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I Like the pewter color but never found a pewter vert that didn't have black interior. I previously had a Miata MX5 with black seats and literally got cooked after getting in the car left outside in the sun. Glad to see one with oak interior, my favorite.
Eggzelent! Another convert to the 'vert side of the Force! It is just amazing to put the top down and go cruising on a sunny day or a cool evening. Convertibles are why sunny days were created.
I'm on the horns of a dilemma here, and I've got some questions to help me sort it out.
I've got two excellent candidates for my first Corvette: a 2001 convertible with 35,000 miles, vs. a 2004 coupe with 62,000 miles. I've test-driven the convertible (it's relatively close to home) and it seems quite satisfactory; I haven't laid eyes on the coupe, which is 200 miles away, but I've test-driven others like it.
The drop-top aspect of the convertible is pleasant indeed, though not in this weather, of course! (I have formerly owned a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder, and yes, I enjoyed it as a convertible, but its power top wasn't the best ... the C5's manual top is easy to handle, and the hinged tonneau cover makes it look much better with the top down.) But I love the sleek 'fastback' look of the targa coupe, with or without the hardtop in place; and it seems to me that the dropped convertible top takes a lot of room in the trunk, while I'd imagine you can pack soft stuff beneath and atop the hardtop and keep most of your luggage room. Also, the narrow rear window of the 'vert is uncomfortably small and view-restricting, especially when I'm backing the car into a parking space. (Which I always do -- and I always have, since the backing-out accident I had in the Seventies.)
But I don't know, of course -- and I'm looking for advice from you, both coupe drivers and 'vert drivers.
From the coupe drivers:
Have you stowed the targa roof over top of soft items like sleeping bags, duffel bags, and soft-sided suitcases? Did it work out okay for you?
How often do you remove and stow the roof panel? Do you find it convenient enough to pop it off for relatively short jaunts, or is it enough hassle that you rarely take it down?
From the 'vert drivers:
Do you find the view out the back is claustrophobic, or do you just get used to it?
Do you find the limited trunk-space (with the top down) is a problem, on long-distance trips, or have you figured ways to work around it?
From both:
Are you happy with your choice (coupe vs 'vert)? Are there times and circumstances when you wish you'd gotten the other style?
I know I'm going to love whichever Vette I get. But I want to make a more-informed choice, and I hope you'll help me with that.
Thanks - Westy
If long term value is important to you, I believe the Vert will hold its value a little more, especially if it's a 6 speed. As for claustrophobic problems, absolutely not. My top is almost always down. Yes, you do give up some storage space. But I've never had a problem working around it. So you'll know, wife and I once took a 2 week trip to California from Michigan. Women enjoy......making certain they have everything they'll ever need on a trip, and I'll leave it at that. Over 7,000 miles in 2 weeks. Sadly, we had to have the top up almost the entire trip, as we were in a record heat wave in August of 2006 that found us driving in triple digit temps for both weeks!! We have taken many trips in it, most all with the top down, and never had an issue with storage. As for backing into a parking place, I do this most of the time, for the same reasons you do!!! 3 mirrors and practice will get you thru. I say buy whichever really catches your eye. Hard to go wrong either way
How many of you older guys watched the Route 66 tv show, with Tod & Buz cruising the USA, in Tod's 62 Corvette? I watched it every week and one of my bucket list items was the desire to drive the Pacific Coast highway, in a convertible Corvette. If I buy another Vette, it's definitely going to be another convertible, this time.
Did you ever notice that they suddenly had a different Corvette each season? They always had whatever the newest model was. You'll also notice that every other car that appears on the show is a Chevy. I'm not old enough for the original run, but I used to watch it in syndication. Later on my dad got the whole series on DVD, but we're pretty sure they were bootleg recordings off of a TV broadcast(didn't know that when he ordered them).
Thank you all for your take on my Targa-VS-Vert dilemma. The excitement from the Vert-drivers was truly infectious, and it infected me!
I've called the dealership where I found this one in December. They raised the price $1300 for this month, a "market adjustment," but they'll sell it to me for the December price.
It's got the A4 transmission that my "auto doctor," George of George's Auto Hospital, recommended for me. (This is moving up from my current Pious Prius.)
It does NOT have the Magnetic Ride option, which is something I didn't want. Period.
I like the color - Light Pewter Metallic, with the Light Oak interior. Outside, it's as inconspicuous as a Corvette can manage to be, yet it's All Corvette.
