Lots of folks out there bashing the C4...what gives?

[VETTEX2]

I currently own a C5 and a C4 and there is no comparison....C5 waxes C4's........just the facts......but I still like my C4......

 

[hotmtrsports]

"I say I want as pristine a vette I can get and the quality I want is not affordible if I look at a c-5. My price range is $16-19k, not $25k-$30k."


After all that's been said, BIGBADJOHN's statement above in his first entry will always dictate what you want to or can buy. Go for the C4 and have fun.

Chuck

 

[Minnesota Fats]

shut

16to 19 should get a sweet deal. I paid 12 for my 94 the miles are a little high 80,000 know but at 4 to 6000 a year it will last a long time and have many fun moments. Go buy one and quit finding reasons not to. I bought my vette at age 55 and should have bought it at age 25. Oh well ,, drive and enjoy. Just remember a hun. Buy anything and it's a hundred for this and a hundred for that.

 

[Bob Yates]

It's funny but, as I've been reading all of these post. I started thinking back to my first vette. I was 22 and working for a Chevy Dealership. It came in on the used car lot. It was a Silver rag top fuelie. I remember thinking how was I going to work on that fuel injection. Nobody around knew much about them. I think that's why it was traded in...... To me Corvette's are a way of life. I like how they have always made me feel when I'm in one. In the early years of my Corvette life Corvette's were seldom seen on the streets where I lived. Now their made in my state and their everywhere. I like that. It's like a rolling auto show. There isn't a bad vette. They are all unique and wonderful machines. Don't cripple yourself into thinking one's better than another . Look at all your options. Start you quest with an open mind and drive as many as you can. When your but sits in the right one you'll know it weather it's a C1 or a C6. You'll work out the money part if it's meant to be. But above all drive it that's the fun part of vette ownership. Good luck ....Bob Yates

 

[road_racefan]

As for me I'm very happy with my C-4. I drove both, and yes the C-5 is a more sophisticated car. But there is just something about a pristine C-4 that gets the heart pumping.

The comments I have received from people that I don't even know, have been terrific. This past weekend I stopped to see my daughter at work. As I pulled in a woman was coming out of the store, and said "That is one beautiful car. If I was a guy, I'd have an erection right now." Tell me what other car can generate comments like that.

I didn't buy for resale value, I bought for the love of the car, and I smile everytime I drive it.

Like most have said here, buy the best one you can afford, enjoy it, appreciate it, and drive it every chance you get.

 

[Evolution1980]

Message Thread Update

(For fun...)
Just for anyone keeping track here...
This thread was originally started on March 28th, 2002!
BigBadJohn only posted here for 5 days after that and hasn't been heard from since.
Poodle somehow dug up this thread and it has started running again.

I'm pretty sure BigBadJohn has either gotten his car by now, or has moved on to other things. It has been 2 years now... :L

Do people still bash the C4? I don't know.
I also think we can now answer FX3FX3's response posted on March 30th, 2002:

C4'S DONT LIKE C5, C3'S DID NOT LIKE C4, C2'S DID NOT LIKE C3
AND C1 DID NOT LIKE C2'S, AND WHEN THE C6 COMES OUT WE AINT GOING TO LIKE IT EITHER

:L

 

[Vettevrooom]

LOL I hadn't noticed the date! I fell on it while searching for something else. Some people are so observant!

 

[Rain]

whew - talk about knocking the dust off an old thread! hahahaha

 

[Skant]

Old thread, but I'll bite anyway.

There are 50 model years of Corvettes. And different options within each of those years. Each generation of vette is a rather different car. Better in some ways and weaker in others.

To some people, newer is always better. It's just an automatic indisputable fact of life as far as they are concerned. So the formula is 'buy the newest car you can afford'. I don't agree. There are a number of examples that clearly show that newer isn't always better... just look at the horsepower dive during the 70's for probably the most clear example ever. There are many more.

