C5 to DD
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 2,663
Likes: 1,389
From: Orange County, CA
My observations:
At the end of the day, it's such a fun car to drive that you overlook some of the downsides.
- No C5 is quiet. Its a semi-loud ride, but what you'd expect from a sportscar of its age. Not a Buick plush ride.
Agreed, especially Z06. I'm looking to pick up a cargo divider/partition because the road noise from the cargo area kinda drowns out music at 80mph.
- I'm glad I added a newer infotainment system. Navigation, various music source options, Waze for traffic, back up camera, etc. It really makes the commute more pleasurable
I run music and navigation from my phone over Bluetooth, but surely a nice double din unit is superior.
- The center tunnel gets hot. I've added the heat reflecting material and additional insulation, but it still gets hot on long heavy traffic grinds. Your leg will be hotter than you may like at times.
This might be a "YMMV" topic. My Z06 doesn't have any heat insulation, but my leg doesn't notice any heat. My legs are longer and don't touch the center console while driving, though... regardless I have a center console insulator en-route, and an insulated tunnel plate to install.
- Aftermarket exhausts will add drone and extra noise, although I'd argue it's "good noise"
Having the stock titanium exhaust is great for DD. It makes enough noise that you enjoy it, but zero drone and is pretty quiet cruising in 6th.
At the end of the day, it's such a fun car to drive that you overlook some of the downsides.
Agreed! I've got some interior rattles and and squeak/rattle that sounds like it's from the exterior. Doesn't much detract from the joy of driving a Z06!
Hope you don't mind, I added some additional thoughts to some of your bullet points.
My biggest gripe with DD'ing my '01 Z is the poor turning radius. Hence why I started a thread about it.
Last edited by MetalMan2; Sep 19, 2019 at 04:19 PM.
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 1,931
Likes: 207
From: Sumter SC
I did/do.
It makes me want to go to the office even when I don't have to.
Don't buy into the "I need an auto for the commute" bullshit. LS1 has gobs of low end torque that negates that argument, assuming you know how to properly drive a manual and you actually pay attention to what you are doing when you drive. So 2 caveats
.
I found one with a new master/slave, under 60K, 4 figures. I get 23mpg average on a car that is not depreciating and makes me smile. How good is that?
It makes me want to go to the office even when I don't have to.
Don't buy into the "I need an auto for the commute" bullshit. LS1 has gobs of low end torque that negates that argument, assuming you know how to properly drive a manual and you actually pay attention to what you are doing when you drive. So 2 caveats
.I found one with a new master/slave, under 60K, 4 figures. I get 23mpg average on a car that is not depreciating and makes me smile. How good is that?
C5Z is daily for me. I specifically bought it to daily. 126K and smiles so far.
It will not stay "pristine" from the daily grind. Expect lots of rock ships from sitting so low.
I would shoot for an 01+ to save yourself from the ABS EBCM and SWPS availability.
Keep in mind C5's have their annoyances, and mine has been par the course on those issues.
The Heads up falls, It leaks under heavy rain. Balancer can start to wobble. Head lights suck.
Lots of fixes out there, but I've run into every one of these issues.
Love the C5, and love this forum. If yours has an issue, good chance someone's else has had the same thing and they have a fix.
It will not stay "pristine" from the daily grind. Expect lots of rock ships from sitting so low.
I would shoot for an 01+ to save yourself from the ABS EBCM and SWPS availability.
Keep in mind C5's have their annoyances, and mine has been par the course on those issues.
The Heads up falls, It leaks under heavy rain. Balancer can start to wobble. Head lights suck.
Lots of fixes out there, but I've run into every one of these issues.
Love the C5, and love this forum. If yours has an issue, good chance someone's else has had the same thing and they have a fix.
I would like to hear more from the guys who have 200K+ on their C5s. How reliable have they been? What has been replaced/repaired? Are you still on the original drive train? Do they use oil or leak fluids? I love hearing about high mileage vehicles and how well, or bad they've been...
I semi-regularly commute in mine. The commute is 100 miles total both ways through every type of traffic from dense city to open highway. I agree with the poster above that don't consider an automatic to be a necessity. The lightweight car and high torque make it a pretty easy manual car to live with.
My observations:
My observations:
- Crazy good fuel mileage on the highway. I can average 30mpg with a light foot
- No C5 is quiet. Its a semi-loud ride, but what you'd expect from a sportscar of its age. Not a Buick plush ride.
- I'm glad I added a newer infotainment system. Navigation, various music source options, Waze for traffic, back up camera, etc. It really makes the commute more pleasurable
- The center tunnel gets hot. I've added the heat reflecting material and additional insulation, but it still gets hot on long heavy traffic grinds. Your leg will be hotter than you may like at times.
- Tires may be a concern. You'll go through them faster than the normal weekend warrior. That can get expensive.
- Aftermarket exhausts will add drone and extra noise, although I'd argue it's "good noise"
Thank you guys for the insight! I will see how things go over the next month and start looking if my bike sells. I do like the LS torque and mods are not really important to me on this car so it will remain mostly stock.
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 4,308
Likes: 3,455
From: Somewhere, Florida
St. Jude Donor '20-'21-'22-'23-'24
I have only owned mine for 9 months, but I can give insight since my car had full service records for the first owner (and over 260k under her ownership)
- Original engine, trans and diff. No rebuilds anywhere in the stack of records, but religious fluid changes like clockwork.
- Been through a few clutches - she also tracked the car
- I JUST replaced the original alternator 2 months ago and at 265k
- I replaced the original harmonic balancer at 262k. I know these are a common failure point though - guess she was lucky. Now has a Summit C-2501 and no more worries.
- The rear diff is making some noise, but that's because the last shop she was serviced at before I bought the car didn't put fluid in it and ran it dry. I've flushed it and been running it for 7,000 miles since then and no issues, just some noise. Got VERY lucky. Have another 38k mile 3.42 diff sitting on the shelf at home when I get adventurous.
- Tunnel definitely gets hot.
- I also upgraded the audio, but this is one of my passions. 8" PRV midbass speakers and 1" compression drivers in the doors, no rear speakers, two 8" subs in the back - still have enough usable room to store my targa top (this was a non-negotiable). Added a JVC deck with android auto/apple carplay as well. Must have.
It just rolled over to 268,000 miles on my way back from Cars and Coffee on Sunday and the drive was a blast. 200 miles round trip with the targa top off.
- Original engine, trans and diff. No rebuilds anywhere in the stack of records, but religious fluid changes like clockwork.
- Been through a few clutches - she also tracked the car
- I JUST replaced the original alternator 2 months ago and at 265k
- I replaced the original harmonic balancer at 262k. I know these are a common failure point though - guess she was lucky. Now has a Summit C-2501 and no more worries.
- The rear diff is making some noise, but that's because the last shop she was serviced at before I bought the car didn't put fluid in it and ran it dry. I've flushed it and been running it for 7,000 miles since then and no issues, just some noise. Got VERY lucky. Have another 38k mile 3.42 diff sitting on the shelf at home when I get adventurous.
- Tunnel definitely gets hot.
- I also upgraded the audio, but this is one of my passions. 8" PRV midbass speakers and 1" compression drivers in the doors, no rear speakers, two 8" subs in the back - still have enough usable room to store my targa top (this was a non-negotiable). Added a JVC deck with android auto/apple carplay as well. Must have.
It just rolled over to 268,000 miles on my way back from Cars and Coffee on Sunday and the drive was a blast. 200 miles round trip with the targa top off.
