Finally bought one!!! Hi everyone!!!

[javi1892]

Hi everyone!

I am a TVR refugee. I had a Cerb 4.5 and have sold it to buy a 2001 C5 Auto in Dark Blue. I was really fed up with TVR costs and lack of reliability (lack service cost me £2000) and wanted a car for everyday use, reliable and fast. A Corvette ticked all the boxes, so bought one and collected it yesterday.

First impressions:

- Very comfortable drive. A bit noisy at high speeds (tyre noise, will think about alternative tyres for the future), but much less noisy than the Cerb (was running with sports exhausts and de-cat).
- Love the autobox and HUD. Cant have enough of them...
- Pretty fast. Not as fast as the Cerb but more than enough. More civilised.
- Everything works (what a surprise!!). This is more than I could ever say about the Cerb.
- Very impressed with fuel economy in the motorway.

All in all, I am very happy with the change (and my wife loves it).

Now, looking forward to plan a trip around Europe...

[888USA]

You will love and no trouble like the TVR!
Remember to join the Corvette club CCCUK what area are you in?

[yellowshark454]

Welcome to the club! I have a 2001 also; done 78k in it now really without any problems. I have fitted Michelin SP2s non runflats (on my 2nd set) and it does reduce the noise at lower speeds but I have to say I cannot detect any difference much above 55mph. If you have the OEM Goodyear runflats you will find replacing them will improved the handling noticeably. But the Vette engineers went light on noice baffling to reduce weight and I think if you do find it a bit too noisy for you you wil need to address that with some work in the rear and over the rear wheel arches, maybe the central tunnel too. For me the road noise is predominantly from the rear

[javi1892]

888USA said:

You will love and no trouble like the TVR!
Remember to join the Corvette club CCCUK what area are you in?

I will join the CCCUK.

I'm from Bristol.

[javi1892]

yellowshark454 said:

Welcome to the club! I have a 2001 also; done 78k in it now really without any problems. I have fitted Michelin SP2s non runflats (on my 2nd set) and it does reduce the noise at lower speeds but I have to say I cannot detect any difference much above 55mph. If you have the OEM Goodyear runflats you will find replacing them will improved the handling noticeably. But the Vette engineers went light on noice baffling to reduce weight and I think if you do find it a bit too noisy for you you wil need to address that with some work in the rear and over the rear wheel arches, maybe the central tunnel too. For me the road noise is predominantly from the rear

Hi yellowshark!

As I said, the TVR was much noisier, so the noise is not really a big issue. And yes, in my case most of the noise comes from the rear tyres. I will investigate the best option to reduce the noise but will only do something about it if its a relative simple solution.

[anonymous-user]

Welcome! You're gonna love that C5. You can buy self-adhesive sound deadening material to suppress that tyre noise but I've never felt the need. Ditch the runflats asap.

Christmas is coming so you WILL need,

C5 maintenance guide about £7 on Amazon (don't be mislead by the title; it covers all the basics) www.amazon.co.uk/Corvette-Performance-Projects-Motorbooks-Workshop/dp/0760320810/sr=1-1/qid=1161527055/ref=sr_1_1/026-9257230-8936403?ie=UTF8&s=books

Ecklers free catalogue www.ecklers.com/dept.asp?dept%5Fid=3011&level=9

Mid-America free catalogue www.madvet.com/-/shop?store=2

[javi1892]

5 USA said:

Welcome! You're gonna love that C5. You can buy self-adhesive sound deadening material to suppress that tyre noise but I've never felt the need. Ditch the runflats asap.

Christmas is coming so you WILL need,

C5 maintenance guide about £7 on Amazon (don't be mislead by the title; it covers all the basics) www.amazon.co.uk/Corvette-Performance-Projects-Motorbooks-Workshop/dp/0760320810/sr=1-1/qid=1161527055/ref=sr_1_1/026-9257230-8936403?ie=UTF8&s=books

Ecklers free catalogue www.ecklers.com/dept.asp?dept%5Fid=3011&level=9

Mid-America free catalogue www.madvet.com/-/shop?store=2

Thanks, I'll get hold of those essentials ASAP.

[ERIKTHEVETKING]

Hi Javi,

Welcome to the Vette Gang and enjoy that new speed wagon of yours....

Eric

[v8d]

Welcome!
Drive it, enjoy it - love it !!
You'll find lots of friendly and helpful people here, and in the CCCUK.
V8D (C5 + C3)

[javi1892]

ERIKTHEVETKING said:

Hi Javi,

Welcome to the Vette Gang and enjoy that new speed wagon of yours....

Eric

Thanks Erik, I will try to enjoy it as much as possible...

v8d said:

Welcome!
Drive it, enjoy it - love it !!
You'll find lots of friendly and helpful people here, and in the CCCUK.
V8D (C5 + C3)

Thanks V8D. You have some pretty nice cars there...

[franv8]

Welcome to Vette Ownership!

In the words of Easyjet's Stelios - 'You won't be disappointed'

[eldudereno]

Congratulations on your purchase.

What's it like driving a lefty then?

Must admit I've been a big admirer for many years but have always been put off by the old excuse of driving a left hand drive car (sorry) which because of one or two other rash purchases has stopped me from buying one. Have only ever previously seen one C5 in the flesh in a garage but on a recent work trip to Berlin there was a lovely Silver C5 convertible which has I must say looked amazing.

[TheMule]

Congrats on the new beast. I am busy hunting too but only have a 15k budget

Let us know some more details, cost, mileage and such. And get some photos up sometime.

Enjoy

[LuS1fer]

We're having a South Wales Pistonheads run on 26th November (see S.Wales section). Some people from Bristol coming across to join us. Why not bring yours. My mate should be there with his C5 Z06 again.

[javi1892]

Thank everyone for your welcome!!

eldudereno, for me there is no problem to have the steering wheel on the left because I have always driven cars like that (I'm not british). However, when I bought the TVR I had to get used to drive with the steering wheel on the right and had no problems with it. You only need to take it easy at the beginning to get used to the new position on the road...

LuS1fer, I won't be able to make it the 26th as I am in Ireland that weekend but will love to go to any other meetings you organise...

[LuS1fer]

eldudereno said:

What's it like driving a lefty then?

When I was younger, people used to tell me how you could buy a much cheaper car by buying LHD and I never went for it because I feared LHD and because insurers don't really like them. When I bought my first Corvette, LHD was "proper" and there were no RHD cars so there was no inordinate depreciation to worry about compared to a RHD car. Once in a LHD car, it became second nature and I now prefer LHD. It's different, you get out on the kerb, you can place the car within a mm of the bend apex and you get better scenery.

Plus suddenly LHD meant cheaper insurance (a 5.7 Corvette for less than an Astra GTE), low depreciation (£500 in 3 years) and drop dead looks. I kept looking for the downside and never found one which is why, 13 years later, I still drive American muscle.

[ringram]

My only complaint is car parks!
Nothing one of those long arm clamp things wouldn't fix though.
I went Chev V8 RWD in a Holden however..

[vetteheadracer]

Congrats on getting the vette, you are close to Harry's mob he meet south of Bristol and also close to Niel P's lot that worry in Wales.

Lucy Fur? wot about this South Wales meeting? Where are the details?

[LuS1fer]

vetteheadracer said:

Congrats on getting the vette, you are close to Harry's mob he meet south of Bristol and also close to Niel P's lot that worry in Wales.

Lucy Fur? wot about this South Wales meeting? Where are the details?

www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=120&t=318993&p=2

[Norbert500]

When are you coming to the Island to show us your new toy?

Congratulations BTW