c5smv8

HI, I'm looking to get a C5. Should I go for a low mileage, 20K miles to 40K miles, that cost $23K -> $27K or should I go for a higher
mileage 70K miles -> 90K miles C5 that cost $16K to $19K ?

Assuming just normal wear & tear. TIA. How would you look at the
cost vs mileage trade off ?

Mr.Bill

If it were me I would look for a nice low mileage 2001-2004 for the best deal you can find, I am willing to bet you can find a low mileage 01-04 in great shape for under 25K.
Get the newest you can afford.

racebum

biggest thing with mileage is paint and sometime interior condition.

if you're one of those guys that put puts around and likes to wax your car and stare at it a low mileage garage queen is for you

if you're going to drive it in rain and run it back and forth to work save your money and buy one of the better cars in the teens and enjoy the savings

whatever way you go i would strongly favor 2002-2003-2004 for model years with 2001 being a maybe if it's not an oil burner and has been cared for. actually how the cars were operated matters at any mileage

also be careful with cluster swap cars. there are low mileage scams out there. a guy can make a 150k mile car 65k miles with a cluster swap. it's a $200 part that can make someone $2000-5000 extra. i have a 90k mile 2002 z06 that i could make a 40k mile car for a couple hundred dollars and it would check out on carfax. there are more than a few people shady enough to do just such a thing

i'm not sure i'd personally get out of the teens for a c5 in general. too many c6 deals in the low to mid 20s

oldschoolvette

I think newer / condition is more important than miles if its <80K and cared for

703

This question comes up a lot and most people will say buy the newest with lowest mileage you can for your budget. I would also look into how many owners the car has had. I think in the end a 70-90k car with 1-2 owners well cared for wouldn't be a bad buy as long as all the maintenance has been kept up.

You can also find cars in the upper teens with a lot less mileage than 70-90k.

oldC5

You will know what to buy when you spot it. It's as simple as that. Go with your instinct. Get the checked out first.

STALION

Most of the cars at 70 to 90m are selling between 12k to 16k. If you buy one at this range just know that resale will be horrible. On another note, I bought mine with 89m at $14000 five years ago. It now has 102m on the clock. Mine was not pristine but was at least clean and has had no major issues. Like other have said, if you plan on keeping it go for the lowest mile, newest one that fits your budget.

jans

I,too, am in the market for a C5 and have had the same questions. Racebum, I was not aware of the cluster swap issue - is there a way to identify if this has been done?
I am seeing a few low mileage cars, but prices have been in the high 20's, even seen a few at around 30K but hoping to find one for a little less. Not looking to lowball the seller, just hoping for a fair deal. Good luck with your purchase, c5smv8 !.

oldschoolvette

I have seen the odometers turned on these cars and its very easy to do. When I put my HUD retro fit in my 98 I had a newer cluster and it was from a high miles wreck. we just hooked a lap top up to the prom chip and set the 0s and 1s based on a bootleg copy of some GM spread sheet and using a DOS based app that was also free on the internet we set the mileage on the dash cluster back to what my car had.

We also set it to 4 miles just to see if it would work and it did. (We then put it back to where it was supposed to be)

If the person is careful when they pull the dash apart and re-assemble it is almost impossible to tell.

I did not even encounter any tamper seals or anything.

How do you think the dealership sets the mileage on a warranty dash cluster?

Yeah its possible and not that hard.

This is just what I know from doing it on my 98 Vert.

You can do a carfax and if there are milestones on there that denote mileage you could maybe figure it out but normally it can be rolled back to the mileage at the last titling and it would be very hard to figure out.

If you aren't careful you will scratch the PROM chip in the cluster but you would need to take dash apart and know what you are looking for to see that.

Vetteman Jack

And you should be able to find a low mileage car in those model years for less than $25K. Good luck on your search.

Keith Richards

There are great deals if you have the cash and are ready, we found ours a bit over a month ago with 44k miles for $15k and could not be happier after 5 weeks and 700+ miles. As far as mileage and knowing if real I was convinced by the carfax that the miles were accurate as the car showed 2,000 - 3,500 / year use between smog checks etc. Kinda funny as the people that have looked it over that don't know Vettes think we paid a hole bunch of money and think the car is only 2-3 years old as it looks that good. Lastly I wanted a car that was stock which it was, since buying I found a set of older but new Corsa's on ebay. GL with all your searches.

hamhead

Care and method of ownership are more important to me.

There are plenty of owners who have beaten the crap out of their cars at track events and have 20-30k miles on them. Likewise, there are plenty of drivers who took good care of their cars and highway drove them daily that have 90k.

c5smv8

Thanks for all the advice. The cluster swap is a good point. I've actually seen a used
car dealer do it, not a vette, right in their lot, in front of me. I am sort of suspicious of
cars with multiple owners or have changed hands recently. Cars with new recent plates
but are claimed to be low mileage or 2nd owner.

AmericanVette

Is there anything to indicate the cluster was swapped? Is there a vin number on the cluster?

AmericanVette

There is a C6 they were talking about that is 21K for 75K miles.

C5 prices seem too high compared to C6 prices. I'd expect C5 prices to be in the low to mid teens, and not in the twenties.

racebum

why would resale be horrible? a 100k mile 2004 car will depreciate a lot less going to 150k than a 25k mile 2004 car will going to 75k

you can get a well kept and maintained 100k mile 2004 car for 15k. you'll pay what? 21-22k or so for a 25k mile 2004

by 75k miles in 5 years you'll probably be looking at 13k for the car you paid 21-22k for (8,000-9,000)

by 150k miles in 5 years you'll probably be looking at 10k for the car you paid 15k for (5,000)

plus the higher mile car is less out of pocket

Camjamsdad

I'm not going to debate pricing. Me personally all c5's are over 10 to 18 years old now. No way would 25 grand be a price I would consider.

As far as changing miles by swapping the cluster, ain't possible. The miles are stored in the bcm last I heard. Yes you can easily change mileage but not just by swapping the cluster