I have driven quite a few C6's and C5's (former C5 owner). I don't want to get into HOW I get to drive them, due to privacy issues. I even had the opportunity to test drive some C6's for a couple of days.

I also have driven numerous 2008 ZHZ's (Hertz Edition Corvette). Some of them were brand new, with only a few hundred miles, others had a couple of thousand miles.

Here are my impressions of the C5 vs. C6:

Exterior:
C6 wins - overall the C6 looks better than a C5.

Interior:
C5 wins- I really like the leg room, hatch area room and the layout of a C5. The legroom difference and storage area difference is quite dramatic between the two. The rear window visibility is much better in a C5 than a C6. The dash and controls, for some reason, seem to be better on a C5. Even the HUD on a C5 are nicer to look at than a C6 HUD.

I really like the C5 interior. At first, the C6 interior looked better in the pics, but once I got to drive them and compare the two, I liked the C5 interior better.

Fit and Finish:
C5 wins - Man, every C6 that I have been in, rattles & squeaks. My C5 was much quieter and tighter overall. I am not talking about subtle noises, but annoying interior rattles and creaks. Every C6 I have been in has had the annoying roof rattle and pop. The center console storage area on the C6 seems flimsy & rattles. I am somewhat shocked to see this on a C6, as I was hoping for it to be as good or better than a C5 interior fit and finish. The squeaks and rattles are really bad on a C6.

The LS3 idles REALLY rough compared to the LS1. Man, every single C6 that I have driven feels like it "misses" at idle. The C5's I drove were very smooth at idle. From what I read, this is a common issue with the LS3 engine.

Power:
C6 wins - No questions asked. Hands down, the C6 hauls as*. From a dead stop, the C6 launches harder and pulls harder than any C5 I have driven in. 350HP (C5) vs. 430HP (C6) makes for a huge difference in driving experience. Not to mention, off the line. The C5 was a dog off the line.

Handling:
C6 wins - While pretty close, I believe the C6 is a much better handling car.

Braking:
C6 wins - Like night and day. The C6 has much better brakes than the C5 did.

Just my observations and impressions....

 

LS1 IS 340 HP, THATS"HAULS" and you hav'nt been in my 06 I have NO rattles or squeaks of any kind! the firing order is different than the old days thats why they don't idle like them, I'am amazed you did'nt know this with all of them you've driven

 

LS3 has a lumpier cam.

 

LS1 was 344hp at launch and 350hp from 2001 on.

 

Same here, my C6 is tight as drum and dead quiet/free of squeaks/creeks even on the roughest of roads.





Rated at 345 actually, at least in the U.S. it was.

 

Good point - hp doesn't always travel. Over here the non-NPP C6 is rated at 437hp rather than 430hp. Must be those puny European horses.

 

Sounds like a fair assessment. For the record, I have 27k miles on my 07 and and I have plenty of creaks/rattles.

 

Huh?

2006 no squeaks or rattles. The roof squeak is a simple fix that will make it dead silent.

 

I just replaced my 03 Z06 with an A&A supercharged 07 and it beats the Z in every way!

 

Thank you.

I've been in cars where the owner claims that the car is dead quiet. After driving around for a couple of miles, it sounds like an old battle ship. The driver must have hearing problems (50+ year old male).

At the dealership, we received about 3x the amount of complaints for interior noise on the C6 than we did on the C5.

Also, another annoying C6 interior issue is that the BRAKE RELAY can be heard when you press the brakes. It's pretty loud.

Then when you go through the menu screen for the DIC, you can hear it "shuffling", sort of like a CD player swapping out discs. The C5 never had this issue.

I also tell the customer that the C6 has permanent heated cup holders. The heat radiating up from the transmission tunnel is pretty bad. No frosty's or milk shakes allowed.

 

Are you joking??? My 2003 C5 Z06 with 18K miles had the cheapest, nastiest interior of ANY vehicle I have ever driven, BAR NONE.







It is somewhere between the interior of an old truck and a cheap compact. I bought the car because it looked great and was very fast, but if you think the interior of a C5 has ANYTHING going for it, you must be getting high off those glue fumes they give off when they sit in the sun for too long

 

In case you forgot, here is what the interior of a C6 looks like:

 

how can you even think c5's interior is better noooo f.. way

 

EXACTLY !! I love C5's too but they aren't even close..
You also mention the noise from the brake relay, are you serious ??? It's a Vette not a Lexus...

 

Not sure why you act this way. The C6 is the only car I've ever had where I could hear these relays. It's also the most expensive car I've ever bought.

 

What? You didn't like the awesome Fisher Price stereo in the C5? Those buttons are BY FAR the worst part of the C5, and I really liked my C5.

 

I like my cams like I like my women - lumpy.

Seriously though, I love the idle/rumble of the LS3. I buzzed my neighbor out hosing his 911 and he swears I'm lying when I tell him this thing is all stock.

Compared to the C5, which was a great car... personally I think the C6 improved upon it in practically every way. To each his own however. Some prefer the C5, but for me it was hands down C6!

 

Some of the above replies are out of line. Look, I did an honest review and you got people here trashing the C5 and being just plain nasty to me.

Gotta love those Vette owners. Trash every Vette, except the one they own. Trash every Vette owner, except themselves.

 

I was being completely honest. I bought a C5, and I actually lost money getting rid of it a few months later because I was being laughed at by my Euro and Japanese car driving friends because the interior was so abysmal. When your "honest review" tells me that the interior of the C5 is better, it makes as much sense as me saying I like the power and acceleration of a Honda Civic better than the Corvette's, but the Vette has better fuel economy...

 

Maybe if you actually read what I stated:

* C5 has more leg room (that is a indisputable fact)
* C5 has better rear window visibility (that is a indisputable fact)

* C5 dash and controls seemed to be better (relative to the driver/owner) - It was more of the noise issues than anything. Brake relay clicking and rattles.


* C5 HUD looked nicer (relative to the driver/owner) - IMHO the C5 HUD was cleaner looking, judge for yourself

C6 HUD =


C5 - HUD =