I know this is a model year that's recommended to avoid. That said what should one look for when considering this year? Are there any deal breaker issues to consider?

 

Mine had 60,000 miles when I sold it with ZERO issues. Yes, it needs to be in reverse to shut down; yes, there is the steering column lock issue; yes, the rear end is not as strong as later years.
Do your due diligence as you would for any car purchase, check for excessive balancer wobble, and make sure the steering column lock issue has been addressed.

 

My 05 has 86,000 miles, yes U had issues just like any one with C6, from shifter cable to oil sending unit went bad, but overall it's a good car running strong.]]

If you want to read the owners manual, here it is incase you decide to buy.

http://www.c6registry.com/Technical/manuals/2005OM.pdf

 

I have had my 2005 for ten years. I fixed the not coming out of park by cutting off the paw. I am having the harmonic balancer replaced next week. My ECU went out last summer and is a rare occurrence from what i have learned. Having said that all of the repairs were less than 2000.00 dollars. It has run 12 second times while at the drag strip and never even broke a sweat. I drive it and it is not a garage queen. I hope this helps.

 

Thanks good to hear. I'm now just wondering about the 1 year part thing, is that a real problem or not.

 

My ECU took a month to find. Other than that I can order what I want off of the internet. Not sure about the one year part thing as I have not had that happen.

 

I have a 2005 1sb with 28,000 miles. Ive had zero issues and only ever had to change the oil usually once a year. The comments about buy the first model year is completely over blown and every year has potential issues. I love having owned model year 1 of the C6. Great value for being 400hp. The only 2 drawbacks are with the 4 speed automatic and stock exhaust. 2006 went to a 6 speed auto though really not a deal breaker. The exhaust is very muted for a 400hp car though easily fixed with after market catback option. Otherwise Im completely pleased with my 2005 C6.

 

So well mantained vets out there, while some are just a mess that someone is selling off since they don't have the funds to repair it correctly. If you can pull a carfax before you go to look at one, helps a lot to get a feel for how long the owners has had the car. If less than a year, then either flipping it, or does not have the money for the needed up kept that they just found out will need to be fixed.


So the best advice I can give you, before you do the final deal on a vet after pulling a carfax and even a GM service history report, find a shop that you can trust to do a purchase inspection on the car. Hence shop repair costs, or even parts cost if you are going to do the work yourself to get it back up to spec, gets spendy real quick if you don't know about them up front to possible negoiate them on the price of the car.
Note, used car lots with no warrenty on the car (as is), are know to sell the worst of the problem vets.


Also a warning, the farther away the car is from being stock, should send up red flags as well. Hence car with cam swapped out, normally needs the valve springs changed out about every 30K, and that not a cheap job to do if it time. Also, if the motor was built, you can be dam sure they used it (road hard), so god only knows the life of the motor lefts since the standard rule of thumb for a stock motor life do not apply.

So to sum it up, not hard to find a lower mileage garage queen that someone has owner for many year, will check out fine on a PP&I, and although may cost you a few more grand to buy it, will be a lot cheaper in the end than buying a cheaper priced car with nothing but never ending costly problems instead.

 

My .02 cents worth. I have an 05 with 86k on it. I had the column lock fixed, needed a harmonic balancer at 46k and a weird leak
on a brake line that wasn't cheap to repair. It is an 18 year old car with a 6 speed manual transmission, 400hp and outperforms most
cars on the road. Like Dano said, stay away from cars that have mods on the power plant. It sounds like you have one in mind, get it
checked out and if it looks good enjoy!

 

so a camed.full bolt on would be a red flag? Could I swap back to a normal cam?
How much to fix that spring? Thanks