I need your opinion on this car

[javi1892]

Hi all,

I am thinking about swaping my TVR with this car in the classifieds:

http://pistonheads.com/sales/68060.ht

The thing is that I am not a Corvette expert so your opinion about this car will be very much appreciated.

Best regards,
Javier

[anonymous-user]

You'd want a gold plated warranty with it and a clear idea about where to get it fixed if it goes wrong. If I was spending £20k on a C5 coupe I'd be trying to find a more recent, lower mileage and unmodified car from a private seller. I wouldn't buy a C5 without the original fitment HUD (head up display) which I think was introduced in 1999. Shouldn't be too hard to find a car without any question marks over it.

Good luck!

[ZR1cliff]

javi1892 said:

Hi all, I am thinking about swaping my TVR with this car in the classifieds: http://pistonheads.com/sales/68060.ht The thing is that I am not a Corvette expert so your opinion about this car will be very much appreciated. Best regards, Javier

Looks a lovely car,but knowing what i know about the engine builder i wouldnt touch it with a very long barge pole FWIW.
There are so many C5's on the market that its worth looking about.

[Gixer]

Who's Geoff Gill??

[Black Magic]

This car has been put up for sale on numerous occasions on ebay. I have personally seen it at least 3 times if not more. There must be something about it not right or, dare I suggest, a scam? Apologies to the owner if none of thee suggestions have any truth to them.

[javi1892]

Thanks a lot for your replays.

The thing is that the car looks lovely but I needed to ask you because something seemed not right. The owner was too eager to swap the car and the fact that the engine had been rebuilt made me ask about the quality of that rebuilt. BTW, who is this Geoff Gills?

[ZR1cliff]

javi1892 said:

BTW, who is this Geoff Gills?

If its the person ime thinking of your worst nightmare when it comes to corvettes,

If you are looking for a good example IMO i would look in "Classic American" and the CCCUK website aswell as pistonheads,and if you want to mod it there are a few good tuners about like "BoostedLS1" that uses this forum,i have found him very helpful and have heard good reports from others that have used him,maybe some of the other owners could give some pointers aswell.

[pablo81]

if your tvr was as bad as mine i would think about a swap. price for that car seems a little wild, i had mine with 10k on the clock for the same amount of money! from meridien majestic in BM

[javi1892]

pablo81 said:

if your tvr was as bad as mine i would think about a swap. price for that car seems a little wild, i had mine with 10k on the clock for the same amount of money! from meridien majestic in BM

My TVR is not bad. I haven't had any seriuos problem so far, only small niggles that could be sorted within a small budget. My worries are about the quality of the rebuild carried out in that C5.

>> Edited by javi1892 on Thursday 9th March 13:49

[adetuono]

pablo81 said:

if your tvr was as bad as mine i would think about a swap. price for that car seems a little wild, i had mine with 10k on the clock for the same amount of money! from meridien majestic in BM

What do you mean 'if your TVR was as bad as mine?'. I bought yours from Meridien last summer. What issues did you have? I know it spent the first few weeks at Meridien having warranty work done, but it was fine after that.

Still, I sold it last month, and now I've got a fantastic Z06

And what is it about ex-Cerb owners going over to Vettes? Seem to be quite a few.

[javi1892]

adetuono said:

pablo81 said: if your tvr was as bad as mine i would think about a swap. price for that car seems a little wild, i had mine with 10k on the clock for the same amount of money! from meridien majestic in BM What do you mean 'if your TVR was as bad as mine?'. I bought yours from Meridien last summer. What issues did you have? I know it spent the first few weeks at Meridien having warranty work done, but it was fine after that. Still, I sold it last month, and now I've got a fantastic Z06 And what is it about ex-Cerb owners going over to Vettes? Seem to be quite a few.

In my case, the reason is because I think the Corvette is going to be more than fast enough for me and more reliable than the Cerb. I hate the small niggles in TVR and need a rest for a while...

[c5ragtop]

Take a look at this one. Probably a far better bet:

www.corvetteclub.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=2334

[mark387mw]

Plenty on autotrader http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WWW/ should have HUD and IMHO doesn't really need performance upgrades. 344bhp on its own I found to be plenty
I don't know this car but anyone local I'm sure would be pleased to go over it with you.

Mark

[Nigel Perring]

Dear Javier,

I have been sent your post by Richard Rogers of the Corvette Club. I am the Western Region rep of the Club, and am selling my black 1998 C5 Manual. I am the second owner and the car is mint. Mileage is 37,000, and I bought the car with 21,000 on the clock and full service history. No accident, dents etc., and the car is perfect.

If you are interested, check out the Corvette Club website classifieds, at www.corvetteclub.org.uk, where the car is for sale with photos. Alternatively, give me a ring on 01873 - 851561 or 01873 - 851570 (day), and we can chat about Corvettes.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Nigel Perring.

[pablo81]

im sure the tvr was fine when you where sold it. but i never got one single days motoring out of it that wasnt flawed. the work i had carried out by my local tvr dealer never resolved any of its problems. the next nearest dealer ship was mucho miles away. as soon as the car was in a fit state to be traded in i got shot of it. why did you sell it on so soon?

