I had a 2006 C6 Z06 before the BRZ. Personally I wouldn't buy a narrow body C6 or C7 they just look too neutered and old manish, but at that budget you're kind of stuck with one. I think it depends on what you're looking for. If you've always had Japanese cars I think you'll be disappointed in the quality overall. Both of the GM cars I've had have had some seriously questionable engineering decisions. If you go for a C6 go for the latest car you can. They made improvements all along the way. My thoughts;
Good
>great gas mileage if you can keep you foot out of it. Almost identical to the BRZ
>good trunk space
>loved the bi mode exhaust. I wish mine had the latter slightly louder open setting. All cars should have these
>Love the looks of the wide body C6
>Their is a ton of aftermarket if you've got money to burn
>The LS7 power is awesome.
Bad
>tire cost is high and the run flat tire noise is deafening. On the Z06 its $1500-2000 for maybe 10-12k miles. Also ride quality isn't that great. You sit pretty much on the rear axle so ever vertical chop in the road you feel it.
>Was never happy about having the roof come unglued (Z06 specific). They recalled this thankfully, but I was never happy about having a repainted roof on a 12k mile car. I mean how many cars have the roof come off?
>I didn't have this problem on my car, but the C6 seems to suffer from fuel leaks on cracked plastic tube on the fuel pump mount. Unfortunately you have to pull the rear suspension to remove the fuel tank to get to this.
>I don't think the non Z06 cars suffer from this, but you can't close the hatch fully with both doors closed unless you slam the hatch with all your strength. Thankfully the car is short so you can close the hatch normally and then the door from the same spot
>If you think the BRZ stereo sucks wait till you use the C6 one LOL. Plus see tire noise you can't hardly hear it.
>Clutch pedal is prone to sticking down. Repeatedly changing the clutch fluid seems to help
>LS7 specific, but the valvetrain issues scared the shit out of me. I don't think the valvetrain should wear out in cars with less than 50k miles. Mine always had a really noisy top end which didn't help. Mine didn't burn oil which was pretty rare I believe. I didn't feel really comfortable putting bronze guide in mine especially after the ones in my 2JZ failed so soon. It was like $20k in damage if the engine let go. This was partly my reason for selling.
>I thought the handling was spooky. If you did the same thing 10 times one of those times you'd spin it. It didn't help the traction control was so spotty. I'm pretty sure you could do a burn out with the traction control on. The later ones around '09 have the PTM system which is supposed to be worlds better. I always felt like the car was going to kill me at some point. Reason #2 for selling. My Supra the limits are lower, but I feel like I can drive that car at 100% all day.
>If you care about this. Going to Corvette meets is like hanging out with your grandparents
I only went to a couple, but I felt seriously out of place...
>Seats are kind of sucky and the leather doesn't hold up. They made some changes to the 2013 model that you can back retrofit or if you want to can throw ~4k at Carvaggio for a set of Daytonas which are bitchin looking.
>Center console area gets seriously hot during extended drive. Like don't put any candy in their unless you want it to melt.
>Didn't like the power door handles on the C6 and now C7.
I may not sound like it, but I would consider one again in the future. I would go for a much later one to try and get the mag suspension and features they added later on or go for the ZR1 instead. I don't like what they did with the C7 Z06 personally. I think in that price range I'd go for the C5 Z06. Those are seriously great cars for the money if you don't mind a C5.