and my GS4 is almost 5 years old......

Different types of cars I know, but from everything I've read, they sound pretty awesome.

My only concerns would be:

1) reliability/quality. Let's face it; not GM's strong mark and the CTS/CTS-V have been reported to be worse than average in this area (according to Consumer Reports). I have had 3 Chevy products during the 90's and vowed never to return.

2) dealer 'mark-ups' and limited inventory

3) Insurance.

4) the assinine forced 1-4 shift on light throttle.

I'd like to take one for a test drive when they are released later this month, but I'm wondering if there is a backlog of orders already. My colleage, who is an avid sports car nut, drove a Z06 & said it was the only production car he's driven that left him with an adrenaline rush.

Interestingly, the SLK350/55, which I also like, has largely been absent from any press, even though it is supposed to be out next month. Make me think MBZ is having problems and/or delays.

I have always thought and believed corvettes are 50K mile cars. They are built cheaply. The only thing they do consistently is smoke the tires and breakdown. GM service will be quite painfull for you since you are used Lexus service. It will be a night and day difference to put it midly. I would never buy the first model year.

I wouldn't buy a first model year either. Give them a year to work out all the tiny bugs. The Corvette is getting only top marks except for Top Gear, but then again, there's an article about thier review saying how ridiculous they were being during the test.

For your concerns, a shift skip eliminator can be had for $20 (still, it's ridiculous), and although GM quality is not Lexus, it's not horrible either, and better than than any other exotic (except Porsche). Also the Vette is cheaper to maintain. I think how GM has marked up all special edition vehicles from the Grand Nationals, to the SyTys, to the Impala and Silverado SS, to the CTS-V and the GTO, is absolutely nuts. It's offensive, and gives them an aura of being so full of themselves that they can get by doing this.

James

I have always thought and believed corvettes are 50K mile cars. They are built cheaply. The only thing they do consistently is smoke the tires and breakdown. GM service will be quite painfull for you since you are used Lexus service. It will be a night and day difference to put it midly. I would never buy the first model year.

Corvettes are definately not 50K mile cars. Come visit Corvetteforum.com and you will see many of the members with 100K+ on their rides. The build quality certainly isnt Lexus quality, but far from being built cheaply. They have a few issues, but they are easily fixable.

I will agree with the levels of GM service. Finding a good GM dealer is few and far between, but they are out there. I will say the opposite for Lexus service. The vast majority of good Lexus dealers are common, but to find one with poor levels of service are rare.

Insurance.......imo, if you cant afford the insurance on a car, then you shouldnt buy it. Again, just my opinion.

On the C5's , you can get a bypass to get rid of the 1st to 4th shift. Im not 100% positive, but I think I remember hearing that GM did that so they wouldnt be classified as falling in the gas guzzlers tax.

Anyone catch the new Corvette commercial?? Its the one with the kid fantazizing about driving it and sees a cute girl driving one?? Its an awesome commercial!

Originally posted by LexRoc
Corvettes are definately not 50K mile cars. Come visit Corvetteforum.com and you will see many of the members with 100K+ on their rides. The build quality certainly isnt Lexus quality, but far from being built cheaply. They have a few issues, but they are easily fixable.

I will agree with the levels of GM service. Finding a good GM dealer is few and far between, but they are out there. I will say the opposite for Lexus service. The vast majority of good Lexus dealers are common, but to find one with poor levels of service are rare.

Insurance.......imo, if you cant afford the insurance on a car, then you shouldnt buy it. Again, just my opinion.

On the C5's , you can get a bypass to get rid of the 1st to 4th shift. Im not 100% positive, but I think I remember hearing that GM did that so they wouldnt be classified as falling in the gas guzzlers tax.

Anyone catch the new Corvette commercial?? Its the one with the kid fantazizing about driving it and sees a cute girl driving one?? Its an awesome commercial!

Yup, saw it during the Olympics. They have a disclaimer saying it's only a dream, do not attempt. :p

Anyways, you wanna find a Lexus dealership that's bad, check out Lexus of Bellevue in Bellevue, WA.

