Corvette Durability
04-27-2010, 09:24 AM
#11
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I still flirt with the idea of getting a vette. The interior problems, and small electrical bugs are trivial to me, so they dont scare me off. The only hang up I have is how common they are, and, on average, how willfully ignorant the owners are.
Lets put it this way, id come here for conversation, advice, or technical problems, even on a vette, before id post on the vette forums. Ive lurked there for years, and it seems that its 50% assholes, 15% intelligent-good natured people, and 35% dumb rednecks.
s2ki, is leaps and bounds better, even with the OMGVTEC4EVER fanbois, and teenage poseurs.
Lets put it this way, id come here for conversation, advice, or technical problems, even on a vette, before id post on the vette forums. Ive lurked there for years, and it seems that its 50% assholes, 15% intelligent-good natured people, and 35% dumb rednecks.
s2ki, is leaps and bounds better, even with the OMGVTEC4EVER fanbois, and teenage poseurs.
04-27-2010, 09:28 AM
#12
I've beat the piss out of my '01 and now '08 and they've been great. I love them and they are very durable if you do regular maintenance and take care of them.
04-27-2010, 02:53 PM
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you drove a potentially 13 year old sports car with over 125k miles on it that obviously was neglected and your shocked there there are issues? i don't really get what your point or objective is here?
04-27-2010, 03:11 PM
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In comparison, my '99 Accord which was well treated buy not babied by any means for the 8 years and 120,000 miles it was in our family...
LCD backlight on the clock broke (not the bulb, replaced that twice) never bothered to fix it.
Trunk release broke shoving a box into the trunk
Thermostat broke, the car would over heat. Fixed, but I could have just driven it as long as I kept moving.
O2 sensor behind the cat failed
CD player stopped working
All in all, most reliable car I've ever owned which is admittedly a short list.
LCD backlight on the clock broke (not the bulb, replaced that twice) never bothered to fix it.
Trunk release broke shoving a box into the trunk
Thermostat broke, the car would over heat. Fixed, but I could have just driven it as long as I kept moving.
O2 sensor behind the cat failed
CD player stopped working
All in all, most reliable car I've ever owned which is admittedly a short list.
04-27-2010, 06:00 PM
#17
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Originally Posted by TheDonEffect,Apr 26 2010, 09:35 PM
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.
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.
Seriously though you need to use CR as just a start. Ask mechanics and owners and you will start to find that the majority of the time CR is right.
I just can't believe that the majority of Americans just love their Corvettes . I drove a C6 and compared to the 02 911 it was not much to brag about!
04-28-2010, 12:03 AM
#18
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I beat up on a 'base' C6 today with my 240Z and while the old Datsun may be faster in a straight line its easy to justify the amount of attention it requires to do so (I haven't owned the car long and have already spent quite a bit of time under the hood chasing bugs and fixing/replacing things here and there - and expect many more as time passes.)
Its pretty obvious a lot of owners are the same way when they're enthusiastic about whatever it is they drive for whatever reason. Its easy to 'forget' or fail to mention trivial repairs and issues that may arise - its easier just to address them and move on with your life. Its only after you've owned something that is reliable that you take it for granted - which is why years ago I bought my S2000 and gave up on project cars (didn't last long
)
Based on what I've owned and seen/heard from the General and domestic manufacturers in general vs the imports I've owned (and currently own) its no question the nod goes towards the Japanese for me.
Personally I wouldn't put much faith in a Corvette's overall reliability (especially with all the techy stuff onboard) but overall the drivetrains are proven and the cars are relatively simple with reasonably priced parts.
Its pretty obvious a lot of owners are the same way when they're enthusiastic about whatever it is they drive for whatever reason. Its easy to 'forget' or fail to mention trivial repairs and issues that may arise - its easier just to address them and move on with your life. Its only after you've owned something that is reliable that you take it for granted - which is why years ago I bought my S2000 and gave up on project cars (didn't last long
) Based on what I've owned and seen/heard from the General and domestic manufacturers in general vs the imports I've owned (and currently own) its no question the nod goes towards the Japanese for me.
Personally I wouldn't put much faith in a Corvette's overall reliability (especially with all the techy stuff onboard) but overall the drivetrains are proven and the cars are relatively simple with reasonably priced parts.
04-28-2010, 04:58 AM
#19
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I had a '99 Coupe and an '03 Z06, and of all the problems listed by the OP, the only one I experienced was the column lock on the '99 which wound up locking up on me (the dealer sent a guy out to fix it onsite which was cool).
The Z06 had the message come up a few times, but I bought the aftermarket fix, which basically "zaps" the solenoid in the column, permanently retracting the column lock pin.
The '99 also had a rear leak, fixed under warranty.
Other than those couple of things, they both went to the track several times, got run pretty hard here in the Florida heat, and never left me stranded. In fact the Z06 had to jump start our $60K+ BMW SUV a few times (the X5 had some "power trickle" issue).
I had the coupe for 3 or so years, the Z06 for 5 years, but neither had more than ~40K miles.
The Z06 had the message come up a few times, but I bought the aftermarket fix, which basically "zaps" the solenoid in the column, permanently retracting the column lock pin.
The '99 also had a rear leak, fixed under warranty.
Other than those couple of things, they both went to the track several times, got run pretty hard here in the Florida heat, and never left me stranded. In fact the Z06 had to jump start our $60K+ BMW SUV a few times (the X5 had some "power trickle" issue).
I had the coupe for 3 or so years, the Z06 for 5 years, but neither had more than ~40K miles.
