New member checking in
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 124
Likes: 39
New member checking in
Greetings to all. I’m checking in here for the first time, although I’ve been lurking about for months now.
I am not a Corvette owner as of yet, but intend to be in the next few weeks or months.
Looking back now, I’m not exactly certain how this Corvette fever came over me. It was probably a combination of a couple of things…passing them in traffic….(I drive 140 miles round trip daily) and also driving by a used Corvette dealership everyday (they have a yellow C3 60 feet up in the air in front of the lot that likely had some type of subliminal effect on me). At any rate I started researching C5’s and C6’s in earnest, got tacit approval from the wife, and as this aforementioned Corvette dealer is 2 miles from my home, I’ve been seeing them in the flesh (fiberglass?) on a pretty regular basis.
I vacillate regularly between wanting a C5 or C6. Perhaps some of you have been through this as well. What becomes important in a Vette seems to be constantly shifting in my mind. Some days a C5’s interior seems crude and dated to my eye…other days it is a marvel of simplistic sporty beauty. Some days a C6’s interior looks refined and tasteful….other days I’m shocked by how cheap it looks or I don’t care for the steering wheel or something obtuse like AC vent placement. Or a C6’s back end looks aggressive and exotic, but the body color in the headlights looks cheap to me. Then the next day I feel the opposite.
I waiver about many things Corvette, and on a regular basis. A C5 Z06 sometimes looks menacing and cool and I deeply lust for one….other days it looks like the banjo player in Deliverance’s car. This changing of opinion is likely based on my newness to Corvettes, and the myriad possibilities the car affords.
With respect to actually driving one, the first one I test drove was a 99 silver C5 automatic with 110k on the odometer. It was loud, harsh and handled like a total dog (in fairness my current DD is an 04 Lexus LS 430…a pinnacle of cushy and quiet). But when I started that Corvette I was...flabbergasted by the power. When I turned the key I could feel the entire length of the car sort of twist and….animate with raw power. I was both a tad disappointed with the loud, sloshy sounding back end and hyped by the insanity of the power in a base model.
The next one I drove was a 2007 manual trans. It was a bit quieter and felt more refined, but I realized that in a Corvette you clearly and forcefully hear the transmission and exhaust coming from behind you in the driver’s seat, unlike my Lexus which is tomblike in its quiet.
So I learned that all the sound comes from behind you in this car…just the nature of the beast. And beast was appropriate…I decided to jump on it while shifting into 2nd on a curve on that test drive. The back end started going sideways (something the Lexus doesn’t do…lol) but getting it back in control was simplicity and took the lightest of touches.
I was beginning to get it. It wasn't just about incredible style and looks. It is a monster that wants to be controlled, or be right on the edge of controlled.
Something about the raw power of these monsters called Corvette’s is highly addictive…with me all it took was a little taste of G force to be strung out.
Anyway… I am slowly locking in years/colors/body styles/features that I love beyond question. I will find a car, be it a C5 or C6 most likely the lowest mileage/latest year possible. It could be at the dealer 5 minutes from my house in Atlanta or on the west coast, but it is going to happen soon.
Sorry for getting long winded. I suppose I should have kept it brief, and stated the most important thing, that I am so grateful for this forum and all the incredible people here who have been so helpful in my quest by posting their knowledge and opinions.
You guys are the best. I’ll pop back in when I have pictures of my new Vette to post!
Respectfully,
Red Square
I am not a Corvette owner as of yet, but intend to be in the next few weeks or months.
Looking back now, I’m not exactly certain how this Corvette fever came over me. It was probably a combination of a couple of things…passing them in traffic….(I drive 140 miles round trip daily) and also driving by a used Corvette dealership everyday (they have a yellow C3 60 feet up in the air in front of the lot that likely had some type of subliminal effect on me). At any rate I started researching C5’s and C6’s in earnest, got tacit approval from the wife, and as this aforementioned Corvette dealer is 2 miles from my home, I’ve been seeing them in the flesh (fiberglass?) on a pretty regular basis.
I vacillate regularly between wanting a C5 or C6. Perhaps some of you have been through this as well. What becomes important in a Vette seems to be constantly shifting in my mind. Some days a C5’s interior seems crude and dated to my eye…other days it is a marvel of simplistic sporty beauty. Some days a C6’s interior looks refined and tasteful….other days I’m shocked by how cheap it looks or I don’t care for the steering wheel or something obtuse like AC vent placement. Or a C6’s back end looks aggressive and exotic, but the body color in the headlights looks cheap to me. Then the next day I feel the opposite.
I waiver about many things Corvette, and on a regular basis. A C5 Z06 sometimes looks menacing and cool and I deeply lust for one….other days it looks like the banjo player in Deliverance’s car. This changing of opinion is likely based on my newness to Corvettes, and the myriad possibilities the car affords.
With respect to actually driving one, the first one I test drove was a 99 silver C5 automatic with 110k on the odometer. It was loud, harsh and handled like a total dog (in fairness my current DD is an 04 Lexus LS 430…a pinnacle of cushy and quiet). But when I started that Corvette I was...flabbergasted by the power. When I turned the key I could feel the entire length of the car sort of twist and….animate with raw power. I was both a tad disappointed with the loud, sloshy sounding back end and hyped by the insanity of the power in a base model.
The next one I drove was a 2007 manual trans. It was a bit quieter and felt more refined, but I realized that in a Corvette you clearly and forcefully hear the transmission and exhaust coming from behind you in the driver’s seat, unlike my Lexus which is tomblike in its quiet.
So I learned that all the sound comes from behind you in this car…just the nature of the beast. And beast was appropriate…I decided to jump on it while shifting into 2nd on a curve on that test drive. The back end started going sideways (something the Lexus doesn’t do…lol) but getting it back in control was simplicity and took the lightest of touches.
I was beginning to get it. It wasn't just about incredible style and looks. It is a monster that wants to be controlled, or be right on the edge of controlled.
Something about the raw power of these monsters called Corvette’s is highly addictive…with me all it took was a little taste of G force to be strung out.
Anyway… I am slowly locking in years/colors/body styles/features that I love beyond question. I will find a car, be it a C5 or C6 most likely the lowest mileage/latest year possible. It could be at the dealer 5 minutes from my house in Atlanta or on the west coast, but it is going to happen soon.
Sorry for getting long winded. I suppose I should have kept it brief, and stated the most important thing, that I am so grateful for this forum and all the incredible people here who have been so helpful in my quest by posting their knowledge and opinions.
You guys are the best. I’ll pop back in when I have pictures of my new Vette to post!
Respectfully,
Red Square
Race Director
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 11,618
Likes: 1,055
From: Compound in the Grove, Ga.
2026 Corvette of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2025 C4 of the Year Winner - Unmodified
2024 C4 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2020 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2019 C4 of Year Finalist (performance mods)
2018 C4 of Year Finalist
2015 C4 of the Year Finalist
St. Jude Donor '16
Welcome, Happy Hunting 
