A 2025 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Shopper Calls It a “Beautiful, Fast, Wide-Body Supercar,” but Says Misaligned Plastic, Unprotected Radiators, and a $145K MSRP Remind Him It’s “Still a Chevy”

There is something uniquely American about walking into a Chevrolet showroom during a midlife crisis and gravitating straight toward the Corvette. It is not subtle therapy. It is loud, wide, bright, and built to turn both fuel and anxiety into noise and velocity. 

That is exactly where one Reddit user, a former 2019 Corvette owner, found himself in 2025. Tempted by the mid-engine Z06 and the promise of a 670-horsepower reset button, he walked in expecting to fall in love all over again and walked out wrestling with a familiar conflict: the car is spectacular, but is it spectacular enough for one hundred forty thousand dollars?

Here is the Reddit post in its entirety:

“Went to check out the Z last weekend for the first time as I’ve been getting the itch to own another one during my current midlife crisis. The last one I had was a 19 Z. Mixed reviews on them. My opinion does nothing, but here it is.

Pros: The car is beautiful from every angle. First time I saw the C8 years ago,o I thought it was 80% done because the rear end was absolutely terrible, but once again the wide body fixes that and makes the base models look bland. I don’t think there is one bad color option, but my favorite is Orange by a long shot (could get red mist to match my GMC in the background...It sounds great, much better than my 19 Z. Didn’t need to drive it to know it’s fast. Outside of the control wall on the pre'26, the Interior looked great with things like seat belt colors and stitching, love the square steering wheel, and the screens were great. The ‘26 interior is far superior to other years, though.

Cons: So many misaligned bumpers or other plastic pieces all around the car. This is why people still say “it’s still a Chevy” when people want to say it’s special. No manual option. I miss “driving” cars and don’t care if it’s slower. Rain holes right over the engine are…, but I know they serve a purpose. But I live in Houston, where it rains often, so it’s a bit inconvenient. How do you protect the radiators behind the doors?? And they’re pretty ugly. I didn’t realize how huge they are until I saw them in person. Why didn’t Chevy make them black so they weren’t so visible? The price seems a bit excessive. Most of them were sitting around 135-145 MSRP, but this dealer is typically higher than others. I would price it more in the 110-125 range. The seat was extremely uncomfortable right where the collar bone hits… idk if it was the specific seat or if they all feel this way.

Other thoughts: how do old people get in and out of these things? I’m youngish, and it’s an experience because the vehicle is very flow”.

On the positive side, his impressions line up with what the Z06 does best. The wide body does what the base C8 never quite managed: it finishes the shape. Where the standard car can look slightly unfinished from the rear, the Z06 is fully formed, with hips that make the earlier car seem like a sketch. In person, it has that parked-on-the-pit-lane presence that photographs rarely capture. Every color works, he says, and he singles out orange like a kid circling the brightest Matchbox in a catalog. The sound of the 5.5-liter flat-plane V8 seals the deal. To someone coming from a 2019 Corvette, it is not just louder, it is more exotic, more urgent, more in line with the engine bay’s new address behind the driver. Even the pre-2026 interior, with its contrasting stitching, wild seat belt colors, square steering wheel, and screens, made a strong impression, while the coming 2026 cabin revisions looked to him like a clear step forward.

Then reality walks in with a clipboard. Our shopper noticed multiple cars on the lot with misaligned bumpers and plastic trim pieces. For any mass-produced car, that is unfortunate. For a mid-engine halo model with an MSRP hovering between 135,000 and 145,000 dollars, it becomes a philosophical problem. His comment that this is why people say "it’s still a Chevy" is not an insult; it is an observation about expectations. At that price, the badge on the nose matters less than the precision at each panel edge. He also misses a manual transmission, not as a performance tool but as a way of feeling more involved, and he is candid that he does not care if a three-pedal car would be slower. Add in rain management over the engine cover in stormy Houston, very exposed side radiators that draw the eye, and a seat that digs into his collarbone, and a car he clearly wants starts to feel like a negotiation instead of a certainty.

