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I'm certainly not telling what car to buy, but the Corvette does not meet some of your initial requirements from your other thread. If you are going to throw those out there might be other options for you.
I agree, I enjoy reading your advise. I saw a few this weekend . I was smitten!!! For some of us ladies it's like, we're shopping for a shoe that is practical. we see a pair of WOW shoes, that are $$$ and say, ummm can I make this fuctional daily.
Something to think about is that the previous generation car, the C5, can be had in good condition for $20K or less. It's not as good technically as the C6, but it's a lot of car for the money.
I would suggest you take several test drives, and maybe contact the local Corvette club, see if you can get some current owners to take you for a ride anyway, not many are keen on letting other people drive their cars, but you may get a chance to do that too.
If you are in CA, think about a ragtop.
The only real downsides of a Corvette is of course limited interior space, relatively expensive and short-lived tires (these don't add that much to your per-mile cost, but it's not uncommon to need to do all 4 tires at once, not exactly cheap) and limited ground clearance so it's best kept on paved roads in good condition. Since most people do most of their daily driving solo, I wouldn't let the fact it has only 2 seats bother me much. I have an MG-B, no bigger inside than a 'vette, and once put I think 5 or 6 bags of groceries in it (passenger footwell, passenger seat, small trunk)
I thoght the Corvette was a convertible? Or is there a choice?
For the last 3 generations, the standard Coupe has a removable targa panel above the seats. Those panels can be either solid or "glass."
In '99, they offered a hard top version of the C5 Vette with a fixed roof and without the large rear hatch glass. The hard top was offered for the '99 and '00 model years. In '01, the Z06 was introduced using the hard top and was the only way the hard top could be had.
For current C6 Vettes, the Z06 and ZR1 models have a fixed hard top as well.
One reason that I suggest a "real" convertible for a C5 is that the coupe versions had issues with aerodynamic forces pushing the tops of the windows outward at speed. By "at speed" I mean well beyond the 80 to 90 you can maybe get away with on US Interstates - but given that they have this issue, consider the true ragtop, if you are in a warm dry climate you can mostly leave the top down - this solves one other issue that most hardtop 'vettes have that I forgot to mention - generally rearward visibility from the driver's seat is poor.
Some of the more hard-core performance versions came only as true hardtops as this gives a bit more stiffness to the chassis.
You should probably drive one. These cars are very low. Not everyone likes it.
I had been considering a Vette as a future replacement for my GTO. Then I drove a C5 for 400 miles to help a buddy pick up another car. Based on that I doubt I would buy one. It's not easy to get out of, the ride is rough after an hour, it's not a very tightly built vehicle, etc., etc. I've been in other sports cars that were much more pleasant. But it is a lot of fun to drive hard, and the best bang for the sports car buck.
My sister had a stingray it was nice. I remember the classic body styles before they went for streamline in the early-mid 80s. didnt much care for the change. My choice would be the 73 model. Roger's Corvette Center -- Corvette History & Trivia
And no, thats not my sister.
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