Mine is a 2004 with 135K miles on it. I LOVE driving it. I am going to have to replace the windshield (all pitted) and probably the SWPS, but the car is 10 years old, can't expect things to last forever. I drove the heck out of it (as a DD) because that's why I got it in the first place. Hopefully, when the time comes for me to get another car, I can afford a new Corvette, or find a very low mileage used one. I am retired now and I don't really want to plunk down 60-70K on a car.

 

Yeah, I have to agree that 16 years after a car comes out is not the time to make any legitimate complaints about issues as to quality. Safety concerns, maybe. There is still an active recall campaign on old Honda CB350 gas cap latches because they could take your 'nads clear off if you ran into anything and slid up the gas tank.

The C5 has been, arguably, the most loved and successful Corvette of all time. That just does not happen with a defective product!!

I have owned two '99's (OMG!!!! Not a pre- '01 C5!!!!! What was I thinking?!?!?) and have never had a problem with either.......until now. The oil pressure sensor just went out on it which is a known and simple repair. After all, the car is 14 years old and this is the only thing that has gone wrong with it since I have owned it. How dare GM produce a car that a small electrical component could wear out after 14 years of flawless service!!!!!!! What were THEY thinking?!?!?

A used car is a used car, pure and simple and I can tell you that I have spent farrrrrrr less on upkeep, maintenance, and repair on my 'Vettes than on any other cars that I have owned!!

At this point, I have owned three C4's and two C5's and have never been left stranded anywhere by one of them. Can't say that about other cars I have owned!!

I drive my 'Vettes every single day, rain, shine, or snow, and every one has looked absolutely new the entire time!! What other car can you say that about?

If you have issues as to the quality, reliability, or any other aspect regarding a C5, then just do us both a favor and go buy something else!!!!! You won't have to bitch, and I won't have to listen to it!!

Edit: Oh, by the way, due to financial situations, I had to let my first '99 go with over 85K on it and running and looking flawless. My present '99 is about to turn 85K and I am the fourth owner of it. It still gets 30mpg on the highway, starts and runs flawlessly, looks new, and is a constant source of pride and satisfaction. Until the oil pressure sensor went south, every single system and accessory on the car worked perfectly......and will again, very soon!!!!!

DSTURBD

 

yeah, my 14 y.o. vette has had issue after issue since purchased used 9 years ago.

To the OP: check out my Lemon thread.These cars are lemons. A lot of engineering went into the big things, very little into the little things.

Rocking seat
battery acid leaking over the pcm
column lock
water leaking into the interior (badly)
parasitic battery drain
on and on...

I've had two vettes, both with less than 85k on the odo right now, and they are maintenance nightmares.

 

btw, 4th gear grinding likely has nothing to do with the quality of the vehicle, but more with the abuse of the tranny from the previous owner. Put blame where it lies correctly, there is plenty to go around.

 

Check the owner's manual for scheduled service intervals. Works for the Vette just like the truck only you've got to actually do the service so parts don't break or wear out prematurely. I think you'd be better of with another truck.

 

you owned it for a year or something then? Lol @ all these guys saying "I've owned my vette for xx years and never had anything go wrong with it. You haven't looked at your car if that is the case.

 

Maintenance has always been #1. But when you look in the tech section and see all the problems with the low mileage manual trannys. Something's up. They shouldn't need syncronizers at 60K. Almost all have had problems with the steering locks. These are quality issues. A tranny should give you 100k plus miles easily. 14 years or 41 years as in My 73 coupe with 150k on original unmolested 4 Speed.
Don't fool yourself disturbed. The do have some quality issues for a premium sports car. Just read the tech section. I'm glad we have it.

 

Ok, I'm fairly new to corvettes but I've owned/driven quite a few cars in my day. If I have to take the time to write a lemon thread I sure as #*#@ wouldn't have bought a second one, I would've gotten out from under the first one as fast as I could and moved on. I love my C5, is it perfect? No, but it's pretty close. As others already stated, it's OLD and it has some issues, big deal. Show me a 199x anything that doesn't have issues! Fix it, drive it, or sell it

 

I owned 5 vettes c3s and a c5 if I whined as much as you do about it I would've gotten rid of it and bought a Volvo

 

What are you talking about dude you bought a 15 year old car w/ 60,000 miles by who knows how many owners who did who knows what little maintenance. A corvette is not a Honda civic, it's a near exotic sports car and needs extra care in certain maintenance respects. I've owned a GTO and G8 (actually both very reliable) but when you get the bang for the buck a car like those or the Vette packs in the looks/handling/drivetrain/power departments there has to be some compromise. I wouldn't recommend buying a 15 year old used Vette as a DD by any stretch of the imagination, and I wouldn't recommend a new one either- I don care if you live in southern cal, they're simply not practical. You made an emotional decision without much foresight now live with it- replace the shocks, get the coolant/clutch fluid changed, change the brakes, REFRESH that great American sports car and it'll treat you back w/ the same gratitude.

 

 

What do you want me to look at. I have all the paper work for things done to this car.

 

I don't know where you got the "a year" figure, but it's going on two and over 17000 miles on this one. 17,000 miles on a 14 year old car is not insignificant. The first one, I owned and drove daily for over 30,000 miles, beginning at abotu 53,000 miles. I'm sorry you got a bad one, but that does not make my care and good experience with my cars (5 of them over the past 25 years, by the way) meaningless!!

If you are so unhappy with yours, go get something "superior" to these POS 'Vettes or quit your bitchin'!!!!!!!

Just my $0.02

DSTURBD

 

I don't own one (yet) but I can tell you that if you expected a car that would last forever, you thought wrong. From what I've seen just about any car that isn't a Toyota and was made in the 1990s - Very earl 2000s is a bit of a crapshoot in quality. And people don't buy Corvettes to have a car that would last a thousand years and more. If you want a car to last you forever buy a Toyota.

 

Sorry, fell for that advise myself. My wonderful toyota experience ended with a blown 3.0 v6 due to oil sludge issues they didn't advertise. They can all make shi$t.

 

A while back Toyota had a major frame rust problem with their trucks and had a huge buy back campaign going. Some of the trucks just had their entire frames replaced. Those frames were like swiss cheese. I remember a guy had one that looked like brand new and the frame was completely shot , not repairable. Looks like they learned from this and are making much better trucks now.

 

Why buy a Toyota pickup? Don't people get those for towing or carrying heavyish loads?

 

- I had to replace my transmission at a mere 50K miles... I had grinding in 1st and 2nd gear. So I agree with you that the Tremec T56 trans in these cars sucks

- I had A/C problems where the one side was piping hot and the other side was ice cold. Turned out to be an actuator door problem.

- Door locks... these cars do have problems with the Door Control Module... a very astute member (Bakersfield and maybe others) had determined it was due to faulty relays which you can replace for $1 and fix yourself if your bold with taking the door panel off and good with a soldering iron.

- Ebrake.... I gave up on mine

There are certain problems these cars have and you're hitting them. However, once you get past these issues, these cars are pretty good. The forum covers many of these issues.

 

Just bought a 98 with 67000 miles on it. The man bought brand new when he was 45 and it is a one owner, wife drove as daily driver in small town. All maintenance records and all work done by one shop. Took to a guy to look over and found slight leak in transmission and was told that this is common on the c5. He said they use sealant instead of a gasket and also said it is barely leaking and he would not mess with it. My question is , is this a common thing on the c5 vettes.

 

Can't speak for the transmission but C5's are notorious for the driver's side axle seal on the differential to leak.