6SpeedTA95

Hello everyone. Long time lurker/poster. I owned a C5 Z06 for awhile, sold it basically because my wife never drove, the car scared her. Borla exhaust, high effort short throw shifter, etc etc...bought an FR-S in hopes that she'd drive it. She doesn't...so I'm going back to what I want.

The car that started it all for me was the C4. Neighbor had one when I was young (probably 8 or 9) and I remember seeing the hood up and seeing the L98. From then on I was hooked on cars, started subscribing to car mags, etc.

Anyway, after some discussion with those guys, they had mentioned at my height 6'6 that I should really find a C4 or two to sit in prior to pulling the trigger. Turned out to be excellent advice. I've got a friend with one so I called him up and had him drive it to work and sat in it last week. Not enough headroom, not even close. I probably need 2 inches on the low side with no hope of wearing a helmet. I had to crane my head to the side to sit in the car, yes the seat was all the way down. I have now talked with a couple of after market seat mfgs and while they can get me an inch of room to get 2, I need to eliminate the sliders, to get more than two I have to go with a custom formed seat and/or no cushion. Needless to say a major disappointment.

So that means I go back to the C5 or consider a C6 although I may go non-z06 for the added head room so that I can get a helmet on and be generally more comfortable than I was in my 04 Z06. Finding a 6MT car with minor mods or perhaps something like a cap/valve springs is somewhat easy and very reasonably priced for very good condition cars.

Or I can look for a C6 Grand Sport. Love the Grand Sport, for some reason it's the only C6 that ever "did it" for me. As odd as that sounds given the performance envelope of the Z06 and ZR1...butttt the first time I saw the GS and read that it had the most important performance kit from the Z06 (suspension and brakes) I liked the car. Having said that, the C6 in general hasn't done a lot for me emotionally. I sat in my buddies yesterday and the interior is a significant improvement and I had a TON of headroom, probably 2.5 or 3 inches.

This means that aftermarket seats that add "only" an inch to headroom put me in a great driving position while not giving up adjustability forward and backward on the sliders. This means all I have to worry about then is side airbag issues, I assume someone on the board has figured that out?

Also the 6MT in the later C6's drives much easier than the earlier Vette's which means maybe it won't be as intimidating to my wife?

I'm looking for general thoughts and guidance from CF on this situation/dilemma. You guys haven't steered me wrong in the past and I'm woefully undereducated on the C6 and LS3. So any tips to buying used and general thoughts are welcome.

J3TVETTE

Simply put, look for a 2008+ 6M for a great all around car. I like how Z51 models drive (a bit stiffer) but regular models are fine. 08+ saw a different manual tranny as well as better steering feel and of course the LS3. Absolutely great combination for a sports car. Good luck in your search and let us know what you end up with. I'm also on the tall side (6'3ish) and the C6 fits me well. In fact its actually roomy!

ncvette_1FUNRIDE

Take a look at this one:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ee-photos.html

You won't find a nicer one.

Plenty of head room as it has a "glass" top.

Also, it has the MGW shifter. It doesn't get amy better than that for shifting a manual.


.

FAUEE

Buy a 1LT car, they didn't come with aide airbags. Solves that issue real easy.

The MN6 in early vs late C6s isn't a huge difference. Neither is as good as the ZF6 from the C4, but the shift **** and handle is better.

I wouldn't worry about ls2 vs ls3. Buy a clean car that you like how it looks. The difference in power is negligible, especially on a track. There's way more speed in taking a better line due to experience than ls2 vs ls3. And this is coming from a LS3 owner.

6SpeedTA95

If I go C6 it'll almost certainly be a Grand Sport car.

mikeCsix

You mentioned "track" a couple of times, is that straight line or road course?

The GS is a great car, probably a '10, mn6, would work nice on roadcourses. They already have the coolers installed, and dry sump. The ride is much nicer than the Z51's with normal shocks, of course they also came with the magnetic ride option. The '12's had some upgrades too, and there is the A6 transmissions, they work well on the road courses but need exrra cooling.

