Alley Oop

I’ve been cruising this forum for some time now and have read of the various problems some owners have experienced and of others who don’t have any issues with their vette. I’m 70 years old (still working but watching the money more closely) and this will be my first vette. I’m considering a base 2004 vert with manual transmission. I’ll be looking for something with less than 50,000 km (30,000 miles) on it.
For those who have owned their vette for 3 or more years and are driving it at least 10,000 km (6000 miles) per year...
How much do you spend per year on repairs?
How much do you spend on maintenance per year? I’ll be doing all of my own maintenance.
(ball park figure is fine)
Thanks in advance.

Vetteman Jack

Wish I could help you, but I don't drive mine anywhere near 6K miles per year. I've had my car for 5+ years now (12K miles) and have spent zero on repairs so far.

vetteguy8

This is my third C5 that I bought 3 years ago almost and never had a problem, I put approx. 10k a year on it.! once in a while my power door locks act up but they work good for a long time with no issues! Before this one I had another 2000 coupe and never gave me any trouble except I put brakes and tires on it but can't count this as trouble but regular maintenance! I also owned a 97 8 years ago and the only problem I had with it was a slight leak from the auto transmission and the dealer got it fixed for 500 bucks ! I have owned BMW's and were in the shop so many times that it took me 3 different Bimmers to learn my lesson the hard way ! in my opinion the C5 Corvettes are extremely reliable and even if you needed any repairs done usually a good certified shop can do the work easily and parts are readily available for the most part, but there are many guys on here that own C5's that will tell you they have slight to no issues at all! Considering this is a Corvette and not a Toyota Corolla I think that's a very good track record for the C5.

Z06ster

I have had my C5Z for over 8 years. I can't give you a yearly cost but since you're on this forum, I promise you that you will save a ton on repairs from the help you will get here. Two moderate repairs I have done thanks to this forum,

- door control module (common problem), $1 for new relay. Dealer would have charged $500 for parts and labor

- headlight gear (plastic gear in pop up head light that eventually wears out), $30 for new aftermarket headlight gear. Dealer would have probably charged $400-500 for parts and labor for each headlight


In case you might not have found it here, there is a great sticky on C5 purchasing and ownership issues,

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ion-files.html


The more costly issues I have had that are common with these cars...

1) Fuel sending unit issues: Gas gauge erroneously read zero. There are two fuel sending assemblies and if you choose not to do the repair yourself, the dealer will charge around $1K for parts and labor for both. Many here will tell you to pour techron into the tank. This is definitely a first course of action. It never worked for me but many here report it working for them.

2) People will disagree with me on this but I don't think the T56 manual transmission in these cars is very reliable. Make sure the car you purchase was maturely driven and untracked. I had to replace my transmission after 50K miles but previous owner did take the car to the race track.

Alley Oop

Thanks for the input guys. Thanks for the sticky Z06ster.

El original

Ha ha I do EXACTLY the same as Vetteman Jack..2003 black vert, 25k miles on the clock, ZERO repairs too!

RC81

Same on my 98.

strand rider

make sure your knees are going to like the clutch action. Many old guys that report here go automatic shift for this reason. I went with a dual disk clutch, and it helped a little.

AS for repair costs, I can't give you an average or any help there. It is kind of nice when people compliment you on your ride, the car is so visually strong. I , like you, had planned to do my own repair work. I do some, but find I wildly overestimated my current interest in car repairs, but didn't notice the change because I was driving Ford explorers around, pretty much a truck, and they don't sell without dependability. PIck up owners don't talk about how it is not a Toyota, so don'y expect... etc. Corvette speak sometimes reminds me of talking to a laker ( local washed up pro basketball team) fan, they start talking about all the championships then and never mention the team sucks now.

People pay a lot extra for low milage corvettes for a reason, gm only cares as far as it has to to get the cars sold once. Contrast that with Mercedes, a high mileage car from that brand is not a resale problem, factory support is available, even a complete rebuild . JUst be ready for those german prices on parts.

