None of you guys & gals with C5s have anything to say?

[Tom Bryant]

Dad,
You are probably out driving one of your Corvettes right now since it's about 60 out. I'd like to see your cars sometime. May even run the '81 down the road and back tomorrow if the rain stays away.

Tom

 

[DkBG]

I love my 2000 coupe .I can't believe some of the complaints I've read . I feel lucky , theres absolutely nothing wrong with mine . I think the interior is cool but adding a few little things like colored lettering on the airbag and an emblem here or there might dress it up a bit . I'm a really big guy and apprieciate the room in the car . Poor fit and finish ? I sure don't see it . Windshild wipers don't go the right way ? I can live with that ! This car is beautiful , fast , comfortable and a ball to drive . I don't know what the C-6 will be , but it will be hard to beat my C-5 .

 

[les]

DKBG

Hey, dressing them up is part of the fun. I spend a lot of time with my nose in the catalogs.The crome letters on the back a cool too!!

 

[DkBG]

Me too ! The UPS man and I are on a first name basis .

 

[vette]

comfort

as much as i like the C5. i think that once you manage to get in a C4 it is better to sit in. the pedels in the C5 seem to be placed wrong, the gas pedal is to close to you and my leg is always touching the dash. i use cruise control all the time. and as always the weather strips suck. i think gm uses the worst weather strips they can find on corvettes. i work on all types of cars in my shop and you can look at a 1990 cavalier thats outside all the time and wont find a bad weather strip on the car , my 99 corvette already needs the rt window mldgand it has 19000 miles. and look at any C4 any year and any milage and you will find cracked weather strips. fit and finish was never great on corvettes . and you cant compare paint finish to a bmw or any foriegn car, they do not have the epa telling them they must lower the vocs in there paint like we do, all in all our paint is not bad

 

[DkBG]

Vette What are VOCs and what do they do for paint . I agree , nothing made in the US can compare with the finish on the German cars . I've always wondered why .

 

[vette]

paint

Icant tell you the complete tech. on what they are but basicly they are poisons in paint like lead. Paint and clearcoats need solvents to get from the gun to the car. the solvents thin the paint the more you thin the better it will look, less orange peel. Paints today use little or no solvents so they go on thick and do not flow out like before. The solvents end up evaporating.in to the air and that is what the epa dose not want to happen. The auto makers have to follow the rules more than body shops but it is getting much harder to do nice paint work without sanding and buffing, which US auto makers can not do. Not that many years ago we could paint cars and not buff right out of the booth now we have to buff almost every thing. So thats why US cars dont look as good as foriegn cars , we have much harder rules to follow

 

[vettepilot]

American Auto Manufacturers have been taking big hits ever since the EPA was formed, between emmissions, fuel mileage requirements, and manufacturing requirements it's really a wonder they can produce a car at all. The manufacturers are being blamed for things such as poor quality paint, as was already mentioned, rising costs to meet emissions and still provide what the public wants in HP and driveability takes research and lots of $$$$$$.
If the EPA had it's way we would be driving electric or fuel cell powered mini boxes with no soul, unable to accelerate past a bicycle, (another EPA preferred form of transportation).
The EPA has WAAAAAY too much power, they have been dictating to the American public for far too long, and in too many areas. They have become what the IRS was several years ago, simply a bully with our tax dollars funding their shinanigans.
That's my .02 worth this morning.
Stan

 

[Scissors]

Vette What are VOCs and what do they do for paint . I agree , nothing made in the US can compare with the finish on the German cars . I've always wondered why .

VOCs, or Volatile Organic Compounds, basically thin out the paint and help it flow more smoothly.

VOCs are a large family of carbon-containing compounds which are emitted or evaporate into the atmospere where they participate in photochemical reactions. Some VOCs are toxic and/or carcinogenic. Most VOCs, to varying degrees, contribute to the formation of ground level ozone.

Toxicity can be divided into three categories viz. acute poisoning which is displayed by immediate, severe symptons. Chronic poisoning, which is reoccuring or of long continuance; and insidious poisoning. Insidious poisoning occurs when the toxic works "secretly." The victim is unaware of the exposure, his health and mind gradually deteriorates and often he is unprepared for remedial action until it is too late.

Oh yeah, and they taste like chicken.

<< Ripped without shame from several websites (except that last part.) >>

 

[DkBG]

Well guys , thanks for the thorough explanation . I guess that shows the EPA to be the necessary evil that it is . I had to deal with them alot in the latter part of my career , and found them to be a real pain in the butt . They caused us alot of problems and never offered solutions , but at least I feel safe drinking my well water and breathing the air .

 

[Karl Snedeger]

Well after reading about all you poor people who have to wait for spring so you can drive your cars, I've decided that 120 degrees in the summer is worth it. I can drive year round and not worry about rain . It's 60 degrees today and it's only 9 a.m.:cool

 

[Dad]

Who has to wait??

WOW, 60 in Vegas, it was higher than that in Northern Ohio this week, and who has to wait until spring to drive their cars? I washed mine in the drive Sunday, got it dirty by driving it to work all week and then a short trip to Michigan to see my son.

 

[vettepilot]

OK you wanted to hear from somebody with a 2002 ZO6, well here is the story first hand.
Traded in my 1993 ZO7 6Spd, picked up new 02 ZO6, (Electron Blue, Mod-red interior, mem pkg, mirror pkg) on 29 Dec 01. It had 5 miles when I did the first test drive, now have 2600 trouble free miles, and smiling very large.

In 6 inch bold lettering... WOW!