The Corvette, throughout its lifespan, has been pulled in several different directions based on all manner of pressures. The C4 has a performance 'taste' to it because the big pressure at the time was to pull up out of the weaker and weaker vettes near the end of the C3 era (due to emissions pressures). Customers wanted performance, and they got it. The C5 is pulled in a different direction because of the public's interest in a more refined less beastly and performance centric car. Which is not to say that C5's don't perform, but there's a definate different flavor to them than C4's.

The C4 is a beast. And it's meant to be. It's a very performance oriented car.

The C5 is meant to be civilized. And it loses something for that. But gains something else.

The C4 and the C5 have lost some of the taste the C3 had, too. But gained in other areas.

Etc etc etc with C1s, C2s, C3s, C4s, and C5s.

Really, my point is that you just can't figure that a higher number next to the C means 'improved in every way'. It's not. Every generation of Corvette has its own unique style and strengths that earlier and later generations do not have. Every one of them is something to be proud of.

So yeah... I roll my eyes when I watch some C5 owners look down their noses at other corvettes for being older. To me, that means that they just don't get it.

I didn't buy a 1996 LT4 CE because it was the newest car I could afford. I could have easily bought a brand new C5. But out of all the years and models available, this is the one I wanted. The other model I want is an early C3 big block... has to be black on black. I'll pick one up at some point.

But anyway... my point is... my selection of vehicle is not driven by cost, but preference. So I roll my eyes when some C5 guy assumes that I just don't have as much money as he does. Again... he just doesn't get it. (And he's totally underestimating the performance of my LT4 if he assumes he's going to leave me behind)

If you want to make the claim that all C5's are better performers than all C4's... well, I'd say you're flatly ignoring the ZR1, LT4, Grand Sport, etc. If you're comparing stock base models only, then I'd have to agree... the base model C5s just plain have more horses than the base model C4s. But beyond the base models, the comparison isn't so simple. And if you start talking about modified vettes, the comparison gets hazy real fast.


Now to be sure, I really haven't experienced much C4 bashing at all. My car gets a lot of looks and a lot of compliments... even from other sports car nuts who are nominally import only. And I'm not saying that every C5 owner 'doesn't get it' or looks down on the other generations. In fact, most of the corvette folks I've met were cool people.

Just... I guess there are two kinds of sports car enthusiasts. The kind that love a particular car (for whatever reasons) and hold all others in contempt as pieces of garbage. And the kind that love a particular car but still have respect for other cars and other people's preferences for them.

I wish there were more of the latter. I mean... the only people that hate my car are sports car enthusiasts for other cars. The general public thinks my car is dandy. What is it that makes a sports car nut hate so many sports cars? I mean... think about it. The general public doesn't care about bitter rivalries or minor performance differences between these cars. They think they're all nice. It's only sports car enthusiasts that get into mud slinging. Ain't that wacky?

Personally, I think there's a lot of respectable Japanese and European and whatever sports cars out there, too. They're not to my preference... I'll always be a vette guy. But I do think that all of these cars are just plain cool. And I respect each of them for their unique strengths.

I wish everyone did. Especially victims of the 'All American cars suck' mantra. You know... the ones that don't even know anything about the cars they're bashing... just repeating what they've 'heard'... just like the people they heard it from...

- Skant

 

[bmas]

I live in Boston but bought a 94 coupe from American sportscars in atlanta, the website is www.buyavette.net. I dealt with Jimmy Almond, real nice guy. I have nothing but good things to say about my experience and I made the trangsaction on the internet, i am sure in person they are even better
good luck
bmas

 

[vee93]

So busy reading, I didn't realise how old the original post was!!! Anyway..., I know I've wanted a Corvette since I was a kid and spotted a '67 yellow 427. That car just called to me. Then it was those 70's Stingrays and I craved that '71. I didn't care for the look of the early C-4s, the front end always reminded me of the tip cut off of a slice of pie. A few years passed and a friend of mine bought a '93 ZR-1, a gorgeous triple black monster that kicked everything's butt rollin. GOOD GOD!!!!

