I'm saving up for a car at the moment, and I think that I want a C5. I'm concerned about the mileage at which most of the cars in my price range are though, as I'm looking to get something <$12k. I know LS engines are friggin incredible, but are they 140k miles (as a start) incredible? I know my concerns are probably not valid, I mean it's a badass car and it seems like the right fit. The dream is that it will be my first car in a few years, not the car I learn to drive in because that would be dumb with 350+hp stock, but the first car that's really mine. So just four questions: Are they easy to work on for mods and repairs? How are they for daily driving? (carrying capacity and such, not that I expect much) Will they still be cheap in 3-4 years? And lastly, How many thousands of miles until it just gives up? (I don't want to spend 10 grand on a vehicle that breaks down in the first month) Excited to see what y'all think, thanks in advance...

 

>$12k? You mean <$12k?

Shockingly, the price of C5s has actually gone up a bit in the past two years (as per hemmings); and virtually every used c5 sold needs a near-immediate grand or two of stuff (like, if you put on a new set of michelins and get it aligned, that's basically $2k right there.) Anyways, if you are budgeting less than $12k, make sure you also budget a couple grand in maintenance items and a couple grand to put into the just-in-case fund.

It's usually pretty easy to work on the car, at least for mechanical stuff. Daily driving is fine if they're stock-ish, can be fine modified or can suck modified. Carrying capacity is more than most expect. Will last nearly forever with maintenance but after some miles it gets to be annoying to chase oil leaks and stuff - how many miles depends on abuse and environment; you can start seeing issues at 50k miles or you might start seeing issues at 200k miles.

Will they be cheap in 3-4 years? Depends on economy and employment. If economy mirrors today's, I'd expect virtually no price movement. Regardless of age, the price-to-value ratio is not beat by anything in the $10-20k price range except by the C6 or, depending on your desires, the S2K (which is also appreciating) or heavily modified miatas (which are also not depreciating, but also tend to be under $10k). They stay pretty reliable if well treated and there's a good aftermarket. So the prices have no real reason to go down, unless people start losing jobs and needing cash.

 

 

I see this is your first post " Welcome to the forum. In guessing you are about 14 years old. Nothing wrong with dreaming. My First car was a Corvette. that was 55 years ago. You are asking 4 questions, but before I answer them., I.m going to you like one of my grand sons. you want to buy a C5 ( " IN A COUPLE OF YEARS ".. your words ) in a couple of years C5's are going to be 22 years old. If you find a Garage queen u8nder 100,000 miles, you probably wont get it for 12 grand. A 22 year old Car can be very costly, There is a guy here who bought a C5 with 300,000 miles for 4 ,000 dollars..
First question
1) are they Easy to work on ? Brain surgery is easy if you know how to do it. Meaning, are you as mechanic? do you have the tools , ON a scale from 1 to 10 for the average guy who is willing to get his hands dirty and has a working knowledge of Automotive technology . Many things can be done and the level of difficulty for basic things is a 4 or 5 ( this is for basic things like brakes, oild changes, etc.However there are many things that require 8 to 10 level skills to work on by yourself.
2) How are they for daily driving ? Many member here drive their C5 year round many members with 100 K, 200K, 300K, and some with 400K. A C5 was just donated to the Corvette Museum with 650,000 miles on it.
3) Will they still be cheap in 3 or 4 years ? The only thing I can say here is , they wont be more expensive in 3 or 4 years. so at 4 years, you are looking at a potential 24 year old car.
4) How many thousands of miles before it gives us? I know member who have destroyed their car in under 50,000 miles, and I know lots of people with 200,000 miles and no issue. Expect to have a lot of breakdowns with a 24 year old car. You mentioned 10 Grand as a lot of money that you dont want it to break down the week you get it.. Chances are it will break down at some point early in your ownership. Lots of things can go wrong, you can not plan for something to go wrong, it could be easily a 300 dollar fix or just as easily a 3000 dollar fix
I dont want to discourage you.. Make sure you get a good education and then you can buy whatever you want.
Again Welcome to the Corvette Forum.
Bill aka ET

 

 

Unless you have a job and some savings, a C5 probably isn't the best first car.

