Objectively, the affordable end of the new car market has never offered better products. From amenities that only came on loaded cars 20 years ago to huge steps in refinement, today’s crop of subcompact crossovers and compact cars is exactly what most people need. However, if you clicked on this article, you probably aren’t like most people. What if you’re a bright-sider, a thrill-seeker, a hell-raiser, someone who’s never cared much for dress codes and wants to have a bit of fun without draining your entire bank account? Something like a gently used Honda Civic Si is a good start, but if you’ve ever wanted to plunge off the deep end, you’ll want maximum bang for your buck. Perhaps you need a C5 Chevrolet Corvette Z06, a world-class sports car with a slug of American muscle.
We’re talking about the hot Corvette of the new millennium, an apex predator from Kentucky with a red beam on Stuttgart and the vengeance to bruise Modena. It’s a sports car that once sat near the top of the food chain, and it’s more affordable than you might thing. In fact, you can still buy a C5 Corvette Z06 for less than the price of a brand new base-model Chevrolet Trax. So, should you?
What Are We Looking At?
To create the C5 Z06, Corvette engineers started with the lightest, stiffest body style available, the fixed-roof coupe. From there, they took the venerable 5.7-liter LS1 V8, gave it a stronger block, raised the compression ratio to 10.5:1, slapped in a rowdier camshaft, installed stiffer valve springs to match, added sodium-filled exhaust valves, and bolted on a new intake manifold and throttle body to create the LS6. This high-output V8 would exhale through titanium mufflers to offer 385 horsepower in 2001, and 405 horsepower from 2002 to 2004. Oh, and it only came with one transmission choice, a stout six-speed manual transaxle with shorter ratios than a regular Corvette’s manual transaxle in every gear but fourth.
Of course, power is nothing without control, so the Z06 also got stiffer suspension than a standard Corvette, a new wheel and tire package featuring 295-section rear meats, and brake cooling ducts. Add in lighter glass, remove some sound insulation, and the result was an instant legend, a 21st century Corvette that could seriously throw down right off the showroom floor. When Car And Driver put one through instrumented testing, it ran from zero-to-60 mph in 4.3 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 12.7 seconds at 113 mph. That’s quick even today, and straight-line speed isn’t even the Z06’s best party piece. As per the magazine:
The Z06 shuts down all this speed just as ferociously as it creates it, thanks to its wide and sticky tires. Our car stopped from 70 mph in 152 feet—one of the shortest stopping distances we’ve ever recorded. Most C5s and ZR-1s have required another car length or so to stop from that speed.
The Z06 demonstrates similar superiority in cornering grip: 0.98 g with excellent balance and no twitchiness at the limit. That figure is also one of the best we’ve ever seen for a production car, ranking about 0.10 g beyond recent Corvettes, as well as edging out the Viper GTS and the Ferrari 360 Modena.
These individual performance strengths coordinated beautifully during a few laps at Mid-Ohio racetrack, where the Z06 felt very much like the Corvette showroom-stock endurance cars that several of us raced in the mid-’80s. A smooth touch on the controls was rewarded with beautiful balance and great stability. And when you do finally exceed the car’s limits, the tires seem to smoothly smear across the pavement rather than suddenly break away, providing ample opportunity to retain control.
This was America’s answer to a then-growing trend of hardcore sports cars, yet it was still a car you could use every single day of the week. Perhaps best of all, while Porsche 911 GT3s and Ferrari 360 Modenas are pricey, most of these Z06s lived relatively pampered lives and are now going for seriously reasonable coin.
How Much Are We Talking?
For context, a brand new base-model Trax LS stickers for $21,495 including freight, and it’s a phenomenal car for the money. However, if you look around and are willing to travel, you can absolutely buy a C5 Corvette Z06 for less. Let’s kick things off with this 2004 Corvette Z06 in Millennium Yellow. The final year in the fastest color, because the C5-R race cars were also yellow. This one recently hammered on Cars & Bids for $17,887, and you know what? Score. Sure, it has 105,300 miles on the clock, but it has a clean Carfax and some tasteful mods. The aftermarket Billy Boat exhaust sounds rowdy yet refined, the skip-shift eliminator gets rid of an annoyance, and the addition of an aftermarket Alpine head unit means you’ll actually be able to play tunes from your phone in this thing. Well-bought.
Alright, maybe you’re more of a Prince fan. Little red Corvette with a red interior? Absolutely. This 2002 Corvette Z06 recently sold on Cars & Bids for $16,750, and that sounds like a steal. Is it perfect? No. The tires are from 2009 and really should be replaced, there’s a hit on the Carfax from 2009, and 110,800 miles on the clock isn’t exactly low. However, it’s also had the same owner since new, the interior’s in properly good shape, and it’s bone-stock, a blank canvas ready for your own little alterations.