It has a Borla exhaust, or at least Borla tips ... a stock exhaust would have been quieter, I'm sure, but this isn't all that loud. A smooth, authoritative rumble.
I'm going over to the dealer tomorrow, for a longer test-drive and a pre-purchase review at a nearby AAA-approved garage. If it passes their check -- and I don't doubt that it will, the car has been babied with less than 2000 miles per year average -- I'll have my Corvette! Woohoo!!!
Thanks to all of you, for your opinions and your experiences. You reminded me of the FUN of driving a drop-top convertible, and of how it really is my best choice!
Looks nice! Good luck. Hopefully you'll be a new Vette owner before the snow hits.
Did you ever notice that they suddenly had a different Corvette each season? They always had whatever the newest model was. You'll also notice that every other car that appears on the show is a Chevy. I'm not old enough for the original run, but I used to watch it in syndication. Later on my dad got the whole series on DVD, but we're pretty sure they were bootleg recordings off of a TV broadcast(didn't know that when he ordered them).
I remember the show. Unfortunately, just as I was nearing an age where I could stay up a bit longer, it was canceled. I am really looking forward to seeing one episode in particular, the "Lizards lip and Owls wing". Isn't this episode the one where Boring Karloff wore the original Frankenstein's Monster makeup?
Thank you all for your take on my Targa-VS-Vert dilemma. The excitement from the Vert-drivers was truly infectious, and it infected me!
I've called the dealership where I found this one in December. They raised the price $1300 for this month, a "market adjustment," but they'll sell it to me for the December price.
Thanks to all of you, for your opinions and your experiences. You reminded me of the FUN of driving a drop-top convertible, and of how it really is my best choice!
@Westy R I have the vert 2000...I just enjoy it here in Sweden, Europe...not the warmer weather, but the Vette gets warm pretty fast. I am parking backward, use my side mirror and memory 2 to look at the lines. Never tried a coupe to compare to be honest. Not sure about the blind angle increase between the two, should not be a difference on the driver side, the ragtop is a little bit larger than the halo when you look to passenger side.
In the central rear view mirror, I don't see any restriction from the window.
the top down, exterior air is coming in between the seats via the waterfall, the view is unobstructed in all directions...feels great to me.
besides, you'll have to rework those black wheels... in another color...
my 2 cents hoping the car passes the garage inspection with good results...it will still be a 20years old car so be prepared to maintain some parts of it.
TCFS
I just recently put Borla cat back exhaust on my car, they are not cheap, not loud at idle or cruise but sound great when going full throttle and get the RPM built up, then they are loud.
I'm sure it's real Borla exhaust on the one you are considering, they don't just sell tips that I'm aware of, look at it while on lift, mufflers should say Borla also.
Had it up on a lift this morning, for a pre-purchase inspection by an AAA-approved garage. It's a Borla S-Type exhaust, and yes, when I put my foot in it, they tell the neighborhood.
A big change from my trusty-if-bland Prius. The Vette is all about converting gasoline into noise and fun!
If you might track the car, a vert will most likely require a roll bar.
I love my coupe- but- I am not a vert kind of guy, I do not like the wind blowing my hair around. But you might like that.
The roll bar point you make is a VERY good one. If you have a Vert, and your "tracking the car" is taking it to the strip once in awhile, some tracks will enforce the roll bar requirements. The NHRA did require a roll bar on any Vert running a 13.99, or quicker 1/4 mile. They have since lowered it to 13.49, or quicker. I have been black flagged at a couple tracks, and run at others into the 11s without it. Just sayin.......
I took about a half-hour test drive, including a few miles up a superhighway near the dealership. Noticed some 'trembling' up above 70 mph at first, but it seemed to get better -- maybe a tire had a flat spot from standing out in the cold too long. Its exhaust seemed pretty loud to me, certainly when accelerating, but once it reaches speed it quiets out. And anyways, it's a Corvette, it's supposed to be loud-and-proud, isn't it?
Then I took it to the garage for the inspection. The guy spent close to an hour with me on that. He disliked the black-painted wheels and brake-calipers -- one former owner's notion of "what looks cool" -- and he noted that the front bumper had been re-painted; there were no signs of damage, and he figured it got worn and scuffed under a car-bra. (The bumper is a little less sparkly than the hood and fenders, but it's hardly noticeable.) All the seals were good, the drive-train was dry underneath, but all-in-all, he said he'd "recommend" it.
