I think you are a little optimistic with your G35 resale idea but you will find out; depreciation is always either disappointing or worse! The 04 Z06 may depreciate more than usual when the C6 Z06 hits the streets even though it will cost quite a bit more. I think the most important thing for you is to decide which car will hold your interest long enough for a few years which is tough with all the great new cars coming out all the time! It was a painful process for me and I still have to work at it - always wanting the latest and greatest. Good luck with your decision.

 

You could not be more WRONG. Depreciation on a G35 is not in the same league as a Corvette. I promise you he will sell the Infiniti for pretty much what he paid for it. The american cars simply do NOT hold their values like the imports. Now that being said, ANY car in exceptional condition will bring a premium in the used market. I know a guy who sold a exceptional 98 corvette with 47000 miles for 23000,
just recently. But the car was damn near flawless. My point is thus, get what you want, but you want get hurt too bad it at all on the Infiniti!

 

CNN Money does an annual top 10 best resale value list. In 2004, the Z06 was on the list and equaled the best imports for 2 and 5 year depreciation. The Z06 didn't make the cut for 2005, but the G35 did. In any case, these charts are based on MSRP. In the real world, you pay MSRP+ for high-demand imports and substantially under MSRP for domestics. For example, I paid $42,500 for my 2004 Z06. Edmunds.com says that dealer retail (used) on this car is now $41,678. That's less than 2% depreciation in the first year (when most of the depreciation occurs). Even using the private party price of $38,305, the car has only depreciated less than 10%. That is extremely good and better than most mass produced imports. Another example: I bought a new 2003 Ford van 18 months ago. I paid $30,500 (MSRP was $38,280). I just sold it to a dealer (who had someone fly from Detroit to Baltimore to pick it up) for $25,000. That works out to 18% depreciate. Again, few imports can match that.

A used 2004 G35 Coupe has a dealer retail right now of $29,718. This car sold new for about $33,500. That's slightly more than 12% depreciation. This is much worse than the 2% on the Z06 and, if you look at the 2003 model (dealer retail: $28,154) its about 16% - nearly as much as my van (with supposedly one of the worst resale values around). And we're comparing full dealer retail on the '03 G35 versus wholesale on the van.

Sorry, but based on my real word experiences using price paid (as opposed to MSRP), the imports aren't at all superior to the domestics when it comes to resale value.

 

Take a test drive in all the models your considering. See which one does it for you. Everyone has different prioritys, all the track doggs on the site will say buy the Z06, because its slightly faster. Some like the notchback style of the Z. Then again having a lift-off roof and GPS may be better for some, C6.

I love my Z06 but I really miss my vert. on days when the weather is nice. Which is most of the time in texas.

Have fun and drive'm all. Then make your decision.

 

Depreciation should be based on MSRP, not what you paid; this allows for valid comparisons in the books. I know what you actually paid and what you actually got for it is what's real in your mind but official figures are based on MSRP and average resales as a whole. Infiniti, as a whole and on past history for other models, has not done very well on resale and there isn't a particularly good reason for it other than when compared to Lexus which enjoys a better resale than Infiniti as a whole. There are always exceptions for certain models. I'm pretty cynical when it comes to resale because I have talked to too many professional car appraisers who buy cars, and have studied many lease residuals. In general, Japanese cars will do better than American cars because they hold up better. But just because a car has a great reliability record doesn't mean it won't suffer significant depreciation. There are other factors like appeal and competition.

 

i have a 03 z06 and i found the new ones to have less room in them, their books might say different but at 6' 2" 255lbs i can tell.

 

Your depreciation is based on what you paid or would pay for a particular car. MSRP is irrelevant unless you paid MSRP. I paid 43,500 for a new '04 Z06 last April. The Blue Book private party is 40,000. Compare that to what people paid for popular high performance imports and their private party numbers and resale on a Z06 ain't bad.

 

DITTO

 

OK guys, let's look at depreciation another way: If it's based on what YOU paid for it, what about the other guy who paid more or less than you; what does that say about the CAR's depreciation? In other words, say you paid $6K less than the other guy. The other guy think's the car's resale is terrible and you think the car's resale is pretty good. The MSRP is the same in either case so that's why using MSRP is a more objective way of gauging resale value.

 

No reasonable person would pay MSRP on a C5 during at least the last few years of production. Gauging depreciation on a purchase amount that doesn't reflect reality certainly won't give you "realistic" depreciation figures. To determine a model's ave. deprec. you need to start with ave purchase price. To determine my deprec., I'll start with what I paid and benefit from there.

 

I would go with the C6. It's almost as fast as the Z06 and you can take off the top. In addition there's a lot more storage room in the hatch as opposed to the Z06 trunk. The Z06's are awesome cars, but when the 2006 Z06 comes out the C5 Z06's are only going to depreciate more while the C6's will hold their value, especially if you're getting $7,000 off a new C6. Just my opinion.

