C5 Z06 Corvette-discuss

Is there any reason to not be on these like white on rice? Looks like with some careful shopping you should be able to pick one up WELL under $20g's. 405 HP, not much over 3000lbs. Anything special to know about these that would be significantly different from any other C5? How are C5's to work on DIY in general?

Hard to go wrong with one if you like the styling and can deal with the interior. Nothing is faster for the money.

They have some weird column lock issue that's been well documented. I hear they need a transaxle cooler for heavy track use but otherwise they are solid cars.

If I had the $$$ one would be in my driveway. That simple. They are the best supercar for your dollar out there right now, and yes, I said supercar. They can flat-out smoke just about anything out there and are a few bolt-ons away from C6 Z06 or even ZR1 crushing. There's a twin-turbo one that runs 8's and can out-hustle a Veyron that the guy drives everywhere running on E85.

Can't beat it for the money. It is one of the only cars I've driven that I would like instead of my miata. I'll own one someday.

If you are looking for a "Value" C5 Z06, look at 2001-2002. They only (ha, only) had 385 horsepower and are priced less because of it.

There is a T1 racer on a forum I frequent who does very well in one. He put in about 80 races, 80 trackdays on a crate motor. That is with a 800rpm redline increase from stock, and 98% of that time he lives above 4000rpm. She finally blew. A new crate motor shipped to him with SCCA discount for just a tick over 3000$. Best performance/$ I can think of (GRM challenge does not count ). You know what they say: cheap, fast, reliable (choose two of those).

With this car you can have all 3! It looks pretty damn good too.

I bet a porsche trackday guy spends more on brakes in just a couple weekends.

Too much awesome for most people

The 2002's have the 405 HP/400 lbs-ft LS6. I bought my girl 3 years ago for $19K with 87K miles. She now has 137K miles, and has been flawless.

The issues mentioned, like the column lock deal and the transaxle needing cooling, are a bit blown out of proportion. The column lock is an easy fix, and it's a TSB that the dealer will take care of. The transaxle is fine if you put in a good quality fluid. They aren't good drag cars without modification due to wheel hop and the two piece half shafts (designed to break so you don't kill the diff). Like everyone said, simple the best car you can buy for the money. Rock solid, easy to mod, cheap to insure, and faster than hell.

I do every bit of work on my own. Everything is simple and easy to get to, though it can be time consuming. Things like the clutch take time, you need to drop the rear suspension cradle out of the car to get to it. Just put a good clutch in and you won't have to do it that often. But truth be told, I can drop it out, swap the bits, and have it back driving in 6-8 hours, depending on if I've got a friend helping with the reassembly.

If you have any other questions, let me know. If you are anywhere near Atlanta, I'll be happy to let you drive mine.

For under $20k why not? Not my cup of tea mainly because growing up 30 miles from factory I got kinda of bored seeing Corvettes. But still one hell of a car.

I bought my C5 Z06 last May and it has been an outstanding car. I paid a fair bit more than 20k for mine, but it only had 5,500 miles when I got it. I think they're one of the best performance bargains out there now. The car is fast enough for me so I'm not planning on doing any serious mods to it. After getting used to my Miata I can't say I'm a big fan of the shifter in the C5, so I'll probably change that out in the spring. I'm considering a new drivers seat too. The stock seats are very comfortable, but if you're doing any sort of spirited driving... they don't do a very good job keeping you in place.

Someone mentioned the steering column locking up... it's a fairly common problem, but can be entirely fixed with a $40 column lock bypass kit. That was the first thing I did to mine, followed by a $20 skip shift eliminator.

The only car to consider other than a C5 Z06 is a C6, in my opinion. But I don't think you can wrong with either -- and if I had the garage space I'd probably already have one in there with my Miata.

And the Corvette racing, track, and autox communities are terrific resources.

I have gone looking for a C5 Z06 on two occasions and didnt pull the trigger either time. The first time I bought the GTO instead partially because I couldnt find an unmodified car within a reasonable distance from me. The second time I found some cars that fit my criterea but in the end decided to stay lite-weight and got the Elise instead. In the end, the GTO fulfills most of the urges that I have for a Z06 and is a much better daily driver. I really didnt like the interior in layout or quality. However there is no doubt that the car is a great performance value.

The main problem I have with the C5 and C6 Z06 is they are just plain silly overkill for the street. There is no way you can come close to the limit on public roads without being a completely irresponsible ass.

(you buzz my Mom while you are going 175 on the highway and she freaks out and puts it in a ditch.....it is still your fault and I'm hunting you down! )

They are great track cars......if you have the stones. Are you sure you want to deal with 150 mph sweepers? Feel safe getting loose at 130? These are serious cars. They will lull you to a false sense of security because they are so docile at slow speeds. You'd better be on your game as the speeds increase though, because these are deadly serious cars. Things happen alot faster in a Z06 than they do in a E30 or a Miata.

I love em.....I kinda want one......but keep in mind the limits of these cars are WAY higher than the limits of most of their drivers.

Joe Gearin wrote: The main problem I have with the C5 and C6 Z06 is they are just plain silly overkill for the street. There is no way you can come close to the limit on public roads without being a completely irresponsible ass.

True... but this is the case with just about any late-model and newer performance car... even an M3 is somewhat boring when driven in 'normal' conditions.

I'd love a C5 Z06 if I could afford one. For such a big, heavy car, they are apparently pretty easy on R-comps in auto-x.

