My boss's neighbor is a District Manager of some sort for GM... about this time of year each year they sell off their "old" cars... including a couple of 06 C6 corvettes. Needless to say, i have the hookup if i am serious about buying one.

I dont have a LOT of details yet, but would you guys think a really cheap C6 corvette is worth the high miles (i'd guess about 25-30k miles for a one-year old car) it will more-than-inevetibly have? Are there any reliability issues that will come up on motor/drivetrain??
-Just inquiring...

 

motor/drivetrain are very similar to the C5 stuff, so they are proven. Crawl under the rearend (or borrow a lift) and inspect the differential for cracks or oil leaks though, those are the weak link on the drivetrain. Other than that, the occasional painted roof top flying off on the highway due to bad batch of glue (GM will warranty/fix this).

That is about it.

 

ok, good to know. Is it a generally accepted bad idea to buy a car with that many miles on put on it in a year? Would the wear-and tear be excessive?

 

I wouldn't be too concerned about that many miles, especially if they've been put on within a year as that would indicate highway miles (which are much easier on a engine (vs. stop and go type mileage). The LSX engines are being proven to last an extremely large amount of miles. Just inspect as Nine Ball had indicated, and you should be good to go. One thing though, make sure they're not GM buy backs such as buy back lemons; I'd definitely check the background of the vehicle. Good luck and let us know how it all turns out for you!

 

The engine is good for over 100k. Bob

 

I work for an automotive manufacturer. Not GM but things are pretty much the same for everybody.

I’d pass unless it’s REALLY cheap. These are probably GM “company” cars (certain management employees are given cars to drive). Generally these cars are treated about like a rental car (in terms of abuse).

The cars usually go straight to auction where dealers buy them for their used car lots and label them as “GM Executive” vehicles or something similar. If GM were to sell the car to you I doubt that they’d sell it for less than what they could sell it for at the auction which would be around “wholesale” value. Compare this to “private party” sale value and that’s what you’d be saving. But you’d be getting a car that’s probably been pretty well abused. Is the savings worth it to you?

If you look around I’ll bet you can find a nice low mile C6 from a private owner for not much more money, and in general you’ll be getting a much nicer car.

To answer your question, there are no drive train reliability issues of which I’m aware other than those already mentioned. Good luck!