Chevrolet Corvette Z06: Special Features 

• The Z06’s engine placement behind the driver shifts the vehicle’s weight distribution toward the center, allowing sharper turn-in response that feels distinctly different from earlier front-engine Corvettes.
• Its carbon fiber wheels, available as an upgrade, reduce rotational mass and help the suspension react more quickly to surface changes at track speeds.
• The exhaust note carries a high-pitched character that reflects its flat-plane crank design, producing a sound profile more commonly associated with exotic supercars.
• The widebody stance increases airflow to cooling systems and enhances tire contact across corners, contributing to stability during extended performance driving.

Reddit being what it is, the feedback loop started immediately. One commenter, Sunshine635, replied that it sounded like he was simply looking at the wrong car. The original poster pushed back gently. He insisted he loves Corvettes, that all cars have faults, and that his main sticking point is price, especially on the early cars without the improved 2026 interior. Another user, MeLuckyDragon, asked what exactly changes in 2026, and the answer was telling: the slim wall of switches is rethought, cup holders get larger, storage grows, and the auxiliary controls are reorganized. None of that affects lap times, yet for someone living with the car day in and day out, it is the difference between an interior that feels like a concept car and one that feels naturally laid out.

A particularly detailed reply came from a user named BrilliantTruck8813, who added some perspective from behind the wheel. In his view, getting in and out is more about the tall door sill than the seat design, and with the GT2 seats in his own Z06, comfort is not an issue. He reports no panel alignment problems on his car and reminds readers that misaligned panels can be corrected at the dealer level. He also offers a strong opinion on transmissions, arguing that if someone equates "driving" only with a manual gearbox, they may be focusing on the wrong aspect of this car. In his opinion, past Corvette manuals were never particularly great, and the current dual clutch in manual mode, combined with Z-mode and a properly aggressive drive, delivers an experience that is far beyond any previous generation.

The thread widens out from there. Another commenter, backmafe9, notes that panel gaps are not a uniquely American problem, pointing out that some European supercars have bodywork that would make a production engineer blush. A follow-up from FeistyEnvironment534 mentions that one high-end manufacturer even offers an expensive option package just to tighten up panel gaps on certain models. In that context, the Corvette’s occasional misaligned bumper starts to look less like a singular failing and more like an unfortunate part of the broader exotic-car experience. The Z06 does not escape scrutiny, but it also does not stand alone in the dock.

What really emerges from the discussion is a buyer wrestling with a familiar Corvette paradox. He is drawn to the car because it is a beautiful, fast, wide-body beast that sounds like it escaped from a long-distance endurance race. He appreciates that the 2026 interior addresses one of the previous car’s main ergonomic complaints. He acknowledges that flaws can be fixed or overlooked. Yet he also looks at a $140,000 window sticker and feels a small disconnect between price and perceived polish. His suggested range of 110,000 to 125,000 dollars is not a lowball; it is his idea of where the balance between performance, finish, and badge would feel right.

Near the end of the exchange, he sums up his position plainly: he is sure the Corvette is the right car for him at some point, just not at this price, in this moment. That is not a condemnation of the Z06. It is the sound of a thoughtful enthusiast drawing a line in his own sand. The 2025 Corvette Z06 delivers staggering performance, a truly special engine, and a presence that can hold its own against far more expensive machinery. It also carries reminders of its mass-market roots in build details, daily livability questions, and pricing that has climbed into emotional territory. For some buyers, those quirks are part of the charm. For others, like this former 2019 owner, there is a difference between staring at the car from the showroom sidewalk and actually taking the keys home.

Image Sources: Chevrolet Media Center

Noah Washington is an automotive journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys covering the latest news in the automotive industry and conducting reviews on the latest cars. He has been in the automotive industry since 15 years old and has been featured in prominent automotive news sites. You can reach him on X and LinkedIn for tips and to follow his automotive coverage.