This.

One thing about buying a used Corvette vs something like a used Honda Civic is most of the used Corvettes I looked at were well taken care of vs a Civic that could have been driven 100k miles on the original oil.

The dealer told me when they took in the car I bought on trade that they didn't even need to detail it. It came in spotless and needed nothing. A 13 year old car with less than half the miles of just about any other used car of the same age and not only do I have the original owners manual, but it also came with the window sticker and original papers.

Show me a 13 year old Civic that has the original window sticker preserved and all records included.

 

It is true *most* corvette owners don't drive their cars. They just look at 'em and put around in them on sunny Sunday afternoons. They change the oil/fluids more often than needed, they do all the scheduled maintenance ahead of time, they wash/wax them more than is needed, the suspension never sees the abuse of public roads on a regular basis that most passenger cars do.

That can be good and bad though, because a vette that is at least driven spiritedly on a regular basis will have its little issues and gremlins surface and resolved by the owner...

 

And the owner will have a smile on his face while he's fixing it

 

This is one of the reasons I chose a 70k car over a 13k car. The '02 Z06 I looked at had 13k with the original tires that had a good 80% tread left on them (I started a thread "when low miles is a bad thing").

My car was obviously driven, but I don't think it was abused. While I would have LOVED to abuse that Z06, I told the dealer it needed to be bought by an older retired guy and put back in it's heated garage waxed and ready for the next parade.

 

I'm sure its already been said but.....take a look at a 14 year old mustang and see those "quality issues".

 

Sorry man I went w/ the 13k mileage '03. I wanted low miles because I WILL DRIVE it and keep for a longtime, I think I'll be putting close to 10,000 a year the first few years of ownership so I wanted as clean a slate as I could find. But I did go through the car w/ a fine tooth comb, bought from a very reputable dealer, and had my tuner tear the thing inside out and replaced all fluids and the dreaded valve springs.

I wouldn't mind one w/ 70k already on it and cam/bolt-ons that I could get into cheaper and really beat on w/ less worries though...

 

I was actually torn between a 30k '01 Z06 and my 70k '01 Coupe. The Coupe won overall due to the targa and added rear space for the dogs. While the 13k '02 was awesome, not only was it $5k more, but as you did, I would have dropped another $1k+ in tires alone right after purchase. Both of the '01s had brand new tires.

And don't get me started on Mustang quality issues of ANY vintage. They feel cheap and plastic when new.

 

Yeah I hear you it all depends what you're going for and how long you want to keep what you're going to do w/ it etc. etc. As it stands I got $24,500 for the car, $1,337 for valve springs/tune/vararam/fluids changed, $209 for noah cover, $60 for altec phantom frame, $20 for shorty antenna, woooo that should do it for now I'm making my head hurt!

 

My '01 was $14k and all I did was put gas in it and drove it home. I did have issues with the chrome on one wheel flaking causing the bead to leak, but I've put over 6k miles on it in 2 months. If I don't put at least 15k miles on it this year, I'm doing something wrong.

 

You probably just need to wait and buy a 2015.......

 

in the year 2020

 

OR, take a look at how many C3's are surviving 30-35 years later.

 

That's why GM went bankrupt.
I was also surprised at the complete lack of normal, as compared to other cars in the same price range, reliability.

This site has a ton of guys with a lot , (time, money,) invested , so don't expect a lot of guys to pile on with how much extra effort is required to keep these cars on the road.

Some cars are just that way. I once complimented a lady on her fine TR6 , sitting next to my TR6 at the gas station. She said she needed a dependable sports car to get parts for her Jensen . If you ask the Jensen (Jenson?) crowd , they think the cars are great, just don't park them facing downhill or all the gas will run out through the carb. Other than that, no sweat, normal sports car issues.

Corvette guys seem to suggest not driving as the best car care. I know every car has problems, but I would never suggest this model line as having average used car issues , and would suggest that those who promote these cars as normal maintenance deals are in denial and might unintentionally mislead newcomers Or perhaps they are unusually lucky, I hope so.

With this model line a daily driver is an exception, it worked out that way because the people who need reliability have moved on. It's not because most would be corvette owners don't want more than a week end car, it's because those who want a dependable car have moved on, leaving only the hard core.

So remember the hard core battle tested owners are the ones answering here. I like that because I often need repair advice.