James

ive had plently of vettes they are built good(not like a lexus but good), they are not meant to be daily drivers but are able to be driven daily, that why most of the ones you see have low miles. it is true if you buy the first year you will get most of the bugs, but you will be one of the first with one, take the good with the bad. i say buy it...if you can afford it.

For 45k, you can't beat it. 400horses out the bag. Wow. It's upped the bar on performance/value again.

Originally posted by jet864
Yup, saw it during the Olympics. They have a disclaimer saying it's only a dream, do not attempt. :p

Anyways, you wanna find a Lexus dealership that's bad, check out Lexus of Bellevue in Bellevue, WA.

James

Lexus of Pleasanton, CA stinks.

I agree that GM service sucks ass!

That said, Honda/Toyota is no Lexus-level servcie either.

But the 06 vette looks pretty damn good. Hard to justify Porsche's $79k BASE price for the 350HP 911S. Porsche, like BMW are way too expensive when decently equipped. IMHO

35 y/o, married, no tickets, homeowner; insurance shouldn't be too bad; at least I hope not.

I just won't pay additional markup, so it will be interesting to see how dealers address pricing.

Car and Driver gave this car an excellent review as well. I really like the new "taut" look especially in dark colors. The car has a sporty GT look to it. I am not sure about first year reliability and markups, etc. Also, I dont think it will be anything close to a GS in the daily driver category. Maybe get a daily driver and the Corvette?

Good luck.

The corvette is a classic and improves its look to me upon every new design I see. I think it's a great value and something to be considered by anyone looking for value per cash.

-Anthon

The Top Gear review said the interior was cheap. Plus I can image how much it is going to cost with the high gas prices :egads:

The engine probably will last a long time. Not sure about the rest of the car though...

Ed

Originally posted by 0l33l
Plus I can image how much it is going to cost with the high gas prices :egads:

If you're worried about gas prices, don't buy a vette, buy a Civic. :rolleyes:

Performance is awesome. Something funky about the proportions design of the body. With the huge 'booty' the rear wheels look tiny and there's a good bit of wheel gap.

http://www.vetteweb.com/features/0410vet_c6drive_02_z.jpg

The car is what it is and does what it's meant to well. 0-60 in 4.3, 12.7 quarter for $45K. Not too sure if you would want it as a daily driver but it's a great performance value. Simular numbers to last gens Z06!
:thumbup:

Originally posted by bitkahuna
If you're worried about gas prices, don't buy a vette, buy a Civic. :rolleyes:

LoL :p

My father is presently getting ready to put a down payment on a C6 corvette. The car is absolutely beautiful and performs amazingly. The only drawback?

He's going to sell his mint '60 black on red 'Vette to provide the garage space. :cry:

You guys talking about the Vette getting bad gas milage must have never driven a 6-speed. Even the current C5 gets amazing highway milage from the 6-speed's super tall overdrive gear. (some reports of OVER 30 MPG!). City is a little less, but still overall a moderately driven 6-speed C5 or C6 will actually get better milage than a GS3 or GS4!

My dad drove from Oakland to Seattle, all freeway and averaged over 26 mpg on the drive back. Absolutely amazing for a car making over 350 hp. He just put the cruise control on, and enjoyed the view. Impressive for a 5.7...my 4.0 can't do that.

James

Performance is awesome. Something funky about the proportions design of the body. With the huge 'booty' the rear wheels look tiny and there's a good bit of wheel gap.

Id have to agree. The coupe isnt sitting right with me, although the vert is pretty nice. As far as lowering the car, with the C5's you can lower them on the stock bolts. I dont know if that will be the same with the C6.

Also, as far as gas prices, I drove my C5 from Florida to NY and averaged 29.5 mpg. Normal around town is 23-24 and thats with not so easy driving.

