Chevrolet Corvette - Best Premium Sports Car in Initial Quality 2001 and 2002, JD Power and Associates.

Debate ends.

 

don't buy a 2005 C6 if you're looking for a reliable car.

don't EVER buy a first year production car....guaranteed to have lotsa problems & lotsa visits to the dealer!

 

I have a first year (2000) S2000. This is a high performance sports car. It has a very different purpose than the Vette for some $20k less. I am not looking to get into a comparison here. My point is that the S2K has been rock solid even in it's first year. Many automakers, both foreign and domestic, for likely money reasons, have over the years decided to not build reliability into their cars. I am sure Chevy could build better reliability into their cars if they wanted to, just as Honda or Toyota do.

CR gets it reliability data from annual surveys they send to members. There is no magic there. Of course people tend to complain more than praise, but still all cars should be on equal footing.

If Honda can make a peaky 4-cylinder 2-liter 240 HP engine that revs to 9k, rock solid for 5 years worth of daily commutes, I'd assume other automakers should be able to make their cars standup a bit better as well. Many choose not to.

 

We'll share our personal experiences with you, so stay tuned. In a couple of months from now, a few of us will have put many miles on our cars.

 

I have a 2000 ragtop bought new 0 problems 28,000 miles.Got extended warranty from Ken never used it yet! Hope to keep it that way!

 

Those of us who have one ordered will see. Since you're giving out guarantees, do you have any about the stock market?

 

sorry I was referring to american cars -- I know the Japanese can do it right...I'm still waiting for the american car companies to figure it out! I know the s2000 was/is a great car from the initial offering until 2004!

 

I had an 84...problem after problem after problem...the mechanics made mega $$$$ off the 84's...especially after warranty expired. I'm ASSUMING the initial C6 reliability will be a little better. There's no way it could be worse!

 

You must be the ONLY S2000 owner in the universe that has not had their transmission completely blow up on them.

I know 5 people with S2000s here in the bay area and EVERY one of them has had their transmission die. It's also a well publicised problem.

 

I have been a regular member of an S2000 forum for 5-years. Transmissions completely blow as a well publicized problem? I think not. When you misshift the car all bets are off, especially when you are at speed. Every problem of this kind that I recall reading about was denied under warranty. The reason.....driver abuse.

You can find a bad example in any car. However, to say this is a "common" problem is very very far from the truth. Every long-term review on the S2000 points out its tremendous reliability and this is backed up by the vast majority of owners.

I also am not the "only" owner to not have this problem as another guy on this thread also reports no problems with his.

 

My 97 that gets driven every day has been pretty good (a lot better than my 89 was). Remember, reliability wise, the worst car made today is better than the best car that was made 15 years ago.

It also depends how you define "reliability". I had the door unlock button wear out (had to press hard to get it to work). But I don't consider that a "real" reliability issue because it doesn't stop the car. It was fixed under warranty and I had it done when I left the car for an oil change and detailing. Not a big deal. Technically, a lot of these types of things would be a big pain, but every car is going to have a handful of them.

The issues that concern me are the ones that require a flatbed or a "proceed to dealer immediately" action (or really hampers some part of the car). I've had 3.5 of those. The .5 was a possesed body computer that started rolling up and down the windows and turning on an off the lights every now and then. I really had to laugh standing there watching my car do things on its own. So, it didn't require and immediate dealer visit, but leaving it outside when it might rain was an issue.

Two of my three real problems were bizarre because I haven't heard of anyone else having them. I had a frayed wire happen to short itself to the starter, toasting the starter and leaving it stuck in the engaged position. I also had the steel bracket holding the idle pulley completely sheer in two. Needless to say both of these required a flatbed.

My last problem I do know that other people have had, the infamous leaking battery causing acid to burn through a bunch of electronics problem. Didn't require a flatbed, but the electronics in the car began to deteriorate quickly so it was a "proceed to dealer ASAP" event.

So is that good or bad? I don't know. Better than my 98. Better than other people's cars I know. But I'm just one person with one car, so that's not a big enough sample. Cost wise, everything except the idle pulley bracket was under warranty, so repair cost hasn't been an issue. The biggest cost issue with these cars are tires, plain and simple. Everything else has cost me no more than anyone else spends maintaining any other car. But tires really hurt.

Want a reliability issue, I know someone that bought a new (2004) Volkswagon. It wasn't 72 hours old when the rear axle fell off. Luckily they were moving slowly at the time. Now that inspires confidence.

 

Jay
you are making me nervous.
i've had my 61 for 29 years and it never broke down.
72 for 15 years and twice the wire to the dist. broke and i fixed it and was on my way in 15 minutes.
they do require LOTS of maintenance, but i do that at home as a hobby(never at a dealer or shop). about 700 hours in the 61 and 300 for my 72. (last 15 years)
that is 1.3 hours per week average. if the c6 needs that much attention it will be quickly sold.

 

Your 61 is a lot simpler of a car and the 72 is just before serious emissions systems came in so its not that complicated either. Neither has much in the way of electronics. All of that reduces what can break by a lot and make it possible to maintain it yourself. Even with that, my guess is that neither is driven daily, so the real question is what's the ratio of maintenance time to driving time?

 

[QUOTE=Sneezy]buy the extended warranty and be done with it. It's a car, it will break. QUOTE]

That's why my other cars are Japanese

 

[QUOTE=tdb]

 

Intitial Quality is just what the term implies. The quality of the car as you recieve it from the factory. JD Powers and Associates also has another Quality report based on three year ownership. This is how you judge the reliability of a car, by how well it does over an extended period of time. The Intitial Quality of my C5 was excellent the day I purchased it. 13000 miles later (5 1/2 years) and 13 trips to the dealer for warrenty repairs does not speak well for the long term reliabilty of my C5.

 

Based on my personal experience - I would never keep a C5 vette over the extended warranty period. Just recently a horn went out on my car - total bill was $1300. Sounds freaking ridiculous - but they had to replace a faulty airbag module that was causing a short somewhere, which disabled the horn. You have to marvel at idiocy of GM engineering

 

Oops! They actually rated the 03 vette VERY highly.

 

If it were up to consumer reports no one in America would be driving America made cars. Throw the magazine out and go in the real world and check the cars out. Oh yea, I heard how they throw GM a bone and say a few good thing about Buick and so forth, Go down to local chevrolet dealer and drive a new Corvette. You can't buy cars from a one sided America auto bashing magazine like that. Drive one and feel the feeling. Every foreign car sold in this country hurts you,your family, and the future of the United States. >George

 

You do realize that many foreign autos are actually made in America, don't you? America is also about free markets, competition, and capitalism. I'll buy whatever I feel is the best. I won't buy something I feel is inferior under the misguided notion that I am being un-American or that it actually helps us in the long run. Good competition is what is bringing us the C6 after all.