I work a fair bit and when I am home my wife wants me to spend time with her (Can you believe it? haha), so my Vette doesn't get driven too much. I like my Yukon and it's been an incredibly comfortable and reliable ride (56k miles on it now), but I've debated downsizing to one 'fun' car. E63, CTS-V were two options. Well, I have a sales manager I work with for our fleet purchases at work, so I got a wild hair yesterday and asked her what they would give me for my Vette and Yukon and get me into a CTS-V, either the Coupe or Sedan, wasn't sure which I wanted.

Long story short, over the phone they went 80 on the Vette and 27 on the Yukon and would only go 500 back of invoice in the V, so still around $68k or so. Screw that. I had been hoping to get around $55k and the V. Looks like we're more at $40k and the V. Nah.

Suffice to say, I'm keeping the Vette and Yukon. I think I would have regretted the trade-down anyway.

 

Good choice, what about private sale of the vette and yukon?

 

I'm still a fan of a two-car garage for the man. A CTS-V or E63 would be a great car (I'd get the wagon for both of them, since I have two kids already) but honestly, if I had the garage room, I'd stick with two very focused vehicles instead of one excellent compromise!

 

Don't do it. As capable as the V is on the track you would miss the vette out there. It's just a much better car for track driving.

 

I'm a big fan of consolidating to cars you actually drive enough to justify the cost...if the vette isn't being driven much, it seems like a lot of money evaporating in depreciation. I don't know what the vette's depreciation curve is going to look like, but figure it drops $1,000 a month or more, and if you only drive it say 10 hrs/month, that's >$100/hr to drive that thing...
If I were you though, I think I'd have a hard time going into just about any other car after the vette...cuz pretty much everything probably seems low on torque and relatively tame in personality. Unless you're going to spend more on like a GT2 or go italian, it's almost irreplaceable except MAYBE an ACR which sends a very different message (I don't know if you use the car for work ever, but seems like for me, I couldn't pull off an ACR...but could probably do the vette).

 

You're not going to like me saying it, but depending on mileage the dealer's offer sounds very reasonable. Keep in mind that the cars are 2 and 4 years old. I am not sure how many miles you have on the ZR1 of what options are on it, but I see several very low mile ZR1's selling in the low 80's. And again 27k on the Yukon isn't terrible depending on mileage and considering that it is a huge SUV that gets terrible MPG.

If you want to consolidate to one car I would say that the dealer option will save you a ton of headache selling the cars, and probably not lose you much money compared to selling yourself. And as Dombey said, if you are not driving it, the cost per mile is going to be disgustingly high. If you are considering selling it at all, and think that you will, I'd get rid of it now before another calendar year turns over. You can always get a cheaper track car that is just as much fun, though probably not as fast in a straight line.

It all depends on what you want to do. If you are happy with your ZR1 then just keep it. If you want to get rid of it realize that you are likely not going to ever gt more for it in the future. You can bet that whatever it is worth now, it will be worth probably $8-10k less in a year. The only chance of prices going up or staying the same on your model year is if they don't make any improvements to the newer models, and either the C7 lacks a ZR1, or the next gen Z06/Zr1 are tame in comparison.

I personally think that I would enjoy the ZR1 too much to not drive it every chance I got. But then again I can also imagine that there is a fair amount of stress driving a $100k car, especially as you watch the miles rack up.

 

Quickag, have you thought about getting a "real" track car? I certainly understand the appeal of a street/ track car, but if part of the reason that you like the Corvette less now than you did before is because you don't feel that you're getting enough use out of, why not get a vehicle whose only (or at least predominate) purpose is to be on the track, then you won't feel like it's dying on the vine when you're not driving it around town.

I am sure that the ZR-1 is so goddamn fast on the track that there are few dedicated track cars that will produce faster lap times, but you strike me as the kind of guy who takes the art of driving seriously enough that you must may appreciate getting similar lap times that are owed more to wringing a car out rather than letting the gas pedal be the primary tool to that end.

And I'm not necessarily talking about a Miata or anything even remotely that slow. Why not sell your ZR-1 and buy a C5 Z06 and turn it into a track car. Looks like you can get a C5 Z06 in the $25k range. I found one online that has 400 original miles on it (seriously, 400) and he wants $35k. Spend another 20 grand on top of that and you'd still have a Corvette, only you'd have a caged and gutted Corvette that weighs less than 3000 lbs, has race suspension, racing seat/ harness, slicks, an aftermarket clutch, etc., and you'd pocket a considerable amount of money in the process.

In other words, if the dealer will give you $80k, then you could pocket roughly half and still have a crazy fast car to drive on the track. Yeah, I know. I'm a genius. You're welcome.

 

The problem i have with two cars dedicated to two different things is I always end up driving the more fun one. I just can't get into the SUV most mornings with the orange monster staring at me. It also doesn't help that it's always sunny here for the most part. I usually end up driving it. I'm racking up miles on it, but i don't care.

There is no justification for driving a cars like these. There is no financial or usability justification; I gave up looking for one a long time ago. I don't care what people think about the car. It was a little weird at first, but I've gotten used to it...i don't even notice it. I've put 6k miles on my acr is less then 5 months and it's been great. Life is to short to worry about what other people think or to try and justify every purchase i make.

 

Well said! It makes me happy you drive your ACR and not hardpark it in the garage, the memories that you will walk away with from actually having fun and driving the car have no price.

 

Thanks. The only thing is I'm not getting to enjoy it as much as I would like. I really enjoy track driving the most, but right now I just don't have time. Just driving it around is fun, but nothing like tracking it. I'm hoping to free up some time here soon. I think I have my wife talked into letting me go to track day after she comes back from the hospital with the new baby. I'm gonna be by myself for 3 days with my other two kids and then her mom, dad, and sister are coming to help when she comes back from the hospital. So there will be four people here and only 3 kids...seems like a good time for me to disappear for a day! hahaha

She gave me that same look she gave me when I told her I was buying a viper, but that usually means I have permission and there won't be any lasting consequences. And it will only be a day and I have another 2 weeks off with her and the baby. One day can't hurt...can it? This is what I'm forced to do to get track time with my job the way it is right now!