1) Leaking intake manifold dripping oil on exhaust pipe
2) Leaking injectors created excessive cranking when trying to start the car
3) Frozen Bilstein Shock
4) 3 Bose speakers replaced
5) 1 Radio replaced
6) 1 Transmission replaced
7) 1 master cylinder replaced

All under 45K miles. Yea, I visited Corvetteforuum everday while I owned the POS. I was amazed how we all had the same problems, I thought mine was lemmon but when everyone else had the problems I knew corvettes were junk. Grab the seat of a 2004 corvette, I like how it wiggles in your hand.

Originally posted by advsystems

Interestingly, the SLK350/55, which I also like, has largely been absent from any press, even though it is supposed to be out next month. Make me think MBZ is having problems and/or delays.

One of my close friends was dragged by her boyfriend to his Benz dealer in Houston where she said they had a SLK320 there for people to see. She said the dealer said it wouldn't be available for another 6 months though. Anyone in Houston, u may be interested in going to the dealer (not sure which, but i'm sure if u call around u can find out) and lookin at it... a really awesome car in my opinion.

Originally posted by bitkahuna
Performance is awesome. Something funky about the proportions design of the body. With the huge 'booty' the rear wheels look tiny and there's a good bit of wheel gap.

http://www.vetteweb.com/features/0410vet_c6drive_02_z.jpg

I'm nearly positive that the C6 in that picture is braking, thus the front end is diving and the rear is raising up. Especially since it's heading downhill, which causes the rear end to raise up even more than usual when braking.

FWIW, the front wheels are 18, the rears are 19. You think they should make the rear wheels 20" instead? When is this "bigger wheels are better" madness going to stop?:o

Bigger wheels, past a certain point (like usually 17 or 18 inch) do absolutely nothing good for a car except sometimes for its looks. Beyond that you have much more expensive tires, wheels and tires much more prone to damage, a rougher more jolting ride over large bumps and even small irregularities, worse acceleration/braking/handling/gas milage, and even worse life of brakes and suspension components because of the extra unsprung weight they have to support.

True, some newer types of wheels are made using newer techniques like VPC that allow for wheel weights to remain roughly the same as wheels steadily increase in size over the years, but that still doesn't help the stiff ride or damage going over potholes issue any.

all this talk so i ordered a new c6 today, supposed to be here in october-november.....
if its junk ya'll can say you told me so.:D big bird mode......yellow.

for the record i would keep the 60' in a minute

Originally posted by ias
all this talk so i ordered a new c6 today, supposed to be here in october-november.....
if its junk ya'll can say you told me so.:D big bird mode......yellow.

Good to hear man, let us know how it all goes once yuo get it in. and of course, post up pics.

James

Originally posted by ias
all this talk so i ordered a new c6 today, supposed to be here in october-november.....
if its junk ya'll can say you told me so.:D big bird mode......yellow.

Congrats!
On another note, I don't think people who buy sports cars or Vettes worry about gas mileage.

Don't whine about the V8's gas mileage. I just finished a 100% city cycle on my Forester and only got about 16MPG. Most shifts were performed at about 4000RPM. Granted, the boxer is very green and only has about 800 miles on it. I'm hoping for an increase as more miles get on the clock...

I've always had respect for the Americans, especially GM, for getting decent gas milage out of their V8s.

Originally posted by wantAnewLex
Don't whine about the V8's gas mileage. I just finished a 100% city cycle on my Forester and only got about 16MPG. Most shifts were performed at about 4000RPM. Granted, the boxer is very green and only has about 800 miles on it. I'm hoping for an increase as more miles get on the clock...

I've always had respect for the Americans, especially GM, for getting decent gas milage out of their V8s.

i thought my i-Vetc is horrible. i still get 19MPG average :( 21mpg if i m lucky

Don't know whether I'd buy one, but I 'd love to take one for a long test drive for sure :D

Originally posted by XYZLexus1
I have always thought and believed corvettes are 50K mile cars. They are built cheaply. The only thing they do consistently is smoke the tires and breakdown. GM service will be quite painfull for you since you are used Lexus service. It will be a night and day difference to put it midly. I would never buy the first model year.