I'd take this for a little more coin: http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/2172531111.html

The amazing thing is that they're not very heavy at all. At 3100 lbs or so, they're lighter than a WRX or an MS3.

jstein77 wrote: The amazing thing is that they're not very heavy at all. At 3100 lbs or so, they're lighter than a WRX or an MS3.

Not very big either. I won't dig, but at least the C6 is smaller than the 911 in everything except width, and that's close.

I wrote this a couple months ago for another forum. Mine's plain, not a Z06. I’ve owned a 1999 C5 Corvette for a year now.

Five things that I haven’t seen so far in the comments.

1) It is immensely reliable and cheap to run. I have spent under $250 on maintenance and repairs so far and haven’t neglected anything. Flush the coolant every five years, change the synthetic oil when the car tells you to, drain the clutch and brake fluid reservoirs with a turkey baster and refill every oil change, change the sparkplugs when you get a misfire. That’s about it. Wait; I had to replace two $4 aftermarket exhaust hangers. It has spent every day in service.

2) A Corvette is a very big car. The nose is miles in front of you, the tail miles behind, and it is over six feet wide. Fortunately, this also goes for the cabin. Anyone shorter than Hakeem Olajuwon will fit before the tracks are all the way back. The cargo area is very large as well.

3) The 346-CID engine plays in a different league from the lesser machinery in this discussion. The throttle travel is long, the power is progressive, and you are still always aware that you have fewer than ten pounds per horsepower. 25 to 75 in second gear takes four seconds – and that is useful on the road. The powerband starts at 2500 and runs to the 6250 rev limiter – and that is useful on the road. It will pull the brutal third gear to 108 MPH – and THAT is useful when somebody tries to block you from overtaking. It sounds right, too, with any decent aftermarket exhaust.

4) For highway cruising it is difficult to beat a car this slick and relaxed, with the twelve-CD changer, the ice-cold GM A/C, and the relaxed engine. It really is only turning 1500 at 70, and I have gotten 35 MPG tank-average once. On the back roads, it is difficult to beat a very well balanced car with a center of gravity that low and tires that wide. Then ye olde boat motor decides it wants to be a part of the show and you get an adjustment – yaw angle – that other cars simply don’t have on the road. It’s friendly, it’s responsive, it’s relaxed, it just happens to be going… well, the statute of limitations in New York State still hasn’t expired on that particular run yet.

5) The instrumentation is the best in any road car by miles and miles. It will take you a week to get used to the HUD and about thirty seconds in another car to wonder why all of them don’t have it. The digital display is also quite useful. You can improve your driving watching your instant and average fuel mileage, and then check your tire pressures. Porsche’s Sport Chrono timer costs $900 and they advertise it as part of their connection to motorsport. The Elapsed Time feature on the Corvette is the fifth menu item on the “Trip” button and merits two lines in the owner’s manual.

They do the same thing, and that I think sums up this car very well. It does things very few other cars can, intimidates novice drivers into driving it safely, rewards expert driving, and is relaxed and unassuming about all of it.

Everyone I know is in love with them, even my dyed in the wool hardcore import friends. That's gotta say something.

It's too much car for you. I tell you what... buy it, then trade me even-steven's for my less powerful C4 Z51 that you can handle easier. Don't sweat it... we'll make the sacrifice to help our fellow GRM'ers in making sure they have a great automotive experience, even if we have to suffer a little.

Never had the Z06, but I've owned two C5 coupes. I think I may vote for the plain coupe with the Z51 suspension package. They sell for a decent bit less than the Z06. Even in stock form, the coupe ain't slow, and with the Z51 package (if memory serves, that gets you much of the Z06 suspension goodies) it'll handle incredibly well. For the extra $$ you'll spend on the Z06, you can get a tastefully modified coupe that would blow the doors off a stock Z06.

Either way, you won't go wrong...the C5 is an awesome car.

Klayfish wrote: Never had the Z06, but I've owned two C5 coupes. I think I may vote for the plain coupe with the Z51 suspension package. They sell for a decent bit less than the Z06. Even in stock form, the coupe ain't slow, and with the Z51 package (if memory serves, that gets you much of the Z06 suspension goodies) it'll handle incredibly well. For the extra $$ you'll spend on the Z06, you can get a tastefully modified coupe that would blow the doors off a stock Z06. Either way, you won't go wrong...the C5 is an awesome car.

I can't really disagree with this. The biggest difference is the body shape, other than the engine. I wanted the fixed roof. You can get a 99 or a 2000 FRC for cheaper than a Z06, but you get almost all the goodies, including the weight reduction.

rwdsport wrote: I bet a porsche trackday guy spends more on brakes in just a couple weekends.

Nope. Z-06 + racetrack is a big brake and tire bill. If you don't have a good discount you can burn thru $1k in consumables in a weekend easily. The awesomely cheap $25 rotors are offset by the $800 rear tires and $300 race pads.

Still - the cars are fast as all hell and bulletproof. 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

Hell, even a 'normal" C5 is a great deal. I looked really hard and seriously at Corvettes for awhile, but it was just a little more than I could afford.

That said, I'm hoping the C7 comes out soon and pushed the prices down again.

Something worth noting C5 brakes are C5 brakes -- unlike on a C6 Z06. That means great stopping power on the base car, too. The only difference is that C5 calipers are red.

out of curiosity what about the c4 cars, they seem to be pretty darn cheap now.