So when I got back to the dealership, I backed the Vette into an open parking spot ... and got out my checkbook.
I paid $21,000, including 6% sales tax, title fees, and the "dealer's processing fees." It's a hefty bit of change, but I had the cash for it, and after all, what's money for? The salesman drove my Prius, followed by another new salesman in a car to bring them back -- and they left me at my car-doctor's "auto hospital." George had me drive it into his shop, where it will be out of tomorrow's snowstorm, and he'll do the Maryland state inspection, probably Monday. I had a delightful drive around the Beltway and back up to my neighborhood -- a drive measured by smiles per mile -- and I was still glowing while I drove the hybrid econo-box home.
As soon as I get it from Eckler, the Prius will splrt a license frame that declares, "My other car is a CORVETTE!"
And now I've earned a new avatar, going from this ...
I took about a half-hour test drive, including a few miles up a superhighway near the dealership. Noticed some 'trembling' up above 70 mph at first, but it seemed to get better -- maybe a tire had a flat spot from standing out in the cold too long. Its exhaust seemed pretty loud to me, certainly when accelerating, but once it reaches speed it quiets out. And anyways, it's a Corvette, it's supposed to be loud-and-proud, isn't it?
Then I took it to the garage for the inspection. The guy spent close to an hour with me on that. He disliked the black-painted wheels and brake-calipers -- one former owner's notion of "what looks cool" -- and he noted that the front bumper had been re-painted; there were no signs of damage, and he figured it got worn and scuffed under a car-bra. (The bumper is a little less sparkly than the hood and fenders, but it's hardly noticeable.) All the seals were good, the drive-train was dry underneath, but all-in-all, he said he'd "recommend" it.
So when I got back to the dealership, I backed the Vette into an open parking spot ... and got out my checkbook.
I paid $21,000, including 6% sales tax, title fees, and the "dealer's processing fees." It's a hefty bit of change, but I had the cash for it, and after all, what's money for? The salesman drove my Prius, followed by another new salesman in a car to bring them back -- and they left me at my car-doctor's "auto hospital." George had me drive it into his shop, where it will be out of tomorrow's snowstorm, and he'll do the Maryland state inspection, probably Monday. I had a delightful drive around the Beltway and back up to my neighborhood -- a drive measured by smiles per mile -- and I was still glowing while I drove the hybrid econo-box home.
As soon as I get it from Eckler, the Prius will splrt a license frame that declares, "My other car is a CORVETTE!"
And now I've earned a new avatar, going from this ...
To this.
Congratulations. Nice choice.
Last edited by GeorgieMporgie; Jan 30, 2021 at 06:30 PM.
Reason: spelling
Congratulations! And let the food fights over black wheels and BSMs begin!
Hard to tell in the pics, but are those OEM thin spokes painted black?
Regarding the view out the rear window, I found the perfect solution - backup camera. I put in a double DIN head unit with a back-up camera a year ago, bringing my C5 into the 21st Century.
Last edited by K9Leader; Jan 30, 2021 at 10:24 PM.
Westy, you sound like me. I’m an over thinker. I dwell and research and listen and research more because I don’t want to make a mistake.
But once I had decided I wanted a black 04 coupe with a stick shift, I found a crazy deal on a silver vert with automatic and only 27k miles. I hemmed and hawed—and bought it.
We don’t all have to agree. Hell, I wanted black and room in the back and 3 pedals. But this car is a blast. Took me a while to decide on aftermarket head unit and speakers. And a few years on seat colors and type. But I don’t miss what I don’t have— and that’s includes what I had thought I wanted. So pick one and have fun. If you absolutely hate it, sell it and get what you want.
I just don’t see how you can go wrong either way. Stop overthinking and drive one of each and pick a coupe or vert from there.
I love the vert but they both look amazing.
Good luck!
I took about a half-hour test drive, including a few miles up a superhighway near the dealership. Noticed some 'trembling' up above 70 mph at first, but it seemed to get better -- maybe a tire had a flat spot from standing out in the cold too long. Its exhaust seemed pretty loud to me, certainly when accelerating, but once it reaches speed it quiets out. And anyways, it's a Corvette, it's supposed to be loud-and-proud, isn't it?
