My Personal 2026 ZR1X: The Greatest American Performance Bargain in History | Jay Leno's Garage

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drakitomon@reddit

Watch Cleetus video on it. He's there with the engineering team and head designer. They go over lots of features and then do some track tests with it.

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aquatone61@reddit

I’m a huge Porsche fan but the performance of the ZR1X is unreal for the price. Even a base Corvette is.

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I hear ya. The GT3 RS is an amazing car. But I can't help but feel like this makes it kind of irrelevant. The RS sacrifices street manners in the name of being king of the track day. But Haggarty showed that the ZR1X handles just as well as the RS, but is much much faster. So like, what's the point of spending way more money on a track car, that is slower around a track than a Chevy? I think stuff like this is the reason that Porsche is putting turbos on the next GT3 RS. They know they cannot compete at track days without massive power increases.

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TotalEmployment9996@reddit

People just like to glaze Porsche 911s for some reason. It made sense when they were cheaper. But the gt variants are in exotic territory pricing. Yeah they’re fast or faster but I’m taking a lambo or Ferrari every time over a gt3rs for 300-400k

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WhateverItTakes117@reddit

I hear ya. I was more thinking why would anyone spend $350k for a track specific car, when it's slower on a track than a $210k car?

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Victor_at_Zama@reddit

Speed isn't everything, especially nowadays. And the 3RS punches away above its relatively meager horsepower figure. That its slower than the ZR1/X is completely unsurprising.

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WhateverItTakes117@reddit

Absolutely agree that the RS punches above its horsepower. My issue is that it fails it punch above its price tag. It's actually way way below that figure. Which isn't so much a problem for the turbo S, because it's genuinely comfortable. The GT3 RS is less comfy/practical, etc. It makes those sacrifices in the name of lap times. So what's the point of a paying a premium for better lap times, when the lap times aren't there?

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TroyFerris13@reddit

Long gone are the days of 20k sport trims aimed at young working class

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willpc14@reddit

The mean the days of 1980? 45 years ago?

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TroyFerris13@reddit

Neon srts etc.

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narwhal_breeder@reddit

Adjusted for inflation the `03 SRT-4 is right at $35,500.

Elantra N MSRP: $35,100.

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TroyFerris13@reddit

Now do average minimum wage

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narwhal_breeder@reddit

How about median worker earnings

Using real median weekly earnings (BLS/FRED):

\~2003: ≈ $350–$360/week (in constant dollars)
2024–2025: ≈ $370–$380/week

so +5% to +10% compared to 03.

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TroyFerris13@reddit

Ouchie

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narwhal_breeder@reddit

yeah - so I especially don't get the "sports sedans aren't affordable anymore" sentiment.

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rssin@reddit

I think it's because the inflation metric fails to capture the real inflation. The easiest data point would be housing costs especially in major cities.

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TitleCultural3133@reddit

For this specific talking point - we also aren't taking into account things like car insurance. Which based on my experience, isn't nearly as affordable as it was when I first got my license (source: trust me bro).

To your point, the overall inflation metric doesn't capture the other facets of life that you can't avoid paying for.

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narwhal_breeder@reddit

The CPI, the source of my inflation figure, includes insurance.

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TitleCultural3133@reddit

Does it? I see a reference to relative importance -- but when I search historic rates/compare it to what I've previous paid, it doesn't line up.

The increase is in the triple digits % wise.

If I've missed something - let me know. Not trying to be argumentative/ I may have missed something.

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narwhal_breeder@reddit

The CPI, the source of my inflation figure, includes housing. It makes up roughly a third of the index itself.

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rssin@reddit

You haven't heard criticisms of CPI?

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TroyFerris13@reddit

I think I'm just dumb and figured stuff use to be more affordable

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Born4Nothin@reddit

Wages haven’t kept up with inflation though. That is the real issue.

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DodgerBlueRobert1@reddit

The Neon SRT from about 22 years ago was about $20k, which is about $36k today. With that much money today, you can get the Civic Si, Jetta GLI, GTI, Elantra N, and WRX. Are you sure those days are long gone?

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TroyFerris13@reddit

Yes because wages haven't matched inflation

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willpc14@reddit

They have. Wages haven't kept up with productivity or the cost of healthcare and education.

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gumol@reddit

Jay is joined by Mark Reuss, President of General Motors,

it'd be more interesting if he was joined by an engineer who actually worked on the car, rather than a nepo baby.

