Stock C5 Corvettes are slow? Who all here is still factory?
01-16-2018, 10:39 AM
#61
Racer
Member Since: Aug 2014
Location: St. Paul (smokey!) MN
Posts: 397
Likes: 0
Received 27 Likes
on
23 Posts
My 98 convertible M6 is stock. It is fun to drive, it has never felt under powered.
I've been tempted to mod it, but how? CAI? Headers? Tune? Other than dyno numbers, can you really tell a difference? Seems like to get a significant power bump, you need to do a cam or supercharger. Then that leads to clutch, diff, brakes, suspension... What does all that do to reliability and drive ability? What if you need service on the road?
Stock is reliable, can be serviced anyplace, and is fast enough for me.
I've been tempted to mod it, but how? CAI? Headers? Tune? Other than dyno numbers, can you really tell a difference? Seems like to get a significant power bump, you need to do a cam or supercharger. Then that leads to clutch, diff, brakes, suspension... What does all that do to reliability and drive ability? What if you need service on the road?
Stock is reliable, can be serviced anyplace, and is fast enough for me.
01-16-2018, 12:01 PM
#62
Instructor
Is the conversation seriously becoming about how practical the C5 is relative to other cars now that we have established it's performance is mediocre by today's standards. Have ya'll driven other cars at all?? I know I'm not the only one that has to coddle the C5 like a baby if I don't want to scrape it on every curb. I have to coordinate where I'm going to park and how I'm going to get out of the car with or without bags in my hand. I have to steer clear of uneven pavement or avoid bumpy streets all together. I don't know what everyone's average city MPG is but sub 20's really isn't impressive anymore. I can barely take a phone call in the car because of the road noise. Let's not forget it has 2 seats so your opportunities to share the fun just reduced.
It's a car that looks great and that makes it fun even if you aren't beating on it. But aside from that....what else is there? I would argue if your goal isn't to be "king of the street" why not just drive a sporty Infiniti/Nissan/Hyundai/Honda/Mustang/Camaro etc? The only solid justification I have for myself right now is price. C5's are a bargain but if they were more expensive I wouldn't hesitate to get into something modern.
I read this blog post from Matt Farrah the other day and it kind of hit the nail on the head for me. It's about he sold his C5 :
http://www.thedrive.com/muscle-cars/...chevy-corvette
It's a car that looks great and that makes it fun even if you aren't beating on it. But aside from that....what else is there? I would argue if your goal isn't to be "king of the street" why not just drive a sporty Infiniti/Nissan/Hyundai/Honda/Mustang/Camaro etc? The only solid justification I have for myself right now is price. C5's are a bargain but if they were more expensive I wouldn't hesitate to get into something modern.
I read this blog post from Matt Farrah the other day and it kind of hit the nail on the head for me. It's about he sold his C5 :
http://www.thedrive.com/muscle-cars/...chevy-corvette
"... but once a car isn’t the newest, fastest thing anymore, its relative performance takes a proper back seat to the driving experience and the emotional connection to the machine, something I feel stronger today towards my Mustang than I do towards the Corvette.."
I learned a lesson very young that I take with me to this day, and it even appears in my columns here at The Drive—you can always make a car go faster, but you can’t fundamentally change what it is. And although the idea of an 800-HP standing mile monster, or a project drift car, or a full-on track build does sound appealing, and like a waste of money in line with my previous decisions, fundamentally, I think I need more from a car today than a C5 Corvette can offer – like build quality, bank-vault solidity, and precision...
I learned a lesson very young that I take with me to this day, and it even appears in my columns here at The Drive—you can always make a car go faster, but you can’t fundamentally change what it is. And although the idea of an 800-HP standing mile monster, or a project drift car, or a full-on track build does sound appealing, and like a waste of money in line with my previous decisions, fundamentally, I think I need more from a car today than a C5 Corvette can offer – like build quality, bank-vault solidity, and precision...
Last edited by chillin014; 01-16-2018 at 12:08 PM.
01-16-2018, 01:07 PM
#64
Straight line performance yes, all other performance aspects, no, unless you're going to try to convince me that a Demon or a Hellcat will outhandle a C5, in which case you will be laughed off of the forum...and name one of today's vehicles that are as fast, or faster than a C5 that gets 30+ MPG...and being a former '88 5.0 Mustang owner myself, I can tell you the person who wrote that article is nuts...
Last edited by grampi50; 01-16-2018 at 03:13 PM.
01-16-2018, 03:36 PM
#65
My 02 Z06 is all stock and I plan on keeping it that way. For me personally, when I was shopping around, I didn't look twice at anything that had performance modifications.