Then I took it to the garage for the inspection. The guy spent close to an hour with me on that. He disliked the black-painted wheels and brake-calipers -- one former owner's notion of "what looks cool" -- and he noted that the front bumper had been re-painted; there were no signs of damage, and he figured it got worn and scuffed under a car-bra. (The bumper is a little less sparkly than the hood and fenders, but it's hardly noticeable.) All the seals were good, the drive-train was dry underneath, but all-in-all, he said he'd "recommend" it.
So when I got back to the dealership, I backed the Vette into an open parking spot ... and got out my checkbook.
I paid $21,000, including 6% sales tax, title fees, and the "dealer's processing fees." It's a hefty bit of change, but I had the cash for it, and after all, what's money for? The salesman drove my Prius, followed by another new salesman in a car to bring them back -- and they left me at my car-doctor's "auto hospital." George had me drive it into his shop, where it will be out of tomorrow's snowstorm, and he'll do the Maryland state inspection, probably Monday. I had a delightful drive around the Beltway and back up to my neighborhood -- a drive measured by smiles per mile -- and I was still glowing while I drove the hybrid econo-box home.
As soon as I get it from Eckler, the Prius will splrt a license frame that declares, "My other car is a CORVETTE!"
And now I've earned a new avatar, going from this ...
To this.
CONGRATS! Welcome to the Corvette family. I know that you're going to love your new C5. It's a shame that all this snow hit when it did. In a few months, you'll be glad you picked the vert. Make sure to watch out for all those Maryland speed cameras. Let us know if you ever have any questions.
Don't forget to SAVE THE WAVE!!
Congratulations! And let the food fights over black wheels and BSMs begin!
Hard to tell in the pics, but are those OEM thin spokes painted black?
Regarding the view out the rear window, I found the perfect solution - backup camera. I put in a double DIN head unit with a back-up camera a year ago, bringing my C5 into the 21st Century.
A previous owner painted those wheels black, along with the brake calipers (idiot!) -- I think they look kinda ghetto, but I don't see them from inside.
I suspect the same owner put the black top on the car -- the glove-box sticker calls for a "67T" Light Oak top, to match the interior.
Originally Posted by JimHarris4
Westy, you sound like me. I’m an over thinker. I dwell and research and listen and research more because I don’t want to make a mistake.
But once I had decided I wanted a black 04 coupe with a stick shift, I found a crazy deal on a silver vert with automatic and only 27k miles. I hemmed and hawed—and bought it.
We don’t all have to agree. Hell, I wanted black and room in the back and 3 pedals. But this car is a blast. Took me a while to decide on aftermarket head unit and speakers. And a few years on seat colors and type. But I don’t miss what I don’t have— and that’s includes what I had thought I wanted. So pick one and have fun. If you absolutely hate it, sell it and get what you want.
I just don’t see how you can go wrong either way. Stop overthinking and drive one of each and pick a coupe or vert from there.
I love the vert but they both look amazing.
Good luck!
Jim, you describe what I did ... I drove not one, but several, of each style. And this won out. As you see above, it's remarkably like yours, but I have the Light Oak interior.
BTW, you say your car is silver? It looks remarkably similar to my 2001 model's "Light Pewter Metallic."
Originally Posted by MWWarlord
CONGRATS! Welcome to the Corvette family. I know that you're going to love your new C5. It's a shame that all this snow hit when it did. In a few months, you'll be glad you picked the vert. Make sure to watch out for all those Maryland speed cameras. Let us know if you ever have any questions.
Don't forget to SAVE THE WAVE!!
Yeah, what perfect frakkin' timing, and there's more to come. I've ordered a snow cover (that's how I'll use it) from the Corvette Forum Store ... it may come in handy.
I just hope I don't screw up and offer the Corvette Wave from my old Prius.
. Over 7,000 miles in 2 weeks. Sadly, we had to have the top up almost the entire trip, as we were in a record heat wave in August of 2006 that found us driving in triple digit temps for both weeks!! We have taken many trips in it, most all with the top down, and never had an issue with storage. As for backing into a parking place, I do this most of the time, for the same reasons you do!!! 3 mirrors and practice will get you thru. I say buy whichever really catches your eye. Hard to go wrong either way
I'm not old enough for the original run, but I used to watch it in syndication. Later on my dad got the whole series on DVD, but we're pretty sure they were bootleg recordings off of a TV broadcast(didn't know that when he ordered them).
in another color...
. Make sure to watch out for all those Maryland speed cameras. Let us know if you ever have any questions.
