Thinking About a new Daily Driver

[Daniel644]

So i've had my Trailblazer for a little over 4 years now and my Firebird (99 v6) for like 7 years, the Firebird is past its prime and time to sell it off as a parts car as I can never recoup the repair costs, so i've been thinking about getting my "mid-life crisis car" a few years early, LOL. But seriously the numbers are shocking to look at, with the same exact coverage and same deductable as the V6 Firebird I can insure a C5 VETTE for $7 more every 6 months (thats a $1.17 a month more). The C5 vette (provided your foot isn't to heavy) gets better fuel mileage then the Trailblazer and better then I was getting from the Firebird (which was barely edging out the Trailblazer in the mid to high teens per gallon) and I'm self employed so pending a discussion with my tax lady i'm thinking it should also allow for a decently sized tax write-off that might actually make for a larger deduction then the standard deduction was raised to, if i'm understanding the Section 179 Deduction (and it applies to me or makes sense over the Mileage deduction) and I can also deduct my Mortgage interest on top of that, Either way this is months away at best, i've gotten through tax season and know just how much money I have in the bank now and working on saving up the rest to get a decent mileage (I could walk out and buy one of those 10k dollar ones with 100k+ miles right now, but I want lower mileage) one.

what are your thoughts on Daily Driving a C5 Vette? Have any of you done it? I really like the idea of something in the 30-50k mile range, not these 200k+ cars I have now, the other option is maybe leasing a New Civic or buying the first year model of the current gen, this would be similar purchase price (if buying a 2-3 year old model civic and would be slightly higher 6 month insurance, like $29 more every 6 months then the Vette), If I lease the Civic the insurance goes much more expensive due to the added coverage needed. I've driven the Civic as my Brothers Wife has one and let me drive it for a few minutes the week she got it, I just like rear wheel drive more, I think they are funner to drive, the C5 is my top pick (and i'll find one in the same color as the Trailblazer, the same way my Trailblazer is the same color as my Firebird) and a Civic EX-T is my backup, the Civic would be better mileage but I only drive 30 miles a day on average (baring the rare trips to the Northside of Atlanta, of which there might be 3-5 a year) so ultimately the Civic would only save a few hundred dollars a year in fuel costs and I just think the Vette would be fun.

 

[Matt]

I'm in the same boat at the moment but about a year behind in terms of when. I'm thinking of a C6 as a fun summer car and leaving the TB for winter duties...or ditching the TB and buying a 2 or 3 year old Subaru Outback. You can certainly daily a Vette and I wouldn't hesitate to do it, plus they actually get pretty good mileage on the freeway.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

I would do a C5 as a daily in a heartbeat. I kinda looked, but I really wanted at least the semblance of a rear seat for the kids to enjoy the car a bit. I got an 01 Trans Am for my DD a couple years ago w 71K on it and am at almost 132K now. Its about 25 mpg and is enjoyable to drive. I had a 98 v6 Camaro and it was worse on fuel economy. I had a few LT1 cars and will say I do like the LS1 better and the 01's have the LS6 intake. Insurance is really not bad at all as you saw.

I actually was out to buy a brand new econobox Spark or Dart or some shitbox lil thing when i found my car. So glad I went this route and enjoy my car and commute a bit more.

 

[Daniel644]

I'm in the same boat at the moment but about a year behind in terms of when. I'm thinking of a C6 as a fun summer car and leaving the TB for winter duties...or ditching the TB and buying a 2 or 3 year old Subaru Outback. You can certainly daily a Vette and I wouldn't hesitate to do it, plus they actually get pretty good mileage on the freeway.

My commute is more 55 MPH "country highways" (2-lane roads) followed by a few miles through town to head out a 40-45 MPH road the other side of town. we only get maybe a couple days of snow a year if we even see snow and the 4 wheel drive is jacked up on the TB so I just stay off the roads on those days.

