Hey everyone,
Bit of a background, I took my brothers 94 vette a few years ago and it spent more time in the shop than I drove it with only 70Kmiles. I traded that POS in for a Liberty (something pratical) at the same time my brother purchased a fully loaded Mada RX8. Well, had that boring crap (Liberty) for 8 months and my brother found a 2000 Black vette that he fell in love with. So I took the RX8 and he got the C5.

I LOVE the RX8, it handles like a dream, brakes on a dime, HID's, so comfortable............. but it is missing one thing.............. torque; aka. American muscle.

Get this also, my bro will give me the car for $20K and it has 40Kmiles (making my car payments $100 less/mon ) and he is looking for his C6 he is dying for. So, my question is should I????

I had some bad experinces with the 94. Optispark went out, shatter clutch, roof leaks.... and I VOWED never to own another vette. but I do like the C5's alot though and love to add a in dash DVD (no can do in the RX8).

For those who have owned or own a C5 what's going to break down at 50K miles on the C5? this is a GM made, I'm sure something already broke on it. I know my bro had to replace some outside temp sensor and it wouldn't let the A/C kick on.... even in 100F TX heat.

So confused on what to do. Few things are driving me to YES and few to NO.

 

What is the resale on the vette? If he is giving you a really good price on it, and you can take it to a mechanic and it gets a clean bill of health, I would do it. Drive a vette for $100 less per month than an RX-8? I would. If you don't like it, you can always sell it and buy a 2006 RX-8. How much is your insurance going to go up from the 8? That might be a consideration.

 

One thing that won't be an issue is the Opti they went to direct fire individual coils and a crank sensor. The Opti was a huge pain as you discovered. As far as the rest it's just part of having a car, sometimes you are lucky with problems and sometimes you aren't. If it were me I would go for the Vette. The cheaper payment is a big reason as well as torque....

 

Been there, done that.

I had a torch red 2000 'vette convertible. Gobs of torque and a very roomy and comfy interior. The bad news is it was in the shop A LOT - and typical (crummy) GM service too. Mine used oil about like an 8 (dealer said that is "normal"). The headlights are TERRIBLE. I put an HID conversion on mine then blinded people - so never found a good system to light up the road and not **** others off. It is a big, heavy feeling car - pretty much the anti-8.

You say $100 less a month - that is ASSUMING you can get out from under your 8. With dealers unable to sell NEW cars resale value is in the tank, so check your payoff and look at the gobs of used 8s on fleabay, cars.com, and autotrader and see if it even looks like you CAN sell yours.

If you can't sell yours, then your payment just about doubled if you take the 'vette and can't unload the 8.

As was mentioned, call your insurance agent - the difference in rates may use up a lot of your savings.

Once you get through paying for the C5, you will have a really old high mile car. If you keep your 8 then it would be newer and lower miles?

I don't know what equipment is on the C5, but $20k would be a decent price on it - about trade-in value for a 2000. Keep in mind that DSC is an OPTION on 2000 'vettes (mine had it) and you REALLY don't want to step into all that power without that option. Mine was loaded - CD + change, heads up (nice!), auto climate, tilt, sport suspension (not the adjustable one), sports seats, 6sp manual, etc.

I say keep the 8. But I have done the V-8 thing - a 'vette and a BMW M5 - and decided I like a light, tossible, high revving, driver has to do the work car - the 8 and the S.

Dennis

 

You can do an in-dash DVD player in the 8. People on this forum have done it.

But I guess you really need to ask yourself...what do you like driving better? If you absolutely NEED the torque, I think that's the answer you're looking for...

 

Yeah sorry, I should have told everyonet the options it had. Basically everything dwynne mention, sport seats, HUD, 6spd, DSC. is loaded. I was looking on autotrader and 2000's with ~40K miles are running about $25K.

Plus, I will never be upside down on a car note, not sure why it was mention. I'm already 28 and know debt is not a good thing and being upside down on a car sucks. I only owe $17K on the car now so I'm assuming can get get rid of it for more, if I can't... that doesn't say much about the resale value of a RX8 being a loaded 04 RX8 (minus Nav) if I can't get more than $20K and a 00 Vette go for $25K..... as far as insurance. only goes up $9/mon.

thanks for everyones input, I'll let everyone know what I decide on in the next month or so.

Thanks everyone!!!!

 

I had a 2000 Corvette. No problems. Had to get rid of it at 62,000 because my lease was up. Chevrolet totally redesigned the Corvette in 1997. This is the first completely new Vette. It shares nothing with the previous models. You will LOVE it! I miss mine.

By the way... if he doesn't have an aftermarket exhaust on there get the Corsa!

 

Get the Vette, there's no reason to believe the Vette won't be as realible or moreso than the RX-8. Each car can have its issues, no matter how they're supposed to be they won't listen :p A Camry can be a total lemon and a Kia could end up being troublefree for 100k miles... The Vette is Cheaper, has more power and torque, still has great handling, seems like a no brainer to me...

 

Uh huh. The reliability study (JD Power?) that just came out a few weeks ago puts GM above the industry average and waaaaaayyyyy ahead of Mazda.

And the RX-8 getting more attention than a 'Vette... I don't think so.

 

seeing that you live in houston and obviously weather is not a factor. Get the vette, unless you need 2 extra seats and lower insurance.

 

the answer to the question in the threqad title is..... no.

not to vette.

 

I don't know about that Ike--I know alot of people that have alot of problems with Vettes--besides it sucks to still have to pay notes on a high mileage car that stays in the shop. If you must--keep the 8 for a while longer then get a newer example of a Corvette.

 

The C5 Vette is supposed to be pretty realiable, but I don't have any personal experience other than a close friend's mom having a 98 that was trouble free for 3 years. Also, the Vette in question only has 20k miles on it.