Looking at buying without the unique gamble of an auction? No worries, you can still find several driver-spec C5 Z06s for around $20,000. Take this Millennium Yellow example for, um, example. It’s up for sale in Texas for $19,995, and although it has 103,121 miles on the clock and a minor to moderate hit on the Carfax, it’s still a seriously quick Corvette in an awesome color with pop-up headlights, all for economy car money.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Unlike the majority of heavily depreciated sports cars, these C5 Corvette Z06s are actually relatively reliable. The two biggest potential sources of headaches lie in leaky batteries and bad grounds near the headlights. For the former, if there’s no evidence of previous battery leakage, the switch to a gel-type battery will prevent issues in the future. For the latter, cleaning the grounds should sort this issue. In addition, these cars are known to run a bit hot, particularly if road debris like shopping bags obstructs the radiator. Regular cleaning of the radiator helps, as does ensuring the thermofans are in good working order.
Moving to the interior, all C5 Corvettes can suffer from excessively sensitive electronically-actuated steering locks that may temporarily immobilize the vehicle against the owner’s wishes. While GM offered a recall fix back in the day, owners seem to prefer locking out the mechanism entirely, something that can be done quite cheaply. The other annoying issue relates to the seats. Not only do they offer mediocre support, the leather’s fragile and rather prone to wear. Otherwise, the biggest issues you can expect from a C5 Corvette Z06 are really just squeaks and rattles.
Should You Buy A C5 Corvette Z06 For The Price Of A Chevy Trax
If you’re up for a bit of an adventure, absolutely. The C5 Corvette Z06 isn’t just a great performer, it’s a great car to own. Real-world highway fuel economy is shockingly acceptable, most parts are plentiful, and you’re getting a genuine trackday warrior with pretty solid reliability for truly sensible money. You probably won’t lose the shirt off your back, and you’ll probably have a blast. How fun does that sound?
(Photo credits: Cars & Bids, Autotrader seller)
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Ha I was looking at these yesterday! I seriously consider one when car shopping last year but ultimately went with a BRZ, cheaper to keep in tires and brakes and needed the extra seats.
Even the non-Z06 coupe is a riot, and the roof is removable. Plus you get a telescoping steering wheel, which is one of those things I consider mandatory in my vehicles going forward.
The leaky battery problem isn’t going to be an issue in anything you can still buy today. It was a bad batch of batteries GM put in at the factory, and on the unlikely chance that it still has an OE battery, if it hasn’t leaked by now it won’t.
The interior materials are terrible and the seats do suck, although the seats are also some of the most comfortable I’ve ever sat in (when they’re not rocking back and forth on worn out bushings). When I had it in for tires a while back the guy who pulled it into the bay actually commented on how comfortable the seats were, so it’s not just me who thinks that.
Where’s our obligatory “You shouldn’t do these posts” comment? The no fun police must have gone out for donuts or something.
If you need to seat 4, I’ve got the CTS-V with the same engine and Billy Boat exhaust. It’s a damn riot but won’t get the same gas mileage. . .
I haven’t seen Z06’s that cheap locally, but have seen many low mileage standard C5’s in the mid teens. Most were just summer drivers and garage queens, make a great daily driver. I’ve heard of people getting up to 33 mpg on the highway with these.
You should. They are solid reliable cars and are at the bottom of the price curve right now. You won’t lose money.
This is one of the cars on my “one day” list. I’ve driven a bunch of C5s and other Vettes too, but the C5 is my happy spot for a Corvette, and the Z06 is the one I’d get.
It will get comparable fuel economy to and probably last a lot longer than a new Chevy Trax, as well as retain or increase its value, unlike a new Chevy Trax.
IMO, a well sorted C5 is a superior daily, as long as you don’t need to seat more than 2 adults.
IIRC the c5 Z06 had oil starvation issues on the track. I think it was on longer left corners.
But seriously affordable fun.
Not just the Z06, but if you want an out of the box reliable capable track car the c5 Corvette is an incredible deal. Great performance, enough power that you won’t get bored of it quickly, the engines are relatively unstressed and reliable stock, and there’s a shit ton of aftermarket for whatever you want to do with it.
OMG I want one of these so bad it hurts. But, what could possibly go wrong…?
Divorce.
The problems with the Z06 are that:
1: They are annoyingly compromised in practicality vs a regular C5 and you can easily make a regular C5 match one for the same price (And I’d much rather go that route personally) since the later base ones basically just have a different cam and softer springs differentiating them.
2: The Z06 suffers a lot of “I know what I got” on the used market considering it was a regular production option that GM happily sold as many as people wanted (thousands every year).
3: Silverado interior.
4: The seats are trash. Absolutely atrocious. I had come up with a solution to fix this when I was in the market for a C5 a few months ago, but then I bought something else entirely instead.
Confirming that the C5 seats suck.
The interior is typical crap 90’s GM junk.
C5’s are a great buy and are loads of fun, if you can stand looking at the horrible interior. I couldn’t, so I bought a C6.
IMHO, skip the z06 and get a ‘regular’ 01-04 C5. I would avoid anything pre 01 as some parts are unobtainum.
Or, get a C6. Seats still suck, but are better than the C5 and the C6 interior is not fantastic, but worlds better than the C5.
Yes, the C5 interior makes me pause and just want to wait for the C6s to depreciate a bit more. Flip up headlights are fun though.