Like many others have said '01-'04 is your best bet. Prices have been going up the last few months, so you may need to go a bit over the 10K mark for a solid car in that year range. However, since you're looking for an automatic coupe, you should be able to find something in the 9-12K range that would do well for you. These cars are excellent DD cars. I had some minor transmission issues on my automatic that I needed to get fixed. However, the trans blew up on the dyno after I supercharged the car. It's bulletproof now though after RPM got a hold of it. Under normal highway driving on a stock C5, you shouldn't have an significant transmission issues.

 

Well thanks for all the input! I always do find these threads interesting. Sounds like the C5 ranges from being a real bone to having the reliability of a Detroit diesel hahaha. Y’all are cracking me up. The c4 guys are definitely more positive about their rides, although they still say get a C5 to DD (majority).

yessss I understand a civic is the smart money and that $10000 is a paupers budget for any vette, but this was more about “can it be done”.

So if we take an educated look and flip this bad boy on its head for fun I can buy a C6 2012 coupe with 15,000 miles locally for 32,000 OTD. Financed all the way at 2.19 for 72 through my CU is $474/month. That’s $8,532 over 18 months and for easy math in 18 months let’s say the car now has 60,000 miles. Can the vehicle be sold for at least $24,000 making cost of ownership with taxes just slightly over my 10,000 dollar cap. Anything more than 24,000 (approx) is actually money in the bank, and I got to have a fun time driving to work.

There’s a puzzler. Thanks for all the input though seriously. This has been a great mental exercise and I learned a lot about c4 and C5 Vetted really quickly....this forum is amazing.

 

I think we're just more realistic overall.

They're great cars, easy to service, and 99% of the parts are cheap and readily available. It's the 1% that can get you, so get a late model car and avoid them. I don't necessarily agree with budgeting for a diff rebuild right off the rip... you can drive the snot out of these cars as long as you don't try and make it into a drag racer. That's when you break stuff.

Where are you located? Maybe you're close enough to someone to get a little C5 seat time.

 

I used my 1998 coupe for a commute of 120 - 150 miles daily for 9 years. Then we both retired. The only problem was the clutch slave cylinder at 75K miles. Still running great but this month I had to replace the harmonic balancer at 148K miles. Those are the only two large jobs in 13 years. Everything still works as designed. Any of the C5s would make a good commuter. Highway gas mileage is around 28 mpg with a high once of 34 mpg.

They are just not great in snow over 3". But you got that covered.

 

Florida highways are too fast for that kind of economy haha Normal cruising speed is 80+ pretty much anywhere. I could definitely imagine a C5 getting highway numbers in the low 30s at 60 to 70mph though.

 

C5 all the way. Have you climbed into a C4? It is like getting into a bathtub. The foot room is also significantly less. Those two things alone are enough to sway me away from a C4 as a daily. I used to commute 1000 miles / week and my C5 Z06 was and still is reliable. On multiple occasions, I've also driven 1200+ miles in a day and not felt uncomfortable.

The C5 platform had a bogey of 250k miles on the engine and 400k miles for the chassis..

 

C4 or C5, in some aspects it dosen't make a difference. It's a used car no matter how you look at it! Any used car will have 'expendable' items that will/should be addressed at time of purchase or soon after. Especially if the car is going to be a daily driver.
Whether the car is low miles or high, both have their drawbacks. Low miles means the car has been sitting somewhere a lot and is not good for a vehicle to not be driven somewhat regularly. High miles and moving parts naturally wear out. Choose your poison.
Manual trans, what condition is the clutch in?
Auto trans, a fluid and filter change no matter the milage.
Brake fluid and flush and fill, new pads and rotors?
Tires and battery?
Oil and filter change, air filter change.
Radiator and antifreeze?
That should cover the basics for either 'C'

Now my point of view on either 'C'...
A good friend has a 60,000ish mile C4, auto, '89 coupe. The car was his dads, purchased new. Passed along when dad couldn't drive any more. It had been hotted up a little bit with a chip, exhaust, intake and mild shift kit by the dad before my friend got it. I have ridden in this car many times, purrs like a kitten, runs down the road excellently!
BUT (there's always one, isn't there), I get out of the car even after a short 20 minute ride and I start counting the fillings in my teeth to see how many are missing. It rides over even the smallest bumps like a lumber wagon!! Let alone how my back feels, no matter how I try to adjust the seat position, I want to go have my back aligned by a doctor!
My friend wants to/has tried to use it as a daily and has given up due to how uncomfortable it is to ride in!