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thejetssuckbigtime@reddit

The dude loves cars and is supporting the EV1 restoration. I’d find other things to be mad about

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AmNoSuperSand52@reddit

He was a product development lead back in the day, but one of those products was the Pontiac Aztek

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Ihate_reddit_app@reddit

If the Pontiac Aztek was released recently, it would be a hit. People love their ugly CUV's now.

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Aken42@reddit

Just ahead of its time.

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bridgepainter@reddit

I have been saying this for years. I challenge anyone to look at a Pontiac Aztek and a 2026 RAV4 and describe one meaningful stylistic difference. Every CUV is the Aztek now.

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Penguinho@reddit

It's that gross front end from looking like the Wilderness Package on an Outback.

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bamahoon@reddit

The Aztek had a cooler, therefore it had a better styled console.

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JediKnightaa@reddit

Don't you slander the before its time Aztek with the cooler center console and tent trunk

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Weird_Tower76@reddit

Mark Reuss

Even as president, he's a gearhead, and is the big reason he was on here. You clearly didn't watch the video.

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drunkbusdriver@reddit

Being a gear head isn’t the same as being an engineer on a vehicle. Yeah I’m sure he can spout out some facts he got about the design process but I can promise you he can’t go into the same amount of depth as someone who actually made the damn car

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delebojr@reddit

Just for the record, he does hold an engineering degree and he did previously work as an engineer at GM.

But yeah, it would've been great to have the chief engineer there

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AmNoSuperSand52@reddit

He’s the president of a car company, clearly he’s going to somewhat like cars

What people are criticizing is that his notable trait is just being some rich guy that approved the budget for the development of the car, not someone with unique perspective on the car like an engineer or hell even a product development lead

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_galaga_@reddit

Nepo biz aside he drove a ZR1 over 230 mph which is a little more hardcore than the McD’s CEO trying his “product” on camera and looking like a corporate alien.

I’m always cynical about this stuff, he’s probably inserting himself into the marketing because it’s Jay, it’s a lot of eyeballs, but it’s believable he’s legit excited about the car. SG covers the engineering perspective so much better when they have access I don’t really look to Jay for that now.

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darkbro66@reddit

He's definitely a gearhead, but talking to several people who worked directly for him and asking if he actually knows what he's doing or if the promotions were strictly nepo... Most refused to answer lol

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gumol@reddit

Even as president, he's a gearhead,

that's like a bare minimum for an executive in a car company, especially if his daddy was also President of General Motors.

You clearly didn't watch the video.

Yeah, it's a 30 minute video with a terrible pitch.

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DanielG165@reddit

The same Reuss who drove the C8 ZR1 to its 233 mph top speed?

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savageotter@reddit

Marks love of cars is the only reason GM makes anything interesting

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peanutbuttahcups@reddit

Meh, Savagegeese has us more than covered on that end anyway.

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BrandonNeider@reddit

Oh boy another top comment on r/cars complaining about socioeconomic

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dek00s@reddit

Someone is always going to have something to complain about. Jay shouted out every GM engineer that’s been on the show before, and visited them (or will visit them) at the factory.

What more do you want?

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wiscotangofoxtreat@reddit

Jay used to have engineers from gm on and he called it out as awesome that they didnt send the marketing person. Hopefully it doesnt mean something for the company.

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CMDRRaijiin@reddit

I'm not seeing a bargain? Is it in the room with us? $200k+ a bargain does not make... That's the price for land not vehicles..

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Round_Ad_6369@reddit

Find a comparable vehicle in that price range. You can't.

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CMDRRaijiin@reddit

I wouldn't want to? Anything above $100k is frivolous and overpriced slop.

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Round_Ad_6369@reddit

Sure. Why stop at $100k? Anything over the price of a Nissan versa is frivolous and overpriced slop. Anything over the price of a moped is frivolous and overpriced slop

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CMDRRaijiin@reddit

Why are you defending a billion dollar company for making poor decisions? The Corvette is the pride of American ingenuity, it was priced to be affordable by the everyday working man in America, even the ZR1 could be had affordably if you saved up a bit more. That was the whole point, European sports car performance at a fraction of the price. It was to show off American manufacturing might in the wake of a post war world, and it grew into a car legend. Pricing it in the same range as the EU cars it was supposed to take on is a betrayal to the name Corvette.

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Round_Ad_6369@reddit

What EU cars are in the same price range and performance of the ZR1?

