Ive had my Corvette for a year now. Replaced the a4 blewn transmission, the driver seat electrical function is broken, the ac compressor is dead, the oil sensor too, and the engine needs repair soon but anyway i love this car. It makes me smile every time i think of it and i cant wait untill spring for the first drive. I have other cars of similar age and all had similar problems. They are old cars who just look like new cars. If i calculate the total cost its still worth buying a used car with less loss per year in listing price.

 

I've had two C5s an 01 coupe and my current 02Z the first car was a major headache spent more time in the shop then home I owned it for three years and had 90k when I traded it in. The first thing that happened was the rear blew about a month after owning the car thankfully the dealership covered it 100%, at the same time it was in the shop the a/c digital unit was repalced due to no back light. After that the car was good for about a year then I had problems with the oil pressure sending unit and the gas tank. Then once again the car was good for around a yearish and the window regulator in the passagner side went up. I loved that car but I cant say it was problem free for the most part it was an awesome car, it had no issues when I traded it.
Now for my current car its an 02Z with only 40k on the car in very good condition havent owned it very long yet bought it in september then winter came and its been in the garage. I took the car out last week for a spin and noticed the window wouldnt go down so once again I'll have to replace the window regulator but thats not the big thing that broke that day. The car was a one owner before me and the kid was 28 so I'm sure it didnt have the easiest life and Im no spring chicken I run my cars hard. Well needless to say I lost 3rd gear last friday so that a problem. now Im weighing my options on what to do. But all in all I love my corvettes they are alot of fun to drive and look awesome but when they break they definitely are expensive to fix

 

Your window regulator is easy...the car sits without use and it freezes in place. My 03Z has been doing it a while. You bang on the door panel in a pretty hard manner while holding the button down and it will pop free. My daily driven vert that gets used frequently with 93k miles has never done it once. Cars that sit develop "quirks". Either drive it...periodically go out and roll windows up and down...or throw more money away to not fix the cause of the problem.

I agree Corvettes could be better and they are getting there. I am always happy to drive it. I know what to watch for though and I do my own research and work. If you cannot fix your own car then for the sanity of those on this forum please go buy a new car. If 18k is all you have look at the Ford Fiesta...

 

LOL!! If you don't like your car... sell it! It's that simple. Personally, I've driven and owned many different sports cars, and I will never buy anything else but a Corvette. Bottom line, the C5 is an amazingly engineered, quality built sports car. There's no way anyone can argue against this. At the same time, you have to realize that with any 9 year old car, things are going to go wrong. Parts will occasionally need to be repaired or replaced. I don't know of any car that's built to last forever. To me, the C5 is as good as it gets in terms of reliability.

I've owned my 02Z for two years now. I've had very, very few problems, and certainly no major ones. It has served me incredibly well. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I drive the car very hard. To me, it's a high performance vehicle that's meant to be driven that way. So yes, I drive it fast and hard. However, I also take care of it to the best of my ability. I change all the fluids on time, especially oil. I never get on it hard before the oil and coolant have fully warmed up. I don't drop the clutch or do too many hard launches. The list goes on. I drive the car hard but I don't abuse it or beat on it. There's a difference. The C5 was meant to be driven hard, but you also have to take care of the car if you expect it to stay reliable.

Bottom line, the C5 is a great car. Z06 even more so. Still puts a smile on my face every time. They are also very well built and solid cars. Quality is second to none. They are not perfect, but with the proper upkeep and maintenance, they will treat you well. I'm willing to bet that quality and reliability are better than Porsche, M3, GTR, and any other high performance sports car.

If you don't like this car, then maybe Corvettes aren't for you.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like the car a lot when it's running! I have been stranded too many times in this thing in the last 8 months though. The engine work does not seem normal at all even for a car that is 9 years old... Remember, I have had all these problems in less than a year. It's been about 8-10 months since these problems started, and that just doesn't seem normal for a car to have so many things break in such a short time.

 

My car has over 100k and I have owned it for over a year now without many issues, and those were only small issues. Sorry about your bad experiences, but you've come this far, why turn back now!!?

 

I'm getting tired of scenes like these....

 

Sell it, buy another. It's less likely to get another one that's cursed.

 

unless you have a bottomless pocket book like some folks on here, get rid of it and never buy another C5. Again everybody knows that all of these are common. Maybe I expect too much but if you pay 40 to 50 grand for a car brand new then it should last at least to 100k without issues except gaskets and seals. Some things you have to look forward to, clutch replacement, tpms replacement, vats issues, ignition replacement. If you do the work yourself.....still not worth it. I am going to get a C3 and upgrade the suspension system. I can build a helluva reliable C3 for 10 grand and if something does break it doesnt cost a couple grand a pop. Swollix, get rid of it.

 

As mentioned before in this thread cars are a crap shoot. Yours seems to have been badly maintained and beat on before your purchase. My 99 I picked it up at 117k and now has 167k. Bought it off a guy that kept it bone stock and drove it back and forth to work and kept up the maintenance on it. Since I have had it I supercharged it. To this day (3 years) I have had to fix the HVAC lights twice and now have an issue with the memory on the passenger side mirror and I can hear a blending door behind the stereo that is on its way out. Thats it in the 3 years of ownership.

Cars with all these electrical features are bound to have issues, just the way it is. So I just deal with it. All cars are prone to this. A C3 or earlier would be a better car for people that don't want these issues. Much less features to deal with.

People I know don't care for dodge, but I have had 2 dakotas. First one I put 187k on, and had to replace the water pump and 2 clutch fan units. Thats it in 187k. Current one has 126k on it. I have had to replace the water pump on it so far. Been really good trucks too me. Had a ford Mustang that was a huge POS and was glad to get rid of it. So as I said, cars are a crap shoot. Some people will have no problems as others have had little issues. My C5 has been great too me so far. Little electrical gremlims, but with all the gadgets in the car, I figured that was going to be an issue when getting the car. But I do agree, the C5 does have a bit too many issues that are common. Not much in drive line, but the body stuff. So far I have not had these pop up.