maps Amazon Alexa we have the waterfall of the buttons for your dual climate control heated seats ventilated seats the whole shabam you have your finger controls for your tremi 8-speed dual clutch transmission that has been reinforced to handle the power and the torque and there's carbon fiber everywhere even under your mode selector switch speaking of modes when you go into your different modes I love the it's like a freaking video game look at this who wants to race me in Forza I'm driving the ZR1 what are you going to drive oh the Mustang GT go ahead you can drive that waterfall of the switch gear now when it comes to the center console I could only open it up my way and right now it's actually locked you do have your wireless charger right behind you with the ZR1 badge and the center speaker and then the competition spec style SE seats only difference is they're full leather with the Carbon Fiber One Piece back the Corvette badge look at the bolstering electric assist for the passenger electric assist for the driver do I look good in this car I think I do but why don't you come over here to the business end I want to show you behind the D well I want to show you the D but it's actually the d-shaped steering wheel in this ZR1 all right guys business time behind the wheel I have this ZR1 wrapped around me like an ier toner glove down below you got the ZR1 badge to greet you to let you know that you did it right if you're able to track one of these down speaking of track that's a race box pedal box right out of the race car nice aluminum dead Pedal brake pedal and throttle of course you got all the adjustment ments you can make to really create the perfect driving experience and that's one thing I always have to give Chevrolet props for is that even when you're as tall as the Jolly Green Giant you're able to still fit into a Corvette how they did it is some type of voodoo magic but the seats nice lateral support they're comfy look at this steering wheel g-shaped love the flat bottom up top give it that unique shape with the ZR1 Badge of course the carbon fiber carbon fiber on the paddles even carbon fiber around the gauge cluster and unfortunately the gauge is timed out on us it is okay because we can't drive it anyways but you have your large digital display hit the Z button the Zora mode and remember Zora Zora Arcus dunov he's the true father of the Corvette and that's what the Z means in ZR1 it's Zora's racer I tell you this so much history behind the Corvette badge and the ZR1 badge I could sit here for days and talk about it but you know what I want I want to go on throttle for the first drive in this thing that isn't time yet I can't wait to see what racetrack Chevrolet picks I'm hoping that it's Road America because 1,64 horsepower that main straightaway going uphill at Road America going into turn one is going to be wild if that's where they have the media day I hope fingers crossed cross but why don't we go ahead people are looking at me they want me to get out of this cuz they want to get in01 so let's wrap it up for Miami all right guys another great day in so many ways here at the Miami Auto Show doely got to thank the whole Chevrolet team getting us access a second crack to the ZR1 of course we got to thank Trevor and the rest of the Corvette product team I mean without having the great people to get us into the cars like Trevor at Chevrolet uh none of this would be possible so definitely want to thank him and the rest of the team but let me know what you think is ZR1 your super car of choice even with the price tag potentially going to be the most well let's cut to the chase it's going to be the most expensive Corvette ever sold by Chevrolet but it's also the most powerful one go figure let me know what you think in that comment section but if you're new to the channel you're on your way out hit that subscribe button I promise you it's worthwhile come back for more if you are a subscriber thank you for being part of the the Raz rid family need to give it up to Lori R you know what she does it all she not only handles the camera but she's also behind the scenes making sure that everything happens the way that it's supposed to happen so thank you Lori for just going the extra distance and just like always guys I'll see you on the next ride