Henning said:
The best thing about a Vette to me, take any year Vette, I can make out run the same year street edition Ferrari or Porsche, and have less than 1/3 of the money in it. Horsepower per Dollar, it's really hard to beat a small block Chevy in the <800hp catagory, and a Corvette chassis and driveline can be whipped up pretty nicely by just changing some bushings, shocks and anti sway bars, the design work is there and it is good, just need to change the rates a little.
They do that these days right off the showroom floor.
There are basically 3 levels of Corvette in the 5th and just introduced 6th generation models: Coupe, Convertible and Z06. The coupes are most common, have the glass hatchback and removable top center section roof. The convertible are rag tops. Both share common engine and either a 6spd or A4 transmission (I got the 6) and most of the same options like ride control or Z51 sport suspension, run flat tires and so on. In the C5's, they have 350 hp, the C6's got a boost in displacement for 400 hp.
The Z06 is a notchback hardtop with an extra dose of horsepower and all the frills stripped out, super car tires, titanium mufflers and exhaust systems and is basically a trackable car right off the showroom floor. All are 6 speed. The C6 Z06 model is due out next year with >500hp 427 CID engine.
All in all, I'm very pleased with it. It's a great daily driver that has plenty of ponies on tap. Put in 6th and cruise the freeways at a gas-sipping 32mpg. I average about 20mpg or so, depending on the amount of freeway/city mix I do. One good weekend romp in the mountains and I can see 13mpg - but the car gives you the choice. Suspension wise, it's world class.
It is a way different kind of performance car than a Viper or anything out there. It has a level of refinement that makes practical transportation, but not so much as to be a gas-sucking luxury brick like an SL500. In the fact, it's the only car in its class that doesn't get hit with gas-guzzler tax.
Problems with mine in almost 3 yrs of ownership: A wheel weight shifted and left a scratch on the rim. There's a column lock recall that requires a reflash of the PCM firmware. So far, that's it.
The worst part is having to go to a chevy dealer for service, I avoid them like the plague.
Try a C5 instead Henning. You can get a good deal on one and the performance potential is greater in that chassis than any other generation Corvette. Lingenfelter does a twin-turbocharged 427 conversion that delivers >700hp and is entirely street and smog legal.