Corvette Durability
 

Long story short, yesterday I ended up driving a C5 Corvette, not sure on the MY from Wisconsin to Texas. The car was and automatic, the exterior was mint, the interior had some regular wear marks, but clean and the odometer read 126k miles. What surprised me about the car were all the things that were wrong with it. I'm not intending to turn this into a Corvette bashing thread, I'm just curious to see if this car is a lemon, was beat on a lot, or if it's normal. From what I recall, here were all the problems with it:

- oil pressure gauges wasn't working - the sender went out, I know this is a fairly common problem on them, but fixing it is a lot of work, the intake manifold has to come off

- message about servicing column lock - no clue what's wrong

- TPMS - right rear wasn't reading anything

- car would overheat at idle - electric fans weren't working

- heat/ac fan motor was making a lot of noise, bearing was going out

- fuel cap release wasn't working

- random electrical issues - sometimes cruise would go out, sometimes the fuel gauge wasn't reading anything, sometimes the security light would come one. I'd turn the car off and back and the problem at hand would go away

Granted all these problems didn't occur at the same time, the owner just simply neglected to fix them as they broke and they all piled up. However, is it normal to have this many problems on a car with only 126k miles? The the Corvettes really age this badly? I'd like to have a Corvette because it's a performance bargain, but if it's going to have this many problems as it gets older, I'm not so sure I would want to put up with it...

Any thoughts from Corvette owners?

Not an owner, but I am sure your answer lies somewhere in that sentence. It sounds like he does not treat his car very well.

Also regarding the column lock, I believe the early C5s had problems with the steering locking up. Most likely the owner, instead of taking it to the dealership, tried to fix it himself or took it to a shop other than a dealer.

J

What year was it? C5's go back a ways.

Yep this is normal . Go read Consumer Reports and the Vette ranks as "Much Worse than Average" . Hell the 996 with the IMS and RMS issues still ranks better than average .
I have known 2 owners that got rid of their Vettes due to costing a fortune to maintain.
Definitely not a car I would EVER own due to build quality issues,reliability,and in my area as common as a Camry or Accord.

Hmm, what kind of message did you get the steering lock? Didn't know there was a light for it, typically you go to turn the key and you're stuck. Very common problem in the pre 2001 C5s, easy 50 buck aftermarket fix from what I recall, dealer recall fix (both of them) failed.
TPMS sensors go bad very often, that's with all cars, I regularly see toyotas needing them when they get the tire changed. Fortunately they;re cheap.
Fuel cap release also didn't work in my S, then I realized I just needed to bend the latch part, I must've hit it while fueling one time or something.
Anyway, I've also done my reading on the C5s, they're solid cars, and I'd bet money that keeping one of those on the road will cost less than a 996, period. The cheap interior stuff people keeping harping about is just that, mass produced stuff, vs. low production. At over a decade old with over 100K on it with an owner who clearly isn't taking care of it, would you expect anything else?
Consumer report is sorta dumb, they were the ones saying how great toyotas are, and you see how that tide is turning. Go to a porsche dealer and ask the techs hows the operation costs are on any given porsche relative to an american/japanese sportscar.
And the vette's drivetrain is rock solid as well. The thing that keep me from cars like the vette is namely the tires, holy christ are those things expensive and you will be chain smoking them. Otherwise, I don't think it'll be any more really to keep up than my S was.

Wait you drove a car from Wisconsin to Texas and never managed to figure out the model year in that time?

So we are evaluating an entire model of a car based on one high mileage example from an unknown year with an unknown service history.

And then we have a response wherein someone bases whether or not a car should be purchased by reading Consumer Reports? Seriously? That's going to lead to a shitty dull life, and I might add invalid along the way. You want advice on a toaster? Sure they have the time and money to buy a dozen and try to break them.

When it comes to more expensive items they are reviewing numbers and making projections not based on actual experience. I'd as soon ask my dumb blond neighbor what car I should buy, at least I get to stare at her huge tits while she is responding.

On a sidenote, the 97-01 cars had some TPMS issues, something to do with steel belts screwing them up. Then again the batteries in the units are only good for 6 or so years in most cases so it could just be that.

The column lock issue was pretty common, the Camaro guys suffered it quite a bit too. It is a bad enough problem that the aftermarket community has created a number of solutions to avoid the dealer.

Anyway this thing sounds like a dreamboat when I think back to the LS400 (consumer reports says yes!) I purchased with about as many miles. That thing had so many problems going on all at once towards the end that it was simply overwhelming. Bang on the dash to get the speedometer working, random ability to lower windows, brake lights might work, might not. Power Steering pump failed twice and took out the alternator the second time around, magical mystery electric seats ... man its making me all anxious again just thinking back.

I wouldn't be surprised. This is a car from GM's dark years. Solid powertrain, everything else.. not so much.

Everything works fine on my '99 and I have 95K miles. There are C5 guys on Corvetteforum over 300K and one over 400K.

Who knows how the car you drove was treated.

my corvette is 40 years old. It isn't very well made even by those standards. The difference though is that my car is easy to fix, new cars can be a nightmare.

I would have bought a C5 or C6 instead of the S2000, but I agree that they aren't very well made.

My C5 Z06 had slightly less time at the dealership for warranty repair than my two S2K's and about the same time as my e90 330i. None were perfect. C5 powertrains were near bulletproof after the first year. There was a sticking clutch pedal issue for some people but easily fixed.

As noted, the column lock was a common issue that took them YEARS to figure out a proper fix for. It wouldn't surprise me to see various electronics go south over the years. My passenger window motor/regulator (one part) died twice and was almost never used.