Something like this '95 base manual, 1 owner low miles car is what I have in mind:


https://www.corvetteforum.com/...d-6-speed-coupe.html

You’ve inquired as to what insurance will cost for the youngster to drive it as their primary vehicle?

I had C4 convertible. Sold it once my kids reached driving age. The gentleman I purchased it from did the same. As I recall it was $2500 year.

Your interest in a toned down version now makes perfect sense.

While I admire your options offered up, I'd expect the insurance is going to make your eyes bleed. Not even assuming collision, just liability and comprehensive. Especially in Austin. If he has the misfortune of even one minor incident I suspect it will skyrocket.

Maybe the safer long term option would give him better chances of driving it through all his HS years.

Best of luck in your search.

quote:

Originally posted by mjlennon:
You’ve inquired as to what insurance will cost for the youngster to drive it as their primary vehicle?

I had C4 convertible. Sold it once my kids reached driving age. The gentleman I purchased it from did the same. As I recall it was $2500 year.

Yes, one of the reason I am looking for a cash car so that I can carry liability only insurance on his own policy. I still expect insurance to run $200 plus per month.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:While I admire your options offered up, I'd expect the insurance is going to make your eyes bleed.

Possibly. The insurance on my 2011 Grand Sport is only about $800/year, BUT I'm a 53 year old guy with a clean driving record and no accidents. In other words, a pretty typical Corvette owner.

Insuring a teen is an entirely different deal.

quote:

Yes, one of the reason I am looking for a cash car so that I can carry liability only insurance on his own policy. I still expect insurance to run $200 plus per month.

In my recent experience, putting the car and policy in his own name is going to make it more expensive than having it on your family policy as an additional car and him as primary driver.

I get why you might want to do that to protect yourself financially in the event of a major crash. Which is a little incongruent with the overall plan and description of your son.

If he's young, I see no problem with the C4 ... I didn't have any problems in my 30's but in my current 60 year old body I would avoid it!

I bought my daughter a new Buick Encore for her 16th birthday ... only because she is a responsible kid, make good grades and has good friends ... all of whom like to hang at our house. My daughters name Abigail and we are known as momma-gail and poppa-gail ... but they always call her Abby ... go figure.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

Yes, one of the reason I am looking for a cash car so that I can carry liability only insurance on his own policy. I still expect insurance to run $200 plus per month.

In my recent experience, putting the car and policy in his own name is going to make it more expensive than having it on your family policy as an additional car and him as primary driver.

I get why you might want to do that to protect yourself financially in the event of a major crash. Which is a little incongruent with the overall plan and description of your son.

We have started to investigate both ways. If we add him to our policy he would count against the full coverage policy on the expensive vehicles already on the policy, even if he is not "primary driver" on those vehicles. We will definitely run the numbers both ways and shop with other companies before making a final decision on a car for him.

I had a C3 and C4 and hated the C4. Trouble shooting is no fun with them. Even being younger it is not easy to get out. It feels great once you are in it but getting out is a pain. Some models/years are lemons/rust buckets (frames get rusty and are costly to fix) and can be a cash cow. My C3 was easy to work on and parts are everywhere. Like others have said, join a Corvette forum. You and your son will learn about them more in depth and know what to look for when getting one and how to fix them. With the insurance, it can get pricey,especially with a sports car like the ones you named. good luck with your search.

Well he'll be the envy of the other kids at school, if it's in the affordable range go for it what kid wouldn't have wanted a nice Corvette.

Good thing, two seats, can't haul a bunch of friends around, the more kids in a car the higher the rate of accidents, so two is better

The early C4's don't have passenger air bags, so look to find the C4 with both air bags, better abs, you should be able to get a good price, the C4's are the low point in Corvette prices at this time, C3's are on the rise, C7's are already expensive.

The only thing about going with liability only is the cost to repair is high so fixing it could easily cost half as much as the original car if involved in an accident.

I am kind of zeroing in on the '95 model year. It has dual airbags, and the base engine available with the newer 6 speed manual. I would like a '96 but think to get a manual it comes with the 340hp LT4.

Having zeroed in on a 95 model base coupe I ran a couple of quotes online for liability only coverage on a 16 year old male with a newly issued license driving this car. Average came in just under $2,000 per year, about $166.00 per month. 50/100/25 coverage levels.


Eta:

2014 Dodge Challenger V6 with same coverages $1000 higher than the Vette per year.

2017 Honda Accord 4 door was $650 higher than the Vette per year.

These were all quoted with liability only, it defies logic.

