Hey everyone, I currently own a Nissan 350z and thinking about selling it to get a
2005 Vette. I have some questions for y'all vette owners. Has anyone here bought a 2005 Vette? Any personal reviews? Any major issues already with the 1st year's model?
Pricing: Has anyone been able to get the Vette for under MSRP? I've been hearing about how hot this Vette is , so wondering if one could buy under MSRP. Wish i had the money to get the Z6 coming in September ,i believe. Also, the GM discount doesn't apply to this vehicle. Now, does the GM Employee discount have any hidden costs or tricks that we don't know about or is it really an honest price. Anything to be weary or careful about this GM discount?
I've never been fond of American cars since my previous experience back in the early 90s have been horrible. This would be my first American car since my old Buick Skylark a while back. Any other good sites or forums on the new Vette?
I took delivery of an F55 6-speed C6 convertible about two and a half months ago. It's one of the most completely satisfying cars I've ever owned. The C6 is so good it's difficult to convey the car's real quality.
The car has a fabulous overall driving dynamic. The combination of RIGHT NOW responses, pavement-ripping power, bountiful traction, comfortable ride, high mechanical and tactile feedback to the driver, fine control balance and harmony, nice sounds, and fine seating and control placement deliver a wonderful driving experience. The car feels right in a way very few cars do. Yet you can use the thing in day-to-day trundling around and it doesn't beat you up or make you mad.
When I was shopping, this spring, C6's could be had from stock for $500 to $2000 under MSRP from the major players, although the locals here in Wichita KS were asking for (and apparently getting, judging by their arrogance) $5k to $10K premiums. Special orders were not being discounted that much. I eventually got mine built to order for $2500 under MSRP.
I have very few problems with mine. Fit and finish are the best I've ever seen in an American car. You could fall into the paint job. The only cars I've owned that are comparable in build quality are a 1967 VW Beetle and a Lexus LS430.
There have been a couple of first-year issues with the C6, now mostly resolved. There was a service campaign early on for rear brake lines getting overheated by the nearby exhaust pipes under the car, fixed by a slight design change. A few percent of the earliest cars had some failures around the bolts that secured the vibration damper, also now redesigned. And there's a software bug in the radio control head that does not always trim the antenna correctly for FM reception, sometimes resulting in very poor FM reception until you retrim the antenna by switching to AM, then back to FM. I understand there's a fix and service campaign in the works. This is all little stuff.
Driving dynamics are what make the car. The C6 has been to finishing school and graduated with straight A's, but the car still has a heart of rock and roll and the way to her heart is through the throttle. The LS2 engine is a BEAST, the power is just boggling. This is the resurrection of the classic American "Brylcreem throttle" - a little dab'll do ya.
I've heard a lot of criticism of the Tremec 6-speed tranny. Mine was a little notchy to shift when new but as the car has broken in it's smoothed out nicely and at 4000 miles the car is a slick shifter once it's warmed up.
Ride (mine's an F55) is excellent for what the car is. It's completely livable around town and on city streets, very firm but almost never harsh. At highway speeds the ride is excellent. The active handling and roll control work well. Setting the ride selector to 'Sport' has little effect on the ride at cruise, mostly it causes the suspension to react to sporty driving and maneuvering much more aggressively. Fling the C6 into a sweeper in Sport mode and you can really feel the suspension change.
Handling is excellent, of course. Immediate response, high limits, plenty of feedback, intuitive responses, neutral character. The C6 is the most stable car I've ever driven. Well, there was a '65 Wildcat that was pretty stable, too.
Sound levels are reasonable. With the top up and at speed it's much quieter and better sealed than any other convertible I've owned (and I've driven ragtops since 1965). There's no wind noise around the top up to about 65 mph, where you begin to get a little wind rumble around the aft corners of the top. At 80 mph the cockpit sound level is still very reasonable. There's quite a bit of tire rumble at speed on highly textured surfaces and concrete, but little on smooth blacktop. The exhaust makes a low burble at idle, is silent at cruise and around town, and sounds like a Grand National stocker accelerating out of the pits when pulling hard. Music!
Seating and control ergonomics are excellent. And I'm 5'5", if the car fits me it'll fit just about anyone. My only issue is with the length of the clutch stroke - if I'm the right distance from the pedals and wheel, it's a stretch to fully depress the clutch. But this is more an issue with my size than with the car.
I've been astonished by the C6's fuel consumption. Mine delivers 30-31 mpg at a steady 70 mph and clocked 28.3 mpg on a 70-mile run at 75 mph. A 3-mile level run at 60 mph showed an astonishing 35 mpg. (The car delivered 24 mpg at 60 mph before breakin, the numbers climbed steadily as the car settled in.)
Whines? The dash light dimmer knob design makes me wonder what its designer was thinking. Cockpit stowage space is at a premium. The console storage compartment gets hot inside (never put a candy bar in there!). I've had my boot slip on the metal clutch pedal a few times when damp on rainy days. It's hard to reach the shoulder harness buckle when the seat has automatically moved back to help entry/exit. I keep brushing the temperature control reaching for the stereo volume knob and accidentally changing the cockpit temperature setting.
But this is little stuff.
The real measure of the car is in the drive. You'll know me if you see mine of the road - I'm the dumpy old engineer with the huge grin.
- Vandervecken "Happiness is four hunnert horsepower an' a stick shift"
Just the stupid "got to have it in reverse or I'll kill your battery" trick they pulled. Then hid reverse in a spongy shift gate. Little thing but still stupid. Read some of the posts on this group, there is information on what they are like, mine has 10k on it and has been flawless.
Yes, you can deal on the MSRP price and I had mine Oct 8th. Why worry about the GM discount if you can't get it?
