Trading the G for a Corvette. Opinions?
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 3,530
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From: SoCal
100k mile g
85k mile corvette
and both cars last a lot longer than that with the right care
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Not that one
My first post on this forum! I usually lurk just b/c my girlfriend and my sister both have G35 coupes, but I can't help myself here.
I owned a 2004 G35 coupe a couple of years ago and I currently own a 2001 Corvette 6MT (modified of course ) and I would recommend that you consider purchasing a corvette, but not that one. Corvettes IMO are awesome cars and as long as I am able, I will always own one. They are very easy to work on, and it is a lot of fun squeezing power out of that LS1. 100K miles on a corvette is nothing (forget the undue prejudice about american cars). Mine only has 60K on it, but I know two guys with vettes over 150K and 200K and both are still going strong.
There are a few problems with the one you are looking at though. One is that it's an automatic. The 4L60E automatic transmission that came on the C5's is notorious for wearing gears, specifically 3rd gear. You will almost definitely have to have that tranny rebuilt or replaced eventually. Second is the gear ratios. Auto corvettes came from the factory with 2.73 gears with very few get the 3.15 performance axle ratio. Even if it does have the 3.15's, it's not going to fell as peppy as your G35 coupe. The 6MT's are a different story. They have pretty much bulletproof Tremec T-56 transmissions and come with 3.45 rear axle ratios.
The SLP exhaust is also a problem. You probably think it sounds great now, but SLP's are basically open pipes and the drone at cruising engine speeds is really annoying (ask me how I know). If you really want this corvette, buy used Z06 ti exhaust or some borla stingers or GHL bullets off a corvette forum or fleabay and tell the owner he can keep the SLP's and knock $300 - $400 off the price. He'd be lucky to get half of that selling those pipes, nobody wants them.
Keep in mind that your G35 is much more luxurious than a C5 Corvette will be. That isn't to say that a C5 isn't very nice on the inside, but it isn't at infiniti's level. Also, don't get suckered in to buying a C5 Z06. You will pay more money for the car and higher insurance rates for a vehicle that isn't really that much better than a C5 targa. It has less cargo room, it is less aerodynamic (All the vette guys going for crazy top speeds buy targas), and it has a motor that, dollar for dollar, does not respond as well to mods as the LS1. The LS6 is a great motor, but for the price of a few bolt-ons that you can easily install yourself, you can get more power out of an LS1.
If you are really considering a purchase of this corvette or any other, feel free to shoot me a PM and I'll give you a list of some things to make sure to check for. I've had 2 C5's now and am pretty familiar with most of the common problems they can have. On C5 corvettes, you can actually pull trouble codes out of the vehicles computer without and ODBII reader. It would be a good idea to pull the codes on this vehicle and reset all of them (to get rid of the old ones that don't apply anymore), then take it around the block and pull the codes again to see if it has any current issues. Again, PM me if you need to know how to do that.
You really can't lose either way. The Vette and the G are both really great cars. The Vette is faster (and easier to make waaaay faster) and the G is more luxurious. I wanted the extra power, but it really is a personal preference thing.
I owned a 2004 G35 coupe a couple of years ago and I currently own a 2001 Corvette 6MT (modified of course
) and I would recommend that you consider purchasing a corvette, but not that one. Corvettes IMO are awesome cars and as long as I am able, I will always own one. They are very easy to work on, and it is a lot of fun squeezing power out of that LS1. 100K miles on a corvette is nothing (forget the undue prejudice about american cars). Mine only has 60K on it, but I know two guys with vettes over 150K and 200K and both are still going strong.There are a few problems with the one you are looking at though. One is that it's an automatic. The 4L60E automatic transmission that came on the C5's is notorious for wearing gears, specifically 3rd gear. You will almost definitely have to have that tranny rebuilt or replaced eventually. Second is the gear ratios. Auto corvettes came from the factory with 2.73 gears with very few get the 3.15 performance axle ratio. Even if it does have the 3.15's, it's not going to fell as peppy as your G35 coupe. The 6MT's are a different story. They have pretty much bulletproof Tremec T-56 transmissions and come with 3.45 rear axle ratios.
The SLP exhaust is also a problem. You probably think it sounds great now, but SLP's are basically open pipes and the drone at cruising engine speeds is really annoying (ask me how I know). If you really want this corvette, buy used Z06 ti exhaust or some borla stingers or GHL bullets off a corvette forum or fleabay and tell the owner he can keep the SLP's and knock $300 - $400 off the price. He'd be lucky to get half of that selling those pipes, nobody wants them.
Keep in mind that your G35 is much more luxurious than a C5 Corvette will be. That isn't to say that a C5 isn't very nice on the inside, but it isn't at infiniti's level. Also, don't get suckered in to buying a C5 Z06. You will pay more money for the car and higher insurance rates for a vehicle that isn't really that much better than a C5 targa. It has less cargo room, it is less aerodynamic (All the vette guys going for crazy top speeds buy targas), and it has a motor that, dollar for dollar, does not respond as well to mods as the LS1. The LS6 is a great motor, but for the price of a few bolt-ons that you can easily install yourself, you can get more power out of an LS1.
If you are really considering a purchase of this corvette or any other, feel free to shoot me a PM and I'll give you a list of some things to make sure to check for. I've had 2 C5's now and am pretty familiar with most of the common problems they can have. On C5 corvettes, you can actually pull trouble codes out of the vehicles computer without and ODBII reader. It would be a good idea to pull the codes on this vehicle and reset all of them (to get rid of the old ones that don't apply anymore), then take it around the block and pull the codes again to see if it has any current issues. Again, PM me if you need to know how to do that.
You really can't lose either way. The Vette and the G are both really great cars. The Vette is faster (and easier to make waaaay faster) and the G is more luxurious. I wanted the extra power, but it really is a personal preference thing.
I meant how much longer each would be expected to last given the present mileages of the G and Corvette, 85k and 101K, respectively.