I have a '03 C5, auto, vert and I have Run Flats on it. It's bone stock except for a CAI on it when I bought it.
I changed the trans fluid and filter, bleed and filled the brakes with new pads and rotors. It had a year old battery when I got it. The radiator tested to -20 so I never touched the antifreeze.
The only thing I have had to fix was the bushings for the shifter cable, changed the whole cable as extra precaution.
Now my friends car will absolutely spank mine between the stop lights! Not unexpected with his upgrades. My car will run away and hide from his on any road with a few twists and turns in it with the car in sports mode. In tour mode my car rides better than even my wife's Infiniti! My friend has even said it rides better than his wifes 2016 Silverado!
My only complaint would be that it's a litte difficult to get into and out of as it sits so low. Lower to get in and out of my friends car.
My longest drive in it was 8 hours so far. With a couple of stops to pee and a fill up, after arriving home I felt like I could still have done a few more hours if I had needed to. Besides being a little stiff, no back pain at all!!!

Sorry for being so long winded but to bottom line it...
​​A C5 is such a much better car to drive, especially if it will be a daily, that in my humble opinion there is no comparison.
I'm sure I wouldn't even think of getting a C4 now unless it was something really, really special. A ZR1, something from Callaway, Lingenfelter or so on.

 

I have a small amount of seat time in a c4, but nothing super notable. Thanks for dropping your knowledge!

 

Ok,

So my wife rolled a grenade into my little fantasy land last night and informed me that she would reallllly like it if I would just spend a little more, and get a 4 seat car this time around since we have an 8 and 4 year old. We had been looking to add a jeep, but I really don't want to daily a jeep, and any jeep I would consider would probably be getting about 13 mpg if I was lucky.

She's been a sucker for 69 Camaros her whole life, so she suggested since that wasn't a viable daily that we go shopping for a 5th or early 6th Gen Camaro to add to the fleet. I'm not a Camaro fan boy by any stretch, but they aren't bad, and there are some interesting choices at some decent price points in that environment.....I do think depreciation planning is more of a factor for them.....I also don't think they get near the gas mileage that the Vettes are capable of. I guess I'll mosey over that way and see what I can learn, but if it keeps the wife happy, and I get to drive something more interesting than a 70k "baby big rig" on a daily basis I'd be happy.

I do thank you all for your depth of knowledge on the C4 and C5, and perhaps sometime in the not so distant future I'll be back on the hunt for a Vette.

 

Selling a kid is a compelling option.

 

You know.....it's not the first time I've suggested it.

 

I think a 96 LT4 is a great daily driver. However, you can tell its an older car when you are driving it. It really depends on what you are coming from.

The C5 is a better car, but not necessarily more fun to drive.

My current daily is a Callaway C6, I love it but still have a serious soft spot for my C4s.

 

Ive got a few friends who have gone away from vette's to Camaro's, CTS-V, Challenger, Mustang, etc... for the 4 seats so their wife and kids could go with them to car "things"...

Yea, never happens... It sounds good in theory, but in practice it never happens and they are, maybe not open about it, but I know disappointed for getting rid of their vette.

I know I will always own a vette after myself personally trying out different cars that I thought maybe offered something else that might be "better" but in the end(3 times now) I have come back to Corvette... I have learned my lesson so to speak.

My wife knows it too.

 

True - plus if your kids are taller than 3 ft, they aren't fitting in a Camaro back seat with an adult up front, either....

 

Yeah if my wife didn't like car's, and have a track record of indulging me, I would understand that.....this isn't about going to "car things" as much as having something fun to take to "non-car things"......we drive, road-trip, and get about a lot more than the average people in our neighborhood....I can personally say from a "fun" standpoint I think a 2SS convertible fits the bill, but the CTS-V is an appealing option from room and engine standpoint. Plus my budget just changed :-)

Thanks for all the input / ideas!

 

Good luck with whatever you end up getting. Maybe you can get a used C8 once the kids have all grown up and left home.

 

That would be awesome.....and if I work real hard and save my pennies maybe I can get it sooner!

 

Oh man, I just got a similar code recently on my DIC for my 04. Hopefully, I can DIY fix it without needing a new EBCM.

I picked up my C5 earlier this year from SLC, Utah. Bone stock, Torch Red, 75K miles, at $15K. Drove it straight back to Los Angeles while stopping at two national parks without any issues. The only issue so far (besides the current EBCM problem) was the column locking module and shredded headlight rotor - both DIY fixed for less than $100. Other than that, it's just been maintenance. LS1s are built like tanks.

I didn't have to travel that far for my Corvette, it's just that I wanted a red one and California didn't have a red one that I liked. I was even willing to fly out as far as Florida to buy one lol. When I was shopping around, there was a local silver 02 C5 for $10K with less than 100K miles, so deals are definitely around if you're vigilant.