 

Get it if you want it. You are smart by looking on this forum so you can see what could happen to a C5.
If it breaks down, fix it if you can afford it.
It certainly would be a memory to have of a first car!
I certainly remember mine. A 1953 Chevy with 1 million miles on it. I paid 25 bucks for it and my Dad said I got screwed.
I think he was jealous.
Anyway, do what you want!
Good luck!

 

You can get a great C5 for 12 to 15 grand, the only problem is is it the C5 you want because you have got to make a move when they are available or they are gone.

The economy is coming apart right now and there are deals because of it, realisticaly because the 6's are so affordable right now it is driving the prices down on 5 's as well because from my reading once you buy a 6 you will not consider a 5 unless you have multiple cars, the 6 is supposed to be that much better but I like the look of a 5 as a cruiser in HT and VERT. A 6 is a more agressive racier looking car when done right IMO.

Go on Ebay and pull up sold listings on 2001 Corvette and look at the navy blue Vert with 50 thou on it, that car was absolutely perfect and garaged it's entire life but a dealer auctioned it off probably to pay bills that month and I was offered it for 13,500 and probably should have got it but the turn key mint deals are out there for a great price but you have to find them and make a move....

 

A lot of really young people own C5s, and considering the way the Corvette market is portrayed personally I believe it's a good thing. When the new C7 came out in '14 I was pretty surprised to see how many under twenty-five were buying them.

You can get good C5s within your price range. Remember though that as C5s are now over 14 years old at the YOUNGEST and some over 20 years old. That is an incredibly... long... time... for a car. Might as well be eternity. You need to realistically budget for things that driven C5s have to deal with. Tires, which can run $800-$2,000 depending on what you get, have to be changed more frequently than on standard passenger cars where tires can often go +50K miles; you're luck to get half that out of most C5 tires. Parts are starting to become scarce on earlier models (SWPSes, EBCMs, etc), which can make buying USED parts really expensive ($500-$2,000). Even something as simple as a fender bender can sideline the car. When my door - the lesser used passenger side door - was tagged in a parking lot in 2014 my car was in the body shop for nearly two months as they tried to source a "good" used door (took the 4th one the shop located before they found one "suitable", without stress cracks or similar blemishes), and although my Corvette isn't my only car it was an inconvenience.

A guy a while back donated an early C5 to the National Corvette Museum with well over 750,000 miles on it's original engine, and C5s are very robust. If you don't keep up with the maintenance though or allow mechanical issues to linger, then no, they're not going to be reliable. Just like any car.

Another thing that frequently comes up is insurance, and you need to go ahead now and account for that. If it's your only car you'll want full coverage, but full coverage is meaningless if it doesn't cover a large amount of comprehensive and medical. I see people that claim they have "full coverage" but they only cover up to say $150K comprehensive. That's nothing in 2018 when the "average" purchase price of new cars is near $40K. You hit a brand new Mercedes causing medical bills for the person you hit and you can quickly get up to a quarter million to half a million in damage and compensation, and if your insurance doesn't cover you'll be paying.

 

The engine probably won't be your issue. The C5 is a maintenance nightmare to a degree. There are a lot of systems and a lot of power items to break... and they will break it's just a matter of time. Just about everything is owner fixable and there are plenty of forum posts, youtube videos, etc. so as long as you are willing and have some time you can fix things relatively cheaply. So if you are willing to spend the time to learn and fix things it isn't the worst. There is also an excellent support network of parts. eBay has tons of rebuilt and aftermarket items to keep you running.... Now with all that said my C5 is not my primary driver. I can park it and drive one of my other cars for as long as I need and fix whatever goes wrong with the C5 whenever I have time. If you need it for reliable daily transportation it might be an issue or there may be some times you are taking an uber to get around... To inexpensively maintain these cars you need time... time to find good deals on parts and time for the parts to be shipped to you... then time to install them.

 

"C5, as a first car?"

