Corvette owners

evapilotaz said:
How come most Corvette owners are middle age bald men?
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Like flying, I've taken care of the family, mortgage, and every other thing first. Now I get to take care of me enjoying the fruits of my 40+ years of working my butt off.
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I drive a '93 40th, 6 speed. Handles like crap in the snow but I did see a C5 out in 3" of driving snow doing a lot better than the 4 wheel drives. It's more about the driver than the car. Read "All Corvettes are Red" about the design, build, and testing of the then new C5. Tested in the great cold and snowy north, they paid attention to driving in the snow.
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I can only imagine the newer ones got better at it.
 
silver-eagle said:
Like flying, I've taken care of the family, mortgage, and every other thing first. Now I get to take care of me enjoying the fruits of my 40+ years of working my butt off.
.
I drive a '93 40th, 6 speed. Handles like crap in the snow but I did see a C5 out in 3" of driving snow doing a lot better than the 4 wheel drives. It's more about the driver than the car. Read "All Corvettes are Red" about the design, build, and testing of the then new C5. Tested in the great cold and snowy north, they paid attention to driving in the snow.
.
I can only imagine the newer ones got better at it.
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Snow tires don't hurt either.
 
My wife's 07Z and my 09Z are driven rain or shine! Her's is stock with a tune, mine is worked to 600RWHP. Mine goes thru lot's of gas, rear tires and an occasional clutch:yikes:. We also come out to play at the local dragstrip...

And while I'm over 50 I still have my hair!:hairraise:







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I had a 63 split window. Didn't drive it that much, but I'd drive this everyday if they made it.
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I had a 2007 Z06 for 3 1/2 years. I put something like 30,000 miles on it (Bought it with 15k) in that time period so I certainly drove it. Then again where I live it's possible to drive it year round. I daily drove it on and off, the Jeep we have spent a lot of time with a blown motor (twice!!!). Regardless of which Corvette you choose you'll have the same daily driver experience give or take.

The Corvette sucks in the rain. Simple as that. I had tires that were NOT below the wear bars but they were a little tired. Scariest drive of my life going about 15 miles in a rainstorm. Hydroplaning everywhere. New tires helped that somewhat but the rear tires are so wide (between 325 and 345 depending on what tire you choose) that they hydroplane super easily.

Road noise was definitely something I kept in mind. Again this is dependent on what kind of tires you have, the run-flats that come on the car stock are SO NOISEY. The NT05's I replaced them with were not nearly as noisey. I hear the new Pilot Sport Cups are good though. And they're fantastic tires. You know a set of rear tires along is going to set you back over $1,000 right?

Parking lots. Oh the joys of driving a Corvette in a parking lot. Just getting in and out of a parking lot can be a challenge because of how low the car is. You will get into good habits or you will destroy the front of your car from scraping. And then there are speed bumps. There are some you can conquer slowly with no issues. There are others no matter what you do the exhaust WILL scrape and all you can do is cringe. Also remember you're now committed to parking in the middle of nowhere.

Gas millage. Here is where the Corvette (IMO!!) really does well. I was averaging between city and highway around 20mpg. On the highway though I was averaging 26-28! With the super huge gears it helps a lot. At 70mph you're not even at 2,000rpm (this is Z06 specific)

The Corvette tax is real. Very real. The same exact part for a Camaro or GTO will cost 30-100% more for the Corvette. The upside is that parts are super easy to find and there are lots of reputable places that can work on Corvettes.

I know I listed a lot of negatives, but I think you already know the positives. It's a Corvette. It's a race car. Obviously I did love my Corvette because I had it for so long. I replaced mine with a CTS-V back in January, and the V is an awesome, awesome vehicle. But gets 15-16mpg on my 40 mile round-trip commute. Feel free to shoot me a PM or whatever if you have any specific questions.

A photo of the two together for the first and only time
1506862_655603637833361_754518543_n.jpg
 
Putting an automatic in a sports car should be illegal.

And Tim, next time we go to lunch, you're driving! :D
 
C6 Z06 must be worse on mileage. I get 30+ on the highway with my C5 - I average 24 combined city and highway.
 
EdFred said:
C6 Z06 must be worse on mileage. I get 30+ on the highway with my C5 - I average 24 combined city and highway.
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The city driving is what really kills it. Highway like I said is great. It might be even closer to 30 than I remember, but I sold that car 4 months ago. Out of any vehicle I've ever owned it got the best mileage.
 
