Ok I'm doing a project for one of my classes and I need the following bits of information and I thought it would be better to get information from the experts so if anyone could help me out with this I would really appreciate it.

how safe the car is
maintenance / Maintenance costs
how long the car lives on average
insurance for the car

 

Aw, come on, lets help the kid out!!! Hell,he might become a C8 Vette owner one day.

how safe the car is ;
The frame is HYDRO FORMED steel (aluminum on the C6 ZO6 and ZR1) and the passengers cabin has a full cage. The C6 comes stock with duel front air bags and drivers and passengers side impact air bags. C5's have duel front air bags only. The doors have side impact reinforcement bars:





maintenance / Maintenance costs:
The average C5 and or C6 is designed to be driven under normal conditions for 100,000 miles with out a tune up. Emissions are warrantied for 80,000 miles. That being said, most drivers will get 30,000 -50,000 miles out of a set of spark plugs. Oil changes occur on the average at 4000-8000 miles depending how the cars are driven and external conditions. The car has an engine oil usage computer that computes how many miles remains on an oil change. The car uses 6 qts of synthetic oil for each oil change. An average oil change will cost a do it your selfer $35-45 bucks. Tires last differently for everyone. My rear tires evaporate at twice the rate as the front tires. There expensive but, hell,,its an American muscle car! I get approx 35K miles out of a set of tires. Some can get 40K+ under normal driving. Replacing a clutch in a C5 or C6 is expensive. The rearend, transmission and torque tube need to be removed to replace the clutch. Labor is very costly if you cant do it your self.

I drive my C5 and C6 year round (as long as theres not snow on the ground). Most Vette owners lay up their cars once it gets cold out. Traction SUCKS on cold pavement and the elements take their toll on the cars.
Washing and waxing? No more expensive than an average car or truck. Fuel: You need to run at a minimum, MID PREMIUM. If you modify the car, you need PREMIUM. $$$

how long the car lives on average
There are C5 and C6 Corvettes that are still driving around with 100,000 - 200,000+ miles on the clock. Thats not to say that things like clutches, belts, fluids and brakes have lasted that long. I'm quite sure that wear items like that have been changed a few times. A clutch will last an average driver 70-80K miles. If the clutch is abused, 20-30K miles. Yes, these cars were made to drive and if properly maintained, will last well over 100,000 miles without any major issues. The outer skin is Sheet Molded Composite (basically a fancy fiberglass composite). The C5 and C6 coupe and convertible frames are coated steel frames that are very resistant to corrosion and last a very long time. The C6 ZO6 and C6 ZR1 frames are coated aluminum. They are very light, extremely sturdy and wear resistant. All corvette frames are engineered to absorb an impact and protect the driver from that collision.

insurance for the car

If your under 25,,,,it SUCKS. Its very expensive. Its expensive if your under 25 and drive a YUGO. Once you reach the ripe old age of 25 and have a GOOD driving record, the cost of insurance drops down a good bit.
I don't pay much more for each of my vettes than I pay for for my F-150.

 

In a nutshell:

The car is VERY safe, in both it's safety features (ie: air bags, advanced ABS Braking, Traction Control and Active Handling systems, safety cage/crumple zone construction) and it's ability to avoid accidents in the first place with it's superior handling/braking/steering abilities and responses.

The car is virtually maintenance free, one could possibly do only oil changes (every 15k miles), a few air filter changes (every 10k-20k miles) and tires for the first 150k miles if they really wanted to. Very reliable cars considering the performance/speeds they're capable of.

The car will live forever if the owner/operator is smart and careful.

Insurance is dependent on one's age, driving record and coverage of course. It costs me under $450.00 a year to insure my C6.

Awesome cars.

 

Probably edmunds can help you as well.

 

I bought my C6 last year when I was 24. It cost me $1800 a year to insure with a couple of infractions on my record. That insurance rate was less than the cost to insure the 06 VW GLI I sold to get my C6.

 

I plan on keeping my C6 forever. I take care of it and I know it will be in great shape for many years to come.

The insurance is very affordable. It's less than most cars.