Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General About an inch away from buying this car....post your opinion

yep.

Just a voice of reason here, but will that be a daily driver? You may kick yourself if you drive it every day....even every other day. That's where your ins. kicks in, but if it had a mileage exemption (weekend car) you could forget emissions tests and high ins. rates. There's a horrible lack of mystique in a standard used 'vette to me. It's not a classic, really, by any measure and not a nice enough ride to enjoy driving every day by a long shot. 80's-90's vettes are best kept garaged and driven hard on occasion (when you need to remember what a real car should be....even if it isn't a Ferrari, it's pretty close). Not a car to put miles on. For a more daily driver perhaps a Firebird or Camaro would be better....not much of a perf. loss and far more drivabilty/reliability/bang for buck. I've never seen a high milage vette before.....seems like a very good price but upkeep would keep me away.

Guess what? The drivetrain is the same for the corvette and the camaro. Its the same motor, same transmission. Upkeep is the same. I have seen vettes with over 100k miles still going strong. They aren't ferraris...its a domestic coupe with a V-8. They have all the same problems as the LT1 camaros. The only thing more expenive is the electronic climate control and the FX3 ride control if the car is so equipped.

Its not like the ford SVT contour has a stellar performance/service/build quality record anyway. Breathe on it the wrong way and it throws an error code or breaks a diff. We proved that last weekend. The diff alone is a $2000 repair.

It's a nice looking Vette. Looks to have been kept in good shape, etc. If you can truly afford it, and don't need any kind of cargo room, I'd say get it if you want. Personally, I'm more a fan of the big boats. My Eldorado is the smallest car I've gotten for myself. (My first car, a 93 Volvo wagon wasn't a choice) My cutlass weighs a bit less, but is a tteny bit longer I think. Though at 3500 or so, the Cutlass isn't a runt. Eldo comes in, just over 2 tons with me in it. As far as the payment setup, figure out a payment plan you can afford, then talk to your parents. You can have them cosign on the loan, use their credit rating to bring down the interest, and handle all the payments yourself. Your parents wouldn't have to actually put sany money out, just let you hide with their credit for a bit.

Ya know, 99SVTguy, with every post you become more and more beligerent to us Contour guys. All you do now is trash the 'tour. Why don't you take your crap attitude and your even crappier vette and GET THE F OUT! Corvettes not only suck gas..they suck a$$!!!

Haha very funny evolution.

oh well. I still have the contour. I am going to pass on this particular corvette. The deal was lost in used car financing hell. I may be forced to just look for a newer pony car given what I learned about specialty car financing. I really need no trade in and about $5000 down to get the rest of the purchase price financed. Most specialty finance companies will not lend more than 80% LTV.

So, I test drove a 98 cobra drop top today. Its no vette, but financing terms are a lot better. Payment was a little too high though, but the guy said he would look for me a 97-98 cobra hardtop or a 97-99 Z-28 SS. I may be forced to bow to the pony car gods in order to reach my performance goals for this season....a 98 SS camaro with t-tops could be "almost" as fun as an LT1 corvette. The corvette is still cooler though, and I haven't totally given up.

Don't give up so easily. The biggest thing working against you right now is the time of year. Prices going up as spring/summer approaches for the rest of the country. They fall back down in fall/winter. People wanting to sell their cars want to dump them before having to store them for another winter. Lower prices in fall/winter.

Never settle for instant gratification (a pony car). Take your time and be patient. The right vette will come a knockin', and it won't be dressed as a Z28... Your best bet may be finding a private seller and taking out a personal loan (if the bank lets ya). Check out trades such as Hemmings Motor News or Corvette Trader. You'll be kicking yourself later if you settle for a pony car.

Having driven vette owners around I speak from exp. they do have issues. You are correct, the Camarobird has the same tranny/engine...which begs the question, why then buy the vette (esp an older one)? It looks cool, but looks will cost lots more to own and the perf. is nearly identical. Sounds like a no-brainer. BTW I've seen Ferraris with 120k. Any car can last as long as the replacement parts keep going in. I've also seen used Testarossas priced well within vette prices, they do 12's and go 180....but replacing the wetliners (Nikasil sleeves) at 50k is expensive. Insurance would be, depending, almost the same as a vette. Go figure. Drive what you can afford. Some things are worth waiting for, like a new vette with a warranty. Pony cars kick all forms of butt. We'd all like to have a vette/porsche/viper/italian car under warranty but I for one can't justify it....yet. Heck, I drive a CSVT. What I drive in nice weather, well, that ain't a daily driver, which is my point. Camarobirds are decend daily drivers. A Lambo LM-002 is the ultimate ride....500hp12, seats 6, does 100mph w/4 flats on unpaved roads, 50cal machinegun mount in back. But seriously........

I'm the exception. I have no desire to own a Vette (total waste of space and poor packaging), any exotic (whether Porsche, Viper, Italian) due to being way overpriced for what you get. I'd like a Mustang convertible if I could afford to have a second car entirely for fun, but I'd never own one as my primary or sole car... too impractical.

If you really want a Vette, you can have it. My dream car is a car with no compromises. To me the SVT Contour is the closest to perfect car created yet, when rated as a total package.

You are a wierd one, svtcarboy.. Have you driven all of the cars you mentioned that don't interest you? Sure, some of them are a bit impractical, but they more than make up for it with styling, performance, and handling. If you're looking for an impractical car to begin with (that's what 2nd cars usually are, right?), then why compromise?

I'm now using my Boxster as my daily driver, and haven't really had to make any compromises.. Everything I need fits in one of the 2 trunks. I usually only have one other passenger with me, and if we've got more, we take someone else's car. Only thing I do differently is that I use a car cover, since I don't have a garage anymore. And I worry alot more when I park it somewhere

If I had a family, things would be different. But I still wouldn't call the SVT the perfect car, because I'd probably be driving a Volvo 850R.. :p