The stingray is an insane value

The z06 is an insane value

The ZR1/X are insane values.

Nothing within the same price range compares to their performances.

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chargedcapacitor@reddit

Not everyone is a car person, and that's ok.

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mandatoryclutchpedal@reddit

A $250,000 bargain. That will likely trade hands for twice that. It is the Kia for the millionaire set.

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Puzzled_Region_9376@reddit

Thaaats not how Chevy works…. They will make far too many and they will depreciate unlike their peers at that price point and above. There’s no world these appreciate

Great for enthusiasts. Terrible for the customer they seem to want

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stainedhat@reddit

I don't think that holds true for the ZR1's. C7 ZR1's are going for $145-165k and the MSRP was $122-130. C8 ZR1's are going for $220-275k (some even higher) and the MSRP is $180-200k. Forget about ever finding a ZR1X at or under MSRP for a very long time. Models like the C8 stingray, e-ray, and Z06 are easy to find at a bargain.

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Puzzled_Region_9376@reddit

C7s are an entirely different thing. Last of the blah blah blah. They’ll hold their value for those that care or see it as the last “true” vette.

Everyone said the same thing about z06s two years ago. I promise we’ll come back to this in the same timeframe and find they depreciate. There is just nothing about them that makes them likely to raise in value anytime soon

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DestroyerOfTacos@reddit

agreed, they always make every corvette people would want +1, compared to gt3's where its whats ordered -1.

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nathanlanza@reddit

Nothing Chevrolet sells stays above MSRP. They don't do the Porsche thing and artificially limit supply. They produce them as fast as possible and sell as many as possible.

The dealer I bought my z06 from offered me a ZR1x at 0 markup, I'd just have to wait a year or so. I'm not a special customer by any means, I just walked in and bought my z06 at $12k off sticker on a random Saturday.

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RiftHunter4@reddit

On the configurator, Chevy clains to have offers that lower the price to around $215,000 for the cheapest ZR1X configuration. Thats nuts for what this car is.

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narwhal_breeder@reddit

Good luck taking your printed “offer” PDF from the website to a dealer that will see maybe 2 ZR1X allocations per year.

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RiftHunter4@reddit

They do allow yoj to just order what you want. No clue what the dealer will try to add on. I know GM tried to stopped them from doing crazy markups on the Z8.

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narwhal_breeder@reddit

No - they do not just allow you to order whatever you want. Each dealer is only given a certain amount of allocations. For the ZR1X it will be between 0 and 2 allocations per dealer per year.

Not allowing markups is not the same as having unlimited allocations.

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jrileyy229@reddit

Not even two... Maybe the big guys like Macmulkin will get a couple, but most dealerships will get 0-1.

there are 3k Chevrolet dealerships in the US and Canada.

The zr1 they were building at about a clip of 750ish per year. If they transition all of those to zr1x, that's 750 cars between 3k dealerships.

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Celcius_87@reddit

Great color combo

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honeyroastedbbq@reddit

Making cheaper 10–15 year old technology through economies of scale is not a marvel of engineering.

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BruceBaller@reddit

Name a car that does it better at this price point

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honeyroastedbbq@reddit

How is this a rebuttal to my point? Making technology cheaper, especially when you use more complex financial instruments (for example, using part of the profit from your SUVs, Stingrays, etc.), get preferential pricing from your suppliers, and so on, is not a marvel of engineering.

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BruceBaller@reddit

Then what is a marvel of engineering to you? Chevy has created an "accessible" 1250hp mid engine car that rivals and even defeats the performance of hypercars without being locked behind a $1M price tag. The price tag isn't the point, it's the cherry on top of the rest of the car.

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honeyroastedbbq@reddit

Again, you define a marvel of engineering by using established technology and reducing costs through economies of scale. The ZR1X, released in 2016, would have been a marvel of engineering.

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BruceBaller@reddit

So answer my first question which you conveniently ignored. What constitutes a marvel of engineering in the sport automotive industry to you?

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SharkBaitDLS@reddit

So why isn’t everyone doing it then if it’s so easy?

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honeyroastedbbq@reddit

Every car brand tailors its stuff to their market and what people want, and that’s how they build their rep with a certain brand or model. Chevy’s just taking tech that hypercars have been using, and even Acura did it with the NSX like 10 years ago. Chevy can drop the price hard cause GM is a freaking massive company. Can't believe this is that hard to comprehend.

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