C5 Z06 - MJ '02 - '04 - refinements noticeable beside track?

[Oliver S.]

I come to realize that a C5 Z06 is in an interesting price range for me.
There were of course refinements/improvements each year, especially the hp increase in 2002 and the redesigned Sachs shocks in 2004 together with the CE and its carbon hood.
I'd like to know if there's a noticeable difference in the models between 2002 and 2004 - beside driving on a track?
Is the '02 405hp as reliable as the '03 and '04?
Since this model wasn't officially sold in Europe the cars offered are extremely sparse. Hence, I'm thinking about importing one from the U.S. to Germany. Is there a reliable used Corvette dealer in the vicinity of Houston, LA or Miami (would lower the onroad shipping costs to a port) whom you could recommend? Or maybe there's somebody here selling one.

Regards
Oliver

BTW: Does the red paint on this model still fade as on the cars from the '90ies?

[Tom H.]

Re: C5 Z06 - MJ '02 - '04 - refinements noticeable beside track?

Hi Oliver !!! I think I can help with this question. I have sold and driven many, many of these cars. I do not think you will notice any difference in the 02 to 04. Although slight revisions were made, many cannot be felt by us "casual" drivers. They are great cars and probably the best bang for the buck you can find. The torch red is not subject to the fade of generations gone by !!!

[Oliver S.]

Re: C5 Z06 - MJ '02 - '04 - refinements noticeable beside track?

Ok, so I won't rule out a '02 or '03.
Dumb question - how reliable is CarFax or to put it differently - is it possible to repair and sell a salvage or heavily damaged car without being reflected in the CF? If yes is this rather seldom or not?

Oliver

[Mike E.]

Re: C5 Z06 - MJ '02 - '04 - refinements noticeable beside track?

Oliver,
I have a '01 Z06 I bought in 2003, so far it's been pretty good car. Being the first year it had a few growing pains. GM didn't use a clutch that could handle torque from the LS6 so I had to replace that, I guess it was fixed in 2002 but there are some issues that existed in 02 up. The failure mode for the clutch is rather odd. The pedal will stick to floor at high at high RPM and will not disengage, round town driving it will work fine. I replaced the clutch, master and slave cylinder myself it was big job I had estimates of around $2K for the work, the parts cost me about about $500 doing it myself. I would check to see how clean the fluid is in the clutch master cylinder if is real dirty beware. Take a couple of runs up to redline to check it out. If the seller goes with on the test drive it will probably freak them out a little, too bad your spending a lot of money for the car you want to make sure you don’t need to throw another $2K in it for clutch replacement.

Amazing power even with only 385HP, too much infact. If the tires are more than a few years old, the compound will get hard and the car will brake traction when running through the gears hard and get real loose. Plan on replacing the tires if they are more than a few years old, even with lots of tread. To me the C5 Z has a certain raw feel to it that's reminds me of my midyear.

Mike

[Paul J.]

Re: C5 Z06 - MJ '02 - '04 - refinements noticeable beside track?

Ok, so I won't rule out a '02 or '03.
Dumb question - how reliable is CarFax or to put it differently - is it possible to repair and sell a salvage or heavily damaged car without being reflected in the CF? If yes is this rather seldom or not?

Oliver

Car Fax is not very reliable. It is voluntary and the garage doing the repair has no obligation to list the car. In addition, damages shown on Car Fax reports can be minimal.

Salvage cars are a different story. Once a car is totalled, then it will have a "salvage title". The only way around this is if an insurance company is not involved and the repair is handled privately. Just because a car has a salvage title does not mean that it was heavily damaged. Insurance companies total a car if the costs to fix it are around 55% of the total value (don't quote me on that number, I think different insurance companies have different percentages). However, if a car has a salvage title then it means that it has been damaged and repaired, and that will reflect in the price you would expect to pay.

If you find a car in the U.S. that you wish to purchase, I would have someone look at it for you before you buy it.

Paul

[Oliver S.]

Re: C5 Z06 - MJ '02 - '04 - refinements noticeable beside track?

There is a Z06 offered here and the first owner in Germany was under the impression the car to be one-owner and accident-free. This was assured to him by a dealer here who imported it. Now the owner has requested the CF and .... 3 owner and a Florida Junk Title. Some lawyers will earn a couple of $$$.
Since I don't have somebody specifically I would ask here or dismiss my plan.

Oliver

[Donald O.]

Re: C5 Z06 - MJ '02 - '04 - refinements noticeable beside track?

Car Fax is not very reliable. It is voluntary and the garage doing the repair has no obligation to list the car. In addition, damages shown on Car Fax reports can be minimal.

Salvage cars are a different story. Once a car is totalled, then it will have a "salvage title". The only way around this is if an insurance company is not involved and the repair is handled privately. Just because a car has a salvage title does not mean that it was heavily damaged. Insurance companies total a car if the costs to fix it are around 55% of the total value (don't quote me on that number, I think different insurance companies have different percentages). However, if a car has a salvage title then it means that it has been damaged and repaired, and that will reflect in the price you would expect to pay.

If you find a car in the U.S. that you wish to purchase, I would have someone look at it for you before you buy it.

Paul

I have zero faith in any carfax report for its accuracy.
When My wife and I traded in her Dodge for a VW, the VW dealer ran a carfax and it came back as never been in an accident. OOPS! It was in four accidents that body shops made the repairs and paint, and one that I fixed.
Forget carfax, they're just snake oil reports in my opinion.

DonO

[Rich G.]

Re: C5 Z06 - MJ '02 - '04 - refinements noticeable beside track?

I had an 03 for a while. Bought it with 4000 miles and traded on a new 07 when it had 16k miles. Never had a problem but never really drove it hard. I did hit the rev limiters once or twice, entirely by mistake. :-)

If you want a TON of opinions, try www.z06vette.com

Rich

[Paul J.]

Re: C5 Z06 - MJ '02 - '04 - refinements noticeable beside track?

There is a Z06 offered here and the first owner in Germany was under the impression the car to be one-owner and accident-free. This was assured to him by a dealer here who imported it. Now the owner has requested the CF and .... 3 owner and a Florida Junk Title. Some lawyers will earn a couple of $$$.
Since I don't have somebody specifically I would ask here or dismiss my plan.

Oliver

If you find a car that you would be interested in. You could ask on this board if we know someone who could help you.