Those late C-4s still maintained that body-huggin feel of a true race car. You didn't sit in the car, you got in a became a part of it. I bought one. A '93 Medium Quasar Blue Metallic coupe. If you don't think this car doesn't turn heads...

I can appreciate the look of the C-5s, even the new C-6, but you still don't ride in them like you do in those late C-4s.

I just wish GM would loosen their purse strings and color coordinate the interiors. Use some friggin imagination on the steering wheel, seats, shift boot, floor/cargo mats, door handles, dash lights, arm rest and door handles, so we wouldn't have to make the aftermarket billet folks richer!!!! And for God's sake, pad that plastic-better yet GET RID OF IT!!! It's cheap and it looks it!!!! sHOULDN'T BE IN OR ON A CAR THAT COSTS 50+GRAND ANYWAY!!!! That stereo in the C-5s is the same in my Z24 Cavalier and my mom's Monte Carlo LS! Now how wiggy is that!?!!!!
i'M OUT

 

[C-4 Now]

I've owned 30+ Vettes since 1969 and have found that out on the road it doesn't matter which one. They all draw compliments and lead to meeting many great people! So just find one that rev's your motor, wax it, drive it, wave and smile. As for me there always seems to be one more I want to try! I remember one I thought I'd never like anything more than a midyear until I drove my first 6-Speed C-4 . Now my goal is to be one of the oldest Corvette drivers.

 

[4U2NV1986]

Fifty plus years of satisfaction. We are all lucky to drive and own any and all of them. It could be worse, we could all belong to the Chevette club......


Any Corvette is cool. We got'em and many don't.......

 

[John R]

Ken,
I am a new member to all this Vette stuff. As of this past July 16 I became the PROUD owner of my first Vette. A Black C-4 that will rock your socks off. I agree with you. Love and drive what ever Vette you have. The whole world is OUR stage.

John

 

[SKIP780]

the c4 has the classic high crease in the front fenders and hidden head lites. to me its the last line of the AMERICAN CORVETTE line.all after this are of european sports car copys.

 

[dwestsr]

I have an 86 z51 coupe. the C4 body style is my favorite. My wife likes the c5 better; she calls it The "fat _ssed Vette". I like the handling and performance of the c4. My wife likes the c5 better because she can get into and out of it better. I guess I will have to get a c5 or c6 because "if mamma aint happy, aint nobody happy". But ,I'm keepin my c4.

 

[RedRagTop]

I still like mine and still getting looks/compliments.

 

[sweet04]

...Love that sig!

I still like mine and still getting looks/compliments.

 

[EttevroC]

What I like about the C4.

• They are relatively inexpensive, for now.
  • You can purchase a real gem of a car for less than $15k.
  • Just as the C3’s started to appreciate when the C5 came out, so shall the C4’s when the C6 takes over the sports car world.
• They are the first “Modern” sports car produced in America.
  • They were the first Corvette that had real balanced handling right off the showroom floor. Remember, prior to the 84 Vette, .90 Gs was unheard of in stock sports cars.
  • They are fast and fuel efficient due to all the high-tech wizardry that was incorporated into it.
• They are relatively easy to work on.
  • Just open any hood of a C4 and you can see what I mean. Everything is right there in front of you.
  • Since there are millions of aftermarket parts available, there are multiple choices to fix any problem.
• They have unique quirks that endear it to its owner.
  • That clamshell hood.
  • The cockpit like interior.
  • Star Wars dashboard (for older models).

As long as you enjoy whatever car you end up purchasing, that’s what matters most!!! I don’t regret one moment that I purchased a C4! It was and still is one of my dream cars!

 

[RedRagTop]

...Love that sig!

Thanks. Evolution80 helped out a lot with the graphics.
Yep, love my dash (Star Wars by Fisher-Price) and jet fighter feel. Also hitting 1 g on the skid and a 48/52 weight ratio works for me...