05 owner here too and love mine. No problems at all. Bought with 73000 miles and looks and drives like a new car. 1SB package loaded with everything except NAV.

My top has been replaced by dealer in 2010.
Mine is a very late 05 so HB bolt was the updated one.
Headlight electrical recall done.
All recalls done on mine before I got it.
Electricals shut down as they should so no battery drain.
Differential will outlast all of us under normal driving.

6 speed manual and trans shifts as smooth as can be and quiet.
Bought mine in Sept 16 and was under 20k. It fit my budget at that time.
Would like to have had newer but none were as clean as mine and under 20k then. No regrets here. Every time I drive it I say what a fun car to drive and it is!

I've said this before and it's the truth. Don't know about all C6's but mine is very smooth, quiet and tight. No rattles or air noise. Several friends have also commented and said the same thing. Corvettes are usually rough riding, rattles with air noise leaks. GM really improved this in the C6.

The column lock issue, yes can be a problem. I bought the column lock eliminator and haven't installed it yet. Mine works as it should and the first time I have the no start because of it it's getting installed.

Make sure you engage Reverse on every shutdown. 05 oddity.

 

Op don't worry.
Column lock (bypass) and Headlight (fuse box recall) I think is the only problems.

Just for fun, here my thoughts:

2005 has same issues as other years. Harmonic Balancer wobble, Fuel Tank Gage difficult replacement, Bearings in torque tube, Active Handling Dash Light (wheel hub wiring), Air Bag Dash Light (under seat wiring), stuck coolant reserve cap, dust on CD NAV lenses creating screen error messages, rattling roof removable tops, compressed seat foam.

Not as common failures: Air conditioning flap failure, differential stress crack, HUD display bracket failure.

C6 had continuous improvement. Differential strengthened, steering wheel made smaller, Nav radio USB port added, Bose added two more dash speakers, Door panel elbow pads added and switch shape altered, power steering hose updated, floor mat retainers updated. Plus more I am sure.

But 2005 had a light under the hood and a key lock on the center console! (Other years did not).

There may be more.

OP enjoy your Vette.

 

Couldn't agree more, my DD in the winter is a Cobalt and I much prefer the steering wheel in my '05 vette.

 

My 05 wheel:

 

It's usually the people that have never owned an 05 that have negative things to say about them. Pay no mind. 05's are great. I wouldn't trade mine for any other year or model C6 out there. Its perfect for me.

 

I wouldn't either.

 

I would not either.

 

....It's called Corvette forum bias. And it runs more rampid (sp) in this forum then Gloria Allred at a "Me TOO" convention.....

 

I wouldn't either, but that is mostly because mine isn't worth anything, anymore .

 

Best power to weight ratio of any of the base C6's. 400hp @ under 3300lbs.

 

Using the quoted 400 HP, I think you're wrong. Regardless, it's a silly statistic since one is only fractionally better than the other.

 

This is the reason I'm considering getting rid of my '05. I'm not looking forward to the day my car becomes the largest paperweight I own!

 

I had one and absolutely loved it. Traded it for the 06 Z06 with 87k miles on it. Great car. Wish I had it back, plus the Z.

 

I’ve owned my 05 since the day it was born. Currently has 80k and no real issues. I will say that the 05 does have a weak differential case. GM, in their wisdom saved $0.50 in aluminum by not reinforcing the case sufficiently. This was corrected in 06. With the manual trans there is a history of the cases failing with catastrophic results. I never experienced this, but I never did burnouts or beat the crap out of the drivetrain.
That being said, I recently swapped over to a Z06 trans and differential. But, with my modded LS2 (625 rwhp) I never had a differential issue.

 

So why not buy an extra ECM now while there are plenty around, just incase yours goes bad?? If I'm not mistaken Chuck Cow has plenty of them in stock, and if yours never goes bad ,you can always sell the backup on here without a problem..WW

I just checked Ebay and there are over a dozen ECMs for the 2005 Corvette listed for sale..(Both used and rebuilt) Also there are other cars that use the same ECM as the 2005 according to cross reference lists...
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I have been on this forum almost as long as you, how many examples of blown up 05 differentials have you ever read about happening to people on this forum? . Also , how many people with 2005 Corvettes do you personally know that have blown up a 2005 differential, because I don't know one person personally that has had a problem.. I'm not saying it's never happened, but mostly everyone just repeats storys they have heard about people blowing their differentials without ever seeing it themselves.... ..WW

 

Because I have done that with other components which have failed much too soon after replacing the original. The environmental control unit quickly comes to mind - I'm on my third.

But you are right, this is probably not that big a deal but it's still an annoyance that shouldn't be.

 

05 coupe, precision red, auto, ebony interior, 53,000 miles, had it since 2009, only issue was water pump failure at 50,000. Love the car. Have the transparent roof (along with red one), bought a used halo, had it painted black, extra set of black wheels with new tires, and every so often I change the car out from stock to black top and black wheels. Tough looking. Will try to figure out how to add pics of this. Now a question: don't know if this is the proper venue on the site, but here goes; battery went completely dead. Jumped started it. Had to insert key fob in little pocket in glove box to start car. After it finally started, unhooked cables, removed key fob, and NO NAV SCREEN! Buttons don't work, radio was on xm, and still playing. Can't adjust volume, had to pull fuse. Tried removing neg battery cable for 10 minutes, nothing. Did I burn out my nav unit? Anyone have thoughts on this? Much appreciated. Love this forum. Really learned a lot thru the years. Thanks much.

 

You already tried pulling all fuses associated with the radio, NAV, XM etc.? I would think pulling the negative would have reset it too, I am interested to see other responses about this.

 

Thank u. I will check fuse bay again. Looked in manual, and only showed the one radio fuse. Maybe I missed a fuse or something, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

 

All I can think of when I see that 05 steering wheel is a headless Pilsbury dough boy....