C4 General Discussion General C4 Corvette Discussion not covered in Tech

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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 11:00 AM
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What do yopu think of a 1988 C-4 as a commutor? I drive about 200 miles a day, mostly interstate.
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 11:11 AM
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It would be a fun comute but you need to understand you are driving a 23 year old car. Maintenance will require constant attention.
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 11:14 AM
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A 23 year old car will break sitting in the driveway. I agree, it would be an expensive daily driver.
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 11:25 AM
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Many do this. I would say if you are prepared to replace somethings as time goes by, like any car it will be fine, and fun.
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 11:27 AM
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Originally Posted by Richard Fowler
What do yopu think of a 1988 C-4 as a commutor? I drive about 200 miles a day, mostly interstate.
There are C4's with over 150k that are driven daily. It's a Chevy V8 so there's not a lot of black magic. Like others have stated, it's an old car. I think however if you take care of it you should be fine. JMO

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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 11:30 AM
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Originally Posted by Muffin
It would be a fun comute but you need to understand you are driving a 23 year old car. Maintenance will require constant attention.
Make sure the car is well maintained to begin with, and go for it. I would have a backup plan for when it's acting up.
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 11:33 AM
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While I certainly don't drive mine 200 m/day, and yours is a bit older, I have had few problems using mine as a dd. Aside from a couple hoses blowing from age and a few other odds and ends, its been great! I put ~300-350 m/week on it; all city driving. I say go for it, just keep in mind there will be problems every now and then. .
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 07:37 PM
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This would be a case where you'd want 2.59s.
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 07:57 PM
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I am doing around 200 a week in my 87, you just have to make sure its in good running order and stay on top of things.
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 08:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Relic
A 23 year old car will break sitting in the driveway. I agree, it would be an expensive daily driver.
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 08:18 PM
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200 miles a day? Wow!
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 08:24 PM
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Originally Posted by ex-x-fire
This would be a case where you'd want 2.59s.
These gears should be illegal in a vette.
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 09:49 PM
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[QUOTE=Frizlefrak; Make sure the car is well maintained to begin with, and go for it. I would have a backup plan for when it's acting up.[/QUOTE]



I couldn't agree more, good luck and enjoy the drive.
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 09:56 PM
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I'm having a hard time right now finding certain parts. Maybe a 90's C-4 but definitely not a earlier one.
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 11:55 PM
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How many miles are on it? Maybe do an engine rebuild (depending on mileage), check out transmission..hoses and so on.
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Old Apr 21, 2010 | 02:03 AM
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My 95 has been my daily driver for the past 5 years 50 miles a day .... but i started with a car that had only 35K on it.

It can be done but it's a plain fact that if you are going to drive it every day it is going to be expensive to maintain. And you do need to maintain it. Do you have the time, tools, space and ability to do all of the work yourself (I don't and so I have it professionally maintained ... and it ain't cheep)

That having been said it is by far the coolest dd out on the road

For that much driving I'd go with a newer one that an 88 .... but that's just me.
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Old Apr 21, 2010 | 02:51 AM
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It would be the best thing about work. Getting there and going home.
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Old Apr 21, 2010 | 03:26 AM
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I am one of those poor people who still has to work for a living and I bought my '91 coupé to drive, not to sit and look pretty in my garage. This model is not particularly collectable so I might as well drive it while I am losing money on my "investment". We live out in the "country" and my commute is about 100 miles a day. I say load up the iPod with a couple gig of music or install a Cirius sound system and enjoy the ride!

Our two other "commuters" are a 1999 Jeep Cherokee with 250,000 miles on it and a 1998 Toyota Sienna van with just over 200,000 miles on it. As others have said, this is all due to one thing; diligent maintenance.
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Old Apr 21, 2010 | 06:20 PM
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I drive my '93 around 120 miles a day. I bought it with the intention of having a fun toy, then made the mistake of driving it to work. It made my whole day brighter and semi stress free, so it gets driven most days now. As an added bonus, it gets better mpg than my wife's CTS. I'd agree with you having a back up in case of issues, because they will definately appear- mine is down right now thanks to a bad A/c compressor. I'd be more comfortable driving the distance if it were a lower mileage unit. As you can see from my other posts, mine was not a weekend toy, it had 170k+ on it when I bought it. Gotta admit I watch the gauges and any noises rather closely when I'm commuting, and I'm thinking it'll get a mechanical refreshening soon, to be on the safe side. It's definately the coolest commuter car you can have, even though I'm glad to have an '06 Canyon for a back up.
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Old Apr 21, 2010 | 07:11 PM
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Originally Posted by Richard Fowler
What do yopu think of a 1988 C-4 as a commutor? I drive about 200 miles a day, mostly interstate.
I'd say go for it. It will probably be somewhat unreliable for a while as you will identify age related problems, e.g. dried out elastomeric items (e.g. hoses, seals) and lubricants (greases and fluids). Once those items are fixed you'll probably have a period that will be relatively problem free. As the miles add up you'll enter a phase where wear items require attention. You're looking at 50,000 miles a year. If the car is "young" (good maintenance to date, say less than 75,000 miles) you will probably get two years of reasonably good service.

Good news is you'll get mid 20's gas mileage on the highway and have fun doing it too.

Steve
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