[cheeky]

adetuono said:

pablo81 said: if your tvr was as bad as mine i would think about a swap. price for that car seems a little wild, i had mine with 10k on the clock for the same amount of money! from meridien majestic in BM What do you mean 'if your TVR was as bad as mine?'. I bought yours from Meridien last summer. What issues did you have? I know it spent the first few weeks at Meridien having warranty work done, but it was fine after that. Still, I sold it last month, and now I've got a fantastic Z06 And what is it about ex-Cerb owners going over to Vettes? Seem to be quite a few.

C6 Z06 or older? If the former, please share your impressions, especially vs. the TVR.

[LuS1fer]

Two things really.

The duff ABS sensor rings warning bells when I see wrong sized wheels fitted as sometimes altering the rolling radii can adversely affect the function of the ABS but more importantly the modifications will make the insuring of the car problematic. Yank insurance is cheap in stock form but once you start extensive mods, they don't really want to know without hiking the premium or requiring hacking it for alarms.

If you want a fast car, the C5 Z06 is your carriage. It does everything the C5 does but with 385bhp in 2001 and 405bhp from 2002. It is very quick with 100 coming up in less than 10 seconds but reamins ultra-reliable. The 2001 didn't have the HUD though and has some issues with oil use (many were modified with different oil rings under warranty) and the clutch was weak (Z06 is manual only) so was improved for the 2002. The shocks were also made softer to allow it to get the power down better out of the corners. The easiest way to differentiate is the HUD and the side badges which just say Z06 on 01's and Z06 405bhp on 2002 and beyond. Downsides from the upside of it being lighter is the closed coupe body only, more noise from the boot as there is no cabin divider and the FE4 suspension being a bit harder (more focused) than the stock C5. The thinner windscreen seems to mark more easily than the stock C5 one too.

[Adetuono]

[/quote]C6 Z06 or older? If the former, please share your impressions, especially vs. the TVR.[/quote]

2002 C5 Z06. And I can endorse everything LuS1fer said. Performance is very similar to the Cerb, but with the added bonus of having a better than evens chance that you'll get to your destination under your own steam. Think this one will be a keeper.

Pablo81...why did I sell so soon? The Cerb was a little too hard-core for me. I wanted something I could get in and drive from one side of the country to the other on a whim; I didn't want to have to pack a toolkit, spares and an RAC card everytime I left home. And whilst I appreciate that some people like to spend every spare moment tinkering, I don't have the luxury of enough spare time to be under the bonnet every weekend. The 'Vette ticks all the boxes.

[Black Beast]

Hi all,
Im the owner of the vette c5 and to put some of your minds at rest this car is 100%.
The engine re-build cost £5500 along with the race clutch and light flywheel.
I have put it onto ebay a few times just to see what other cars would be offered as I love trying other motors. I once had a ferrari 348 and swapped for a porsche 993 convertable. Sold that and bought the Vette back in october 2004. The longest I normally keep a car is about a year and having had this well over that its time to see if anyone had a motor worth about the same as a swap! Again the vette drives as good as it looks! And im not desperate to get shot of it! haha I will keep it for the coming summer and enjoy it!
Looked into the TVR and having heard about how they break down all the time had totally put me off getting one. Are they really all that bad?
Ref Geoff who rebuilt my engine, I have found him very good at what he has done and used him after looking for the best person for the job. And I was not let down. Only downer was having to pay around £100 for an oil change 500 miles after the rebuild. Thought it was all in the £5500 he already had from me!
If anyone is intrested in my Vette to buy or with a car to swap just email me and you are more than welcome to have the car fully checked over.
This is a very good motor for the money. My email is [e-mail].
Kevin

[ZR1cliff]

Black Beast said:

Hi all, Im the owner of the vette c5 and to put some of your minds at rest this car is 100%. The engine re-build cost £5500 along with the race clutch and light flywheel. I have put it onto ebay a few times just to see what other cars would be offered as I love trying other motors. I once had a ferrari 348 and swapped for a porsche 993 convertable. Sold that and bought the Vette back in october 2004. The longest I normally keep a car is about a year and having had this well over that its time to see if anyone had a motor worth about the same as a swap! Again the vette drives as good as it looks! And im not desperate to get shot of it! haha I will keep it for the coming summer and enjoy it! Looked into the TVR and having heard about how they break down all the time had totally put me off getting one. Are they really all that bad? Ref Geoff who rebuilt my engine, I have found him very good at what he has done and used him after looking for the best person for the job. And I was not let down. Only downer was having to pay around £100 for an oil change 500 miles after the rebuild. Thought it was all in the £5500 he already had from me! If anyone is intrested in my Vette to buy or with a car to swap just email me and you are more than welcome to have the car fully checked over. This is a very good motor for the money. My email is [e-mail]. Kevin

Good luck with your car Kevin ,she looks good,a tip on the oil change...one of the big exhaust and tyre centres are offering "fully synthetic" oil changes for £30,you will have to supply the filter but it will more than halve the price you are paying now.