I would do a C5 as a daily in a heartbeat. I kinda looked, but I really wanted at least the semblance of a rear seat for the kids to enjoy the car a bit. I got an 01 Trans Am for my DD a couple years ago w 71K on it and am at almost 132K now. Its about 25 mpg and is enjoyable to drive. I had a 98 v6 Camaro and it was worse on fuel economy. I had a few LT1 cars and will say I do like the LS1 better and the 01's have the LS6 intake. Insurance is really not bad at all as you saw.

I actually was out to buy a brand new econobox Spark or Dart or some shitbox lil thing when i found my car. So glad I went this route and enjoy my car and commute a bit more.

No Kids here and if I ever do need more then 2 seats thats where the TB would come into play. Is that the Superhawk Hood or the Firehawk hood?

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

It is the Smoothie Q from VFN. I drive it year round w snow tires. Only three days this winter I took the TB for the commute.

 

[Daniel644]

I found one less then an hour from me, it has everything i'm looking for, but i'm hesitant to jump on it because after running the car fax i've seen it's failed emmisions testing 2 times (once under the current owner) and has been in 2 wrecks (once under the current owner) here is the CL listing you can see the rear hatch isn't sitting perfectly flush with the rear top body line https://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/cto/d/canton-2002-chevrolet-corvette-base/6877711576.html car fax shows Moderate damage to the rear in the first wreck (before current owner) and Light damage to the front in the second wreck but it's a fully optioned 1SC with both roofs, the cargo area cover, 3.15 rear dif, heads up display and everything and one of the very few Pewter Metallic cars that isn't a solid BLACK interior. I have no experience with emissions testing so I don't know how easy it is to fail them, but it concerns me that it's failed 3 times. Making me consider different colors to get the features I want.

 

[Sparky]

I'd never pay that much for a twice wrecked 17 year old car.

 

[TollKeeper]

2000 Model LT Targa in your color with 30k miles... (Ohio)
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5338077216&icep_item=233209812190

2000 Model LT Vert in your color with 55k miles... (Texas)
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5338077216&icep_item=143237979466

Both of them are reasonably priced. But if you dont mind a suggestion... I would look for a 2005 or newer. I like the electronic systems better, and smoother button layout.

 

[Daniel644]

I'd never pay that much for a twice wrecked 17 year old car.

yeah, knowing the vehicle history I think it's overpriced and if I go with that one it will be if he will move on the price, i'd prefer to find one thats not been wrecked if I can.

2000 Model LT Targa in your color with 30k miles... (Ohio)
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5338077216&icep_item=233209812190

2000 Model LT Vert in your color with 55k miles... (Texas)
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5338077216&icep_item=143237979466

Both of them are reasonably priced. But if you dont mind a suggestion... I would look for a 2005 or newer. I like the electronic systems better, and smoother button layout.

I actually saw the first one when I ventured onto Ebay last night, it's about 2 grand over budget, requires a flight to go see it and a full days drive across multiple states to get home or buying it site unseen and having it shipped and i'm not dropping that kind of cash without seeing the car in person so I have set a hard limit of 300 miles radius form me for my search area.

for your second one, Verts are a big fat NO, I don't want a vert.


I'm not opposed to the idea of a C6 but I get super picky about color with the C6 and any decent C6 is 5 grand over budget

 

[Daniel644]

I have to ask are people just all retarded these days?

Do you see something wrong with this listing? The sad thing is this isn't even the only one like this, i've seen like half a dozen.

Also man some people really don't know how to take pictures, one listing had 3 photos taken without taking a step and NO INTERIOR PICS AT ALL and only 1 person out of all the hundreds of listings has had the foresight to take a shot of the RPO sticker in the glove box, which as we GM guys know is practically as good as the build sheet hidden in the frame rail for telling us what the car came with.


edit to add this listing is my current top choice if I can get the money together fast enough (and it hasn't already sold) https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/388510205225390/?surface=product_details

it's got both roofs, right color, stupid low mileage, not my ideal interior but i'll deal for that mileage.

