this thought came to me the other day.a computer geek friend said do you know anybody with a 10 year old computer the answer NO than why do you get so mad about the electronics in the 2002 vette failing and giving its sensors/computers bad info/data its 11 years old has been driven 98000 miles.were lucky it works at all according to him the heat in the engine .bumps in the road and weather would kill most computers and this modern vette is just that a computer if you use your vette (or any other modern car)its destined to fail.common examples of this steering position sensors,traction control ,active handling,abs all items that have failed electronicly but not in the real world.the sad deal is this go back to a mid seventys car or replace your ride every five years.so as i get ready to buy a new vette does anybody have a good reason to wait for the c7 that will have even more computer controlled parts or do i buy the c6 at the close out deals thanks for your opinions

 

The C7 sounds pretty interesting to me - lots of new technology, new body style, better quality interior, etc. But, IMO, it would be hard to pass up a good deal on a C6 - just depends on how much money you want to spend.

 

My computer will be 10 years old next June. HP a250n... it does what I need it to and I've only had to replace the hard drive once

I don't think people are getting mad about parts failing, they are getting mad because parts are failing that aren't manufactured anymore.

Why? All those things you listed that fail still allow the car to be driveable, and used parts will always be around to replace the ones that fail..and there is still no guarantee that they will or wont fail on any given car. There are tens of thousands of C5s that have never had a problem with their electronics failing, you just always hear about them when the do.

Well, why bother with any Vette (or ANY modern electronic controlled car for that matter) if they're just destined to fail

just my $.02

 

I don't agree with you. Solid state equipment is exactly that. It means that it has no moving parts. Electronics, when manufactiured properly, can last forever and will withstand the harshest conditions. My last Japanese made Toshiba TV was still going after 25 years of daily use. My mother has it now. It all comes down to the quality of the electronic components and the quality of assembly.
Unfortunately, GM was under a tight budget for the C5 and therefore most of the electronic components were not manufactured to last forever. They could've been but, the price would have skyrocketed. Having said that, the electronics in the C5 are quite reliable relatively speaking.

 

A QUALITY 10 year old computer can still work like the day it was made. People get new computers because as technology evolves, software requirements demand more processing power to run efficiently.

 

I got a headache trying to read that trainwreck of a paragraph. I started over a couple times, but never got all the way through it.

 

Cars are not throwaway items like computers.

 

My C5 is 11 years old with 119K on it and has had no electrical failures (knock on wood) so I think GM did a pretty good job building them. It has been problem free other than a water pump at 100K and a couple minor fluid leaks that were easy fixes.

 

I totally disagree

 

To throw my nickel in the pot: I must agree with the guys that said we only hear about the failures. How many people would really start a thread to say that their C5 DIDN'T act up or give them problems?! I wouldn't expect anyone to do so...

That being said...to a certain extent, the OP has a point. The "harsh" driving environment increases the likelihood that an electronic component could fail...but certainly such things are accounted for during the design phase of a vehicle.

In my experience, outdated electronics do not fail because of age. I've personally seen control modules and instrumentation whose technology is older than I am...and it functioned just as reliably as the day it was built!

That being said, my C5 suffers from a bad SWPS...and, knock on wood, that's it. Oh sure, some random codes here and there when the battery gets disconnected, but everyone experiences that. Am I going to ditch my beloved Corvette simply because the technology is over 10 years old?...absolutely NOT! That'd be like throwing out my perfectly good iPod that I bought in 2005 just because there are newer, more advanced versions. Never mind how much money I've poured into the 'vette!

 

My one system at home was new in 2004, mid summer. An Athlon 4000+ CPU (single core), 36GB Raptor drive, ATI X850XT Video card, and many optional goodies. It is used as a file server in my home to this day. While the original 36GB Raptor (originaly 5 year warranty) is not in the system, it IS in another system here at work and works perfectly, every day, all day. The motherboard in the system is an ABit, and it keeps stats on up-time, number of power cycles, number of reboots, etc. I should check it to see if it hasn't had more up time than my car. I'm betting it has had 3x or 4x the uptime. Maybe 10x or more. I know my car didn't run 16 hours a day for years.

The system cost just in excess of $1600 new. So, comparable to Corvette $. Difference being, I got quality components with the computer. The Video card (super high end gaming card of its day) still works today. It also is not in the system cause I wanted one that did HD Video. So, like sticking on a set of headers, I removed working stuff and replaced it.

It still has the original OCZ Power supply, original DVD Writer, same keyboard & mouse. The two monitors it began with were almost 10 years old when the system was new, so they are gone. (they were also Corvette $, when 21" monitors were $2000 each). One of them is here at work to this day, nearly 20 years old. I replaced both when one died.

So, if you bought a consumer grade pos computer, then I would expect it to perform and last about like a Datsun B210. However, when an item commands top dollar new, you expect top quality. In the case of many of our cars components, you paid Corvette $, and got B210 quality. Sometimes not even... Ask anyone who's changed a oil pressure sensor twice what they think.

 

Correct. This thread makes no sense.