spinedoc77

Well the time has come to decide. I have in my driveway my old 96 SL500 with 88k, and my new 98 C5 with 58k. One of the major reasons I purchased the vette was I thought it would be less money to repair and less in parts. I am finding out that is not true though.

What have you guys experienced in relation to the longevity of vettes and their cost of ownership, especially in relation to Mercedes if you have that experience. Everyone I ask about vettes over 100k just look at me funny and tell me they have never seen one. Do vettes over 100k disappear and go to heaven?

I am on the fence over this one, they both have their pluses and their minuses and are both fun to drive.

tmjvett2009

My cousin in Fl. has 2 90 vetts and both have over 150000 on them still drives them both

SteveDoten

112,000 driven daily until the winter; don't worry about the vette, i'll give you a call this w/e and we can start w/ the fuel gage problem and go from there

bruceli

There is no question but that the C5 will have a much lower cost of ownership and greater longevity vs the SL500. I would bet my retirement pay on that.

spinedoc77

Thanks Connecticut, that would put me at ease quite a bit. I'm quite surprised Im not getting a ton of you guys jumping on me, lol. I posted the same in the Mercedes forums and they are all over me. It's nice to get pros and cons from both sides with a major decision like this.

BickyDhadwal

vettes are great cars

larrysb

Not even close.

The Corvette will win, hands down, in the long run.

The SL is a sweet ride, but it is very complex and it is an MX hog. It'll burn through your wallet faster than a Las Vegas stripper.

A non-abused, non-fuccked with C5 should easily make 150k miles. Start modding it, racing it, and you are more likely to have problems with it. Reasonable care and starting with a healthy C5, it should do fine.

I'm DONE with german cars. My wife wants an SL500, but I'm not going for it.

BostonJoel

I've got a 2001 SL500 with 29K miles. Will need brake pads soon but no other problems. The Corvette has only 24K miles with no repair problems. I'm keeping both cars for a long, long time and expect to run up the mileage and hope my luck holds out.
Now, the X5....that's a whole different story. 64K miles and lots of repair problems. No more BMWs.

FiberglassFan

I had a 450SL, worst car reliability I have ever experienced. Had over 10K$ in repairs in 1-1/2 years of ownership. Sold it at a terrible loss. There was never any money for improvements-mods, cause it was ALWAYS just breaking and so expensive to repair. I only took one trip in it and feared breaking down the whole trip. Never took it farther than my tow insurance would cover after that, and brother, it got towed. I was never so happy to get rid of a car. My vette is reliable and I have $$ for mods, rather than continiuos repairs like the MB. It got so bad I was making jokes about how they misnamed the company, it should have been Benz-Mercedes, after all it earned the moniker B-M, as in sh*t. I will say that M-B does make structurally tough cars, but all the operational stuff just keeps breaking. I have heard the recent M-Bs are only marginally improved from the vintage mine was. Buy the Vette.....It will be orders of magnatude less trouble than the Kraut Kan.

spinedoc77

Anyone know a good vette shop in western Massachusetts? I have been lucky to find good MB indie shops, but so far am getting a VERY bad taste in my mouth with the chevy/GM dealers that I have dealt with. Seems they do not work on corvettes (dont see very many in this area, see many more MB's for some reason).

I would love to find a good indie vette shop and stop dealing with the dealer.

rcs128

My father has a 1986 560SL with about 50K on it, and that thing is ALWAYS needing something... I can't even imagine how he enjoys that car. If it didn't have a 3-pointed star on the hood those things would have the same reputation as old Triumphs.

Anyway, the cost of owning a MB is only going to get worse as the car ages. MB dealership service is insanely expensive, independents that specialize in MB are always going to charge a painful premium, and parts.... well, if you think there is a Vette tax... ;-)

brunog

I have an 2000 S500 that I have had for 3 years and a 98 C5 coupe that I have had for a month. I put more money into the vette but that is because I am pony hungry. Love both cars for different reasons and would not get rid of either.

newyiddy20

you guys have got to be kidding........i love my c5, love it. the best machine i have ever owned and i owned a lot or cars! the most fun i ever had driving and owning. with that said, i own a MB truck(Ml 320) which has been the most "reliable well built machine" i have ever owned before. you guys that are beating up on MB are going to compare Chevy build quality to MB or BMW ? cmon,both may have been having thier problems lately(no doubt from being built in American plants) but excuse me,whenever i sit in an MB or BMW,the quality is not even close,even to our beloved Corvette. Cmon, by Vette has 70k on it and i have to stay on top of things daily and i pamper it to death,my Ml has 120k and has been beaten to death like a rented mule and still looks and drives like it brand new! the paint on my truck still looks great and doesnt have scrathes on it, AND I OFF ROAD WITH IT. if i look at my Vette too hard it scratches. the Benz will last longer imho Still love my vette though,and would part with the Benz first if i had to!

ex-bmw-man

c5 vette and a 540i BMW. Two different worlds. I hate the handling on the vette, but love the raw power. The 540 has 2x the miles as the vette, and still feels tighter.
FWIW the build quality is not even in the same relm. I shut the door on the vette and it clanks. I shut the door on the BMW and it goes 'thud'. there is only a few hundred pounds of weight difference in the two, but the vette at 140MPH is very nerve racking, while the 540 at 160MPH is smooth and relaxing. Good thing my wife drives the vette, I couldn't take it as a daily.

vectorz

Particularly the generation & year of SL500 you have. Those were the biggest lemons of all time.

Go to Edmunds.com and read the "reader reviews" on your year make and model of vehicle. You'll see that just about every German vehicle over 5 years old, has less than 50% user satisfaction. As a matter of fact, your particular make and model as well as BMWs and VWs, end users are warning other consumers to run, not walk, away from their vehicle as fast as they can.

I used to own a 2001 S500, and can attest that MBZ has improved reliability on that particular model (next gen from yours), but then again, I didn't own it past 4 years.

I'm not saying my vette has been reliable either. However, what exotic sports car do you know that *is* reliable (with exception of a 265HP NSX)?

ScottP1985

From my point of view, either one could break down, and when it does, how available are the parts? I can still buy parts for 50 year old Vettes from a huge number of sources, I can think of 3 catalogs alone I have sitting on my nightstand. You can even buy many parts brand new, as they are still manufactured by somebody. Is it as easy to get parts for the MB?

ghost.rider

IMHO comparing a truck's longevity to a Vette is an apples to oranges comparison that most cars will lose.

newyiddy20

dont mean to start a war just saying that consistency thru out the manufacturers of these machines is night and day. truthfully,would you buy another chevrolet besides the Vette ? when i read reviews on the c6,and the writers say that the fit & finish of the c6 is better than the c5, i cringe. because that doesnt have to be.thats just the mindset of GM and thats why Japan is kicking our butts. when you read a review of a Honda it nevers says fit and finish have improved over the last model,they get it right the first time. im not touting foreign makers over us,im an American and damn proud of it,but im trying not to be delusional(not saying that anyone on this forum is delusional)

sailohio

WOW. You have a C5? Mine sure doesn't "clank" when I close the door. What the hell would clank on a composite door?

vectorz

HHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLL NO

But we're not talking about 'fit & finish'. We're talking about 'reliability'. Saying a German car is more reliable than an American car is like saying that Robert Blake is less of a murderer than OJ.

THEY BOTH suck in reliability