When I was complaining about my costs to another vette owner at a car show he told me to just get used to it, there will always be another 80 bucks needed as long as I keep the car. I think I had just bought a hose for eighty bucks and needed to vent, but I got the point. A vette owner with high enough skills that he enters car shows for fun tells me the car is expensive to run, I believe him. The last time I went to a club meeting, I met a retired man on a fixed income who said he couldn't afford to run the car because of fuel costs. Fuel was higher then, and his car was very nice, being a retired mechanic.

I hope I am not discouraging you. I think a C5 convertible corvette is one of the best platforms to put your money into, and nothing is cheap today. if you want a somewhat inexpensive luxury car, I feel the C5 is a kind of sweet spot in the line of Corvettes.. And top down is the best form of pleasure driving, with or without a Corvette.

oldschoolvette

I have owned three

not counting Mods

I would say that I am < 500 USD year as an average

black match box

5 years no repairs. 2000 m6. I do not drive it much. 23.000 miles on the odom. and the car is 15 yrs. old.

JR-01

I drove 6500 miles last year and paid $125 to change tranny fluid, $600 for tires and $125 for new TPMS. This year I will spend $600 for EBCM. I hope that is all. My '01 now has 64K miles on it.

1Willy1

Mercedes has probably the most severe depreciation in car value out of all brands, and in fact no one will touch a high mileage Benz, they usually get parted out or sent overseas by the time they hit 125-150 000 miles.

cessna10

Same here, 4 years, 16000 miles 0 dollars on repairs, just oil changes
tranny flush and radiator flush.

bjones7131

Bought my 01 one yr ago today, put 4500 mile son it and spent zero on maint items. I have added some mods but it was my choosing.

DevilDog II

I've owned my '98 for 14+ years and haven't really had any repair expenses. I drive about 1,000 miles a year (Currently have 27,500 miles on the odometer. It had nearly 11,000 on it when I bought it.) and my only costs have been for an oil change every fall and the money I spend on gas. My major costs have been from mods over the years. Actually, my car has been trouble-free since I bought it, but I've replaced just about everything on it.

Koufax

Consumer Reports show the 2004 model to be much better than average in reliability. I bought my '04 this summer and put 8k miles on it. No repairs other than the DIY steering lock column fix, which was preventative maintenance and quite inexpensive. I spent a few bucks on add-ons like a cup holder. The temptation to gussy up the car is hard to resist.

RedC5

17 model years on my '98 and 60K miles - no repair costs to speak of other than normal maintenance of tires, fluids, brakes. Basically never seen a dealer since bought new in '98 - only for column lock recall.

Alley Oop

Thanks again everyone for all the input. It makes buying a C5 a lot less of a mystery as far as cost. 2015 will be my year to buy a C5.

PhysicsDude55

Only real maintenance I've spent money on in 3 years/12K miles is 2 new bulbs, $12 of glue to reattach the window on my Vert, and regular oil changes.

Don't ask me how much I've spend on mods though.....

Best advice is whenever you have an issue, check this forum instead of going to a dealership. There's many people who get frustrated with expensive repairs, and when they post what they've had done, they often end up spending several hundred dollars on issues that are easy to fix yourself for much much less. Headlight motors, ECBM, and column locks are good examples. These cars are really pretty easy to work on.

92GA

I bought my car in Feb 2011 with 120,000 miles on it knowing it need some repair. I spent about $600.00 in parts and did all the repairs myself. It had the floppy ear visors and some electrical problems, door modules, corroded grounds ect, headlight gears, but I bought it cheap. I'd do it again. I have 146,000 miles on the car now and it drives out very nice and nobody believes the car has that many miles on it. I did replace the tires and rebuilt the seats last winter but that was my choice, not really needed. Wife says I just like to spend the money. Most of the C5s I've drove needed the seat foam replaced, but I've only drove a handful of lower mile C5s when looking for my buddies car. I chose an A4 because of bad knees and hamstring, and am very happy with it. I can get in and out of the C5 easier than I can in the wife G6 Pontiac.