dylans

I'm going to be checking this vette out on Saturday. This is my first vette buying experience, if i purchase this one.

http://www.vetteculture.net/inventor...ardtop-Mesa-AZ

Any tips? Anything I should definitely look for? Anything to steer clear of?

NADA guide prices say $23,925 clean.

The mileage is appealing. They have a red one with 71k, and NADA prices it at $20,875.

What do you all think?

Rexde1

There is a sticky at the top of the page with a lot of advice. The price on the yellow 02 seems a little high to me. Is the red one a Z also. I like to see a car and get a feel for how it's been taken care of with higher miles. My coupe has 74000 and has been mostly trouble free for over 6 years. It's an 04. I paid 18000 back then. I wanted a Z06 and found a low miles one for 25 it was an 03 but after test driving it I didn't like that much more so I'm still in the coupe. Good luck I'm sure some people will have good advice in the morning.

dylans

I found the info post right after I posted this thread. A lot of info for sure, I'm going to go through it tomorrow.

The red one is a Z also, yes.

Vetteman Jack

Besides the sticky on buying a Corvette which I assume is the one you found, look at this one also:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...must-read.html

It has a lot of good information in it too. Best of luck in your search for a Corvette.

friou

Always try to tell first time buyers to take their time, don't be in a rush. As already stated, read the stickies at the top of the page. Make sure you do your due diligence in the form of accident history, maintenance history and a thorough bumper to bumper check by an independent C5 fluent shop/tech (definitely not theirs). There are a lot of very nice problem free and well maintained C5's out there so there is really no reason to buy a problem car. Low mileage cars are something everyone wants, but great maintenance trumps mileage in most cases. C5's are great performance car buys if well chosen but can be very expensive to repair depending on the problem. Be wary, and this is just my opinion, of heavily modified cars. Better to find a good clean stock car and make it your own. Look for flaws and be prepared to walk away from any car at any time, make the car prove itself to you so that you end up with a rewarding ownership experience. Good luck and best wishes!

Pounder

she is a beauty !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Acid666

Low mileage C5Z? Don't expect them to come down on the price. I got my Z a couple of months ago after about 5 months of searching daily on Cars.com and Autotrader. They will not care about KBB/NADA. I tried to negotiate with the dealers in Dallas and Houston on 6 separate Z06s and not a single one went down a red penny. The first I looked at was an '02 Z with 100K miles, they were asking 19K. I showed them the KBB/NADA was around 15,500 in great shape, and made an offer of $16,500. They offered me $250 extra on my trade in and didn't budge any more past their 19K asking price.

I drove 6 hours away to go face to face with these guys thinking maybe me showing up at their door step would show I'm serious and still....even with the car dying on me after I got back to the dealer (they put in a new alt), and me pointing out issues like the harmonic balancer wobbling, etc... They still wouldn't come down.
Headed to the Corvette Warehouse in Dallas after that and had zero luck either with coming down on price on the 2 C5 Z06s that were in the 18-20K price range.
Went south to Houston the way home and looked at 2 more. Same thing. Didn't care what the Nada was.

So basically in a nutshell, 16,800 miles is SUPER low and they're asking price of $27K is actually right about where the market is for low mileage Zs. A lot of guys on the forum will tell you it's too much, but from my experience it's right on the money with what other dealers are asking for. You might have more luck than me, but I was super polite and tried negotiating with about 10 different dealers all within a 500 mile radius and got the same results. It wasn't until I went to a private sale that I felt like I got a good value for the budget I set for myself.

Pounder

it's worth what you are willing to pay for what you want !!!! (my Dealer on my 50,000 // 99 came down 300// only) I still think I got a great car and deal !!!!!

bikeriderga

For the 16K Z06, 25K is probably the best you could hope for. Doubt they would take even 25K for a 16K miles car unless it sits there for a while, but worth a shot!

Acid666

I think the dealers are all perfectly willing to let a Z06 sit in their lot for extended periods of time until they get their asking price. I almost considered dropping down to a Base C5 since I could likely talk many dealers down to 10-12K on a base model compared to the Z.

Red Square

I've been searching for several months now for a c5 Z06 (waiting till the fall or winter to pull the trigger on one). This one looks like a really excellent example, and while the price might feel a tad high, I think it is priced fairly considering the miles.

killian96ss

I got my Z back in Feb for $24k cash. It's a black 2002 with the red/blk interior and had 9k miles. They were originally asking $27k, but I talked them down because I picked the car apart, noting every little defect like a few spots where there was touch up paint, original tires & one window that was randomly working. After buying the car I paid a shop $300 to fix the touch up paint & I replaced the window regulator & got new tires. I think I got a pretty good deal. Good luck!

Steve

dylans

Thanks for all of the input, I appreciate it! There are several Z's around, so I've got options. I found one yellow one earlier today, 60k miles, but had a massive amount of service records on its carfax. Seems it was taken care of.

The closer I get to finding the right one, the more exciting and surreal this becomes!

Jeff T.

IMHO price is relative... Is it clean, taken care of, color and options you want???

If it checks ALL the boxes on your wish list the couple extra dollars spent is money well spent. If not, there's plenty more out there!!

Good Luck and enjoy the hunt!!!

BTW - it looks great!!

frsr06

You should also look at the For Sale thread on the Forum. Most members take care of their cars so the source could be more reliable and you may get a better deal from a private owner.

CorvetteBob52

I as well think the price is a bit too high, you can get a decent C6 for that price too. Follow the others and read the sticky's and don't be in a rush to buy, The dealer always has room to play with the price a bit., Drive it and see if it "IS" the car for you. Maybe you will think differently after you drive it. Base models with the same mileage go for a lot less money and you can still get close to the same performance out of it too with a few nice mods.

cherrypoppins

Vetteculture Suck ***** bad experience I had there. They SUCK

dylans

I went through a lot of reviews from over the years, and most were positive. I bought the z06 from the link. Got a great price. The car is amazing.

I had a great experience with them. Sorry to hear you had a bad one!

Shakeydeal

3 years on the forum, 14 posts, and one of 'em is a "they suck" post?

I think you can probably discount this one fer sure.......

Shakey

ronwc

You guys need to take a vacation down here to FL to buy cars - C4's are $5k, C5's are $10k, have seen C6's under $20k, here is a nice 02 Z06 you could probably get for $16 - http://fortmyers.craigslist.org/col/cto/5637155683.html