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Purchasing quandry

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Old Jun 11, 2010 | 11:29 AM
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Default Purchasing quandry

I sold my Vette a few weeks back, dumb move, and now I'm looking to replace it. I have been looking high and low and have found a couple of cars I'm considering. One is a 97 with very low miles, about 26k while the other one is an '03 with 50k miles. Prices are similar and both are well optioned. Should the miles scare my off the '03? I would prefer to buy it over the 97 but the miles are nearly 2X as much. Any thoughts? Thanks.
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Old Jun 11, 2010 | 11:33 AM
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In my opinion if the pricing are about the same I would go the 03 for a number of reasons, The 03 will have a higher resale value, It will have the lastest upgrades, I wouldn't worry about 50K miles at all.
You are talking about a car that is 6 years newer.
Just my 2 cents.
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Old Jun 11, 2010 | 11:41 AM
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I would also go with the 03..... they made some small upgrades to them. plus you will get HUD That is if they are priced right and they are the color you want.
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Old Jun 11, 2010 | 11:49 AM
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Originally Posted by Mr.Bill
In my opinion if the pricing are about the same I would go the 03 for a number of reasons, The 03 will have a higher resale value, It will have the lastest upgrades, I wouldn't worry about 50K miles at all.
You are talking about a car that is 6 years newer.
Just my 2 cents.
Mr.Bill
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Old Jun 11, 2010 | 01:21 PM
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I agree about the 03, but it also depends what you mean by similarly priced.
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Old Jun 11, 2010 | 01:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Mr.Bill
In my opinion if the pricing are about the same I would go the 03 for a number of reasons, The 03 will have a higher resale value, It will have the lastest upgrades, I wouldn't worry about 50K miles at all.
You are talking about a car that is 6 years newer.
Just my 2 cents.
Mr.Bill
With one exception, and that is the condition of the '97 versus the '03. How well were there each maintained? 50k miles on one of these is not a lot of miles. 50k is about half of what would be considered normal mileage for a 7 year old car. As I stated, as long as the owners has done or had done all the required maintenance on them I would go with the '03.
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Old Jun 11, 2010 | 01:44 PM
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Originally Posted by Mr.Bill
In my opinion if the pricing are about the same I would go the 03 for a number of reasons, The 03 will have a higher resale value, It will have the lastest upgrades, I wouldn't worry about 50K miles at all.
You are talking about a car that is 6 years newer.
Just my 2 cents.
Mr.Bill
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Old Jun 11, 2010 | 02:00 PM
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Definitely go with the 03 over a 97. No offense to other owners, but I personally would not buy a 97 period. The only pre 01 C5 I would consider is a 98 pace car. No need to get an older one when you can get a newer, upgraded one.
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Old Jun 11, 2010 | 02:27 PM
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I think you should buy neither. You're name is 99blackcoupe, so I think you're stuck.

Otherwise, I agree with all the above- 03' over the 97' if they are the same $$ (which tells me the 97 is overpriced or the 03 is underpriced).
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Old Jun 11, 2010 | 02:48 PM
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My biggest problem is that neither car is anywhere near me so I have to rely on prepurchase inspections. The '03 is in Oklahoma City and that's over 1300 miles away. The 97 is in Michigan which is 500 miles away. I'm really leaning towards the '03 but I'm not sure how to close the deal with regard to title and state DMV rules. Boy, if anyone here is near OK City I sure would appreciate a look see at the car before buying I never thought it would be this hard to replace my car. I've looked at 100's of online ads and boy are summer prices higher than winter prices. I thought someone was saying C5 values are in the crapper Not the ones I'm looking at
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Old Jun 11, 2010 | 03:56 PM
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Without a doubt, go with the 03. 50K miles is nothing on a well maintained C5 and many improvements were made to the C5 in those 5 years.
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Old Jun 11, 2010 | 08:36 PM
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03 for sure good luck
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Old Jun 11, 2010 | 08:42 PM
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'03
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Old Jun 12, 2010 | 12:15 AM
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Prices and condition of the cars being equal, I'd choose the '03.

Here's a thought - see if there is a forum member in the area of each car that would be willing to go take a look at it for you. Post up in the regional sections - I'd bet someone will volunteer to help you out. Based on that feedback, you can then decide whether or not to have an inspection company look at either car or just go out there and check them out yourself.
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Old Jun 12, 2010 | 12:19 AM
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03 hands down
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