Buying my Corvette in February '08 turned out to be a great investment. I've only lost about 30% on the Vette and 40% on my other investments.

 

Gotta find optimism where you can these days...

Actually, I can't complain. My wife and I bought a new house Aug. 1 last year at a fire-sale price and took much of our non-retirement investments out of the market to make the down-payment. Plus, we kept our previous house as an investment, so we wouldn't suffer the effects of the down market on its sale, and we immediately found great tenants who signed a two-year lease. And, we just took advantage of the rediculously low interest rates to re-fi our newly purchased home and got a 30-yr. fixed at 4.5%. We've been lucky, I guess, but I am struggling with the idea of buying a new car now...

 

These are the current offers for my region, California, on the GM website.

CorvetteCurrent Special Offers
Corvette Convertible
$2,000 Total Cash Allowances(**) OR as low as 0.0% APR for 60 months for qualified buyers(2)

Corvette Coupe
$2,000 Total Cash Allowances(**) OR as low as 0.0% APR for 60 months for qualified buyers(2)

Corvette Z06
$2,000 Total Cash Allowances(**) OR as low as 0.0% APR for 60 months for qualified buyers(2)

Basically you can get any new corvette for 0% today if you have good credit. I think even that is too expensive unless they are will to discount heavily. I would not buy a new today knowing it will lose 30% of its value the minute I drive off the lot.

 

Follow-up question for the Corvette experts:

I found a car today that I would like to be able to buy. It is an '08 2LT with titanium interior (which I really prefer to the monochromatic ebony) in jetstream blue (probably not my favorite color, but I do like it) with 6-spd manual, NPP, and competition gray wheels (which look great with the jetstream blue and titanium). It has 1,000 miles, they are asking $36,000 for it, and it is at the Chevy store just a few miles from my house. Plus, it was not a demo. It was a sale that was traded in after a few months on a Porsche (the dealer also sells Porsches). BUT, the damn thing doesn't have Z51.

I asked the dealer, who the hell would spec a car with a stick, NPP, and competition gray wheels and not include Z51? The car wasn't ordered by the former owner since I remember it being on the lot last summer, so I guess that means the dealer spec'ed it that way? Rediculous. Anyway, I also asked the salesman how much it would cost to retrofit the car with the Z51 parts, sans tires, which would include springs, shocks, sways, oil cooler, rotors, calipers (are the calipers different?), and final drive (is it just final drive, or are other gear ratios different?), I believe. He said that he would look into it and that they would do it at cost. I think the Z51 tires are F1 supercars with wider rears (275, right?), as opposed to regular F1 245s all around. I figure I could just do burnouts every day on my way to work to burn through the base tires and then replace them with something better than either Goodyears.

Is this a crazy idea? I figure if it can be done for around $1,500, give or take, it would be worth it. I am finding it difficult to find a decently equipped Corvette (no red, no yellow, no chromes, no blue plastic coke bottle top, no ebony interior, but with Z51, NPP, and sport seats).

Any thoughts from the Corvette experts would be appreciated.

 

that's what I'm thinking, will there even be a 2010 vette, the way GM is going?

buddy of mine just bought an '08 Z51 in black (trade-in for a Z06) for $35,000, so the deal above sounds reasonable, but retrofitting the Z51 package is probably ill advised, I wouldn't trust a dealer to handle such a job, most of the kids who work there change oil filters and tires all day

 

^ You may have a point, but it's not like they are opening up the motor. Suspension and brake work can't be that hard, right? I suppose the most involved aspect would be the final drive. I think the only way to make this work would be to have the dealer do it on the cheap to sell me the car. Aftermarket parts or work done elsewhere would probably make it too expensive to be worthwhile, I would guess.

 

The Z51 and base tires are the same size: 245/285 it's just the Z51 uses a different version tires (F1's). The rotors are larger on the Z51, but the calipers are the same - there's a difference in the bracket (to accommodate the larger rotors - I had them on my C5Z06).

The Z51 also has a different transmission for lower (higher numerically) gearing (the Z51 is like the C5Z). That you definitely won't do for cheap.

Otherwise shocks, springs and swaybars are different. Plus the improved coolers.

 

Well, no new brake calipers saves a bunch o' $$$.

But, I do not believe the transmission is different. I think it is just the final drive ratio in the differential, so I am hoping it wouldn't be that much.

 

You are better off just finding a car equipped from the factory the way you want it. The Z51 transmission has different gearing than the base trans. Plus includes the trans cooler and engine oil cooler which requires a different radiator. That is about $4K right there. Springs ~$700,shocks $200, rotors~$250, calipers (rear pistons size is different),
I could go on and on but there are way to many C6's available at great prices to accept one that is not EXACTLY what you want.

And with 10K + off sticker on NEW ones with 0% finance for 60mos

 

The transmission is different - it's even a different RPO (MN6 Standard vs. MZ6 Z51). If you want roughly the same final gearing, something like a 3:73 to a 3:90 rear will be close (but the spacing won't be the same). The rear gear in all manuals is a 3:42.