My DD is a '95 ex NASA instructor track M3, 212K and growing. I bought my C5Z in August 2011 off a Doctor in Montana. (Lived in SoCal at the time) 17K miles, $1K of clear bra, got it for $24.5. I've put 10K on it since and love it. Its tight, love the interior actually (cept the stupid DIN 1.5 HU) and have slowly been doing tasteful mods. Only nits are a lot of road noise, but I have a kit to fix that. (lots of noise and heat blocking materials to go under the carpet) It is ungodly fast, great sound, not a single rattle, hold on tight turning, nice trunk, and close to 30mpg when going cross country. Its a win win...
Keep in mind that I'm a sports car guy who has a "toy" and a practical vehicle so my view may be different than others.
Every now and then I pop on Ebay and Autotrader and check out cars that I think are cool and wonder what will be my next toy.
I can't help but be blown away with how cheap a low mile 405hp C5 Z06 has gotten. Sure, I would have to deal with a generic interior but my god that engine is heavenly and responds well to mods.
For 25k you can get a mint car with 20k miles on the clock.
What other cars offer this kind of "value"?
My evaluation of getting a Vette
Pros:
Performance: speed, handling, brakes (particularly the ZO6)
Cool looks
Can be fixed by 80 million Chey dealerships
Parts can be sourced from 100 trillion vendors, hey do you want to make the Vette faster....
Working air conditioner
Lots were built = low prices
Cons:
Size, it is a big car compared to say a MX-5 or any pre-1990 sport car.
Other $25 K options:
Mitsu Evo
Subaru Impreza WRX
Mazda MX-5
Mazda RX7(age ?)
Honda S2000
Porsche 911(age ?)
Porsche Boxster
Mustang, personally I can not see buying a post 1990 built car that has a solid rear axle. For me this makes the "modern" Mustang unacceptable. But you may not feel that strongly about this.
Nissan 300ZX Turbo
BMW M3 (Price ?)
BMW Z3
BMW Z4
Lotus Elise
Toyota Supra (93-95)
Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class
you are pretty spot on, and to make the point there is this
everything on that list you posted is a)slower and b) more expensive to maintain/operate and c)harder to source parts for
this goes for JCH13's list as well
Im not saying they are bad cars or expensive to own or anything, just that cost of ownership for a C5/C6 is very low, and its going to be very hard to compete with one at a road corse, or even a drag strip in one of those for less
thats why lots of people are gaga for them
My evaluation of getting a Vette
Pros:
Performance: speed, handling, brakes (particularly the ZO6)
Cool looks
Can be fixed by 80 million Chey dealerships
Parts can be sourced from 100 trillion vendors, hey do you want to make the Vette faster....
Working air conditioner
Lots were built = low prices
Cons:
Size, it is a big car compared to say a MX-5 or any pre-1990 sport car.
Other $25 K options:
Mitsu Evo
Subaru Impreza WRX
Mazda MX-5
Mazda RX7(age ?)
Honda S2000
Porsche 911(age ?)
Porsche Boxster
Mustang, personally I can not see buying a post 1990 built car that has a solid rear axle. For me this makes the "modern" Mustang unacceptable. But you may not feel that strongly about this.
Nissan 300ZX Turbo
BMW M3 (Price ?)
BMW Z3
BMW Z4
Lotus Elise
Toyota Supra (93-95)
Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class
There might be a cheap 2014 Corvette Stingray for sale shortly:
http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1082287_first-2014-chevy-corvette-stingray-crashed
I suppose I should mention that I have a low mile 2008 6 speed enthusiast edition 350z. These are the much improved Z's that are neck and neck with 370 Z's in nearly every metric. Really looking to get into a "super car" caliber performer. Might even spring for a 2007 Z06
I love the car but it has been 3 years and probably will only have it about 2 more. Just starting the pre-purchase narrow down of model search. Continental US will be my search radius.
I bought my Z 2k miles from my house. Dealer flew me down to get the car and I drove it back. Awesome experience and will continue to do it this way for my "toy" car for the rest of my life or as long as I can =). I can get exactly the car I want with zero compromise.
There's no arguing that they're great bang for the buck. They're definitely not cheaper to maintain than some of the cars on that list though and they're not the only car with tremendous aftermarket support. At least the EVO, WRX, MX5/Miata, RX7, S2K, and 300ZX all have multiple dedicated suppliers for OE and aftermarket parts. It may not be as easy as your corner parts store, but that does not make it hard to find parts for some of these cars.
Miata and Mustang will similar or cheaper
Evo STI all going to cost more.....by far
only euro cars are going to be hard to get parts for, but easy doesnt mean cheap
how much are decent turbos these days?
My dream cars are Lotus Exige (ideally, Scura, but it might not be street legal), a 1969 Mustang fastback, and 1969 Corvette Stingray.
I would consider buying the Corvette, but not over the other two cars.
I got a Corvette!
Apparently someone left it in my garage back in November and forgot about it. It's been sitting ever since. I decided to take the car for a spin.
When people start buying the C7s, will there be a mass exodus of the C6? I am also wondering, how cheap will a C6 Z06 be when the C7s start taking over? I was thinking to trade my s2k for one. Though I would like to mention, my s2k appreciated in value and it's worth $25k now and I was strongly considering to trade it for a C5 Z06 which currently sell for that value.
Also, has anyone here driven both a s2k and a C5/C6 long term and can give me a good comparison? Dealer test drives don't really do justice.