webdzynes

how can I check to see if its been abused? I'm looking at several low mileage ones (under 15k) but dont want one which has been hammered for 90% of its use... Is there any way to check this??

23/C8Z

Unless direct contact with an owner and you don't see signs of neglect it's a crap shoot really.

that low of mileage hard to tell abused or not.

best guess is signs of neglect? tire wear etc. If original tires on 15k z06 probably in very good shape. But again you never know.

from dealer? 15k miles is a tough area for a newer corvette. Request service history and demand to see customer complaints on the repair orders if service there.

the rev counter means nothing imo.

b4i4getit

Buying a used sports car from a dealer is always a crap shoot. Some were driven only on Sunday and some had the **** beat out of them. You can't really tell by looking at them since the car could already be on its second set of tires and the dealer will have had the detail guys make it pretty. The best thing you can shoot for is a comprehensive extended warranty. Let the dealer stand behind the car as he should. If they won't go for an extended warranty they may be hiding something.

shiv.nandak

Search for the meaning of engine hours and lifetime revs on this forum. There was a discussion on using these values to determine if the car tracked hard.

Joy c7

There are great deals on new ones look around.

Bill Dearborn

It is pretty hard to beat the **** out of new performance cars and most owners don't have the cajones to push them hard enough to come close to abusing the car. The only issue is abuse due to low mileage or not taking the car into the dealer for maintenance because they don't want dealer mechanics working on it. When a seller says they baby the car, it never saw rain and it never went back to the dealer for warranty maintenance because the dealer mechanics don't treat the car correctly that is when I lose interest.

Bill

b4i4getit

Not true Bill. I have seen many a performance car have its clutch almost shot due to an inexperienced driver or its transmission in poor shape due to abuse. How about some high speed driving before the oil is warmed up. There are people that are soon out of their lease that beat the car up before handing it back to the dealer. I still say that if anyone is going to consider a used sports car make sure you get a warranty to mitigate your risk.

Chonger

I was in the same situation last month. There are awesome deals around and you can get a new one for probably just as cheap. The best deals are yet to come this year in the fall/winter when the 2018 models hit the showroom floor.

23/C8Z

Bill... what does that mean?

And as for dealer comment lol. that's one of the craziest things I've ever heard on this topic. I never want a dealer touching my car.

MindBend

You can bring up the engine hours and revs to make an average revs calculation, which should tell you if it's been hammered on a lot (tracked/raced).

b4i4getit

Yes but it won't tell you if the person redlined the engine when cold. High rpm and cold oil are not good for engine life.

MindBend

Nothing will, unless you have an AIM or Motec that monitors (and logs) everything all the time.

Otherwise, you'll have to risk it (i.e.. the discount over new) or get a new unit. Of course, a warrantied car is under warranty regardless of any of it.

Dfwz06

I'd be more worried about the ones with <1000 miles. Those are the ones that are only taken out to beat on. 10-15k miles are just driven.

davepl

The clutch I can see but unless someone is doing neutral drops, no amount of hard driving abuse is going to rattle the A8. Or is there some way to drive a car I haven't thought of yet?

I mean if you're a car guy, how many cars have you parted out where the automatic transmission lives on long after the car is gone?

By and large if you've got oil pressure and the leakdown is good, I say you'll probably be OK. Leakdown tells you a lot about rings and valves.

Big Lebowski

Short of tire and break life, its all under warranty @15k miles...though Its a Z06, so on some level it was beat on.

The real tell-tale for me would be excessive front end rock chips and road rash along the rocker panels...that would probably mean more track time than most...that or the previous owner took a lot of road trips down dirt roads. Hard to say.

z06vettewannabe

If it's private party I think you straight out ask the owner about the history (should happen regardless).....you'll get a feel for how honest he/she is being. When I bought my ZR1 private party I spent literally hours on the phone with the guy, then face to face I could see he was a straight shooter and was very comfortable with the history of the car. Other than that I'm not sure what you can do to 100% verify if the car has been "abused". With a dealer I would put zero stock in what they say about the car, unless the owner happened to work at the dealer and you could talk with him directly. I would only buy a car like this private party, but that's just me. Good luck!

b4i4getit

I agree with you about the A8. Its pretty tough to mess up an automatic unless you really want to. My comments were directed toward the manual and we all know its not hard to abuse a manual transmission.

sunsalem

Buy a new car; forget a used one.


There is a reason WHY someone sells a low mileage car back to a dealer...and it's usually not a good one.

tail_lights

It would be hard to tell. I'm at almost 17k on mine and looking like I finally need a set of tires. I've run WOT a handful of times and raced (played with) it once against a 5.0 Mustang and using the paddles during that run the exhaust baffles didn't even open, still won BTW

sunsalem

Mustangs are no match for a Z06.
The power-to-weight ratio is not in the Ford's favor.
Besides, any twisty leaves the muscle car-oriented Ford far behind.