Nobody will ever really know for sure, but I'd say it's a safe bet to assume that the guy with a cam and long tubes runs his car twice as hard as the guy who's car is bone stock. In the used car market, that's a point that must be considered. I want this car to last my life time so I made sure to start with one that had the best shot at not being abused prior to me owning it.
These cars are plenty fast, especially for being 15 years old. There are faster cars, no doubt, and you could add performance modifications to try and keep up with modern technology. At the end of the day though, putting $10k under the hood of a $25k car is silly when you could just go out and buy the $35k car you're trying to keep up with.
To paraphrase the words of Jay Leno, "There's something you lose when you change a car from the factory configuration." In 20 years when the 02 Z is a classic, I want mine it to be the rare, unmolested, and well maintained example that is sought after.
All this is not to say you shouldn't enjoy the performance of your car. Lord knows I get a grin when I get a wild hair and blow out the cobwebs. And modify it all you want. These are just my opinions. Worth exactly what you paid for them
Nobody will ever really know for sure, but I'd say it's a safe bet to assume that the guy with a cam and long tubes runs his car twice as hard as the guy who's car is bone stock. In the used car market, that's a point that must be considered. I want this car to last my life time so I made sure to start with one that had the best shot at not being abused prior to me owning it.
These cars are plenty fast, especially for being 15 years old. There are faster cars, no doubt, and you could add performance modifications to try and keep up with modern technology. At the end of the day though, putting $10k under the hood of a $25k car is silly when you could just go out and buy the $35k car you're trying to keep up with.
To paraphrase the words of Jay Leno, "There's something you lose when you change a car from the factory configuration." In 20 years when the 02 Z is a classic, I want mine it to be the rare, unmolested, and well maintained example that is sought after.
All this is not to say you shouldn't enjoy the performance of your car. Lord knows I get a grin when I get a wild hair and blow out the cobwebs. And modify it all you want. These are just my opinions. Worth exactly what you paid for them
Last edited by ZO6comm2679; 01-16-2018 at 03:38 PM.
The following users liked this post:
Yello95 (01-22-2018)
01-16-2018, 04:55 PM
#66
Instructor
Straight line performance yes, all other performance aspects, no, unless you're going to try to convince me that a Demon or a Hellcat will outhandle a C5, in which case you will be laughed off of the forum...and name one of today's vehicles that are as fast, or faster than a C5 that gets 30+ MPG...and being a former '88 5.0 Mustang owner myself, I can tell you the person who wrote that article is nuts...
I'm confused. Who is saying anything about a hellcat? The point of the article was that the C5 is great if you've got a "thing" or bias towards C5's. But if you aren't racing it/ don't love it for all of its flaws and short comings, it can be kind of disappointing depending on your expectations. I just question why make so many excuses for the car for those who ARE NOT racing it? It's not comfortable,convenient or practical. If you took away my extra 100hp I would've probably bought a g37 a year ago.
01-16-2018, 05:08 PM
#67
Burning Brakes
There's nothing really slow about a C5. They were quick in their era and still are in this one. My 00' frc came with long tubes, exhaust, I modified stock air intake, ditched the accordian throttle body tube and took out the pup cats. LS6 intake is sitting on my bench and will be installed soon. Car isn't tuned. It feels pretty close to an LS3 C6 the way it sits. I drove my friend's 08 C6 and it's very close.
If you come from driving 500whp+ cars, then yes. I had a 525whp GTO a while back and although it was pretty fast, my C5 still feels lighter and pretty quick for what it is. But the LS1 can be made into a beast if that's what you desire.
If you come from driving 500whp+ cars, then yes. I had a 525whp GTO a while back and although it was pretty fast, my C5 still feels lighter and pretty quick for what it is. But the LS1 can be made into a beast if that's what you desire.
01-16-2018, 05:08 PM
#68
Racer
My 03 Coupe is my back road, chill out cruiser, cruise control set about 60 mph with the radio on, checking out the fields and homes. Does have a Corsa system that was put on by the 1st owner. At my age of 74, the go fast bug and spending money chasing it is pretty much history.
01-17-2018, 08:42 AM
#69
I'm confused. Who is saying anything about a hellcat? The point of the article was that the C5 is great if you've got a "thing" or bias towards C5's. But if you aren't racing it/ don't love it for all of its flaws and short comings, it can be kind of disappointing depending on your expectations. I just question why make so many excuses for the car for those who ARE NOT racing it? It's not comfortable,convenient or practical. If you took away my extra 100hp I would've probably bought a g37 a year ago.
I don't know about the C5 not being comfortable, convenient, or practical. There are a lot of people on this forum who use their C5s as daily drivers and/or for touring the country who would disagree...
