It can be both at the same time... no need to pigeon hole the car into one role or the other.

That's the argument: You can have a C5 be both nice inside AND fast at the track with relatively minimal investment.

It's certainly cheaper than taking a car that starts out nice inside and trying to make it as fast as a C5 on the track while still maintaining its interior experience. I calculated it would cost ~$80k total to make my Audi S4 worthy of competing in the same NASA Time Trial class that my $25k C5 runs well in almost bone stock. Add ~$10k in track mods and ~$5k in interior mods and I have a $40k car that does everything as well as or better than the $80k Audi would have (except for having 2 seats vs. 4). With the extra $40k I could buy another Audi!

 

The interiors aren't great but they're practical, cloth/suede seat covers would make a huge difference versus the slippery stock leather in terms of holding you in place.

 

I upgraded the seats for close to $700 and bought misc. interior upgrades for around $100, a couple of painted pieces (DIY), and it looked better. Still dated, but better.

 

Or.....why'd you buy it anyway if you hate it so much?!?!?!?!?
These cars provide soooo much performance so affordably that I don't think anyone has room to b!tch. Besides that, I have taken many long road trips in C5's and as someone else stated, you get out feeling just as fresh as when you got in!! To me that is worth a lot when it comes to me enjoying my car.

If you want upgraded materials, they are readily available from numerous vendors in the best quality materials and workmanship, so why are you on here whining and crying about it? Go fix it to your expectations without making all of this needless noise and stress!!!

God....I get sick of these sob stories about C5 interior quality. I take very good care of my completely stock interior and it still looks brand new and serves the purpose exceedingly well!!!

Rant over...........

DSTURBD

 

Me too!

 

If you are not kidding, donate the car to a charity and buy a upscale Yugo.

 

I think I was aggrevated..I Sat In car for Hrs Taking the interior apart trying To Figure Out why Gas door wouldn't open...I Am thinking Of going To A C6 Z06 or a gen 3 or 4 viper..

 

Get some Corbeau A4 seats. Some Apsis parts. Double DIN nav unit.

I am buying another C5Z for cheap performance, especially track, and nothing else. The interiors are bad, very bad - but not much else was great in the late 90's either. I think the worst part is the steering wheel, which still can't be replaced without losing the airbag.

My Cayman S interior was in another league. Porsche interiors are the best, but they're also more expensive generally.

I love C5's for what they are, but some owners are really stretching on the design and fit and finish in this thread.

 

C6 interior is marginally better and Viper interiors are crap.

 

GM interiors suck...this should not be a surprise to anyone.
Layout and design isn't bad truthfully, it's the fisher-price plastic they use for materials.

I don't even think the C7's interior is as good as they say either.

 

Holy crap you need to sell your corvette. I use 100% of my torque every single time I drive. Every m3 owner I've talked to has complained about how it's not as fun on the street as they want it to be. Most of my friends ended up selling m3's for 335's or something with slightly larger ***** so they could have fun without having to carve every turn at the limit

 

I remember when I picked the car up new in 2000 at the Dealership and how it felt like a spaceship cockpit! I spent an hour just reading the Owner's Manual taking it all in before my maiden launch! I thought it was a great futuristic design both then and now - and I have driven it everyday for 14 years - still just as exciting to me?

As far as quality, my only serious complaint was with the seat leather/bolsters and the vinyl - especially on the doors and console surround. Console could be fixed with leather (still on my list), but I have not seen any solution I really like for the upper door panels. I like the factory "seamless" covering of the upper doors, just not the vinyl or how it separates. I personally can't bring myself to spend the money for the leather upper door panels with all the stitched patchwork needed to make leather follow the compound curves. If I had my choice, I would like to have seen the upper door panels and dash made out of the same textured-rubber-like material used in the C6 - that was really the only thing I liked about the C6!

I re-worked most of my interior with VE several years ago and it still looks new (actually better). I also did "extensive" sound-deadening to where you can hear yourself breathing now. VE interior upgrade was the best money I have spent on the C5 so far...










I have drive lots of new model rental cars over the past few years and none of them compare to the quality I feel in my C5 - and many of those rental cars are in the $40k range!

 

The masses can't afford these cars. My C5 was $52K when it was new. I had to buy it used. . . . like the masses.

 

Likewise. My son bought a new "retro" Mustang in it's first year of production. He's had handles fall off. All the lettering on the dash controls wipe away, the door panels are falling apart, the windows sometimes work right and recently, the top of his shifter **** broke off. So every manufacturer cuts corners to either save weight because of CAFE standards or to up their profit margin.

-Bruce

 

Holy crap I think I'll keep it.

The 335i and M3 are very different cars. The 335i is faster in a straight line after mods but that doesn't make it a better car. Driven back to back, I tend to enjoy driving the slower E46 M3 to the E90 335i unless I am going to the 1/4 mile track.

The E90 interior is much nicer though and the sport seats are great. Makes for one nice DD

 

My point is, if you like the m3 so much pick up an e46. They aren't any more expensive than a c5, and you said you would rather have that. Plus, the 335 provides much more street performance out of the box. Much more torque from the 335, and you can take street turns just as quickly in the 335 as the m3, unless as you stated earlier you fancy getting arrested

 

I currently own an E46 M3 along with my Z06 and have a 335i as my daily. The M3 and Z are weekend cars and I feel they are both more special than the 335i. The 335i is quick though, no doubting that. It won't outrun my Z but with a few more mods it could likey kill it from a roll.

No doubt the C5 interior is bad, but if I didn't feel the car was special I would sell it. That's not the case though and I plan to keep it.

 

If you can afford all 3 of those cars, you can afford to make your c5 interior nice.

 

Maybe if I saw the value in it. I would like new seats but beyond that I don't care to have a bunch of mismatched pieces that don't belong there or flow with the car. A better steering wheel that is a touch smaller would be nice but seems impossible as losing my airbag is not something I care to do.

 

That's why Ford always has higher sales figures in their cars and trucks, because they are cheap. You get what you pay for and that's not much when it comes to Fords , but for some unknown reason people keep going back. I guess they love rust .