My 60th birthday is coming up so I have decided it's time I bought a Corvette. I am just starting my research as I knew very little about them until very recently.

So far I am thinking a black manual C6 Grand Sport coupe.

I think I'll have a budget of 25-30k by my birthday.

Anyhow any suggestions or advice will be very welcome.

I am a long time motorcycle enthusiast and was origanally going to get a new Harley but at my age I think it's time for 4 wheels. and if I am going to switch to mainly a car it had better be a fast one lol.

 

Welcome, i recommend the GS…but i am partial!

 

welcome

 

Welcome to the forum. Good luck finding a nice GS within your budget.

I am moving this to the C6 Corvette General Discussion section for assistance with your questions.

 

Welcome. Educate yourself via the Forum as there is lots of great info. Happy hunting!

 

Welcome and good hunting!

 

Welcome to the forum. SOunds like a grest birthday gift for yourself. I think you are going to be hard pressed to find a GS in that price range. My suggestion is to determine exactly what you want and search for a car that checks all the boxes, and don't settle or you might have regrets.

 

Ditto, at 60 years old, grand sport has you covered for just about everything, including HPDE, without the stiffer ride of the Z06.
If you go with narrow base model, just a mater of time before you want to upgrade to the wide body GS model isntead.
As for interior option ,would say go for 3lt, since the 4lt just have leather dash de-lam problems, unless you can find one that someone already had the problem and had a car upholstery re-glue the dash back in place.

 

At that budget you're probably looking for a slightly higher mileage car. Autotempest shows 3 at $30k or less all with close to 100k miles.

 

Wow thanks for all the replies. Lots of things to think about. I must admit that the C7 is growing on me although I much prefer the rear end of the C6. The only thing that is a non-negotiable is that I have to have manual transmission. I doubt I’ll be taking it to the track as I had my fill of racing motorcycles when I was younger. I will pretty much just be carving up twisty roads for fun at the weekends and taking my wife out for date nights in it.

Up until recently I had a Jaguar XJ8 that I was hankering for since I was a kid. I am originally from the UK so Corvettes are pretty much unheard of over there. However, when the Jag started having issues I found it astronomically expensive to do the simplest of repairs as the parts/availability was just crazy.

I vowed never again to buy a non-american car as american cars are great to work on and parts are easy to find and relatively cheap. I’ve also had a jeep for the last 27 years that has been easy to maintain.

After that vow the choice became pretty easy as I can’t think of any other american car that I would like to own except for my jeep and a Corvette.

I have until august to decide what to buy so I am going to continue researching and try to get a few test drives of various models. My kids also have the latest Gran Truismo with the VR headset so I am testing out the C6’s and C7’s on that as well lol.

thanks again for the replies

 

Welcome - Drive a few Vette’s per the generations your thinking about buying.

Winter is a great time to purchase a Vette, best/lowest prices.

Enjoy the hunt!

 

Happy Birthday, senior!

I had a similar issue with an X100 XK-R, too many parts NLA. Great car though.

As noted, a GS in your price range may be a stretch. Nothing wrong with a base car, and you can save a lot. In my searching, there actually seem to be more GS available, but people want quite a premium that you just don't need if you're not going to track it.

IMHO, etc.

 

As others have mentioned, finding a nice (not ragged on) GS in your price range is going to be near impossible. Realistically you're looking more $37- 40k. The benefits of a manual coupe GS is that it comes with a hand-built LS3 engine with dry-sump oil system (same as Z06 & ZR1).

The GS will give you wider body, wider tires, upgraded brakes (Z06) upgraded suspension over the base C6. The GS was produced in only 2010 - 2013, so you have 5 less years to choose from, hence the higher prices compared to older base cars.

All of the sub-models have more power and handling capabilities than can be used on the street, so find one that has the appearance and equipment you want.

 

Good luck in your car search!

 

Try autotrader, KBB, Facebook, etc. Beware of scams. Dont buy anything without a title.If at a dealer they should have a carfax report you can look over. Any car will low mile becareful of stock tires they are not good passed 7 years no matter how many miles.

 

Get a new Harley and a Vette 👍