6SpeedTA95

Race track is likely a road course. Straight line stuff gets kinda boring.

cgladish

I'm coming in at 6'-2", and with that I have plenty of head room.
I would like a bit more leg room though. as I've wanted a corvette for a while, I was willing to compromise some issues. so far that has only been the leg room. I've sat in a C7, and that was way too tight.
no foot or leg room.
hopefully you find that fits you well!

FAUEE

I think you can get a 1LT Grand Sport, they made them in all trim levels I believe.

Side thought, the C5 makes a nice platform for non serious competition road course because the sport seats have a pass through for shoulder belts. So you can get good belts without full on race seats. And unless you have a lot of track experience, a C5 is way faster than you anyways. Are you planning to do time trials, or just hpde?

Dutch08

Let me add that I bought one, it had to break in a bit, but 3000 miles later it is worth every penny. What a difference! One of my best mods.

(In case you're reading this and trying to decide, I also did a "ranger method" change on the clutch fluid and changed the clutch pedal spring to a C5.)

6SpeedTA95

I have a fair amount of track experience and have put up some pretty respectable times in the past in a wide array of vehicles. Time trials, HPDE and track rentals are all in the cards TBH.

I did the ranger method on my C5 Z06 made a big diff in clutch pedal feel.

C5 is definitely a very capable chassis but I also want something quite driveable on the street. Also having that significant upgrade in interior quality...while not a requirement sure is a "nice to have". I sat in my buddies C6 this weekend and while it wasn't my BMW or my wife's Lexus it was a big step up from the C5. That was reinforced yesterday when I drove another buddies C5 Z06 after work.

No doubt you get a TON Of car for the money on the C5 platform.

TravisD

I have a C4 and a C6...I don't think I have as much headroom in the C6 as I have in the C4 (C4 has the clear roof, C6 has solid..)

That said, the C6 is a huge step up quality wise. I still haven't been able to convince myself to part with the C4 though...

6SpeedTA95

Fixed roof C6? Is it a z06?

Patsgarage

Two questions that could determine a lot of different answers are;
1) Your budget.
2) Is the car going to be a DD or a weekend toy.

6SpeedTA95

1) I can afford more than I'm willing to spend because my wife says I'm a tightwad but I'd probably not spend more than low 30s. That seems to put a lot of 2010-2012 GS cars in play.

2) This is more of a weekend toy or a one day a week driver to work. A good friend of mine at work daily drives his cammed C5 z06 and so I'd probably drive it once a week just because I can...

The vehicle will probably see 2-4 thousand miles a year if I had to guess.

Patsgarage

OK, then I would say go for a GS. I am a little biased, but for the money it is very track capable out of the box. Brakes, suspension and cooling do not need to be modified for track duty. I would change the shifter (MGW upper & lower) and make sure the PO did not change out the factory pads. They do create a lot of dust, so many street drivers change over to a less capable and lower dusting pad. The clutch fluid does get dirty pretty quickly with aggressive driving, but regular flushes solve that. Other common issues are clutch MC failure (GM extended the warranty), headlight recall, harmonic balancer failures, but overall they are pretty reliable.

6SpeedTA95

Great info, clutch master cylinder failure and what sort of warranty extension did they offer? Is this clutch actually something that can be flushed? C5 had to use ranger method.
Also harmonic balancer failure can in some cases be catastrophic is that something that's common or TSB'd or a way to mitigate my risk if no warranty?

Patsgarage

I have to look at my letter, but I think the MC warranty was extended to 1/100. I do the Ranger method every time I notice the fluid getting dark, some guys have installed a remote bleeder to make flushing the entire system much easier.
The HB issue is well documented, it should give plenty of warning (wobble and/or squealing) before it craps out.

6SpeedTA95

Master Cylinder failure is kind of a big deal. I'm surprised that hasn't been recalled for safety with lifetime warranty and new part # so that it won't fail again.

Patsgarage

I just looked at my letter from GM. They extended the warranty to 10/120 on the "clutch system", so I misspoke before. I think the majority of the issues were MC related, but the slave cyl could be affected as well.