Your take on C4 and C5 vettes

i owned a 96 lt4 for about 4-5 years. racked up 40k nearly trouble free miles. i thought it was a fantastic car. i took the mufflers and the resonator off and she was a screaming devil. quiet enough at cruise speeds for conversation, but I couldnt hear myself think when i was on the gas. good handling, plenty of power and acceleration, both off the line and from freeway speeds, and all around good manners. i used it as a daily for 2 or 3 years and retired it to weekend fun until i sold her. the car worked great for both. earlier c4s could be a handful if they havent been well taken care of (suppose thats true for any vette, but especially the 80s years) but a good solid lt1(4) should still be a great car. i miss mine

 

I meant to write I prefer the C4 over the C5, better looks, interior design

I got the C5 conv for the gf, she loves it, I think it looks like a fat mazda

 

I had a 96 collector edition LT4.It was an awesomely smooth motor.Very powerful and capable.Great car and fun.It did have the red interior with black inserts that was nice I thought.Plenty of buttons and stuff to play with! I bought it cheap and made a bit of money on it to boot.
I then found a 01 ZO6.WOW what a step up! Plus it was easier to drive evryday if you wanted.Easy to get in and out of and such.The C6 would be the ultimate but if you are trying to get by on the cheap,look at a salvage title car?I am not saying buy one that was on fire or wrapped around a tree. A bunch of them dont have much wrong and you save a bunch of money.My ZO6 was a water damage car but it had nothing wrong with it anywhere.It was the best car I have owned as far as just fun.I bought it for $21K and drove it home! That was about 3 years ago.It had like 25K miles and was black on black.If I didnt tell you it was a salvage title you would never know it inside or out.I sold it and made money on it!The C6 would be king but buy what you can and buy it right and then move up as you can and as the market comes to you.Always buy to sell.

 

Just watch out for the repair cost when it comes to the early cars. They can get expensive fast.


Darrell.

 

there was an Esprit at my local Lexus dealer a few weeks back listed at $23900 but there be demons at the lotus repair shops.

 

Had a C4, chassis rigidity was not exactly a word used to describe it. Very stable at high speed good grip and brakes, cheapo interior crap steering feel, easy to mod motor till it blows, yes lots of rattles and squeaks.

Drove a freinds new 08 zo6, same deal except stiffer gripped better pulled harder, but still essentialy a vette.

Put a caddy northstar in your fiero, maybe a GT40 rebody and have an awesome car. The fiero frame is great, and the later ones had good suspension.

 

I have a C5 Z06 for a daily driver. It's a burner..........cheap fixes and upgrades, and you can do it all yourself, just like a an American sports car is supposed to be. I am not saying it breaks down often, but you always find some fun parts to put on it, like 4 drilled and slotted big rotors plus ceramic brake pads for $240.00. You cant beat that!

 

I used to work for GM and had "privileges" which meant that I could get a Product Evaluation car (PEP) car, drive it for 4 months, and then buy it out at the end of the evaluation period for a really good price. I had 9 C4's and have had two C5's, the last being a 04 Z06.

What you need to know about Corvettes is that there are corvettes and then there are CORVETTES!! There have always been more desirable models of the Corvette available (and those cars haven't always been publicized) and there have always been boulevard cruisers for posers. The base model car is sprung for women and wussies and it doesn't handle or drive all that well. While they all look alike, it is important to get a car with the right option packages (and that goes for both the C4 and C5 cars). For the most part Chevy puts flaccid suspensions on the convertibles. That is because on the C4, without the roof the chassis is so flexible that if you put stiff suspension on it the car creaks and groans like a covered wagon.

If you want to get a C4 look long and hard for a Z07 car. The Z07 was a suspension option package that had bigger brakes, stiffer suspension, wider front wheels and were all around much more fun to drive than the base car. Going for a post 93 gets you the LT1 or 4 motor, which is a lot stronger than an L98. In 94 they put skinny front wheels on the C4 to improve fuel economy and the base cars after that were dogs. They typically made about 800 Z07's per year in the years 93-95 (and in the dealer literature they told the salesman to dissuade customers from ordering the option unless they knew and understood that this was a serious performance package that the "typical owner" might find too harsh for street driving). If you do a C4 that is most certainly the car to try to find. It will appreciate more and sooner than a base car and it really isn't that harsh, but the handling is awesome compared to a base car. Sometimes they show up and the person doesn't know what they have and you can get it for a reasonable price. If you find one in the hands of somebody who is knowledgeable, expect to pay a premium over the price of a base C4. After 95 they softened up the springs and the cars got more cushy but the handling went into the toilet... It's easy to tell if a car is a Z07, just look at the front brake disks.. If they fill up the wheel, the car is a Z07. If they look small, they are and the car isn't...

Much the same way, in C5's, go for the Z. There are many more of those built, so they aren't as rare, but it is a whole other driving experience compared to a vert or a base coupe. Stay away from the base car at all costs, the Z51 option isn't bad, but it isn't really close to a Z...

Spend some time on the Corvette forum and you will learn a lot, it's a pretty open place and there is a huge amount of knowledge on there.

 

I would also say give C5 FRC (fixed roof coupes) a look. They weigh in even less then the C5 Z06.

 

The FRC is a good (and relatively inexpensive) starting point if you want to do a good bit of modding. You will need to upgrade the suspension to Z06 standard and add in some motor work to make it worth while. But they can be had for a reasonable amount.

 

My opinion if your going to look for a Corvette 90 and below check into a Buick Grand National insead. It delivers awsome tuning, cool looks and its not your gradaddys buick.

meanwhile drop in a 3800 Supercharged into your Fiero you'll have more power for punch to spank a C4 and possibly a C5 vette.

 

I have to agree - I paid 21K for my FRC, spent roughly 12K upgrading the motor and suspension. I'm running 435HP to the wheels, and still get over 27mpg on the highway, a testament to the engineering of the car. Very tight with no rattles and squeaks - a huge leap from my 1992 LT1 that flexed like a twist-tie. If you go the C5 route, and spend wisely on the mods, you will have a very streetable, comfortable sports car that will make a 911 turbo blush when you accelerate.

 

Here is a pic of my 2002 C5 Vette, i only paid $22,000 for it and i love it as a daily driver.
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