Simple answer: NO

At the age of 18, the insurance alone will kill your bank account.

 

NO! My first car was easily maintained with a box of wrenches. You shouldn't expect that with a C5. Good luck!

 

Just buying your first insurance policy for a Corvette will be expensive. Get one ticket and your rates will skyrocket. While age is certainly a factor in the premium cost, so is the type of car, where it is garaged, annual miles, marital status and the ZIP code where you live.. Do you plan on financing the purchase? If so you will most likely be required to carry full coverage. That's just more money you need to pay for insurance.

I have found that the basic maintenance is not too terrible. You can do an oil and filter change using ramps. Same with a coolant flush and trans and/or diff fluid changes. Spark plugs and wires are easy. Same with brakes. Bu there are other things that can be much arder to do and also expensive. It was mentioned that you could do a clutch job without a lift. IMHO, that would be pretty scary as the rear cradle has to be loosened and dropped about 6". Getting to the clutch assembly is not that easy but it can be done with some help. Some components are hard to come by (the EBCM for example) and you will need a good understanding of the various electronic systems in the car.

You may be better off initially with a small sedan like a Honda or Toyota so that you can have transportation, learn about auto repair, and start a savings plan.

 

Here is my 2 cents.

As a first car: No
As a daily driver: No
Are they easy to work on: Yes
How many miles before it's done: Hard to say. I've seen one go for 750,000 miles and still going, and I've low mileage cars blow up. It depends on a lot of factors.

I don't know your story, so I'm not telling you what to do or judging. But, If this is your money, that you earned, in my honest opinion I would start off with something cheap, reliable, and doesn't have a ton of power. You can still have fun without a ton of power.

My first car (15 years ago) was a 1995 V6 Camaro with a 5-speed. I bought it for $2000. It had a whopping 160hp when it was new....probably had about 100hp when I owned it. I was lucky enough that my parents paid for the insurance, but I remember, even this car was not cheap to insure. I remember doing some pretty dumb things with that car.

If I was 16 today, I would be looking at a Ford Focus or Fiesta.

 

From one young guy (20) to another, I would say not as a first car. Not even mentioning cost, it simply is not a great car for a driver who doesn't have much experience with fast cars. While many people see 350 hp and think it's not much by today's standards, this car is actually very fast. My 2 previous cars before this, a fully built 2001 audi A4 with ~300awhp, and my fbo+Upgraded turbos 335i, with about 550 whp, both feel slower than this car. I'm sure the BMW would beat it, but the corvette truly does feel much faster than it. The corvette is very easy to break traction, if you arent used to high horsepower cars. I bring up this point, because if you dont have experience recovering from oversteer or self control with every person trying to race you on the street, this car could get you in trouble pretty quickly. My recommendation: old, cheap Japanese. My first car was a 1989 Toyota mr2. I bought it for 700 bucks with 200,000 miles on it, and if you dont know about that car, it was a mid-engine rear wheel drive sports car known for snapover steering. I learned very important lessons about weight transfer and oversteer that would have been super costly had I had a corvette instead of the mr2. I sent that car into a wall trying to be boy racer and it cost me nothing to fix, because I never fixed the dent lol. A fist size dent in a corvette would be fairly expensive to fix I'd imagine.

 

 

I knew I came to the right place as soon as I got my first reply. You guys all rock, thank you. I think the plan from here will be a 350z or 370z. I'd love to get a junker project car, but those are huge money pits. The G35 is an option as well, as all I really want is a manual transmission RWD coupe. Thanks again everybody!

 

The important thing to remember even if the engine is solid things break down on old cars. Tires are very expensive on vettes and stuff like harmonic balancers, clutches and normal ware stuff gets expensive. Some parts will become hard to get [expensive]. Also for a first time driver a fast car like a vette can get a driver in trouble faster than a normal car. Rear wheel drive is dangerous on snowy or icy roads in Winter. Its an option but you don't have to make a decision now. A civic si is probably a better chose to start with and price will reflect what year you want/ can afford. If you decide on a vette get it checked by a competent mechanic that knows vettes.