Hello everyone, new member here.

I am obsessed with the Corvettes and spend way too much time looking at all the ones for sale. That being said, are there any trouble years with the C5 Corvettes? I am apt to stay away from the 1997 and 1998 since they were the first years of the new generation. Is that concern unfounded?

I am torn between a Convert, FRC/Z06 and a Coupe. I live in a hotel that was converted to condos in the top floor, so I would worry about a vert in the underground parking. Do the custom hardtops have a good secure fit?

I will have a good down payment (as much as 1/3rd, depending on what I would get), but I would like to get extended financing to keep the payment in the mid $200 range. Has anyone had any experience with the 10 year finance places? Is there one you recommend?

I am most likely going to have to go out of state, since Utah isn't the sports car capital of the US by any stretch of the imagination. Is it easy to find forum members that will take a look at cars for us? It seems that a majority are Florida, California or Midwest/Northeast. I don't want to drive a car that far and put on the miles, yet the last time I bought a sportscar and had it shipped, it went on a 6 state tour and took a month to get to me.

That's all for now,

UT-Driven
Doug

 

Hi Doug, I think they're all good, but there are some oil consumption issues with some of the 01s. My 97 has been faultless, but what I went for was the newest, lowest mileage I could find and afford. You can usually find forum members that can check out cars for you, and can run carfaxes and service histories, and driving it home is a great bonding experience. I love the coupe - best of both worlds.

 

Thanks ptdrummer,

There is one black '03 coupe with only 16,360 miles on it that is listing at $34,995. I am concerned about the price being that low for a '03 coupe with an Auto. I am concerned it is either an insurance fixer-up or has nothing inside other than the passenger seat, carpet, pedals and shifter.

I will drop them a line and get more information on it. It is about a mile from the house I own, but 45 miles from my condo that I am at 6 days out of the week.

 

Not sure why you'd want a 10-year finance plan... ... Do not think of this purchase as an investment. There are too many C5's out there for any one of them to be much of a moneymaker anytime soon.

 

I have a home and a condo and don't make a huge amount of money. I work for a start-up company that is paying me about 3/4ths of what I made at my last job. I would like to free up more monthly money is all. I can always pay more as my wages increase.

 

First of all - if you haven't looked at this yet - give it a read. There is a ton of extremely valuable information in this thread about Corvettes!

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...7&forum_id=103

I have a 98 convertible that I absolutely love. It is a great car and probably one of the most trouble free cars I've ever owned. If the car you are buying is clean and shows well, you're half way there. Gather up the VIN and P.M. Sponge Vette to have him run a service and origination report on the car.

Last piece of advice - these cars can be money pits - even if they're trouble free. Things like tires and other miscellaneous parts can be very expensive, not to mention that they want premium fuel, insurance can be costly and depending on how Utah does license plates - expensive to license. (California and Arizona as an example base the license fee on the value of the car).

Bottom line is that you aren't done with just a loan payment.

ptdrummer54 said buy the newest model car you can afford. Good advice, but don't let emotions and excitement lure you into the wrong car, and a financial mess. Make sure you have the car checked by someone who speaks "Corvette"!

 

I know about money pits, my last sports car was a 1997 Mitsubishi 3000 GT VR-4 Twin Turbo. The funny thing is, I bought that instead of a Corvette since I was expecting it would be more reliable and get better gas mileage.

Those cars had a habit of spinning a bearing, transmission and transfer case issues, etc..

Insurance will be cheaper than my 3000 GT was by about 1/3rd, had to run premium gas in it and would be lucky to get 24 mpg freeway.

Licensing will be a bit more depending on year, since Utah uses age based personal taxes on car registration.

As a reference I am 36 years old. I appreciate the advice on the other issues.

UT-Driven

 

I moved to Southern Cal. from Utah, but still remember the roads in winter. Remember the Corvette has very little clearance between the road and the bottom of the car (about 3 inches at the front). That can make things tricky if the roads are slushy or unplowed. The wide tires don't give a lot of traction on slick roads. There was a thread a couple of days ago where several guys said they drove the vette in the winter, but most recommended something other than the standard run-flats if you do.

Nobody ever said the Corvette was practical....(actually, now that I think about it, it was my wife who said it wasn't). It's a great car - good luck finding yours!

 

I would be parking the car for the summer. My daily driver is a '98 Maxima. I wouldn't think of driving it in the snow myself.

UT-Driven

 

That price is actually a little high.

 

well..........i have a 98 vert, i spend so much time with it that my wife thinks im cheating i love it.....its a fantastic machine that has had some issues, i think more to do with the last owner than anything,all fixed now though. if its your toy,like mine is, then i would strongly advise against getting a 10 year note,or something like that!! save up and buy one outright. may put your dream on hold a bit,but in the long run, you will pat yourself on the back. no loan commitment,barring a mortgage,should be that long. the Corvette is an extreme attention grabbing machine. i see people actually(no kidding) losing their breath when i go by,stop, supermarket,mall,wherever(and it aint me) so be prepared for that! and good luck whatever you decide to do,there is no substitute!

 

Any year for a Corvette is a good year

 

I've had absolutely no problem with my 98!

 

I was being a little sarcastic since it was a Chevy dealer selling it.

It was marked as $31,900 or something when I did a drive-by on Sunday.

UT-Driven

 

First build years dont apply here, not w/ my car and any other '97's I know about here...Mine has no issues at all ....try Capital one, they go loan terms longer than most banks...

 

U mean you would park it for the winter right . Thought so or else why buy a vette. Summers are made for vettes. Good luck finding yours. It took me about 3 months to find mine. I agree get Spongevette to get a history report of the car before you buy it. That way you won't be walking into a mess. These cars are not cheap. It's that darn vette tax the dealers and other mechanics hit you with. That black one sounds nice. I don;t recall the mileage on it though. Again Good Luck

 

Yes, I would be parking it for the Winter, not sure how I came out with Summer on that post, hehe.

Actually, I read the ad wrong. They did not list the external color on the details of the ad, but it shows as Blue on the search list for the dealership. This '03 Coupe is Electron Blue which is one of my top 4 colors and the mileage was 16,360 or so. I am more than likely going to wait and try to get one a little older, with a few more miles and quite a bit cheaper.

My favorites are:

Navy Blue
Magnetic Red
Electron Blue
Dark Bowling Green
Millenium Yellow