doje

As a board member for my local Corvette club, it was my job to organize our year-end awards banquet for about 100 members this year. We went to a great restaurant and had a great meal followed by a couple hours of patting ourselves on the backs for all the great things we did last year.

At the end of the night, I was saying my final goodbyes when one of the waitresses said to me, "You guys all seem like you really have a lot of fun with this. I wish I could afford a car like that".

So I asked her what kind of car she owned, and she told me she had a 2011 Honda Civic. I asked her how much she paid for it, and the price was about $22,000. I then told her that I recently purchased a '99 Coupe with low (70k) miles in show condition for $11,000. We walked to the window and I showed her the car. She was shocked.

Then she said, "Well, I could never afford the gas!". Again, I asked her what kind of gas mileage she was getting. She said she averaged about 27. I told her she had me beat, but I still got 25 miles on average and closer to 28 on a long trip.

She's gonna start looking.

Geez I love these cars.

TC_1961

When I showed up to work in mine 3 weeks ago I got all kinds of crap. Then pointed out to each and every one that thier cars were newer and cost more.

RetiredSFC 97

I hear stuff like that all the time.

Silverbullet00

Just today a lady commmented on my car and said her husband loves Corvettes. When I told her my car was twelve model years old and that a nice stock one the same year could be bought for way under $15K, she did not believe me. When I told her that my cammed LS1 recently got 30.2 mpg's on a highway trip,,,,,she called her husband on her cell and said to him, "Honey, talk to this guy for a minute" and handed me the phone.

Bet they are shopping the internet tonight!

Chilliwack vettes

That's awesome!

Endeka

Yeah. I work for a non-profit, so I got all kinds of crap when I showed up in the C5 for the first time; people asking if it was my dream car, and how exotic it was, 'isn't that a bit much,' and all this other nonsense. So I started asking them, point blank, how much they paid for their cars.

Nobody's come in under my $13K C5 yet. Nobody.

jrose7004

Yep, little do they know.

realvc

A lot of people say things like that about wishing they could afford a vette or about they use a lot of gas. Like the OP says some people have spent more on the cars they are driving and don't get as good of gas milage as a C5.

WICKEDFRC

Photos of said waitress and future Corvette owner......???

RetiredSFC 97

This reminds me of when I started looking for a vette.

I was looking for a Harley but wife said she wouldn't get on it. So I said OK I'll look for a hobby car. So I started looking for all the old school muscle type cars I used to have. Then I said the heck with it, I've always wanted a vette so I started looking at C3's because that's what I grew up with, then I found a really nice C4 and of course now my FRC.

But I didn't begin my search for a vette because I too thought they were out of reach for me.

Ended up paying way less than I would have if I would have bought an old muscle car I know that, and they're a lot more fun to drive, IMO.

dacfan

I have been ragged everywhere I've worked about "making too much" or "spending your wife/fathers money" because I have always driven cars that are a little unique. All of them cost less than the other cars in the parking lot but people perceived them to be expensive. Even my ragged '77 vette got those same comments and it's not worth 8k in the shape it's in. I had a mercedes slk230 for a while. Caught the same talk and I paid 15k for it. All my jags I have bought with cash because they have almost NO value on the used market and people still think I bought a 50k car. It's ridiculous.
I do wish I knew where everyone on here finds these low mileage C5's for under 15k. I paid 18 and am looking for another one right now and can't find anything with the service records, mileage and color I want for under 17-18k. The other side of the coin is that I'm financing through a local dealer friend so I can't buy from a private individual. That might be my problem. Stuff on the Ally/GMAC auction site is ridiculously high!

momo20

i agree with everyone on here..its amazes me to what people think corvettes are really sell for and how distored there view is on them...i took mine to work and we have a few new guys workin at my business..so i pulled up and they saw me..and first thing out of one of the guys mouth ," was gee we know who makes the big bucks here." so i walked over to him and pointed to his newish jeep and asked what he paid for it..he told me it was like 17,000..i said well i only paid 23,000 for my car which had 27,000 miles on her..and his jeep had over 60k when he bought it...after i told them that they stopped with the slang talk

MawneeC5

"That car must cost a fortune" -most people pay more for an SUV
"The cost of gas must kill you" -most people put more in an SUV
"Your insurance must be outrageous" -I pay more for my wifes 4cyl avenger

MSG C5

I love the fact that most people think are cars are still very expensive.

One guy in fact basically accused me of lying when I told him my (2004) Corvette was 8 years old. He thought it was brand new!

Endeka

My brother's fiancee said the same thing: "Shut up. That's 14 years old? Shut up. No way. It looks so modern."

Jewjenk

Wow! Thought it was only me, drove the Vette into work one day and they all had a fit. Thought it was brand new, when told it was a 2000 with 16K on it for $21,400 they had another fit..............Then I drove my Hummer H3 in when I brought it last year, Supvsr asked "what do you do to afford a Hummer?" Told them I work for them,

Hummer is an 08 brought for $24,000 with 26k on it. For some reason people think that C5's and H#'s are super expensive.....................
Big laff came when a high government official asked what my wife drives and I replied a Mercedes...........They then must have went back to check my records. All my cars are pre-owned from Carmax. They look new and good because I take care of them. Love the haters.......................

swpowell

Same story here, I have a 2003 with the Anniversary Red paint. Looks new and cost less than my other car. The vette gets better MPG too. HA! on all the people who think I spent a fortune.

Scanlon

Should be ready to buy one soon, can't wait to see everybody's faces when I drive up.

You guys keep me posted when you find those stupidly cheap c5's.

VETJAZZ

Very well said!

Ona mission

I have heard them all and actually had the comment the other day about "have a mid-life crisis". That one happens to be a little true, 52 with a cute fiance (my age) and a 8 year old yellow two-seater in which I use the loud pedal frequently.

When I first started getting more serious about a c5 I was pleasently surprised about how much car my money would buy, and the MPG makes it a easy choice over a lot of other options.

On the negative; Not much room for golf or travel bags.
On the positive; only one passenger seat.