Under50

Hello all,

First post and looking to grab opinions on getting an 01 Z06. I have been watching this for the last 3 months at this dealership and has not sold. As the title says it has 90k miles on in and visually looks ok from pictures. Besides Column lock issue, possible Valve spring failutre, electronics, and tranmission. What other costly repairs should i be worried about? I know its going to cost money to maintain but i don't want to lose an arm in the process.

I would only use this car about 3x a week tops and i would want to lower it, change exhaust, and maybe do CAM's but will wait to here what you guys have to say. The car is currently advertised as for 16k so some price help would be nice to on what i should buy at...i'm thinking around 15k mark if not lower

Thanks

Under50

Dean2144

Location and color?

Under50

Northern Virginia and Black

Dean2144

There are several things to consider, first thing I would do would be to run a car fax and make sure it's not a Sandy car or rebuilder. If all is good, take it to a reputable Corvette mechanic and have it inspected, he will know what to look for. Cash talks, and at an asking price of $16k, you should be able to buy it outright for $15k.

Under50

yeah i do have 1 or 2 in my area in mind, how much should i expect to pay for a thorough checkup? $200? honestly a transmission issue scares me the most

Eric Reeves

First, lets not kid ourselves. It is a 90k mile car first and foremost. That means you need to look closely at the weatherstripping, interior carpets, rear cover (known to bow up and have waves in it), rear compartment condition, leather condition, do the HVAC lights work as well as all other interior lights, do the headlights operate without noise, is there maintenance records (I have mine going all the way back to delivery), etc. I think I have painted the point which is price be damned. Find the one with the best documentation and condition and go from there. That will not guarantee trouble free but will definitely minimize. If your are on a budget then laser focus should be employed. Good luck.

striper

I have an '03 Z06 with many of the mods done to it that you mentioned you'd like to do, actually almost all the mods. I bought my car new so I know how it was maintained. After getting as much checked out as you possibly can, look at the overall condition. If you're happy with it, then buy it. As far as the longevity of the car, I'm at 136k miles and it still drives like a new car. I have no issues that need repairing. My only problem is I'm still modding it. I have no intentions of getting rid of it at any time in the near or distant future. I just finished a double din radio installation and I've got some side skirts on order. It's been lowered and many other things have been done. I love this car.

Under50

Thank you both for your replies, also is it just me or do corvettes seem to take some time to sell as well? even though i am super excited to get one i do always consider getting something back on my depreciating asset lol

racebum

cheaper to buy a car already modded if you want a heads and cam car. by the time you spent 15 on this it will cost you 5k for heads, cam, headers, tune and that's 20k which is what a lower mile already modded z06 would fetch.

not hard to find 50-60k heads and cam cars in good shape for 20k, also likely 02+

dork

I may be mistaken, but I thought a replacement new BCM (or PCM?) was extremely hard to find when the OEM goes bad. It's one reason I was pleased to find out that my purchase of an '03 was "lucky".

Since buying mine, I've researched buying a new BCM (for the '03), and while they're out there, they ain't cheap. I'm pretty sure I recall the older (up through '01?) versions were almost unavailable new. In either case, I'd opt for a newer model just for the later-model revisions.

Zmeister

Well, I bought my Z06 5 years ago with 90k miles on it. It has 150k on the clock now. Mine is an '04. Haven't really had to do any major work on it other than replace wear items and an alternator.
That being said, given a choice, I would hold out for an '02 or later model for lots of reasons, some of which have already been covered by others in this thread.
C5 Corvettes from the beginning were designed with a 200k mile life cycle, as opposed to the vast majority of cars that have an assumed life cycle of 100k miles. These cars are pretty well built and pretty easy to maintain.
The car you're looking at is most likely still there because of the mileage. Most folks fear spending that kind of money on a car with that kind of mileage. My car sat for over 3 months while I thought about it and the price kept getting lower. When I spoke with the dealer he said that the younger guys weren't afraid of the mileage, but, had trouble getting or affording the insurance and the older guys didn't want the hassle of dealing with all the problems that they feared with the high mileage. I had read up on problems and general reliability of the C5 so wasn't too worried. I pretty much based my purchase on the overall appearance and pretty good maintenance records from Car Fax.
No regrets for me at this point. I just keep replacing stuff that looks old and worn and the car is looking a bit newer every year!
Good luck!!

dork

What he said! 200,000 is prolly barely average for a Vette's projected longevity. I've owned 3 vehicles ('85 Honda Accord, '92 Lincoln Mk8, and '90 Ford T-bird) that were manufactured between 1985-1992. By 2003, I'd disposed of all three, but none of them had less than 220,000 miles on them with regular fluid changes, tires, and routine brake services.

I think the Japanese, German, and US OEM's have built much better vehicles since the Japanese 'compacts' showed the Achille's heel of "Western" automotive thinking and manufacturing during the '78 oil embargo. It took a while, but I think American vehicle-build standards will match any foreign OEM now for durability and reliability (class-for-class) with routine care.

I don't think there's much to worry about concerning general mileage longevity; it's the model's specific parts-design obsolescence that would concern me--"50/50" faulty valve springs, BCM, column lock, etc.

Dean2144

The Mileage would not be an issue for me as for the engine, I have run several Chevy 5.3 ltr engines will into the 200,000 mile plus range.

racebum

i think overall condition is what keeps guys away from high mile cars. many people, especially on the forum seem to love these cars and use them as weekend cruisers

even a very well cared for 100k mile car will have swirls, waterspots and chips in the paint. just how it goes

TXGS507

Black 01 Z06.. nuff sad...

bob guzzy

Here is one for you 135K miles and counting, all I did so far was install the wheels off my old 09, check the fluids, repair one headlight motor, buy a new burp tank, because the old one was leaking, btw the column lock still operates.

I would take this Z anywhere, it runs and feels as good as the 14K mile car I had in 2006.

The paint isn't world class but why would I drive a car with perfect paint in the winter.

Go drive the car if you like it buy, if you don't you will be kicking yourself later on.

Under50

well i definitely do not plan it being a daily driver just a 3x a week type toy, though if gas prices do shoot up...prices will kick lower. Either way thank you for all the Responses!

rjwz28

The BCMs are split between 97-00 and 01-04; all Z06s have the new BCM

bluestreak63

You should post pics if you have any or at least the ad. Maybe someone here will know something about it.

Under50

http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/de...9694/overview/

in northern va

looking at the car history it started in Washington State