2000 C5 please help!
Thread Starter
3rd Gear
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 3
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2000 C5 please help!
Well, to start off I would like to let you know I know almost nothing about corvettes. This past Friday my dad went to visit his good friend in Dallas and he has a new 2005 vette and is selling his 2000.. The car has no problems at all, and is immaculate. The only concern I have is it has 98K miles, but they are all highway miles. He is willing to sell it to me for 16k. I saw it in person 2 years ago, and he emailed me pics yesterday. It is in great shape and the front seat doesn't even show any wear what so ever. I would like to hear from some educated people that have owned corvettes for a while, about what kind of problems this car could incur within the next 15k to 20k miles. I would of course take it to a dealer before I buy it and get it looked over. Again, it was a single owner he is 55 years old and has all the records, synthetic oil every 5k miles, automatic transmission. Please let me know if I should pick it up..
Thanks
Thanks
Le Mans Master
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 7,876
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From: Ghent
St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14
Take a look on nada.com, much better than kbb, It sounds like a good deal. You are spending some $$$, so check it out in person. I know it seems like high mileage, but C5's can last a while if they're well taken care of! GOOD LUCK
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2004
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From: IL, Chicago area.
St. Jude Donor '14-'15-'16
Good god man its your dad......you think he would try and "hide" something form you?
NM my bad i reread the post, its your dads friend not your old man. Price sounds right, good luck.
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Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 6,454
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From: Hells Sister City Phoenix AZ
St. Jude Donor '03
Sounds like the price is right. What you have to consider is even after being "thoroughly checked out" it could still have some problems. Vettes can be expensive to repair. Do you have sufficient reserves if a major repair does occur or would that cause you to sell it at an even larger loss? If you're strapping yourself just to get into a vette, it could turn out to be a nightmare rather than the dream it appears. Just my .02!
Good Luck and welcome to the Forum.
Good Luck and welcome to the Forum.
Lepus-temperamentalus
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 5,827
Likes: 5
From: Roswell Ga
Hell, if nothing else, buy it for $16k and turn right around and sell it for $18K.
If it's in the condition you say, it's a real good buy. There are bunches of C5's on this forum around the milage you're talking about and they're doing fine. C5's have a reputation of going 150K w/o major problems, but the above advice about being sure you have the resources to fix the car if necessary was key. These things ain't cheap when they break.
If it's in the condition you say, it's a real good buy. There are bunches of C5's on this forum around the milage you're talking about and they're doing fine. C5's have a reputation of going 150K w/o major problems, but the above advice about being sure you have the resources to fix the car if necessary was key. These things ain't cheap when they break.
Corvette ***** OG
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 4,776
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From: Charlotte NC
St. Jude Donor '05
CI VI Veteran
I'd have to go with the general concensus... if it's in the shape you described, it sounds like a great deal.
The vettes are a little more to repair than some cars but that not that bad. If you run into any problems, at 16K, looks like you've got some room to spend some money if you have to.
Check for the immediate stuff you'll have to repair. Brakes, tires, check the gas gauge and oil pressure gauge. Those are two pretty common things that go bad. (sending unit for oil pressure)
The rear axles tend to leak on some models. Mine's a '98 and it has an ever so small leak to the point that it's damp but doesn't ever leave a mark. I'm just not going to mess with it.
Anyway, good luck and welcome to the best forum you'll ever log onto.
Mark
The vettes are a little more to repair than some cars but that not that bad. If you run into any problems, at 16K, looks like you've got some room to spend some money if you have to.
Check for the immediate stuff you'll have to repair. Brakes, tires, check the gas gauge and oil pressure gauge. Those are two pretty common things that go bad. (sending unit for oil pressure)
The rear axles tend to leak on some models. Mine's a '98 and it has an ever so small leak to the point that it's damp but doesn't ever leave a mark. I'm just not going to mess with it.
Anyway, good luck and welcome to the best forum you'll ever log onto.
Mark
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St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'07-'10
The price is good so that is a no brainer from my point of view. If you have the resources available to repair or replace anything that get's missed I'd buy it. Read this thread on some of the nuances of our beloved Corvettes.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...7&forum_id=103
This will help you to ask some informed questions about the car. I've seen a few go well past 100k without problems. The Corvette is for the most part a well engineered automobile. A lot of factors go into the reliability of a specific car however and you need to be prepared for the worst case.
Paul
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...7&forum_id=103
This will help you to ask some informed questions about the car. I've seen a few go well past 100k without problems. The Corvette is for the most part a well engineered automobile. A lot of factors go into the reliability of a specific car however and you need to be prepared for the worst case.
Paul
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High mileage, but the C5 has been pretty reliable. There are a number of forum members here that have way more mileage on their cars than that and report few if any problems. Check the rear differential seals on the car especially - I've had mine replaced 3 times (but the last time seems to have been the charm). You may want to see if the column lock recall has been done also.
For $16K, if the car checks out, it is a good buy.
For $16K, if the car checks out, it is a good buy.