01-17-2018, 10:55 AM
#70
Instructor
Here's my point- The C5 is a great bargain performance car because they depreciated so much. Nothing more. Anything you can actually utilize the C5 for on a daily basis, a G37 or Hyundai Genesis, or Mustang can do better (from a utility standpoint). All-the-while being relatively comparable in sportiness.
With that said. I'm going to daily drive my C5 and spend a good bit more money on it to see if I can force it to make sense for me. But every time I ride in my wife's VQ35 powered Infiniti, my gut tells me I would really appreciate to be a lot more comfortable and modern with a lot less drama. Her car only has 300 HP but you really wouldn't know it with the instantaneous throttle response, awesomely bolstered seats, and tight steering which are a welcome upgrade from the C5 which by comparison feels like a sloppy truck. It's kind of embarrassing really, that the corvette is the clunker in this comparison.
01-17-2018, 11:46 AM
#71
Melting Slicks
It's a (aging) sports car that can do stuff if you really force it to, but if you aren't hitting the go pedal there's better cars out there.
01-17-2018, 12:26 PM
#72
Pro
The C5 is my fair weather ride, the truck for when it's nasty or I need to haul something, the two motorcycles ( Bandit 1250S and KLR650 ) to feed my passion for two wheels. Last year 3.3K plus miles on the truck; 3.3K plus miles on the Bandit; 1.5K miles on the KLR: 7.5K miles on the Vette since getting it at the end of March so 9 months with it for the mileage.
I wish it wasn't true but...I'm a realist!
01-17-2018, 01:38 PM
#74
Race Director
Cars like the Demon and Hellcat are also overkill for the street, and can't possibly use all of their power. What's the point, so you can drive around with the feeling of being king of the street? I'd much rather have something like that C5 that is much more competent in all performance aspects, which is something you can actually use on the street...
01-17-2018, 01:39 PM
#75
Melting Slicks
And I can see where if all you do is drive on flat roads, its probably fine. But if you drive in the city of Houston and you have to start modifying your commute/ worrying about things you didn't before, it really takes the joy out of it. Combine that with an aging interior, poor city MPG, the fact that it might only be a marginally better performer than other performance offerings...you better really just love to drive a Corvette for the sake of driving a Corvette! (and this logic arguably has some value in and of itself)
Here's my point- The C5 is a great bargain performance car because they depreciated so much. Nothing more. Anything you can actually utilize the C5 for on a daily basis, a G37 or Hyundai Genesis, or Mustang can do better (from a utility standpoint). All-the-while being relatively comparable in sportiness.
With that said. I'm going to daily drive my C5 and spend a good bit more money on it to see if I can force it to make sense for me. But every time I ride in my wife's VQ35 powered Infiniti, my gut tells me I would really appreciate to be a lot more comfortable and modern with a lot less drama. Her car only has 300 HP but you really wouldn't know it with the instantaneous throttle response, awesomely bolstered seats, and tight steering which are a welcome upgrade from the C5 which by comparison feels like a sloppy truck. It's kind of embarrassing really, that the corvette is the clunker in this comparison.
Here's my point- The C5 is a great bargain performance car because they depreciated so much. Nothing more. Anything you can actually utilize the C5 for on a daily basis, a G37 or Hyundai Genesis, or Mustang can do better (from a utility standpoint). All-the-while being relatively comparable in sportiness.
With that said. I'm going to daily drive my C5 and spend a good bit more money on it to see if I can force it to make sense for me. But every time I ride in my wife's VQ35 powered Infiniti, my gut tells me I would really appreciate to be a lot more comfortable and modern with a lot less drama. Her car only has 300 HP but you really wouldn't know it with the instantaneous throttle response, awesomely bolstered seats, and tight steering which are a welcome upgrade from the C5 which by comparison feels like a sloppy truck. It's kind of embarrassing really, that the corvette is the clunker in this comparison.
The following users liked this post:
WKM (01-17-2018)
01-17-2018, 01:42 PM
#76
Race Director
And I can see where if all you do is drive on flat roads, its probably fine. But if you drive in the city of Houston and you have to start modifying your commute/ worrying about things you didn't before, it really takes the joy out of it. Combine that with an aging interior, poor city MPG, the fact that it might only be a marginally better performer than other performance offerings...you better really just love to drive a Corvette for the sake of driving a Corvette! (and this logic arguably has some value in and of itself)
Here's my point- The C5 is a great bargain performance car because they depreciated so much. Nothing more. Anything you can actually utilize the C5 for on a daily basis, a G37 or Hyundai Genesis, or Mustang can do better (from a utility standpoint). All-the-while being relatively comparable in sportiness.
