To be honest with you, I grew up as a Ford lover. My favorite car was the 1967 Ford Mustang in black; man did I love that car and still do. That nice classic look with a sweet aggressive chrome finish made the Mustang my favorite classic muscle. As I got older in my teenage years, I started to show interest in sport compact import cars. With their clean, contemporary design and cutting edge technology made the imports what it is today. I was more into Japanese imports because they were more affordable, plus I was into the booming import racing scene which was filled with Hondas at the time. I grew much apart from my domestic beginnings and for some reason domestic vehicles became more of a rival to the imports. It seems as though domestic vehicles lacked that contemporary appeal and is often plague with poor fuel economy and old technology.
Fast forward to the present, I like and appreciate all vehicles from any make or origin. As long as it looks good with cutting edge technology. I am still an import car fanatic and love the Nissan 350Z. It just seems like the Japanese imports are getting better and better.
The funny thing is if I had to choose one car for sheer power and performance, it will not be an import. It will be the 2009 Chevy Corvette ZR1. Packing just about 103 horsepower per liter is a monster considering the Corvette is equipped with a 6.2-liter LS9 V8 Supercharged. The ZR1 screams 638 horsepower and 603 ft. pounds of torque which propels this bad boy down the 1320 in 11.3 seconds at 131 mph. Not to mention the ZR1 has a top speed of 205mph and redlines at 6600rpm. With all this power the car still able to muster 14mpg city, and 20mpg highway which averages out to about 16-17 mpg on both. Can you imagine that, 11.3 down the quarter mile stock?! With so much aluminum and carbon fiber makes this ZR1 surprisingly light with 3,324 pounds which gives the ZR1 a better power-to-weight ratio then the Porsche 911 GT2.
Besides the sheer power and performance, the looks of this car is beautiful. With no offense to GM but this design looks like a European car. The Corvette has a nice sleek, super car-like design covered in a majority of carbon fiber material. The roof and front fascia splitter have a raw carbon fiber look with a protective clear coat. The hood is painted like the rest of the car but has an exposed window with a clear polycarbonate material to expose the engine. Showing off that sweet LS9 engine is a great feature, who wouldn’t be proud of owning one of those engines. I have to say, the 2009 Chevy Corvette ZR1 is my favorite American.
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