After consulting my crystal ball, I've concluded:

1. You've never owned a mid 90's C4 or C5 Corvette
2. You've been beat by a Corvette on more than one occasion with your significant other in the car

tomtnc
Your crystal ball is wrong. I owned a 95 for 4 years. I forgot four other items it had to have repaired:
1) The SIR sensors
2) The optitron ignition module.
3) EGR valve replaced
4) Belt tensioner replaced

I do alot of my own car work but my bills still added up to $4,500 dollars for about 17K miles of ownership.

I went to Corvettes of Houston to trade once. He gave me the keys to a 2001. Before leaving the lot I found 3 issues, digit missing on the radio display, It indicated one of the tires was low on air when it was not, driver side window would not work. The POS had 12K miles.

I do want to thank you, I was getting frustrated with my center console buzzing noise again in my GS300 but now that you made me remember the nightmare of that corvette POS I could not be happier with my Lexus!!!!!!

Go look at a new vet, it does not even have a power recline button for the seats.

If you want a vet buy a 63 to 68. You will pay 35K, but in 1 year or 10 years it will still be worth 35K or more. You buy a new vet, and in 5 to 6 years it will be worth 20K and the frustration of dealing with GM service departments will kill you.

I am a huge GM fan just not a Corvette fan.

my crystal ball says corvettes of houston goes to the auction like everyone else, buys junk vettes the dealer that took it on trade didnt want, or the lease everyone else ragged .... if you want a nice vette buy it from the retired old man that washes it everyday, not the punk like me that dogged it and right before it fell apart traded it in.

I bought mine off a 63 year old man that was selling because his allergies were bad and he could not drive with the convertible top down. It had 30K mile when I purchased and was flawless or I thought.


Corvettes of Houston is particular about the cars they purchase and overpriced. Regardless of how one drives I do not beleive you can wear out a digit on the radio, or put the window up and down so many times that it quits working on a 2001 model that was only 1 year od when I looked at it. As far as the wheel sensor for inflation the rims did not appear to be bent or have any curb rash. I can assure you when I got done testing driving the car had less rubber on the rear tires.

When I drove mine away the old man told me, "everyone needs to own a vette once#, I now know what he was talking about.

My brothers both had 97 Trans Ams. Both also had to have the opti-spark replaced (Ingnition coil) at $750. One of theirs leaked at the manifold also. If I had to buy a new vette I would lease beat the crap out of it and turn it back in.

i do agree that that the opti spark is a bad unit but if he paid $750 for he got boned. you have some other valid points though. bottom line is if you can afford a new c6 you can afford to take a loss when you sell it, a new car is not an investment its a toy.

Originally posted by ias
my crystal ball says corvettes of houston goes to the auction like everyone else, buys junk vettes the dealer that took it on trade didnt want, or the lease everyone else ragged .... if you want a nice vette buy it from the retired old man that washes it everyday, not the punk like me that dogged it and right before it fell apart traded it in.

A well build car should not fall apart after one year -- especially one with a huge pricetag :rolleyes:

$44,000 is not a huge price tag these days...you can't even get an escalade for that, it barley covers a suburban.

Originally posted by ias
$44,000 is not a huge price tag these days...you can't even get an escalade for that, it barley covers a suburban.

Wow, more examples of crappy domestic cars.

Sorry, if I would be spending $40K on any car, I would certainly not compromise quality and build for performance. :thumbdn:

Yeah, I'd have to say let's wait and take the new C6 Corvette hype with a grain or two of salt. We've heard this more than once in the past......an all-new " improved " Corvette....only to see the same rattles, squeaks, leaks, etc.... come back right over again. And each time we heard the same old story....." Yes, THIS time GM has finally gotten it right ". When you cry wolf so many times, you reach a point where no one believes you any longer even when you DO get it correct. So...has GM in FACT gotten it correct this time?
:confused: :uh:

We'll find out with time.