I agree with Jistari. You tend to see problems here rather than the good news stories.

I've had a lot of the common issues on mine. Many of them were fixed under warranty and recently the car has been very reliable. I'd say for a high performance sports car its amazingly good. And the better news is that with the help available here even some of the more complex failures are fixable DIY.

 

A couple years ago I had my '93 C4 at Pocono on a track day and had fun -- felt it could take it. Tough car with terribly weak brakes. Frankly, I think the C5 overall feels even tougher and much more solid -- I would be much more confident on a track with it than the C4 (although the unsupportive seats might give me pause). I gladly traded the terrible weatherstripping, shaky targa-off ride and only-a-matter-of-time Opti in the C4 for whatever bugs the C5 has in store for me...

Drive it hard as you like and quit worrying.

 

Yep... You hear about planes crashing more than you hear about them landing.

The truth is that C5s are well built cars. Some are over 10 years old and running strong with minimal (mostly DIY) problems if any. For the most part, most issues that will eventually come up are cheap fixes and usually DIY. The column lock blocker is $50 and was very easy to do.

I'd say the only PITA about these cars is getting under them if you don't have long ramps. Aside from that, you'll be fine. Drive your C5 and enjoy it.

 

Any vehicle specific forum on the internet is going to contain lots of threads of people with problems with their cars that need fixed. The C4 forums are the same. It's mechanical, it has wheels and gets driven, it's gonna need fixed now and then.

Of course there are the C5's that get beat on and constantly need fixed, owners thinking they know how to work on them and messing something else up and just normal "glitches" that every car has.

C5's are very reliable if you keep up with the maintenance, which one can easily do his/herself and don't mind dealing with the few issues that C5's have.

 

Exactly!buy one you'll love it!

 

What you're seeing here about C5 issues is consistent with other forums and other products. Forums are places to discuss problems/issues and if you don't recognize that, you get a very distorted opinion of a products reliability.
My C5 has 68k miles and I've had only one problem--a leaky rear end seal.
I bought my motor home 5 years ago and the forum on that brand would cause someone to run away as fast as they could. I've had a few small issues with it but would buy it again in a heartbeat.
Sooooo, use your common sense and realize what's really going on in forums!

 

All cars have their unique set of issues. Go visit a Toyota forum for example.

 

I've belonged to several non-GM forums, and it's the same thing. If one visited all car forums, you'd be scared to buy ANY car.

Now, I've noticed some forums have significant issues. For example, the Pontiac Solstice forum exploded with Getrag rear differential problems/recalls/etc. for a couple of years.

And don't get me started about the Yugo forum.

 

I've had 8 C5 including my current one. 2 C4's and 2 C6's. The C5 is the best for the following reasons.

1. 33% I belive less parts then a C4. The Ls1 Motor has also proven to be more reliable mainly because it has coil packs and not the opti spark
2. Ebay is loaded with great deals on replacement parts
3. Lot of cross platform parts with other cars such as Camaro,Firebird Gto CTSV.
4. IMO the common problems are easily fixable if you at least turn some wrench's on your car.

Currently my C5 is majorly modded and I wouldn't hesitate to drive it to New York tomorrow. I would bring with me a spare belt and a quart of oil. With my C4 I would never feel that way and make sure my AAA was up to date!

 

I've had 7 c-4s in the past and 3 c-5s in a row. The c-5 is a much superior car in every way and way less problematic! Don't get me wrong, I love c-4s like all vettes but I am just being truthfull.
old Dave

 

 

I just did 6400 miles, 17 states, 18 days in my 99......no issues either.

Jim, sorry I missed you on the Caravan......would have liked to connect.

 

Any car has issues from time to time - Neighbor has BMW's you want to talk about maintenance problems and cost to fix em??? WOW! The other cool thing about C5's is that all your answers are on this forum. There isn't anything these guy don't know about this car. If a gremlin comes up every once in a while, post it and you'll have more "tech support" than you know what to do with......and it's free. Hell, I've even seen where Forum members go to person's house to help em' out!

 

2002 coupe score:

23,000 miles: A joy!
Problems: Zero
Miles per gallon, highway: 30+
Bottom line:

 

2004 vert. Drive it like I stole it. Do the same, have fun, don't worry. They're as dependable as anything out there.

 

Loving it very succinctly put

 

Hey, you want to get scared on a automotive forum??....Check out the Porche forum. YIKES! I have never heard of problems they discuss ever come up on this forum and you gotta know that the DIY is totally out of the pic and you gotta have a really fat wallet. Makes you sleep good at night knowing you own a Vette! Greetings, Rob

 

LOL@Yugo forum!!!!

 

i will admit to not reading any other posts but yours, so this may be a repeat of a lot of other opinions, but at least it's mine. i have an 04 CE convertible that i bought as a 65th birthday present for myself (it's my 5th vette. i still own a 78 pace car too). while it isn't a daily driver, it isn't a garage queen either. it gets used weekly. has taken some 1000 mile round trips, etc and has been proven to be very dependable, comfortable and surprisingly economical to operate vehicle. i pulled a car fax on it when i bought it and insured that the recalls had been performed. i decided to buy an aftermarket extended warranty and like most good insurance policies, it hasn't been called to action, lol. my personal opinion is that the car doesn't necessarily experience any out of the ordinary things that any other pre-owned or older vehicle experiences. use stuff, it wears or wears out. even brand new cars sometimes experience problems that you would presume they shouldn't. we all have those stories too. i'm 65 + years old and i can remember vividly buying new cars in the 60's and 70's and the dealers would always tell you to "make a list" of the things you find and we'll take care of them at your 1000 mile "check up". i bought a 66 GTO new and went from the sales floor to the garage to speak to a mechanic and asked what i should expect when the car was delivered. he told me the rear seal was going to leak when it was delivered and they would repair it the first time the car was brought in. why they didn't fix it before they delivered it or make the correction at the factory while the car was being built is a really good question, but that was the way things were back then. my 70 chevy 350 impala (first year of turbo glide trans) went through 5 trans rebuilds during the 2 years i owned it. they took a long time to get their act together on the change from powerglide to turbo glide. even though they were all repaired under warranty, it was a pain with the car being tied up for days at a time with each repair. the first problem was experienced with the car less than 2 weeks old and less than 500 miles on it. brand new car!!

my suggestion, sit back, enjoy your ride and understand there may or may not be a few bumps along the way. as i see it your only other choice is to retreat to the woods and live in a cave.

 

Absolutely correct! My _________ stopped working, WTF???

But never: My C5 is running perfectly, never had a problem!!! WTF???