 

Ahh--I overlooked that it has 20K miles. The C5s I know of are in the shops quite a bit--but even with that said--with only 20K miles I'd probably do it myself. First off I'd check the insurance and go float around on C5 forums and ask those guys about any issues they are having. I'd also get an idea on how feasible it is to sell your 8.

 

Whoops, it's 20,000 and 40k miles... Regardless, I'd still go for it, the Vette will hold it's value so even if he ends up having problems he won't be losing money and may even make money by selling it.

 

He should go read on the 'vette bulletin boards or subscribe to the 'vette e-mail lists. LOTS and LOTS of problems with the C5. Better than the C4? For sure! Reliable and trouble free, not hardly. Of course, the 8 is no great shakes either.

Dennis

 

I posted on the corvetteforum.com and asked if there are any typical problems with the C5.

 

before i bought the rx8 for a short time I was really looking into a 2002-2003 z06 vette. after looking at them you could find them still under warrenty, with around 15k miles on them for around 25K (everyone was seling them cause the new C6 vette was coming out)

while i was looking at them, I also looked at C5's with more miles on them to see what mine might look like in a couple years.

nearly all of cars I saw with more than 30k miles on them had lots of problems inside, leather was cracked. the rubber around the buttons for windows and locks (on the doors) were torn, the dash was sun faded, all the joints where different parts of the interior (center console, dash, radio cluster, ect) were mis aligned (looks like the differnt panels are slowly moving away from each other) the stiching on the shift boot was coming apart... the whole car creaked and rattled....

so in a nut shell, the car looked like it easyily had 80k miles on it, even though they were just around 30K, the rest of the car looked great, so it would seem that the owner tried to take care of it, but the 'cheap american plastics' had seen better times.

it was kind of sad. the above along with the insurance on a 400hp car (im 21) made me steer clear, plus I didnt want another 2 seater (coming out of a miata)

 

i dont doubt what you read, but i see it like this :

GM's car sales started to fall cause people were saying that the quality of the car (not sure if it was build quality, or reliabilty or waht) was not as good, for the price, as what other companys offered. then a study comes out that says GM is above average in reliabity.

its kinda strange that they are losing money, cause no one will buy their cars, but then they are recognized for making cars with above average quality?

hrmm, maby there is a hidden partnership there.

 

I didn't keep mind long enough for 40k miles and I had lots of problems.

Just ask about the "steering column lock" fiasco (the column locks and you can't unlock it, so you have to call for a tow). They have done several recalls to try to fix that. Most folks buy a bypass to disable it.

A MY 2000 would be too old to get a GMPP on, so that would be another reason not to buy it. Something breaks, you pay.

Dennis

 

Yes, GM and Ford are paying off JD Power . What you say was definitely true of American cars in the 80's and into the early-to-mid 90's. That's when consumers got fed up with the crap they were offering and started fleeing to other makers, namely the Asian manufacturers. This mentality that "American cars suck" was certainly well-deserved back then, but the problem the domestic manufacturers face now is convincing consumers that their quality and reliability has significantly improved. Your mentality is a prime example of this. Even though there is statistical evidence that the quality/reliability gap is VERY small, people still refuse to believe it, and instead suggest it's the result of a conspiracy theory. Give me a break.

Anyhow, I don't want this thread to get too far off track. I don't know too much about 'Vettes, but I think the quality/reliability concerns are being overstated by some people. This is the same type of mentality that causes non-RX-8 owners to bash the car because they hear a few bad things about it. Anyone who visits this forum could get a really bad impression of the car due to the dozens of major problems that people have experienced. The best sources for quality/reliability information are the studies that are published by groups like JD Power. The reliability study that was just published is based on the number of problems reported after 3 years in service. Obviously, this data won't be availabe to compare the RX-8 and Corvette. Nonetheless, there is no disputing the fact that the Mazda brand scored poorly on this report (well below industry average), while most GM and Ford brands were above the average and very competitive with the likes of Toyota.

EDIT:
Got this from JD Power's website:


Looks like the initial quality of the body/interior of the Vette is crap. Other than that, I don't see how an RX-8 lover can be bashing the car. Dependability looks pretty good to me. dwynne, maybe you had a lemon?

 

Those JD power results are the absolute last place I would get reliability info! Beisides dwynne--I know several C5 owners that have issues. THE ONLY PLACE TO GET HONEST RELIABILITY INFO IS FROM OWNERS. Consumer Reports and JD said the Millenia S was reliable--mine has had more issues than I'd care to talk about. So no offense--that graph is just a pretty picture to decorate this thread :p

 

Well this is another topic in itself, which was discussed quite a bit in another thread. One group of people insists the studies are junk, yet offers up no reasonable explanation to support their opinions, and the other group of people realizes that the studies are based on survey responses from actual OWNERS of the vehicles. Yes, that's right, you said it yourself--the information should come from the owners, and it does! We're supposed to rely on your sample size of 4 or 5 buddies who owned Vettes (and quite possibly ran them into the ground) over a survey of thousands of owners??? Tell us why.

 

The same study says my Millenia S is reliable. You could go lurk on these car forums and get the honest answer. Its also funny how they can ascertain such sample sizes from 1st year cars too? What is the standard deviation? These studies are far from accurate and scientific. I'll get my info from my first hand experience and talking directly to owners--don't need a middle man. Those studies mean nothing. If it works for you go right ahead.

 

LOL, okay. Your sample size of a few friends must be far more "accurate and scientific" than the report produced by a company employing dozens of statisticians. If the studies mean nothing, then why do all of the manufacturers use these studies to monitor the quality/reliability trends of their vehicles and issue public statements regarding the results? I got a survey in the mail less than a month after buying the car. Why does it seem unreasonable that they couldn't collect hundreds of surveys for a first-year car?