Can I get some honest opinions here? Keep my C5 or get something new...
 

I have a 2000 Corvette with 149k miles on the clock. It needs some repairs and I am trying to figure out if I should spend the money to fix it or get something newer.

It needs new tires, new brakes, a pulley replaced, **possibly** has a leaky main seal - I say this because sometimes I smell oil - although my mechanic says that it was the oil pressure sensor leaking which I already had him replace, coolant is leaking from somewhere possibly (not at the tank), has some electrical issues, might need a new ignition cylinder/switch, some cosmetic problems.

I dont wrench on big stuff. Wish I did. I estimate to get the car running nice its going to probably cost me $2500 or so since I cant do the work myself. My dilemma is do I pay the money to fix it and keep driving it, and risk it giving me more problems in the future? Or do I take that $2500 and put it into something newer and sell my car as-is to someone who works on cars? How reliable will this thing be at its stage in its life?

Ive had the car for 6 years now and overall its been pretty damn great to me. Bought it at 75k miles so I have history with it. I love the car. Id hate to see it go. But I do need something that will get me from point A to point B for as long as possible. Will this thing get me to 200k miles without costing an arm and a leg? I know its hard to say. The leaky butt worries me. Or I would hate to blow the tranny, or something else in the future that would be devastating financially.

Any input would be good. I know these cars are reliable. But Im at the point where Im not sure if its worth it to start investing a bunch of money into it. Or is it? Damn! Tough decisions...

Never an easy answer on situations like this. If it were me and the car was my daily driver (which it sounds like it is) I would put the 2,500 into something more reliable. Selling the car as is however means you may take an even bigger hit. So the real question becomes what is the car worth now and what is it worth if you put 2,500 dollars into it. Good luck and best wishes for the new year.

With all the things wrong with your car that you know of.. and some photos I've seen, with broken hinges and scissors jammed between the seats and your trying to put out small fires trying to buy two wheels and brake pads etc.. I'd say you have a raging forest fire right around the corner..
I say dump that car. You could easily have 4 or 5K worth of repairs in the very near future. You've had it for six years and evidence show you haven't taken very good care of it.. when you are looking to buy the cheapest of everything ( your wtb posts ) , I don't expect you to use the best oil or maintenance schedule either , I don't think I've seen one of the 1/4 million C5's made, with a broken spring in the consol. IM not putting you down , you did ask for " Honest " opinion.. my opinion based on your history here on this forum, the few pictures I've seen and your lack of what I would call basic car care, leads me to this conclusion.. Nothing personal.. just an Honest opinion. Get rid of the car.

I agree... get rid of it, it's got problems now from lack of maintenance and neglect. Just put it out of misery and find another victim car to show your love to. Don't worry and take no insult from this, I even have a son who for some reason just isn't capable of doing any maintenance and just drives his cars until they completely run out of oil/water/tires/brakes/bulbs/interior room from crap....then it dies an agonizing death.

Start a new relationship.

Perhaps a new C7 is in your future! :thumbs:

I just saw some new pictures of your car, cleaned up and it does not look that bad.. although I fear that the car is at the point where you are going to throw good money into a car you wont get out from under.. the price you are asking seems very reasonable.. I still say sell it. Again just my honest opinion. If you were my son I would give him the same advice.
Good Luck with whatever you decide. Happy New Year

Big decision.

Like you, I was faced with the same decision on my 2000 FRC. However, I had mine for nearly 10 years of ownership and I grew very attached to it. In the end, I wanted (not needed) a C6 Z06 and that is the only reason why I decided to sell. (To offset the costs of my new Z).

That being said, just before I sold, my Slave Cylinder took a crap and I just replaced both window regulators. Both of which did NOT yeild any great resale value as they needed to be working to make a sale worth someone's time.

I invested almost $1000 on the Slave Cylinder (to include new spark plugs and wires) and just over $700 on both window regulators. Yes, I could have spent that money and kept the C5, but as GM begins a new chapter with the C7/C7Z, parts for an aging Corvette become more and more difficult to find. Wait until your weather seals go bad. There are NONE available that I could find. Luckily, my buyer rolled the dice on this, otherwise, it could have been a challenge selling.

It's your Vette and only you know what's right/best for your budget. But I will agree that it sucks ass to dump money into a car only to sell it. Kind of falls in the "wasted money" category.

If you can swing it, perhaps a new relationship (like SFC Rock suggests) is in order for 2015.

Out of curiosity, what would you replace it with?

Usually a really bad idea to sink money into an older car.

Get something newer.

Well, based on what everyone describes as his budget and maintenance habits I'd go with a Chevy Aveo. :hide:

I don't want that to sound mean, but I'm with the crowd that doesn't believe that Corvette's make smart daily drivers (if you actually want to service them right). There are way better options from mileage to tire cost to oil change intervals/lower cost oil ect ect ect. Now I also believe there is no better second car to own than a Vett so there :)

Well I can appreciate that. The car is taken care of, the only reason I wanted to get the cheapest parts on the WTB is so I could fix it for as little money as possible so I can sell it. The car is not worth that much money, even in good condition, so why would I spend top dollar for new items just to sell it at a loss? The photo youre referring to with the center console was when I was in the middle of working on a few items, hence the scissors that had fallen between the seats that day. The hinge breaking, well you got me there. I think I couldn't get it to open one day and accidentally broke it off. By the way, I did fix this already with a brand new console lid.