 

[Daniel644]

New plan, Sell Firebird, Buy my Sister in laws (my brothers wife) 2016 Civic so they can get out of the car payment (she bought the car NEW so I have the entire vehicle history and know how it's been driven) and save up till I have enough to make a large enough down payment to qualify on a C7 with a reasonable monthly payment, I made the mistake at looking at pictures of them and the interior is just SO MUCH NICER then these older vettes and this also frees up some of the money I had set aside for the vette to expand the driveway to be able to actually hold more then the 2 cars it's limited to right now.

trying to find our copy of the plat (if not will go to the court house and get a print) so I can see how the property lines run to determine what are my driveway expansion options, at a bare minimum I know I can get 1 more spot but i'm hoping the angle of the one property line gives me more road frontage so I can do a loop drive.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Have you looked at your county GIS to see what it shows from property lines?

 

[Matt]

Also look at renting a metal detector and locating the corner pins yourself.

 

[Daniel644]

Have you looked at your county GIS to see what it shows from property lines?

Anything thats not behind a paywall (that is more expensive then getting a copy of the plat at the courthouse) is the rough map on the tax assessor website and that thing is so inaccurate the satellite view is a good 20 feet off from the property lines (see attached picture) and from several experiences I've had in my field of work where we started with what info we could gleam from that map then later had an actual survey done I've seen roughly 1,000 long property lines be off by 100 ft. and angles of the property lines off by 10-20* so I don't trust that sites maps.

 

[littleblazer]

New plan, Sell Firebird, Buy my Sister in laws (my brothers wife) 2016 Civic so they can get out of the car payment (she bought the car NEW so I have the entire vehicle history and know how it's been driven) and save up till I have enough to make a large enough down payment to qualify on a C7 with a reasonable monthly payment, I made the mistake at looking at pictures of them and the interior is just SO MUCH NICER then these older vettes and this also frees up some of the money I had set aside for the vette to expand the driveway to be able to actually hold more then the 2 cars it's limited to right now.

trying to find our copy of the plat (if not will go to the court house and get a print) so I can see how the property lines run to determine what are my driveway expansion options, at a bare minimum I know I can get 1 more spot but i'm hoping the angle of the one property line gives me more road frontage so I can do a loop drive.

You're gonna want to look at a 3LT interior. The 1 and 2 while they look nicer aren't all the comfortable for the coin you pop down imo. Worth checking out.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Also look at renting a metal detector and locating the corner pins yourself.

In my experience those are few and far between these days. Over the years they seem to disappear or were never even put in.

Anything thats not behind a paywall (that is more expensive then getting a copy of the plat at the courthouse) is the rough map on the tax assessor website and that thing is so inaccurate the satellite view is a good 20 feet off from the property lines (see attached picture) and from several experiences I've had in my field of work where we started with what info we could gleam from that map then later had an actual survey done I've seen roughly 1,000 long property lines be off by 100 ft. and angles of the property lines off by 10-20* so I don't trust that sites maps.

Plats are typically free here, by some courthouses will send them and others make you come get em. For years and years we got the plat books quarterly and I still have them for many surrounding counties. We have some counties with good reliable GIS and some that are a joke. But we also still have meets n bounds deeds around here which are based on stuff that have moved or does not exist all these years later. I do appraisal and right-of-way work for a living and get to see all kinds of stuff all over the state.

 

[Daniel644]

In my experience those are few and far between these days. Over the years they seem to disappear or were never even put in.



Plats are typically free here, by some courthouses will send them and others make you come get em. For years and years we got the plat books quarterly and I still have them for many surrounding counties. We have some counties with good reliable GIS and some that are a joke. But we also still have meets n bounds deeds around here which are based on stuff that have moved or does not exist all these years later. I do appraisal and right-of-way work for a living and get to see all kinds of stuff all over the state.