To answer your question about the new car, I wouldn't know, but hope Gm is up to industry build standards by now. I would still be afraid of first year direct injection, but I am far from the target buyer. These cars are made for the new buyer only, once it passes on down the economic line, GM doesn't seem to care . Few manufacturers take it much beyond the first sale .

 

I pointed out some things I observed on the C7 forum and was promptly bashed by owners citing improved technology and rationalizing the defects and poor quality. Look on the C7 general section and read the comments on the 51 pages then decide if the C7 is something you want to spend a lot of money on right now. I have had my share of problems with my C5 and am glad I had a warranty to make the dealer fix them.
Any NEW car or for that matter anything electromechanical will have unforseen problems arise when first introduced. Better to wait a year and let the manufacturer fix the gremlins and not get caught having to live with them. Just my opinion.

 

My take:
My 2003 Corvette was purchased from the second owner in March 2010 with 11,575 miles. It now has over 74,000 miles. It was purchased to replace a 2007 Mustang GT Convertible that I had special ordered (had never done that before, was a cool experience) and took delivery of in September 2006. The Mustang was nothing but trouble, almost all from a standpoint of the use of inferior materials. It was the third red V-8 Mustang convertible in a row for me. It replaced a 1996 Cobra, which replaced a 1995 GT. I'd had a Mustang in the garage since March 2000 when my divorce was all but final.
Issues with the Mustang were the following:
-Extremely poor fit of the leather cover on the passengers bucket seat. It looked so bad that my wife commented on it right after we took delivery of the car. Dealer had a local upholstery shop attempt to "fix" it under warranty. They did such a poor job that the dealer replaced the seat with one from a new car on their lot.
-All four factory alloy wheels began to corrode within the first year of ownership. Dealer ordered 4 new wheels under warranty. Took 2 trips to get this right as the service dept didn't order whatever they needed to transfer the TPMS sensors.
-Body corrosion. The aluminum hood on this car began to grow two bubbles under the paint on the forward vertical lip edge, each about the size of a nickel and about 6 inches in from the outside edge of the hood. One on each side at exactly the same spot. The hood was replaced under warranty. Took about two months to get the paint right as a bunch of dust dried in the clear coat. About six months later the new hood started to corrode from underneath. By this time the car was out of warranty and I was fed up, so up for sale it went.
Again keep in mind that when I purchased the Mustang, our C5s were already out of production and the were between 3 and 10 years old.
Problems with the Corvette to date have been limited to the following:
-SWPS
-Leaks at the top due to the rubber weatherstrip aging. Leaks only when hit with hose spray during washing. Fixed by placing rubber vacuum tubing underneath to raise the level of the rubber.
-Fabric wearing on a few small areas of convertible top. Again due to aging and the fact that we put the top down a lot.
-Cracked plastic ignition key bezel. Again most likely due to aging.
I've replaced one battery and two sets of tires. I do not consider these to be repair issues, but wear items. I got about 6,000 more miles out of the tires than what they were warranted for.
In my experience the 2003 Corvette is a much better car than the 2007 Mustang in every way. It was better designed, better assembled and built with higher quality materials.

 

Every car is going to have it's issues, especially cars that are 14+ years old. It's always a crap shoot when buying a used car as it's very hard to gauge how it was treated.

I have 160,000 or so miles on my vette, 300+ track passes, daily drove it for a few years, numerous back road runs, some long trips around the country, and It hasn't really had many issues.

The only issues I have had include a leaking differential seal (which was still tracked with no issues, just needed an occasional top up, has since been replaced with a built unit), oil pressure gauge malfunctioning, and the HVAC display dimming. That's it; 160,000 miles and 9 years of ownership. Been pretty happy with it.

 

ive done a ton of research , and ive came to the conclusion that most car brands are unreliable, except for basically Honda and Toyota.

I can tell you ive owned Japanese cars for the past ten years, first was a 92 Honda accord coupe, second was a 2001 Honda civic SI, third was a 93 Lexus SC400 , fourth and my current vehicle is the 2003 Lexus LS430, possibly the best car ever produced.

Ive had none of the issues you read on this forum and others.

Ive been obsessing over getting a C5 vette, so I troll here and learn what I can, they seem like they have a fair amount of issues, but for the most part they seem to be minor.

Go check out the Mercedes forum if you want to see some real nightmares.