I change the oil religiously with mobil 1 and have always fixed things when they broke, except for the items mentioned above. I brought it to a dealer to fix the mechanical issues who quoted me almost $2,000 - so I said forget it, the car isnt worth enough for me personally to put that much money into it for something that is a highly intermittent nuisance.

The reason I want two wheels is because one of the wheels has a small hole in it which lets air escape. The other one has a little curb rash, it isnt that bad, but I figure why not replace both if Im going to replace the one.

Im not being defensive, I would actually come to the same conclusion if I were you. But the other things - Leaky seal (IF it even has one) for example, would cost a good chunk of the cars value to fix. I was told that it looked like it was the main seal by Oil Stop. I then brought it to my mechanic who said it was the oil pressure sensor and it just looked like it was coming from the back to the way it was leaking. I replaced the sensor. The only reason I still suspect the leak is because every so often I get an oil smell when driving. However, I just recently cleaned the hell out of my engine bay and the smell is much less. So there actually might not be a leak. The tires and brakes arent totally gone, they should just be replaced and are not overdue for replacement, they are just on time.

"Basic" car maintenance - this car has been very well taken care of in that regard. The bigger items are fairly recent hence why they have not been corrected, especially since I have been considering something different.

Im curious... Which items do you think are from neglect? Im not being defensive I really want to know. The brakes are due to be changed (not overdue), the tires are also not overdue, the pulley JUST 2 weeks ago started showing signs of needing replacement, the leaky main seal (IF it even is leaking, I was told by Oil Stop that its what they thought but my mechanic said no. He fixed a leak elsewhere and said any oil smell is residual) -- Well I dont know how I could have avoided that. The coolant leaking is a new problem, I replaced the tank and all the lines last year. I change the oil religiously. The interior is not in bad condition for 149k miles. The exterior is washed/waxed as often as possible. Most of the cosmetic issues are from the previous owner. Ive had the thing for 6 years as my DD which it has been great.

Mike, Mike, Mike . . .

In it's current condition, what would you say your car is worth? I'd guess maybe $13.5-$14 ? . . . .With the $2500 in "deferred maintenance" your value proposition for that car is $16-17.

Putting $7500 with it gets you into a mid-mile C6 - - 2005-06 vintage and I think you'd enjoy the new generation a great deal. People often advise against the 05 introductory year because of a variety of first year issues but I'm betting the naysayers never owned one. I had an early (Sept 2004) precision red coupe for 5 years and it was virtually problem free.

If you haven't driven one and the idea has merit for you- find one to drive and see what kind of deals you can work to move on from your current C5.

I'm sure it's been a great car . .. but it also sounds like it's time . . .

Thanks, I have thought about a C6 and I agree with your logic. However, from the research I have done I dont think mine is worth close to $13.5-$14k. I purchased the car in 2009 with 75k miles for $12,000. Blue book today (I know I know) is about $6,500. If I could get $13-$14k for the car I would just do it no question.

I used to get very attached to cars, and it was hard to let them go , but really the car has been good to you so far, its still running, you can still get some pretty good money for it,, id let it go , and pick up a lower mileage c5 or whatever you had your eye on.

If you are merely looking for a reliable car then get a Honda/Toyota/lexus, theres no other brands that come even close in terms of reliability.

I was thinking of a 05-06 C6 or an 07-08 Lexus IS350. The IS is nice and has all the fancy bells and whistles, but its not extremely comfortable for my 6'4" height.

As cars age I've found that if you do your own work, it can be cost effective to keep the car. However, if you are going to go to the dealer for every issue, then you better cut your losses ASAP and get a newer car.

The is350's are very nice cars, cant go wrong with one of those.

If you find its a little too small, and are looking for the bells and whistles you should look into the LS platform, particularly the LS430 as they can be had for a fairly good price if you look around, and are more reliable then the newer ls460's.

It is not a sports car by any means, it is a purely luxury car and it does it better then anything else, it is probably the most well built , reliable car ever made by Lexus (or anyone else for that matter)

The Club Lexus forum is very good as well, id 100% recommend joining there and you can learn a whole lot.

From the research I've done I came to the same conclusion that the IS is a good car. Id either want a powerful car or an SUV, but would prefer the car. I do love my Corvette's so a C6 would be great. Problem is I would only really want to spend $20k so Id be looking at a higher mileage 05 or 06, which isnt a bad thing, I bought my C5 at 75k and its lasted me 6 years so far.

Today ( Dec 31 ) is the best day of the year to buy a car.. everyone is going for the end of the year numbers.. you would be better served to trade your car in.. you would save the tax difference between the trade and the newer car. This time of year Dealers are looking to sell or trade. Clean your car up and see if you can get 7K on a trade, and look at something in the 20K range with a difference of 13K, and you will be right back where you were 6 years ago. but with a newer car, and no headaches. And no one will be knocking on your door about the 2002.

Somewhat related to this post but I see this all the time. 100 turns to 250, 250 turns to 500, 500-1000 ,then 1k is 2k. Keep after those issues when they occur and the financial hill is never insurmountable. Get behind and you end up with a decision to cut your losses, this is the lesson for all new car owners. It doesn't matter whether this is a DD or a classic car you have kept around for years...a 2000 C5 is worth 13-14.5k as long as it is maintained and that is a significant down payment on your next dream or DD...