 

MSRP is the price to use if that's what everybody is paying. If everybody gets $5K off sticker, that's the price you have to go by. I'm not talking about someone who gets a special deal because his dad worked at the factory, I'm talking about what the average sale is. When the average new 04 Z06 sells for $43k, that's what you use, not MSRP.

Once again, I'll reiterate, IT DOES NOT MATTER WHETHER THE CAR IS FOREIGN OR DOMESTIC, IT WILL DEPRECIATE APPROXIMATELY 15% PER YEAR! All things being equal, such as mileage and condition.

Think about it like this: Pick a car, any car, foreign or domestic. Determine what the average guy will pay to purchase a brand new one. Zero miles, perfect condition, full warranty, 2005 model. Let's say it's $40k. Now let's say you are in the market for such car and you find a used 2004 with average 12k miles, excellent condition. How much would you pay for it if you know you can go to any dealer in town and get a new one for $40k??? $38k? I don't think so. $36k? Maybe, if you were feeling really motivated by some other outside stimulus like, the person selling it is really beautiful and maybe put a few extras on it. $34k? Now we're talking about a tempting amount of savings and the mileage, wear & tear, are outweighed by the $$$. Anything less than $34k and you jump all over it. The average will be $34k. FOREIGN OR DOMESTIC! I defy anyone to prove otherwise!

The resale value leaders, lead by only a percent or two and usually do so because of additional variables like timing on new model releases or the average amount of mileage a certain type of car gets driven per year, such as a Ferrari which averages maybe 1000 miles per year and therefore negates wear & tear depreciation.

 

I disagree. IMO the C6 will not hold its value any better.

 

I agree with mostly everyone who has responded to your question but, frankly it comes down to your decision. I have an 03 Z06 and it is a great car. The new C6 is nice but it is the first year in production and you will pay for that. It depends on looks vs. speed and I'm sorry the 06 is a better car. If you are looking for resale, forget about it, GM cars depreciate fast no mater what they are.

As for save a few extra pennies for the new Z06, it's much more then a few pennies, say at least $20K more then what you are looking at. That's an awlfull alot of performance work you can do to an 04 Z or C6.

Just my opinion, I'd buy the Z06, it's a hell of a deal even if it does depreciate.

 

I was in the same boat as you are now. A C6,Magnetic Red,Z51 or an 04 Lemans ZO6. It came down to personal preference. I was just "sold" on the looks of the ZO6,and that's what's sitting in my garage, even though it will depreciate faster than a C6.

 

Here's my two cents for what its worth. I say buy a nice used 04 C5 Z16 Z06 and that way it has already depreciated and you will get it for a great price and then if you sell in a year or two, you CERTAINLY will lose less considerably less $ then if buy a brand new C6 or brand new Z16 for that matter.

Also, the C5 Z06 Z16 is a funner and cooler car in my opinion than the new C6, especially for the value bang for the buck your getting with it, not to mention it is STILL THE FASTEST PRODUCTION VETTE, ever made yet (until the 06 Z comes out this fall of 05) and will eat up a regular C6 coupe and even edges out the fastest current C6, with all the go fast Z51 performance upgrades.

If your interested, I am aware of a vette specialty shop near my home that is willing to make a very good deal happen on a higher miles clean(about 24K miles I believe) 04 Lemans Blue Z16 Z06,(that i was actually interested in but decided on my 02 EB Z instead) that they have had for a couple of months during the winter and i can assure you are very motivated to sell. You can get an extended warranty on that and your off to the races (literally) both on the street, track and resale value loss ratio, etc. Let me know if your interested and i'll give you their number and no, i am not affiliated with them in any way but just a good acquaintance of theres as they live near my home and have some BAD AZZ VETTES, VIPERS, LAMBOs, Cobra Kit Cars on site at all times and will be going there tommorrow, as i think i am going to hire them to help me market and sell my MTI built 427 C5R 98 Vert!!

 

Buying one next week for < $43K.

GMS -4500 rebates-1000 GM card.

Look up the zip codes for major cities where there is snow on the ground.

Use chevrolet.com and the find this car. There were over 20 CE's in the midwest.

 

THAT's A KILLER PRICE FOR a KILLER CAR and great idea!!!!!!

 

Sorry to diagree, but the C6 z51 is the "fastest production vette ever
made" I won't agrue that the C5 Z06 is quicker than the C6, but it is not faster.

 

A C6 Z06 will have less depreciation than normal going forward. Kind of like the ZR1s. It's all supply & demand Economics 101. They can only build 30 engines (hand made) a day of the new Z06 motor. That means only about 1,440 C6 Z06s a year given 4 weeks off per year. It's all about supply/demand....

Performance wise, the C5Z06 is still better than the hottest C6 coupe.

I don't like several things about the new C6 (non Z06 model) myself.