Adam_W

First post on this forum, whoo-hoo!

I need advice.

I think I want a corvette GS or Z06, but "which corvette" is not my question here, I know how those threads go.

I'm a physician - in practice for a few years - who has spent his whole adult life working long hours and delaying gratification.

I still drive a 2001 Honda that my parents gifted me back in medical school, and I don't know how to drive stick and need to learn. I need to learn how to drive stick so that I can test drive cars and confirm my preferences - Z06 vs. GS vs. Mustang Boss vs. Cayman S etc.

Apparently, it's not easy to rent/lease a car with manual transmission for 3-6 months where I can learn how to drive stick and maybe take one or two high performance courses. I've looked into it.

I've been advised to buy a 2-3 year old used car (e.g. Miata or S2000) in good condition, spend my 6 months learning to drive on it, and then sell it for (hopefully) a similar amount to what I purchased it for.

This is my current plan, i.e. spend 15-20K on a nice Miata.

So my question: Is it an financially reasonable plan to buy a 2-3 year old Grand Sport with very low miles - i.e. something I'd want to keep - and learning on it; once I learn to drive stickshift well, then I test drive the other cars and if I decide to go with some other car (e.g. low miles 2009 used C6 Z06), then I sell the Grand Sport and hopefully recoup most of my initial expense? (If I'm happy with the GS, which I expect, then I keep it and live happily ever after.) In other words, if I buy a 2009/2010 low miles Grand Sport , use it for 6 months without pushing it hard, can I sell it for a similar price ? Or will there be a significant price drop because the car would have had two owners at that point?

I don't know if this affects the answer, but I will not be financing but buying with cash.

Thanks. I hope to join you guys someday as a proud Corvette owner who can reap - and fully appreciate - the performance of his vehicle.

boraxman

Its not gonna take more than a couple hours to learn to drive a manual.

Dave S

Ken....IMHO you're putting too much thought into learning to drive a standard trans. Your profile is silent on location, but when my daughter was growing up here in NJ, I went down to a local Enterprise auto rental office & requested a standard trans Toyota. Only took them a day to bring one in & I had her drive it for a couple of days. That's all it took. It will also be a lot easier to learn on a lower powered vehicle than on a Vette. Also, there's nothing wrong with test driving any of the other vehicles you mention with an auto trans. You'll still get the full flavor of fit, finish, ride & handling. Then go out & treat yourself to whatever ride strikes your fancy!

Joe_Planet

just buy a vette, skip the miata and pos honda s2k nonsense.
first off those cars do not even come close to the performance of a vette, so all you'll be doing is learning how to drive a manual trans, well if that's the case you can buy a pos honda civic for 5k and just do that. but in the end its a waste of time... just get the vette so you can learn how to handle the power as well

z06inVB

I agree learning the manual should not be difficult or time consuming.

I agreed to teach my neighbors son to drive my old mn6 Challenger R/T. Within a couple hours he was driving fine.

The Vette would not be a difficult car to learn on. It has a wide torque range and can tolerate shifts into the incorrect gears well. And short of clutchless shifting you are not going to harm it.

Adam_W

Thanks everyone.

So I will try to find somewhere to rent a manual transmission car for a day or couple of days.

And if I decide to go ahead and get the Grand Sport - and decide that I should have gotten the Z06 - what are your thoughts on my question regarding re-sale value of a 2-3 year old , <1,000 miles, Grand Sport? If I've owned it for 6 months and decide to sell, will the fact that it has had two owners make the price drop significantly?

sxs191

You will get raked over the coals if you decide to trade in the GS for a Z after a few months. Is there a reason you're thinking GS over a Z? If you want a convertible get the 427, if not get the Z, you won't regret it.

Adam_W

Well, I'd much rather get a Z06 at this point, but price is the issue - spending around 50K - and I'm a little worried about getting an older Z06 (low miles 2008-09) given what I've heard around here about mechanical problems in buying a used Z06. I don't want to spend time and money with repairs and am wondering if a newer GS would be more worry-free in that regard.

I don't mean to steer this thread toward the Z vs. GS debate, I know I need to test drive them both and figure out how much I like each one and if it's worth it to me.

johnsub

I just traded my '06 for a low mile '12 GS. I love the car. Same body, brakes, etc... as the Z, just less motor. Once you punch it down though you won't be dissapointed. The big question is do you want to be able to remove the top? That's a lot of fun cruising around in summer topless! The Z is non-removable. Not steering you one way or the other, just so you can make an educated decision. Welcome to the forum!

AORoads

I think you're going about this in the correct manner with input from those above. Not that mileage on a car is always a determinant, but obviously the less miles you can get on a car, supposedly the better off you'll be. Just remember that many of these cars are what some would call "garage queens" which means they've been driven lightly and not all that frequently either. Price is a key factor, of course, but the usual advice on here which I think is good is to get the newest car with the least amount of miles that you can comfortably afford. Makes a lot of sense. The difficulty you will have is comparing the Z to a GS because price will be different unless you get very lucky like that guy in another thread who got a car from carmax. http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...-question.html (sent an email to you)

J.J.D.O.

