The C4 is a better car, but it's not a better looking car.

 

I'm not sold on that...the interior of my 86 was worse worn than the interior of my much older 69 with higher miles, all the plastic in the c4 cracks and breaks quickly....

 

On my C3 I upgraded the suspension with VB&P products, new composite rear spring lowered front springs and bilstine shockers
It rides beautifully and handles well, Do you think it would now be equialent to a C4 in ride and handling ?

 

I have owned 69 C3, 84 C4, 90 C4. When they ran, the 90 C4 was much more comfortable than the 69 C3, had more luggage space, would generate Gs in a corner that would hurt your neck and get much better gas mileage. I know this sounds strange but the C4 handled so well I felt like a passenger. On the rare occasions when I would push it to the limits it was going so fast and had so little feedback, that if I started to loose it I did not believe I could get it back, not all that much fun. On the 84 even the dealer machanics referred to the crossfire injection as "cease fire injection". My 90 C4 In three years and 50,000 miles was in the shop just under 50 times! I was so pissed I bought a 93 Miata (every car guy should own one). A couple of years ago I needed a hobby and missed owning a corvette. I remembered that the best parts of the 69 was the view out the windshield, the mechanical feel and the sound, and the best parts of the 90 was the fuel injection, 4spd auto and luggage room. So to get the view and luggage space I bought a 79 C3. To get what I missed about the 90 C4 I have installed TPI and a 700r4 trans. I still have bugs to work out, but for me I think this is the answer to the C3 or C4 question. A C3.5. Just saying. Now to get it to handle like a Miata.
Zorro

 

My C4's are far more comfortable, better handling, and safer with air bags, antilock brakes. C3's are sexier and more fun though.

 

" WHEN THEY RAN " is the key words. I had a 1987 convertible which was a nice looking car but with all of the electronics in the car I would usually limp it home . Took it to the Chevy dealership three times for the same problem before they could find the problem . The C3 is a car that any shade tree mechanic can work on but unless you own all of the equipment to diagnose the C4's and later corvettes , you are at the mercy of the bigger shops. Hold on to your wallets.

 

By 1996, Chevy had finally started to get a handle on injection and electrical issues. My 96 never gave me problems, my 90 had something going on all the time it seemed like. For a DD, I'd go with a 96 without reservation. In fact I've been casually shopping for an LT4 Collectors for just that purpose.

 

I really enjoyed both my C4's. I had a 92 (auto) and a 94 (Borg Warner 6 speed) both cars owned back in the 90's. I wouldn't mind owning another one if it were clean enough car:

The admiral blue 94 Vette was the one car I truley regretted selling. Still wish I had it back. I still like the black rose too. IF I had that one with a 6 speed, that would be peachy.

 

Other than looks... the C4 is superior in every way... we have a C3, C4 C5 C6..... the difference between the C4 and the C3 is grater than the difference between the C4 to C5

 

Between my '92 (owned for 3 1/2 years) and '94 (owned for 2 1/2 years), I had very little mechanical issues. The starter went out on my 92 was about it. The electric seats stopped working on my '94, but the dealership replaced a diode, cost me only $75 to fix.

Both cars were extremely reliable and I drove both of them to work everyday.

 

Dave McLellan did a fantastic job on the engineering of the C4. For it's time period it looked right in step from a styling point of view too. However the eighties styling has never really been well received over the long term. I have owned many C3 Corvettes and one C4, an '88. The C4 was a wonderful car to drive and really held the road well. The advances in engineering I believe clearly make the C4 a better driving car than a C3. For me that's where it stops though. C-1,2, and 3 will always be classics and in my opinion everything since will just be used Corvettes. The good news is that prices are so low on C4 Vette's you can own one without having to sell your C3 to pay for it.

 

When I first drove my admiral blue C4 (shown in post #28) it was downright impressive. Had a 3.42 ratio gear, along with the Borg Warner 6 speed, had a really nice 1st and 2nd gear acceleration. Any more power probably would have blown the tires off.

 

Been driving the '95 all week.
Supposedly, they used Connely leather for the seats and they are really nice. Mine, are in nearly perfect and it's always nice to sink your noggin' into the comfy lil mold they call a headrest And. It does just that; rest your head!

 

C3 is a real Corvette, everything else is just a sports car.

 

After school and one month in the Army, bad lo back, I bought my first car a '60 vette in '66, lost it in a wreck on a rainy wet night.....
too tail assed light....

jumped ship into Pontiacs for years, insurance issues....

bought my second vette, an '87 in ~92 or so, as a CAR is was nice enough, but my issues was the narrow seats, the leaky 'weatherstrip' and some other small stuff....but the seats were a killer for me....

Sold it in '95 and bought my '72 vert, old show car....no problems with updating it....8 grand even......put many updates in it over the nearly 20 years now....

So lets just say it has VETTE parts from '65 through '94 on it.....

and some many aftermarket and custom stuffs done....

it drives like a C4 easy....especially with C4 wheels/tires....50 series that is.....17"......

see sites below for pix....

there is nothing stock about my car, not NOTHING, wheels through roof, not even the frame.....

 

My first Corvette was a C3 a 68 in 1977 and have owned 7 so far, I will always love the curves and think it is the best looking body style. My C3 makes a great day driver but when it comes to a drivers car C4 hands down for over the road and performance.

 

I owned a C4 and a C5 and they never felt like a Corvette to me. Modern sports car yes , Corvette no.

 

Older Corvettes and newer Corvettes can be compared to Harleys and Honda motorcycles . Harley riders know that Hondas are smoother and well engineered motorcycles , but they don't have that feel that a Harley has. It's all about tradition.

 

Just bought a C4 and the factory service manual. No Assembly manual available. Hard to find parts. Many web sites have the wrong name & pics attached to the parts. Very frustrating trying to find the correct parts, especially electronics. Car is loaded with Bubba patches in the wiring. New dash pad will cost $460. Steering wheel $250. That's hard to swallow. The 1987 electronic dash brightness is controlled by a photocell... this commonly fails. 104,000 miles and the timing chain & gears are completely shot. (to be expected) Because of the complexity of the wiring compared to a C3, there are a lot of Bubba's spewing mis-information. Bubba also tried to jack up the car on the fiberglass floor pan... all cracked. This is common, so look for it. Even so, I do like the handling- rack & pinion etc. I'm just getting into this car, but so far I'm happy with it overall.

 

I had a 1993 vette and daily drove it for 2 years, never had a problem with it except the damn weather stripping, the handling and tightness of the cars driving was amazing it handled like it was on rails,
although I'm 6'7" and as anyone with a c4 know the cockpit space is kinda tight it seems like there's alot more room in my 1973 than the c4, although I still miss my c4 I'd rather have the 73, even though it don't handle as well as the C4 I can fix that and make it faster, and I'll look cooler doing it, I have have to say that I love the look of the 93 it was bright aqua metallic and looked great.