Best bang for the buck my opinion is the Corvette C5. God Bless

I'm going to be contrarian here and say they your ideal car would be a 4th gen F-body (firebird/camaro) with a 3.8L v6.

All show, no go and that V6 is one of the most reliable motors ever made.

99-02 you could get the V6 with 4 wheel disc brakes, ABS, two stage airbags and traction control.

They would also be cgeaper than a same year Vette.

Unfortunately when we have to get to the 19th post to find out the real purpose for the car, it kind of makes parts of the previous responses not worth a lot. One of the biggest issues of the C-4 is that some older folks can't get in and out of them easily because of the high door sills. This shouldn't be a problem for the young bucks. Everything on a C-4 is getting pretty old so there will be more maintenance and some problem with parts availability. The C-4 is a much less powerful car and we now understand why this is important. By the way, the insurance on my C-6 is $350 a year and I wouldn't drive around the block on 50/100/25 these days if I owned anything else besides the car. The base engine C-6 has a 0-60 time of about 4.1 seconds with a top speed of about 178 miles per hour. Another issue on any year you may select is convertible or coupe. This affects the purchase price plus the cost to maintain and possibly insurance. Sincere good luck on your search!

quote:

Originally posted by Gene Hillman:
<SNIP>
Everything on a C-4 is getting pretty old so there will be more maintenance and some problem with parts availability. The C-4 is a much less powerful car and we now understand why this is important.
<SNIP>
Another issue on any year you may select is convertible or coupe. This affects the purchase price plus the cost to maintain and possibly insurance. Sincere good luck on your search!

Maintenance can be another problem, especially if you need parts for any of the electronics I've found a few online stores that carry just about anything you might need but they are spendy and if you do get into electrical issues finding someone that knows what they are doing is another problem.

I had a new 2002 C5 on a 3-year lease.

The good: solid and very reliable mechanically, very good brakes, decent (but not great for a sports car) steering as to precision and feedback, good/fairly stiff but not bone-crushing suspension resulting in good cornering and general handling, good power (350 HP/350 ft.-pounds of torque) with decent gas mileage. Transmission was an automatic that performed as designed - no complaints. Fit and finish were good but also not great. No squeaks developed. Adequate sound system (but who buys a high performance sports car for exceptional sound systems when the engine and transmission noises overwhelm the best of them?) Had a "heads up" dash display that was a really cool feature (and worked most of the time).

The bad: Seats were not particularly comfortable or supportive (a well-known Corvette problem). Absolutely terrible, horrible, unbelievably bad, hideous, and totally unacceptable electrical system and electronics. I had the car in for warranty service 14 times in 3 years for electrical system problems. Hidden headlights that wouldn't come up when needed and wouldn't go down when you didn't need them, electric windows that worked only sometimes, power seats that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't, digital dashboard that was sometimes problematic, and a gas gage that failed at least 4 times (maybe more, I don't recall exactly how many times). When the gas gage failed, it blocked out other needed info because the car thought you were out of gas (even if the tank was full or nearly so). As to electronics, their design or their procurement, or their quality assurance functions were all AWOL for this model!

When I turned the car in, the dealership asked me if I wanted another and I told them they couldn't give me another one.

I've since heard that on subsequent models (C6, C7) some of these issues (particularly seats) have been addressed. I don't know if the electrical gremlins are still a problem for Corvettes but I'd be very wary of even a newer model without a lot of research.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your selection.

I had dozens and dozens of C4 corvettes back in the mid to late 90's (and some C3's and C2's). I had a business that I bought wrecked ones, stolen recoveries, etc., rebuilt them and then wholesaled them. We completed about 1 a week. All types the collectors edition, grand sports, etc. I did one 2007 automatic convetible that was wrecked at all 4 corners at about 8 months old, then bought a used car lot instead. Spent a few days in a 2003 Z06 and 2007 Z06.

I'd highly recommend going for a C5. A hell of a lot easier to get in and out of, and the ass end didn't get out from under you nearly as easy as in the C4's. Both got 28-30 mpg on the highway. 95' and 96' were the best years of the C4's. The 2001 the worst with the 250 HP motor. I also would highly recommend an automatic they were almost as fast or as fast on the street (didn't spin the tires off the line), didn't have the annoying 1st to 4th skip shift, and really clunky feeling shift linkage. Each model type has gotten better and better with more daily driveability. I used to keep 1 or 2 finished ones at a time and drive them a few weeks and then wholesale them off.