[pinski]

My dad owns a C5 and I considered the C6 briefly not too long ago. Here's my Corvette experience:

- Build quality of the C5 is pretty bad. The C6 is an improvement, but the interior of those is worse than a FRS/BRZ. Lots of cheap plastic, poor fitment, poor design.
- The C6 is absurdly quick even in base form. I was only interested in LS3 cars so I can't really speak to the LS2, but I would recommend a 2008+ car to get the newer and more powerful engine.
- As someone mentioned, consumables are very high. I wanted a Grand Sport, which comes with the widebody like the Z06, but in fiberglass instead of carbon fiber. However, it adds wider, sticky rubber and dry sump oiling. Consumables for that car are very high - a set of tires would be well over $1000, even for cheaper brands
- If you're looking at a base model, make sure to find one with the Z51 package - it's worth it.
- Try to also find one with the optional baffled exhaust - it sounds really good when it opens up, but is quiet when you just want to cruise around.
- The shifter in the C6 is not very good compared to our cars and the view out isn't as good either.
- If you get one with an optional glass top, by this point in its life it will usually have a lot of crazing and will look terrible up close. Same goes for the headlights.
- Check closely for any damage - if the car bumped anything, the fiberglass will flex and spiderweb the paint around it, and there's no easy fix (that I know of).

TL;DR - It's fast and fun, quality can be questionable, a few spots show age easily, and consumables are high. I'd hold out for a C7.