1. If you can't drive a manual transmission, I would not suggest buying a race car (Z06).
2. Don't buy a car in order to learn how to drive a manual transmission. As someone else suggested, rent a car for a week. If you're still uncomfortable, rent another car for another week and so on. In the end, it will be less money and less hassle (tax, registration, sell, trade-in...non- sense!)
3. I bought a 427. It was my first real sports car, but it was not my first car with a little power and definitely wasn't the first clutch I've ever depressed.

Just some thoughts.

DebRedZR1

Ummmmm I bought a ZR1 and then learned how to drive a manual

You never buy a car "expecting to recoup" your losses. And the GS didn't come out until 2010 so good luck finding on 09.

Buy a car you will be happy with and good luck!

not08crmanymore

Here's a thought and call me crazy but....BUY AN AUTOMATIC!

Zee0hSix

If you are athletically inclined, you could drive a stick in 30 seconds and do it well in 10 minutes.

We have a female forum member who learned how to drive a stick on her new ZR1.

Jawnathin

I suggest buying the car you really want. I don't have a vested interest in which model you take, both are great cars, but I've always felt one should buy what they really want and not need to settle if they don't have to.

Regarding the Z06, its a pretty stout and reliable car. Mine has been trouble free and I'm not shy about getting on the throttle or having fun with it. If you're referring to the valves, only a fraction of a % of cars have ever seen any sort of issue. While I do agree that the valves appear to be the weakest link in the motor, the issue as a whole is grossly blown out of proportion. There are more threads discussing the valves than actual threads reporting any sort of issue.

If you plan on staying stock, driving on the street, having fun, doing drag strip runs, but not tracking it, then its a non-issue imo.

If you plan on doing mods and driving on a track in a HPDE, then I'd probably upgrade the heads/valves as a preventative maintenance mod and gain a bit of power while you're at it.

If you still want that peace of mind, the solution isn't terribly difficult and it'll be cheaper than the tax you'll pay on the car or the depreciation hit after selling a GS.

With all of this said, most cars have some sort of weak point to them. For example, LS3s snap the timing chain tensioner. 911 Turbos/GT3s can't keep their coolant hoses on. Caymans/Boxsters suffer from oil starvation. Turbo BMWs have fuel pump failures. Subaru STis fry piston rings. GTRs break transmissions. Mustang V8s have cylinder #8 failures. Ferraris catch on fire.

For most owners of these cars, these problems will be a non-issue, but it can be concerning and has been widely discussed on the internet. It goes to show that no car is perfect and if you do enough digging, you'll find a weak link in just about everything.

CO Lightfoot

Probably not.

To me, 2-owners isn't so important. But I'd want to know why you're selling after only 6 months. Seems unlikely you'd trade-up to a Z06 for a ~5-mile commute...

It almost sounds like you want someone to talk you out of buying a GS.

Wrong forum for that, my friend.

BTW, of the 12,194 Corvettes produced in 2010, only 3707 are GS coupes.

So if you can actually find a GS you like, I say buy it!

But first, make sure you look at the deals on new C6's, like these:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...r-blowout.html

Carnut1

First I have blonged to many car forums over the years and if I listened only to what I heard on those forums, I would have never bought a Porsche, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, or a Lamborghini. Someone who had spent his whole working life in advertising once told me something he said something good happens to you, you tell 5 people, something bad happens to you you tell 50 people. Now that was long before the age of the internet where you can tell even more people stuff!. As far as learning to drive a stick hey you made it through med school so I think you could handle a clutch pedal with out a problem. I learned on a three on a tree ford bronco when I was 15 and it took about two hours to get it right maybe not perfect but good enough to drive. Best of luck to you.

door2416

I would hate to recomend a ZO6 to someone that is just getting out of a 2001 Honda and can't drive a stick. Buy the GS with an automatic. You don't have to make any excuses for an automatic GS, they are fantastic.

ls1121

push your right foot to the floor and let up on your left foot at the same time. I learned burn out's first and it was all down hill from there. lol.

Really, it's a one day training program.

Wayne O

Welcome to the forum. With all due respect, that's one of the most stupid ideas I've read in a long while. Good Lord, if you can walk and chew gum simultaneously you should be able to learn to drive a manual transmission in a morning (at least to a sufficient level of proficiency to where you can get-around). Like with anything, you'll refine your ability over time with practice. I don't know but isn't there a driving school somewhere in your area that offers instruction with a manual transmission vehicle? Do you know anyone with a stick-shift that might be able to help? It's way more than you need but there are 'performance' driving schools such as Bondurant, Spring Mountain, Skip Barber, et cetera that would likely be able to provide basic instruction on driving a manual transmission vehicle.

I recommend you only buy the car you ultimately want to own and drive. I don't know how you intend to use the Corvette but as you've never driven a manual-shift car are you absolutely sure that's what you want? A lot of Corvette owners are quite happy with their automatic transmission equipped Corvette....for what they do with their car the more track ready Z06 isn't necessary and the automatic suffices nicely. Trust me, even a non-Z06 Corvette with an automatic handles well and is pretty damn fast. Good luck.