Love my '04 C5 still tight, 340 rwhp, drives well with mods. Get to drive a buddy's '01 with H/C package, 423 rwhp, a real uncivilized beast and great fun to drive occasionaly.

Drove a C6 Z51 yesterday, must admit I was impressed. Smooth, quiet, responsive and powerful. Electronic gizmos were cool. If only they had kept the flip lights!

 

I actually like the non-popup lights, if they weren't so expensive and low quality i'd buy a pair for my car, you can really feel the difference between up and down in the C5, and i don't like airbrakes.

Chris

 

Drove a C6 Silver vert with Z51 about 4 wks ago...I was impressed, but not enough to take the depreciation hit I'd suffer on my 03, especially now that she's modded with less than 200 miles on her new rotors and wheels. Am slowly adjusting to the lights and generic front end. Guess, I'll just have to wait till the 06's come out...at least I know what I want.

 

Got to drive a silver C6 a while ago and while there are numerous improvements, I'm not sure they make the car significantly different from or better than my C5 on a practical, day to day basis.

My $0.02 deposited.

 

I drove a C6 when they first came out (not a Z51). Before driving it I was convinced that I would sell my '04 A4 and buy a C6. After the drive I had mixed feelings. The cockpit felt very similar. Some things were nicer (seats) and some things I didn't like as much (e.g., the dash & console). I liked shifting on the C6 better than the C5 (lighter, could shift faster). The engine seemed too tame at idle and when revved from a stop.

After driving the C6 I was impressed but not overwhelmed. Not a bad car at all but not a quantum lap forward. In the end it boiled down to spending $10K to upgrade the car or taking some of that money and upgrading my car (just completed thanks to DTE (I would recommend them to anyone), now has 367.8 rwhp / 357.5 rwtq and their Stage II differential (almost a Stage III with the extras I added) and 3.42 gears). Not quite as tame as the C6 but easily just as fast as the Z51.

So to me it came down to personal preference, not money or anything else. I liked the interior a little better on the C6 and the exterior a little better on the C5. Given my previous mods (Z06 stabilizer bars, Abs-of-Steel tunnel brace, and Z06 rims w/Supercar tires) my F55 suspension rides well and handles great, so the C6 did not have an advantage. If I had not done the suspension work I probably would have felt differently (my car was very sloppy feeling stock).

I would guess that the C6 would hold its value better than the C5 (especially with mods), but since I'm planning on keeping the car for a while that was not an issue.

So, just another perspective FWIW. Both cars are nice so it seems to really boil down to what you want and like.

Chip

 

I've yet to drive a C6 - my dealer hasn't gotten one in yet. Hopefully I'll get that chance soon. The C6 is nice IMO, but the price difference between my '00 and an '05 is just too much. I'll stick with the C5.