'96 CE Corvette or '00 Camaro SS for daily driver?

[Dave Rifkin]

Given your choice between a '96 CE Corvette LT4 coupe or a '00 Camaro SS coupe, both with 35-40k miles and approximately the same price, which would you choose for a daily driver and why.

[jtower1969]

Both are cool cars to me...The deciding factor for me would be that I would need to put my little ones in the back seat. Are they 6 speeds or Auto?

[flyingn]

go with the Camaro

[al8apex]

depends on what your "daily drive" is

commute to work on traffic clogged roads with morons that cut you off?

We have a CE LT4 Z51 that my wife USED to commute in, she said it was too low and no one saw her on the road (of course all the traffic is in Suburbans, etc, most of those drivers don't care about other traffic http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

We used to have a Formula Firebird and she thought it was "too big" and "too low" to drive every day (it was my car anyway, not like she GOT to drive it everyday)

In OUR case the INSURANCE on the Corvette was about ONE HALF, that is correct, 50% of what the Firebird was, so all things being the same, I would pick the Corvette from the $$$$ savings issue alone. The cars are very similar in comfort, performance and MPG, assuming the Camaro is a 6 speed manual trans as well ... The ingress and egress of the Corvette is different than the Camaro, so If you are 6' 3" like I am, that takes finesse, but it is not particularly annoying, but then I never daily drove her car ...

[markjohnson]

I'm quite familar with both cars quite a bit. I had considered selling my 96 LT-4 Vette to buy a 2001-02 SS Z/28 Camaro. After I'd jump straight from my Vette into my buddy's Camaro, I was shocked by the 'step down' I had taken and that's exactly what it is.....a giant step down. This is gonna piss off the troops, but a Camaro is a poor man's Corvette. The Vette is a much higher quality car, will hold it's value better and you can beat MOST LS-1 Camaros....just trust me on that last one! If you need further validation....just pretend the Camaro is an 1982 model and look how those have fared. Oh yeah...ome more thing.....Camaro people don't wave at each other.

[Dave Rifkin]

I used to own a '96 CE coupe, although it was an LT-1 model, so I am very familiar with the step down into the car. I am also familiar with the way you have to roll out of the thing as well.
Both cars are 6 speeds; the SS has 35,700 miles and the 'Vette has 44,000 on it. Both can be had for close to $14,000, I'm just not sure which one is the better everyday car. I'm not all caught up in that "don't drive in the rain" crap either so I guess I'm not your typical Corvette guy.
Is there an advantage to the LS1 over the LT4 or vice versa?

[JK98SS]

The LT4 cars are rated at 330 hp and run well. The C4 styling is pretty bland, but I love the silver with red interior or the gs version.
C5 cars have dropped in price quite a lot.

[al8apex]

$14k for a 44k mile CE LT4 is dirt cheap imho, we wouldn't sell ours for that and it has nearly 50k miles on it

ours is a 2 top Z51 though, we shopped forever until we found just the tight one

check your insurance rates on both of them, see how far off they are

sounds like a tough choice

maint items on both will be about the same (tires, brakes, etc) if the LT4 is NOT a Z51, then it will have those stupid staggered wheels, you will not be able to rotate tires easily unless you buy a 2nd set of 9.5 inch wheels for the front and get all 4 tires the same size

[markinnaples]

Do you need 4 seats?

[markjohnson]

LT'4 have dropped considerably. I recently sold my 32,XXX LT-4 6-speed Collector Edition for $13,500 and it was a nice car. It took over six months to sell. Be careful and don't overpay. I'll tell 'ya.....I've owned a lot of cars, but this particular one was a favorite.

[Dave Rifkin]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you need 4 seats?

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I don't need 4 seats.

[Dave Rifkin]

[ QUOTE ]
LT'4 have dropped considerably. I recently sold my 32,XXX LT-4 6-speed Collector Edition for $13,500 and it was a nice car. It took over six months to sell. Be careful and don't overpay. I'll tell 'ya.....I've owned a lot of cars, but this particular one was a favorite.

[/ QUOTE ]

I wish I was in the market at the time that you were selling yours, although it was probably too far for me to travel to check it out.
I am searching the usual places for cars; Ebay, Corvette Forum and autotrader. Anyone have any other suggestions for places to look?

Oh, BTW I sent the owner of the Camaro an email last night to try and set up an appointment to see the car and he told me someone was coming with cash to buy the car today.

[markinnaples]

Love those collector edition 96 Vettes, very nice.