Stitch702

Hey guys,
Newbie here who has been lurking for a bit, but finally decided to sign up when I became financially serious about picking up a c5 z06. I live in the southwest area and have narrowed it down to two prospective picks that I need advice on.

First prospect is a 2004 Z06 Black on Black with 21,000 miles. It is completely stock with a clean car fax and priced at $25,400. This car is only 12 miles away and I have seen it in person.

Second prospect is a 2004 Z06 Torch Red with Black interior. It has 50,000 miles with some mods. The price is $23,500. The dealership doesn't seem to know much about the car, but it does have a clean car fax. Judging from the pictures I can see that it has F14 Forgestar wheels all around, an aftermarket exhaust, a Hurst Short Throw Shifter, and an aftermarket intake. I've requested more pictures of the under carriage to verify that it has not been abused. This car is 300+ miles up north in my state so I have not seen it in person, but am planning to take a flight up there when I can.

So my question is, "What is your opinion?" Both cars have clean car fax and look clean as far as I can tell from pictures or in person. Would you go for the low mileage bone stock or a slightly modded one with higher mileage. I do plan to do minor modifications in the future so I'm thinking the slightly modded higher mileage corvette may save me some money in the long run. As far as prices go, I'm pretty sure both dealerships are able to negotiate in price. What do you think would be a good offer? I'd like to keep my budget between 15-20K.

Thanks.

02BlownZ06

Personally, I would jump on the black Z. The low miles and stock condition are a great bonus and it is priced pretty close to right. 22 to 23k would be a little better number. Mods don't add value to the car and the very low miles on the black Z are well worth the extra money. If not a daily driver, you can own a long time and have a ton of fun with it before you even reach 50K miles and then the car is still worth decent money. Good luck! I love my black Z that I bought with 19K and now has 21K on it after a year and a half.

grantv

Black without a thought.
It's my fave color by far, the other car is red (least fave)
Lower miles
That's more than enough.

w_vette

Black one with lower miles! I just picked one up that was a little out of my budget over a modded one and I am super happy I did.

CoachPaul

Always go low miles. And stock with low miles is even better. Honestly, with all the mods, they red one has probably been driven harder. JMO

Stitch702

Thanks for the replies guys. My gut feeling tells me to go with the black stock low mileage one. I'll probably go low and offer them 18k, but I'm ok if they sell it for 22k. Hopefully they'll bite. Not too many low mileage z's now a days in my area.

Moto One

Why low-ball on the price. If you did that to me, I'd send you walking.

Mark.

zeevette

I'd rather have red, but in your case, the black one makes the most sense. You can choose your mods when you want them.

Acid666

Then don't accept the offer. Simple as that.

To the OP, don't expect the dealer to go down a single dollar. I searched for 6 months for my C5Z and talked to numerous dealers and they all swore they had diamonds or something and wouldn't go down one red cent. I could get a base C5 for a reasonable price all day, but when it came to the Zs they didn't want to negotiate at all. The one dealer in Dallas that I talked to the most for one specific car said they'd rather let the Z sit in their warehouse for 3 years than sell it to me for a reasonable price. This is with me coming in with cash, to an oil rich state in the middle of an economic downturn where oil people were selling their toys, bikes and boats and NO one was buying these things. They didn't care.

Don't expect them to care what the NADA/KBB is. $25K is the high end of the what the C5Zs are going for, especially with low mileage. I got my '02 with 70K miles for $20 and I was totally happy with that price. This was from a private sale and it had Forgestars on it and a few mods, and the body was pristine. Same mileage cars at the dealers were running around $2K higher.
So buy what you want, but don't expect much negotiation with a Z at a dealer. Just make sure the price is what you think is a good value. Personally, I'd go with one with more mileage that would knock down the price but that's just me. Cars that have had some mileage on them have usually gone through their paces and have already had problems fixed that will now be your problem. Things like replacing the yellow valve springs, a bad harmonic balancer, headlight gears likely replaced, etc.

laurent_zo6

Are you going to choose the virgin or the one with some mileage that's been around the block?
I would choose the stock option since I have no idea how the mods were done and the skill of the person who did the mods.

Stitch702

Great advice. To be honest I'd be happy if they sold it to me at 22-23k. Their asking price isn't bad for the mileage, but I've always preferred to do business with those that can negotiate. I have no problem walking away if they can't, that's just part of the business. It's just extra cash in my pocket. I've messaged them, but they haven't responded since they were closed for the Veterans Day holiday weekend. They are a small mom and pop dealership, so hopefully they are willing to negotiate because they need the money....or wont' negotiate because they really need the money.

Acid666

Their price isn't horrible, there's a bunch of low low mileage Zs around and that's about their ballpark price. So you can likely talk them down 1-2K I'd say. But think about other things like if they've still got the showroom tires. Those would need to go right away. Same for things that slowly deteriorate like brake lines and hoses. Low mileage is great, but realize it likely hasn't had many oil changes. Originally I aimed for something in the 100K mileage range because I wanted CHEAP. But after seeing the bodies with that kind of mileage I decided that I didn't want to fix little clear coat spots, and other small things. So I raised my $$ limit to about $20K, and dropped the mileage to the 70K range. Remember, these LS motors are nearly bulletproof. There's not many major problems with them so mileage isn't really a deal breaker. But also remember that you're dealing with a 15-17 year old car so expect some little issues here and there. They're still the absolute best bang for the buck you'll find for your money. And the body style is a classic.