Patti, you mentioned the acceleration aspect and handling of the Corvette, mutiply both by a factor of 2, now add 4X exhaust note, multiply that by 6500 RPM, divide that number by 6 spds, the result is the additional fun factor of the 02 ZO6 over the Coupe and Vert.
This is an awsome purpose built Vette, I can see why Dave Hill and his team are so proud of their accomplishment. The standard Coupe and Vert are fast cars in their own right, but the added zest of the ZO6 is simply indescribeable. Everything about the performance of the Z is an enhancement to the Coupe and Vert.
From the acceleration, to the nimbleness of the handling, to the greatly enhanced braking, to the titanium exhaust system and it's accompaning exhaust note.
This is not my first Corvette, I really don't know how it would have hit me had I not owned two previously. Maybe that's the reason I am SO impressed, I had something tangible to compare it to, not just another blah car.
If you ever have the opportunity to drive a Z, take it, even if you don't push it, you will be impressed.
I haven't asked mine to do much yet, haven't even had to take it over 5000 RPM yet. One of these days when the conditions are right I'll push it up through the gears, but for now I'm enjoying the fantastic ride that I have, and keeping it in the same wind cheating shape that it came in.
The only thing I added is the GM CD changer, put it in myself in about 3 hours, that included harness and changer. Located in the factory position, works through the stock radio/CD control head just like the factory optioned cars. Of course that option isn't offered on the Z, that's why I had to put it in myself.
Between the CD changer, the harness and installation kit, w/shipping it cost just $438.25 from GM parts direct.
Well ... TH TH TH TH That's all folks.

 

[DkBG]

Congratulations VettePilot . The Z06's are awesome . How or where does the cable between the changer and the head unit run . Did you have to lift the car to do this ?

 

[vettepilot]

DkBg,
Thanks DkBg. Everything was done from inside the car, very easy 2 - 3 hour job total, including the mounting bracket in the rear same place as the factory mounting. The harness runs down the right side of the vehicle utilizing the factory harness clips that are already epoxied to the body holding other wires. I just had to partially remove the interior panels from the bottom to pull them out enough to slip my hand and arm behind them to route the harness, and secure it in the clips. Then as the harness goes into the right side passenger area, the harness goes under the seat belt retractor and continues forward through two more clips, then into the two harness plugs located behind and to the right of the fuse panal cover that forms the front forward portion of the floor. You can easily see this if you roll back your right front floor mat, then grap the top corners of the floor panal and pull it out. They are retained with velcro, the panal swings out and down, exposing the fuse / circuit breaker panal, and other electronics.
By the way, I noticed you are from Butler, are you close to the Butler State Park ski area? I skied there on several occasions when I was stationed at Ft. Knox in the early 80s. Sorry to say it was a real let down due to the fact I had just returned from Germany where I had been skiing the German and French Alps for the past four years. But at least it was skiing. The beer was the biggest disapointment as one can imagine.
Stan

 

[DkBG]

Thanks for the info VettePilot . I would like to add a changer to mine this spring . As for liveing in Butler , this is Butler Indiana , and flat as a pancake . Although I did alot of sking in my past , none of it was around here . We do have beer here though !!!!

 

[vettepilot]

By the way,
That's a real nice looking DkBg Vette you have there!

 

[Colorado]

Please don't get me wrong. I really like my '01 coupe, but I think that there is DEFINITELY room for improvement in some key areas:

Cabin noise - In my opinion, road and wind noise intrusion is awful. Maybe it's just the roads around metro-Denver, but the tire/road noise is almost unbearable at times. There are occassions, especially on certain stretches of one major highway (C470), that you cannot hold a conversation with a passenger. Wind noise intrudes around the top rear corners of both side windows...with either top installed. It may just be wishful thinking, but it actually is sometimes quieter with no top installed ... or maybe it's just because I'm enjoying the drive

Poor headlight intensity - Do any of you have the 2001 Corvette sales brochure? If you do, go to pages 22/23. That's an exact replica of me driving home after delivery of my new Corvette - at night in an absolute monsoon that came out of nowhere. I thought maybe I couldn't see the road because of the rain, but then I found it's hard to see much of anything on a night without rain, too. I got some different bulbs from Mid-America, but they aren't any better. So ... what to do?

Transistor radio - Well, maybe it's a little better than the old transistor radios some of us remember, but the sound system is on the weak side. I don't know what is so hot about a Bose system anyway, except maybe marketing hype. I did hear an okay Bose system in a '94 C4 that I was thinking about, but the system in the '01 is lacking. I wish they would install the same setup that's in my Z71 Tahoe. That system sounds great!!

Suspension compliance - Okay, it's a sports car. But it's not too sporty when you have to get off the go pedal and apply emergency countersteer maneuvers on an Interstate entrance ramp because the tail end wants to swap position with the front end as the result of an encounter with a diagonal asphalt seam right in the middle of the apex, coupled with a stutter bump and two small potholes. Active handling or not, the passenger gets real concerned about such behavior and doesn't speak to the driver for a couple of miles. Not even an explanation like, "Hey, honey, sports cars DO those sorts of things", helps any at all.

There, that's it! Not too much for Dave Hill to work on, I don't think. Rest assured that I will keep the one I have until something better comes along !!

 

[Ken]

Maybe it's just the roads around metro-Denver, but the tire/road noise is almost unbearable at times.

:L Just ask BlackDog about how he feels about the roads around and through Denver sometime. You can read all about our travels (me, BlackDog and Rare81) on the road back from Bowling Green last year, here at A Road Trip? Or a Nighmare...

_ken

 

[potent45acp]

Cold fat tires and cold road seem to make for an interesting ride for most all of us. The front end seems to want to look where the back has just been when ones foot gets a little to heavy, pot holes or no pot holes. All along I thought it was the Indaina concrete and the whine from the pass seat was p-poor radio