I suppose it also depends a lot on *how* you drive it. I short shift, and almost always keep it between 1000 and 3000rpm, keep the clutch in, coast a lot etc, until it's go time.
 
I will say, Ed, the one time I rode in your Vette I found it quite nice and comfortable.
 
Z06_Mir said:
I had a 2007 Z06 for 3 1/2 years. I put something like 30,000 miles on it (Bought it with 15k) in that time period so I certainly drove it. Then again where I live it's possible to drive it year round. I daily drove it on and off, the Jeep we have spent a lot of time with a blown motor (twice!!!). Regardless of which Corvette you choose you'll have the same daily driver experience give or take.

The Corvette sucks in the rain. Simple as that. I had tires that were NOT below the wear bars but they were a little tired. Scariest drive of my life going about 15 miles in a rainstorm. Hydroplaning everywhere. New tires helped that somewhat but the rear tires are so wide (between 325 and 345 depending on what tire you choose) that they hydroplane super easily.

Road noise was definitely something I kept in mind. Again this is dependent on what kind of tires you have, the run-flats that come on the car stock are SO NOISEY. The NT05's I replaced them with were not nearly as noisey. I hear the new Pilot Sport Cups are good though. And they're fantastic tires. You know a set of rear tires along is going to set you back over $1,000 right?

Parking lots. Oh the joys of driving a Corvette in a parking lot. Just getting in and out of a parking lot can be a challenge because of how low the car is. You will get into good habits or you will destroy the front of your car from scraping. And then there are speed bumps. There are some you can conquer slowly with no issues. There are others no matter what you do the exhaust WILL scrape and all you can do is cringe. Also remember you're now committed to parking in the middle of nowhere.

Gas millage. Here is where the Corvette (IMO!!) really does well. I was averaging between city and highway around 20mpg. On the highway though I was averaging 26-28! With the super huge gears it helps a lot. At 70mph you're not even at 2,000rpm (this is Z06 specific)

The Corvette tax is real. Very real. The same exact part for a Camaro or GTO will cost 30-100% more for the Corvette. The upside is that parts are super easy to find and there are lots of reputable places that can work on Corvettes.

I know I listed a lot of negatives, but I think you already know the positives. It's a Corvette. It's a race car. Obviously I did love my Corvette because I had it for so long. I replaced mine with a CTS-V back in January, and the V is an awesome, awesome vehicle. But gets 15-16mpg on my 40 mile round-trip commute. Feel free to shoot me a PM or whatever if you have any specific questions.

A photo of the two together for the first and only time
1506862_655603637833361_754518543_n.jpg
Click to expand...

You mention a "Corvette Tax" not sure what you are Talking about.
 
Dean said:
You mention a "Corvette Tax" not sure what you are Talking about.
Click to expand...

Corvette tax is basically, you own a corvette now everything that costs 10$ to replace now costs 100$. Parts and labor are way more expensive vs most other cars.
 
I will drive it to work at least once. We must plan to make that a lunch day as well.

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk
 
Jhernandez04 said:
Corvette tax is basically, you own a corvette now everything that costs 10$ to replace now costs 100$. Parts and labor are way more expensive vs most other cars.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. Labor isn't always more expensive, but some things that are relatively straight forward in a normal LSx car, like a clutch, are more difficult in the Corvette. The transmission is in the rear for weight distribution.

Also, remember the Z06 has an aluminum frame and the Grand Sport is standard steel. The car is a couple hundred pounds lighter.
 
I checked on insurance today for a Z06 and it was $95 cheaper( every 6 months) than my Hemi Charger.
 
I had mine for about a year and a half. Loved it and drove it about 100 miles (round trip) to work whenever it wasn't raining, snowing, or stupidly cold. It was a 'vert, so it didn't make much sense to drive it if it was too cold to put the top down. I never had any trouble driving it in the rain when a pop-up thunderstorm hit, but it was "only" a base model C6. I just didn't see the point of driving it if I couldn't have fun with it.

This spring I sold it and bought a BMW 650 (also 'vert) which I drive about the same amount. I just don't see the point of buying a car to have it sit in the garage. I feel the same way about planes, though I haven't managed to buy one of those... yet. :D
 
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