If you're not fond of American cars, why get one? By the way, parts of this car, including sub assemblies are made all over the world in places like Spain, Germany, and (cough, cough) Mexico. This must be new to you if you haven't seen the Corvette forums out there, my guess is that there are 4 very good ones and many more poor ones that just copy this news group. The one I find more to my liking is
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good people.
Although I have heard of problems they have been few and far between with the C6. The reason for the price hike on the C5 is that most people still see the C6 as a not so hot change over the C5. Plus they all think their dick will get longer if they can get one of those Z06s. Other than the stupid sixth gear debacle the car is a sleeper and will remain that way as long as all of those nice C5s are available. Its performance is scary, and it is put to the ground so well you don't realize just how far you are over your limits. If I told you how fast it is you wouldn't believe me, and I'd bet my last dollar none of you would take a ride with me to prove it. One thing I will pass on to you is that in second and third gear you can lay black marks right up to maximum rpms. I'm not saying smoke the tires, I'm saying that the power is put to the road so uniform that it will just run on the edge of breaking loose and lay a nice pair of tire marks in both gears. In first gear it just destroys the rear tires so you have to feather it off the line.
I suggest you stay with the rice burners as you will not be satisfied with anything produced by GM. You never like American cars and probably never will. The C5 is an American car and I will not own a non American car.
One magazine i read (cant recall which one)..said the interior of the new Vette has been somewhat 'cheapened' by comparison to previous C5's ; the magazine didnt make any specific claims . What is your thoughts on this from the current owners of a 2005 ? Thanks.
The C5 is an American car and I will not own a non American
Well, I've owned 5 Corvettes: '61, bought new, an '89, bought new, a '91, bought new, a '95, bought new, and a '94, bought used from a friend. I've also owned three Porsches, two BMWs, and others, all before they were popular.
I also have about 40K BTW miles in C5s. Great cars all.
But the prejudice against owning something non-American is just silly. While I've never owned a Lexus I damned well know quality when I see it. And while I love my Vettes, I am not blinded to the technology and build of others' cars. Oh, to have the money to own a Ferrari or Lamborghini!
It's was cheapened as far as the painted trim on the dash and the consol. Otherwise it is the same as the C5, plastic.
The only reason it is thought to be improved is that some magazines said it was, and you're supposed to always believe the magazines. Actually I like the 2004 I had better then the present C6. What was your C5 that you think the C6 is "significantly upgraded"? There was one improvement, 2 cup holders, you know, the one you knock the drink out of when you hit 5th or reverse.
Got friends (multiple) in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, that are driving G-wagens that are 30 years old and wearing more than 300,000 miles (not kms.)
I hope I didn't step on any toes, certainly didn't mean to.
The car magazines aside - more often off-target than right - I checked out a 'leftover' C5 and the C6. The C5's interior actually was pretty nice. The C6's interior strikes me as nicer. The materials seem softer and the design more appealing, the overall ambiance nicer. The C5 interior seemed to me to have a few rough edges (not literally, thank you), the C6 does not. Things appear to me to fit a little closer, more smoothly. Granted this is subjective, and also granted I was not really turned off by the C5 interior.
WTH, nearly all cars are plastic inside these days.
So far I haven't bopped the cupholders going into 5th or reverse, but there's always hope, I guess.
'The reason for the price hike on the C5 is that most people still see the C6 as a not so hot change over the C5. Plus they all think their dick will get longer if they can get one of those Z06s. Other than the stupid sixth gear debacle the car is a sleeper and will remain that way as long as all of those nice C5s are available. Its performance is scary, and it is put to the ground so well you don't realize just how far you are over your limits. If I told you how fast it is you wouldn't believe me, and I'd bet my last dollar none of you would take a ride with me to prove it. One thing I will pass on to you is that in second and third gear you can lay black marks right up to maximum rpms. I'm not saying smoke the tires, I'm saying that the power is put to the road so uniform that it will just run on the edge of breaking loose and lay a nice pair of tire marks in both gears. In first gear it just destroys the rear tires so you have to feather it off the line.'
Reply: This description is NOT of the 06 Z06 , correct ? Its of the C6
No toes stepped on here because I still find the lesser of the 2 interiors belongs to the C6. That may have not been the case if they, GM, hadn't kept blowing their horn about how it was going to be so much better. Like I've said from the beginning the C6 is a subtle change, mostly in the handling and performance side and certainly not enough to be a new generation. I look at the Corvette different that some seem to, I drive them, so I see the interior up close for hours at a time. There are really only 2 changes from the C5, no grab bar and 2 cup holders. It looks like an after thought to add the painted trim to simulate aluminum trim, what a stupid move for either of them to be added.
Some of my club members believe that they will have to drive their C5s until the C7 come out so they can get a better interior. The way GM is using the new generation as a sales tool a new color could bring about a generation change with no interior change. Really, its not a bad interior, but its only a change, not an improvement. However the point is to enjoy them and what someone else thinks of them should make little difference to the driver.
You missed the point, I said nothing about the vehicle being weak. I have
55, 41, 33, and a 27 year old vehicles and have run a few past 250k. By the way, the 55 year old Chevy coupe has it's original babbited rod bearings. I also have friends in Germany, Denmark, Wales, and England, not sure what you're saying or what that changes? If I had the money and the knees to drive a Lambo, that would be a dream come true.
Uh,the poster said he had a Z. Hardly a rice burner. In your defense, you've probably really never seen a Honda, Nissan, or Toyota up close for that matter.
Looks like GM would never consider you to advertise for them with that attitude. Not too persuasive.
I would hope that most Vette owners don't think like you and are smarter and wiser than you. I guess older doesn't necessarily mean wiser.
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