I ran into my Tax lady (old family friend that does taxes for a living) Tuesday night and she said you can get a plat at the court house for like a quarter.

honestly I would be surprised if there are any pins anywhere on the street, this is one of those pop up subdivisions that was built during the housing boom of the early/mid 2000's and they did all underground utilities and everything, if anything they probably have a single reference pin somewhere then a bearing and distance to one corner of the lot from there then you go bearing and distance to the other corners using the appropriate hardware with a surveyor if you ever need something staked out, i've seen this with a few other houses we've done design work for.

My fear is the Boxes where the power and cable connect at the street are the corner (which is what that screenshot would seam to indicate as those boxes do tend to be about where the property lines on the other lots would likely line up) if this is the case i'll be pretty limited on Driveway expansion and would basically be turning my front yard into a concrete parking area, so i'd need to spend some time on design to make it look better.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

The utilities are usually pretty close cause they tend to be put in when the original survey markers can be found

 

[Daniel644]

well folks, it's official, had to get my brother to cosign because the credit union doesn't like people that are self employed (they wanted me to have like 51% of my income be "disposable income" based on some calculation they do) but it's mine now, just waiting on the paperwork to go through so I can get the tag. killer deal though 36 month finance of 10k (paid the rest upfront) at an interest rate of 2.74%. Here are some pictures, it's definitely faster off the line then the Trailblazer and even climbs hills better all while getting like DOUBLE (or more if the dash average economy is even remotely close to accurate, will have exact numbers in a few weeks) the fuel mileage. Oh yeah one of the best parts, Honda extended the Power Train warranty on these out to 6 years and unlimited mileage, so this thing is under warranty for another 2 years and 11 months. It's pretty decked out, you got the Infotainment system that supports both Android Auto and Apple Car Play, Its got Remote Start, Remote Window Roll Down, the whole Smart Key/Push Button Ignition, even that thing where if you have the key on you you grab the door handle and the car unlocks, it also has another setting that I turned on last night where once you get the remote far enough away (they say 6 feet, but i'd say 10-20) from the car the alarm arms and locks the doors automatically, in day to day driving the only time I even touch my keys to to take them off my belt loop and put them in the center console or the reverse of that when I get out of the car. It's like having a car thats always unlocked for YOU and no one else, so you can still safely secure the car.

 

[Maverick6587]

I would call honda and double-check the warranty extension. I had an issue with a 10-year car warranty. I was the second owner and because of that, they cut the warranty in half.

Since you have two vehicles now, you could look at a higher-end Vette that has been in a collision. This site also lets you know if the engine runs and if the vehicle moves. Some of them are in unbelievably good condition.

As MRRSM mentioned in a previous post about these cars. Be careful as some of these cars could have had fatalities in them and that's why they are being sold so cheaply.

Salvage Chevrolet Corvettes for Sale

Salvage Chevrolet Corvettes for Sale

erepairables.com

 

[Daniel644]

I would call honda and double-check the warranty extension. I had an issue with a 10-year car warranty. I was the second owner and because of that, they cut the warranty in half.

Since you have two vehicles now, you could look at a higher-end Vette that has been in a collision. This site also lets you know if the engine runs and if the vehicle moves. Some of them are in unbelievably good condition.

As MRRSM mentioned in a previous post about these cars. Be careful as some of these cars could have had fatalities in them and that's why they are being sold so cheaply.

Salvage Chevrolet Corvettes for Sale

Salvage Chevrolet Corvettes for Sale

erepairables.com

no interest in wrecked cars, between the C8 launch and the fact it will be 3-4 years before I start looking again I'm sure the prices on the C7's will come down by then.

as for Warranties, Honda's warranty is from the date the vehicle was put into service either as a Demo car or being sold by the dealer to a person, thats the way it's worded in the manual, there is no reference to a reduced warranty for the second owner.