BMW, AUDI, JAGUAR, LandRover, Maserati, Ferrari all notoriously problematic cars.

So far from what ive learned here the C5's are not too bad.

 

Last year we were test driving a 2013 Audi A4, brand new at the dealer. Half way through the test drive we noticed smoke bellowing behind us. It was from the Audi. Smoke subsided and we called the dealer to pick us up. Later that day the dealer called and told us the emergency brake was sticking, causing the smoke. Never went back. All cars can have issues, new or old. Never bought an Audi either. It seemed like a nice car other than a little smoke.

 

This whole thread makes me laugh. I don't get the point. If you feel your Vette has quality issues or is unreliable, then sell it and move on!! Whining about it serves no purpose. Life is too short to be stuck with a car that you don't feel lives up to your standards. Every car make/model has or will have problems. It just comes down to how easy it is to fix and what it will cost.
My brother's 2006 Audi S6 (V10) had serious engine issues last summer. 2 months later and $6K, problem fixed! Now he's dealing with a failing adjustable suspension system.
My buddy's 2008 Porsche 911S had intermittent no-start issues last summer. $3.5K later, problem sort-of fixed. He's still dealing with it. Will probably cost more. Lately, he's been also having issues with the tire pressure sensor module.
My nephew's 2007 Mazda6 had an engine failure at 40K miles. He threatened to sue Mazda and they reluctantly agreed to pay for a new engine. It was a factory defect that Mazda knew about with their 2.3 Litre engines but preferred to deal with it on a case by case basis.
Porsche is still dealing with the infamous IMS bearing failures on their early to mid 2000's boxster/ 911 engines. They never stepped up and took responsibility for it.
Ferrari's are chockfull of issues and reliability problems. I am on the Ferrarichat forum constantly since I still have an itch that hasn't been scratched yet.

I can go on and on. Would the above problems stop me from buying a Porsche, Ferrari or Audi if that is what I lust over? Of course not! What I am getting at is all cars will fail sooner or later. All cars will have issues no matter the price or the prestige level. The bottom line is you drive what you like. Once you feel you can't deal with the issues, you move on. Sort of like a marriage.................LOL.

 

Ahh, a kool-aid drinker I see? I've pushed the japaid away from the table since coming to my senses a few years ago. Believe me - hondas and toyotas can have their issues too, particularly nowadays. Now, I do agree Honda seems to be a mark above the rest, but they also don't change designs much, don't keep up w/ current tech, they typically 10 years behind the industry. So when you "keep it simple stupid" and don't change w/ the times or challenge your R&D team in the least constantly producing slight variations of the same thing, yeah you tend to get it spot on after a while. DI anyone? Toyota, is well, not well made anymore except for a small group of products (land cruiser, tacoma, corrola) - I agree older Lexus' were near bulletproof (except for the oil sludge problem w/ their 3.0 V6), but that is also not the case anymore.

I think my Ford Ranger would have a beef w/ your argument. I had one 98 that went 220,000 miles before I got rid of it, only thing that broke was the armrest where it clicked together, and another 89 I took off my neighbor's hands that went 289,000 on the original engine AND CLUTCH before finally needing a new clutch and I said F it. Oh yeah, and there's the Ford Crown vic that may disagree w/ you as well....not like they last a long time or anything. GM trucks tend to age very well too, and don't even try to compare a toyota turdra to one, Honda hasn't figured out how to make a truck yet so we'll leave them out of it. In regards to older accords? Yeah engine is solid so isn't their manual tranny, the automatics? Not so much. You BETTER be changing the tranny fluid every 50k or you're playing russian roullette w/ it, they also like to rust, more than any other make I've owned when you put a lot of miles on them. I would know, I've owned an 01 coupe 5 speed, an 05 sedan 5 speed, and my wife and I currently own an 07 auto w/ 136,000 miles that is showing rust in many spots. My 2008 G8 GT that had 130,000 on it? Not one SPEC of rust anywhere, and it also gave me no problems either in case you're wondering other than an alternator going at 100k (warranty covered) and the known LCA issue also warranty covered.

The GM smallblock V8's are the most reliable V8's out there, and probably the easiest to maintain and work on also. I do agree the fit/finish, and small details have been lacking up until recent times, but they're definitely above average powertrain-wise.

HOnda I'll agree can take a licking and keep on ticking.

Toyota? bahahahaha, put the koolaid down, seriously.