With that said. I'm going to daily drive my C5 and spend a good bit more money on it to see if I can force it to make sense for me. But every time I ride in my wife's VQ35 powered Infiniti, my gut tells me I would really appreciate to be a lot more comfortable and modern with a lot less drama. Her car only has 300 HP but you really wouldn't know it with the instantaneous throttle response, awesomely bolstered seats, and tight steering which are a welcome upgrade from the C5 which by comparison feels like a sloppy truck. It's kind of embarrassing really, that the corvette is the clunker in this comparison.
Here's my point- The C5 is a great bargain performance car because they depreciated so much. Nothing more. Anything you can actually utilize the C5 for on a daily basis, a G37 or Hyundai Genesis, or Mustang can do better (from a utility standpoint). All-the-while being relatively comparable in sportiness.
With that said. I'm going to daily drive my C5 and spend a good bit more money on it to see if I can force it to make sense for me. But every time I ride in my wife's VQ35 powered Infiniti, my gut tells me I would really appreciate to be a lot more comfortable and modern with a lot less drama. Her car only has 300 HP but you really wouldn't know it with the instantaneous throttle response, awesomely bolstered seats, and tight steering which are a welcome upgrade from the C5 which by comparison feels like a sloppy truck. It's kind of embarrassing really, that the corvette is the clunker in this comparison.
01-17-2018, 01:53 PM
#77
Racer
My stock '03 Z06 is the fastest car I've ever owned and plenty fast for me. There is some good logic in the responses above. If I get to the point where I want a faster car, I'll sell this one and buy a faster one. But I didn't buy it to drive it fast. It's just the one I always wanted and I'm loving it!
01-17-2018, 03:18 PM
#78
Melting Slicks
I wish I lived in the same fantasy land where the C5 doesn't have a poorly assembled interior with cheap materials, terrible electrical system, poor lighting and subpar visibilty, it would be the perfect car for everything. Unfortunately I live in the real world.
01-17-2018, 03:25 PM
#79
Race Director
i am still all OEM.....but i dream about a supercharger every night when i lay my head down on my pillow.....i dont know what I would ever do with 540hp, but i am sure it would look pretty
The following users liked this post:
Yello95 (01-17-2018)
01-17-2018, 03:28 PM
#80
Instructor
Bingo what? The Hellcat and Demon (why are we even talking about these cars) aren't even on the same planet as the C5 financially speaking. Not to mention the Hellcat and Demon are very different. It's a bit silly to reference such an extreme side of the automotive spectrum in attempts to make the C5 seem like some kind of responsible economy option. 
We might as well bring Civics and Prius' into the picture too. After-all you don't need 350 LS1 horsepower to get to work, right?
Maybe you need to test drive a car of better build quality for some perspective? I probably wouldn't know the difference either except I can change cars on a daily basis and there is no denying the difference.
You can't be serious. Are you trying to help me prove my point? You are telling me the only way I can determine that my C5 is superior to my wife's car is to bring it to a race track?! And that is going to provide evidence that the C5 is a better daily driver? 
This thread is about whether the C5 makes sense in stock form, for the average guy who wants to fart around town without taking himself too seriously. I am saying it's definitely worth looking at some better built vehicles that will get the job done without all the squeaks, rattles, bumps, deteriorating interior, etc. You've had 21 corvettes so I wouldn't be surprised if you're drinking the kool-aid at least a little bit.
For those of you who haven't lived with any mildly maintained import vehicle- it's not normal for a car's interior to simply disintegrate after 10-15 years. It's just not.
We might as well bring Civics and Prius' into the picture too. After-all you don't need 350 LS1 horsepower to get to work, right?Put the C5 and your wife's car on a track, and then see which one is the real performance car. No comparison. I've had a G coupe, and it is not even close to the C5 in terms of performance. Apples vs oranges. The C5 is a great daily driver, and I will believe that until my grave. That is based on having 21 Corvette's, and about 12 other performance cars, including a 552hp Callaway Camaro. All daily drivers!
This thread is about whether the C5 makes sense in stock form, for the average guy who wants to fart around town without taking himself too seriously. I am saying it's definitely worth looking at some better built vehicles that will get the job done without all the squeaks, rattles, bumps, deteriorating interior, etc. You've had 21 corvettes so I wouldn't be surprised if you're drinking the kool-aid at least a little bit.For those of you who haven't lived with any mildly maintained import vehicle- it's not normal for a car's interior to simply disintegrate after 10-15 years. It's just not.
Last edited by chillin014; 01-17-2018 at 03:29 PM.