Why so few manual C5s?

[Benbay001]

Hi.
Im giving some serious consideration to buying a c5 next year.
Id ultimately much prefer a manual, but there are very few around. Alot less than there are autos.
I was wondering why? Its clearly a car bought by petrolheads and the manual was cheaper when new.

Also, how much more does a manual car go for, compared to an auto? Atm i can only find one manual c5 for sale in the UK and thats for sale on PH and it seems quite cheap.

Also, how viable is importing one from the EU?

Cheers
Ben

[anonymous-user]

The bottom line is that for many decades two thirds of all Corvettes built and sold have been automatics, both in USA and in Europe. So the same 2:1 proportion applies in the used market.

An auto transmission matches very well with Vette's big, torquey V8. The reality of driving a C5 auto is that if you want to press-on you can simply lock the car in third and drive in that one gear. It easily covers a speed range of 20 mph to 100 mph. (If I recall correctly the overall gearing of a C5 auto in 3rd gear is about the same as a manual in 4th)

I'm not aware of any underlying price difference between auto and manual. However, all Vettes are rare in UK so limiting a search to "manual only" will inevitably make a car harder to find, which may encourage buyers to pay a bit more.

Good luck!