Just looking for some feedback. Trying to decide between the g or vette. I love the G for its style, fit & finish. I love the vette for the power and potential but the interior and fit & finish suck. I know with alot of bread I can get alot of power out of the g but not like with vette. I want to purchase by the end of this summer.

 

man thats a toughie

im guessing you already know the obvious things.

performance , expenses, insurance, seating,reliablity.


hell with the vette you can get a TON of power for similar money. GM powerplant with addons. 1000hp /tq with same investment you'd put into the G... well maybe not but you get the idea.

ppp

 

I'd say get the G.. the vette has the new model now. so if you buy the 03 vette, you will feel that you have an old car.

 

I was thinking the same thing that new vette the interior, styling and fit & finish is 100% better than the c5. My problem with the vette is 3-4years down the road will I hear alot rattles & shakes and s&*t falling apart I hate that.

 

My cousin just got a 03 Z06 with 9k miles for 32.6K or so...awesome car...Id go for a Z06..but if its just a c5...id take the G35 Its power vs. quality so either way you win

 

Depends. Are you getting the Z06 or regular Vette? Also what is the price you're going to pay for each one of them?

 

I came from a '99 Vette to a G35 coupe and can tell you that the Vette had more power and better gas mileage, but thats the only things it did/had that was better than the G35 coupe...including handling. The G35 easily outhandles the Vette on real world roads. No joke. But, I do miss getting nearly 30 mpg on the highway with the Vette. The G can't touch that.

 

I want to spend no more than 30k and it would be a c5 unless I got a deal on a c5 Z06. I am more of a japanese guy over domestic but have always loved the vette and the power. Its just the quality besides the engine that concerns me.

 

the reliability of the c5's are great.it is not your typical gm.c5's are built to strict standards in their own plant.if reliability is a factor buy the vette you will not have mant probs.

 

for those of you that have had both...
how is the fit and finish of the vette in comparison to the g35.

I've currently got a '97 Z28 and the rattles and falling apart interior has finally gotten to me, so I am getting out of camaro's as daily drivers. been looking very seriously at the g35 (roomate has one ). but a used vette in the same price range is very enticing as well

 

you cantcompare the z and the vette.the c4's were kinda cheap,but the c5's were a big improvement.the interior is much better.

 

I'd get the vette! And I wouldn't worry about rattles. My G35 is a #@$@# rattle box. So I don't want to hear anybody say "don't get the gm car, you'll get rattles". My SS camaro doesn't rattle, and my G35 does...go figure. still love my G though

 

I have both, an '02 Z06, and an '03 G35, both of which I bought new, and they both have about 19k miles now. Fit and finish is an interesting thing between the two cars. Overall the fit and finish of the G35 is better in terms of panel gaps, body panel alignment, weatherstripping, etc. Not that the Vette is bad with these things, its just the G35 is better. A few examples of fit and finish flaws that I noticed in my Vette that I didn't see with the G35: the weatherstripping was poorly installed with extra glue seeping out the sides - looks like a 12 year old put the weatherstripping on, the lower rocker panel just behind the left front wheel sticks out slightly compared to the quarter panel, and I had a suspension rattle in the back shortly after I got the car that was caused by loose upper shock mount bolts in the rear, which I fixed myself by just tightening them. However, the paint on my Z06 is excellent, and of better quality than the G35, IMO, although I have heard of instances of orange peel from the factory on other C5's - seems to be luck of the draw if your car has orange peel or not. Weird considering its an entirely robotic paint process. Everything else seems to be well put together, and I'm overall pleased with the quality of my Z06. Not perfect, but its good. Keep in mind with the body panels, all of the Vette's body panels are either fiberglass or SMC composite, which is much more difficult to get lined up right than steel panels because of manufacturing variances and the flexibility of the material. Considering the nature of the material, the fitment of exterior body panels on the Vette is very good.

Now, here's what's interesting: while the G35 has visually better fit and finish than my Vette, my G35 is plagued with rattles and clunks all over the place, while my Vette doesn't rattle at all, and never has. My G35 had a nastly rattle in the rear interior since the day I picked it up new, which is still there after several dealer attempts to fix it, and has since developed other rattles and nasty noises including a clunk sound behind the moonroof, a weird chigga-chiggaa-chigga sound when first engaging the clutch from a stop, as well as clutch chatter. Besides rattles, my G35's CD player quit working, ate all my CD's and had to be replaced. It also seems to be developing an oil leak somewhere, as I get a burning oil smell in the car sometimes while waiting at a light.

Aside from the loose shock mount bolts in my Vette, I have had no problems at all with my Z06, and it remains rattle-free. And I definitely drive my Z06 much harder than my G35, and it has seen several track days and autocrosses.

I guess the lesson to be learned from all this is you can't really judge the quality and reliability of a car by looking at its interior panel gaps and body panel fitment. A car could have excellent fit & finish, tight panel gaps, etc., yet be an unreliable rattle trap. I'm not saying my G35 fits this latter category, but I am a bit disappointed in it considering its initial impressions of quality.

 

While the G35 does handle well, it can't touch a C5 in the handling department. If you think your G35 handles better than your '99 C5 did, then you must have had something seriously wrong with your '99 or you had some really bad tires. Look up the handling specs on both cars, and you'll find the C5 can pull higher skidpad g's, runs the slalom faster, and has better road course times on almost any road course or autocross.

I ran my G35 at Willow Springs with a bunch of C5's (non-Z06), and I couldn't hang with them in the turns, and they pulled away hard from me in the straights due to the obvious power difference. The only thing I could hang with them on was in braking. While the G35 had great handling potential, the weight of the car and its smaller tires compared to the C5 kills it. Weight is brutal on handling, and the C5 is 300 lbs. lighter.

 

If you can go without the two back seats and afford the higher insurance, I'd go for the Vette.