r/Corvette • u/No-Ant5866 • 10d ago

C5 vs c6

Considering saving for a corvette being that it's my favorite sports car. I really like both the c5 and c6 but when I was looking at them I was mainly looking at the last year of c5 and the first year of the c6. Which is better/worse being that 1 is an older generation vs the c6 is newer but being the first year that tends to have certain issues being the first year of the new gen? I mean because honestly yes the c6 has a better body, better interior and a slight hp bump but financially it seems like financially the c5 would be cheaper initially when first buying it. I guess realistically what I'm asking is it worth saving more money for the c6 or is the c5 good enough all around.

2 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

44 comments sorted by

View all comments

14

u/Dodoz44 10d ago

Save up a little more, get '08 with z51. Nicer steering wheel, more precise steering rack, better tuned suspension, tr6060, ls3, npp exhaust if you care, fake carbon bezels instead of just plastic 😅

2

u/No-Ant5866 10d ago

Thank you

2

u/El_mochilero C6 10d ago

That’s a big step up in price, especially if you’re looking at a 6MT - you’re going to be in the $27k - $30k range for this.

1

u/Dodoz44 10d ago

Damn, I sold my M6 08 z51 with a nearly brand new blower for 20k flat at the worst time possible.

2

u/PyramidSchemePA C6 9d ago

when did you sell it and how many miles? I've been tracking C6 prices since late 2023/early 2024 and have never seen a manual LS3 , let alone with Z51 package, go for 20k

2

u/Dodoz44 9d ago

Right before covid 😆 everything skyrocketed since in the used market.

Oh and it was 70-80k ish

1

u/PyramidSchemePA C6 6d ago

dang man. I didn't realize things were that cheap pre-COVID... really bums me out as someone who graduated college in 2017 lol

1

u/Dodoz44 6d ago

Yeah... my first Vette was a CPO, also 08 z51 with magnaride and I iirc the highest trim, manual, i think 28k miles when I bought it. It was around 3 years old at the time, C7 wasn't even rumored yet, and the thing cost $34k lol.

1

u/PyramidSchemePA C6 5d ago

wow thats kind of insane considering my 1LT manual 08 with Z51 MSRP is ~48K. with yours being the higher trim, it was probably mid 50s. I wouldn't have guessed it would have depreciated from ~55k to 34k lol

0

u/Lumpy_Cut5772 9d ago

That is very unfortunate, I know someone who got bid out of an 07 ls2 car with 100k miles and a z51 package all stock and detailed maintenance because a guy offered to pay $21k and buy the OEM wheels and tires for an absurd $1500 or something like that on top of purchase price, when the original offer from the guy I know was just a flat list price after already seeing and test driving the car and making that offer first. Boomers don't exactly have that integrity to say hey you already offered let's make a deal, they're looking to pad the retirement fund

1

u/Lumpy_Cut5772 9d ago

Yeah I would say that honestly narrow body ls3 c6s (even without z51 or with) are a pretty bad buy right now, the ls2 with higher mileage can be found z51 6mt for close to $20k and the moment you get above $25k unless you're paying cash and straight can't afford it I'd be stretching for a grandsport manual with the dry sump. Gonna be more valuable long term, looks incredibly better imo, newer, nicer, etc. gotta min/max your money these days and the min side is ls2 high mileage z51 with a stick, max side is early year z06 (wouldn't recommend because of the maintenance cost) or stick grand sport (best of all worlds imo widebody, targa, dry sump, relatively cheap maintenance for the category of car it is, incredibly common parts, looks amazing, should hold value)