JerriVette

I've had three brand new corvettes. Two c5 s and now a c6 . The c6 z51 m6 has 102k miles and is my daily driver. Winter spring fall and summer. I have snow tires too.. the body is mint as is the undercarriage,,

Buy your corvette c5 and use it as a daily with confidence...

GM validates these cars for 300k miles..

Enjoy

grampi50

Nice post. I'm currently 58 and will retire at 62.

grampi50

I couldn't imagine driving a Vette in the snow...especially a manual...I had an '84 Z28 (which I know is no comparison to a C5 in any measure) that would literally get stuck on one snow flake on level ground. The car was absolutely worthless in the snow...

unlvrebel

A large response for DD. Put me in that camp. Bought my 03 in 2005 with 8K miles on it. DD since then with 104K miles on it (lived in Singapore for 4 of those years...). Funny thing was that I had consistently said that when I was able to buy a Corvette it would be the last car I ever owned. I was 35 when I bought it...

At least I didn't specify that the car and not the make would be the last I ever owned!!! But don't tell my wife that...

~Josh

I daily drove my C5z for two years before it became a garage queen.

To be honest I've spent a decent amount over those two years keeping it in good shape. Front wheel hub, leaking rear axle seal, ebcm rebuild, oil pressure sensor, clutch (ouch), tires cost a pretty penny, plus all the little mods along the way.

If you must have the C5 get it, but get a $2500 beater car and keep the 'Vette for special days.

grampi50

I already have a "beater", which I would drive during the winter, or anytime there's salt on the roads...no Vette of mine will ever be driven on salt...

Chuck A

i would love my vert to be a DD, but am afraid due to their are nasty/hateful peop,e out in the world and rather not have a piece of cra_, plus the seasons here in NY are very bad, indeed

Xavierbank

I have two DD ones a 93 S-10 and a Mercedes the vette don't come out unless it's sunny and dry

66dts-v

I daily drove my C4 until I hit a patch of ice and rolled it in a ditch. With the insurance money I got from it, I bought my '92 Silverado 4x4 as my winter ride and got my C5 to replace the C4.

mrlmd

My daily driver is my 2000 C5 I've owned for three years and have put 20,000 trouble free miles on it. I use it for trips to the local store as well as (2) 2500 mile road trips up and back from FL to NJ, and shorter 200 miles trips. It is comfortable, fun to drive, incredibly reliable, fuel efficient, and did I mention, fun to drive. Why own one if you're not going to use it. I also don't use it if I have to haul my boat or trailer somewhere, if I have to pick up some 4x8 paneling or lumber longer than 10', that's for the Suburban, but the 'vette is for everything else. Mine sits under a carport so it's not directly in the sun all day and it does get dusty and sometimes, even dirty, so I wash it every once in a while. That just inspired me, maybe I'll do that today.

nyciti

I'm in NY also and either my C5 M6 or C7 M7 see daily duty and ALL year round. Its a mass produced car, its not a collectable and IMHO no different than driving any other RWD car in bad weather. Just lower to the ground

I'm fortunate enough that if the weather is that bad there is no place I NEED to be. Just wait till the roads clear and drive on!!

grampi50

I guess this is where we differ. The Corvette is an American icon and I believe they're ALL collectables, even the bad year models. They may not salt the roads where you live, but here in the Midwest, the roads are covered with the stuff all winter long. I refuse to drive my Vette (when I get one) on salty roads...not only that, I can't imagine a Vette handling very well in the snow...

JerriVette

They spray the roads down but 9 years in the underside of my corvette looks beautiful.

102k miles as a daily driver since new.

This has been the most reliable daily driver I've owned over 40 years.

I've kept it so long as the car has been so utterly reliable...and fun to drive. A few small mods like a dsv d shaped wheel,,,,cow tune and booster, air intake, MGM short throw shifter....and the funny part is at corvette shows or cars and coffee no one can believe the cars got 102k miles...

I wash and quick wax it every week...all year long...I've got it down to 12 minutes flat...and on the the lift the underside is dam impressive. No reason to worry as GM makes these cars to be used all year round..

I do recommend snow tires for the winter...the new high performance tires are real stiff in cold weather....( mounted and balanced with wheels and tires for 700 off the forum..practically brand new as the previous owner bought a c7 )

I bought a set of Pirelli snow tires mounted on base grey 18/19 inch rims and makes getting around all winter a snap.

Great car....

QCVette

I drove two C4's and one C5 as my daily drivers.

Although I have a garage, the cars sat outside at work and I even drove the C4's through the winter in IL with salt and all. They actually drove pretty well with a good tire although I didn't try when it was deep unplowed snow. I washed them at least weekly including spraying the underside and I waxed them every couple of months. The finish held up fine and they kept a nice shine.

I am glad I daily drove them. It made the daily 100 mile commute a lot more enjoyable and I learned to appreciate the cars by getting a lot of time behind the wheel in all sorts of traffic, weather, etc conditions. When I look back at all the cars I have owned, I like the ones I used a lot as the best experiences.

They even were a good value. I shopped for a nice car, but not a perfect one with a few more miles on them. I looked for ones that were a good price since I was planning to sell them in a couple years. With that strategy, I drove them for about 2.5 years and 45k miles each and sold them for the same as I bought them. In addition, they took very little maintenance/repairs and got great gas mileage. In total they were some of the least expensive cost of ownership cars I have ever had (out of about 75 cars).

So go for it. Look for a driver condition car at a good price, have fun with it for a few years, and you may find that you like it enough to keep it and just add one when you retire. I did (it is my hobby or as my wife says "sickness") and have 3 Corvettes now.

Good luck with your choice.

chevy406

I've daily driven my '99 FRC for the past 9½ years. It rolled over 380,000 miles yesterday. I plan to continue driving it for many more years.

chevy406

Oh no... my '99 is invalid.

grampi50

You just made the light bulb in my head come on, duh! I forgot all about the rear mounted transaxle that distributes the weight more evenly, so I bet it does do well in the snow, with good tires that is. So I guess I wouldn't be afraid to drive one in the snow, so long as that snow isn't accompanied by salt, but unfortunately, the two go hand in hand here in the Midwest...

nyciti

Whats the fear of Salt? Its not acid, it washes off and the vette is not going to rust out.

grampi50

Okay, you have my full, undivided attention. Did you say 380K miles? If you said a Toyota or a Honda had that many miles, Id say "so what?" But a Vette? What transmission? What have you had to replace (assuming you had to replace anything)? How is the driver's seat holding up? Has the engine been opened up? Have you had any of the other common problems like the steering lock, EBCM, harmonic balancer, leaks (either water or rear seals), etc?

grampi50

It's not going to corrode body panels, but it will certainly corrode the metal parts. And when the salt is wet and you drive on it, it seeps into every little nook and cranny of the car's exterior in places where it can never be completely rinsed off. Then it just sits there and eats away...like I said, NO Corvette of mine will EVER be driven on salt...and I won't buy one that's ever seen salt...