Well I got it! I checked this car out a couple weeks ago and was dissipointed in the dealer's service a bit. kinda standard, as soon as I told him that I wasn't going to be taking it home that day he kinda shut down on me. I searched around the internet and in papers, even checked out some corvette only dealers with the help of some people here and couldn't find another C5 coupe with a 6 speed in the price range I could afford anywhere. I was worried that the one I had checked out before would be gone by the time I went back, but it was still there. I think I got a pretty fair price, but the car does have some problems which I am aware of. its a 99 and in excellent condition for its age, it also has 70k on it which was what helped to get it into my price range. its red and fully loaded (unless you consider an automatic as a "feature")

I do need some help on a couple of things, first of all it has the power telescoping steering wheel, but when I try to use the switch, nothing happens. are there any tricks to it? like it only works when you aren't moving or something like that? if not, what fuse controls that thing. I couldn't find it in the owner's manual, I'm hoping it might just be a fuse. I'll have to double check, but I think I have one switch on the power seat which doesn't appear to do anything either. I have no idea what its supposed to be fore. the rest of them work fine. I also have the dual zone climate control problem where the LCD only displays very dimmly, but I found instructions on how to fix that here. I think I can take care of that one. I think I need to replace the belt on it since its chirping, that's not too bad. when I was test driving it the turn signals stopped working for a few minutes, then came back on. they have been working fine ever since. The flashers still worked, so I may have a multifunction switch which is on its way out. They agreeed to pay for part of the repair, but maybe I'll just have them sell me the part, I've replaced them before in my other cars. Is there any trick to it? sometimes I worry about how many items there are on my list of things which aren't perfect with this car, but I think they are all pretty minor, or things that I feel I can take care of. I still got a great vehicle for a resonable price and even found the 6 speed which I very much wanted.

one other oddity, which I think is a good thing actually. I read in the manual about this 1-4 shift light thing. well I've seen it come on in my car a couple of times already. the owner's manual says that you can't shift into 2nd or 3rd until you shift strait into 4th when that light comes on...that's not too cool! my brother has a 99 camaro z28, it's got that "skip shift" thing where it requires you to go from 1 to 3. when that light comes on, you can't physically get the shifter into 2nd. I assumed that would be the same case with the Vette, and the owners manual says the same thing. But when the light came on, the car shifted into 2nd and 3rd just fine. did someone disable that somewhere? just curious how that happened. I think that's a good thing though, these fuel saving skip shift features are very annoying. especially when this car avaraged 32mpg on the way home from the dealership!

Thanks to everyone who answered questions for me while I was doing my search, I'm a very happy owner now even though I have some issues to address right away.

 

Welcome to the Corvette owner's club! I haven't had any of the issues mentioned, but if you can shift into second gear when the shift light is on, either the engine is still cold or a CAGS bypass had already been installed. Once you get the minor annoyances fixed, you might consider getting an aftermarket intake filter system. You can gain 10-15 Rear Wheel Horsepower, just by swapping out the OEM airbox. A cold air intake is best (like the Callaway Honker, which is 50-states legal), but even a Halltech Stinger or Blackwing is better than the stock box.
Secondly, make sure your column lock mechanism has been removed or deactivated with a bypass. If you do NOT hear a bzzzzt sound when you turn the ignition switch to the "On" position, then you are good to go. If you hear this noise, get a CLB (column lock bypass) and install it, ASAP. Otherwise, you WILL get stranded sooner or later!

Good luck!

Dave

 

For the buzzing sound as an indicator, were you referring to manuals or automatics or both? I checked the recall (which I'm sure you've seen before) and this is what it said:

ON VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH A MANUAL TRANSMISSION, THE DEALER WILL REPROGRAM THE POWERTRAIN CONTROL MODULE, PERFORM A DIMENSIONAL CHECK OF THE COLUMN LOCK AND, IF NECESSARY, REPLACE THE LOCK PLATE. THE STEERING COLUMN ON THESE VEHICLES WILL CONTINUE TO LOCK WHEN THE KEY IS REMOVED

Does this mean the steering column lock should still be working even after the recall has been repaired, and then would I still be hearing the buzzing sound? Is there any way to cehck if the specific vehicle has had the recall repaired?

Thanks!

 

I just went up to my car, got in it and without putting the key in was able to turn the steering wheel completely around in all directions. Does this mean for certain that the steering wheel lock has for sure been removed and I am ok?

 

Any Chevrolet dealership should be able to tell you if the recall work has been performed on your car. they will need your VIN. They just put it in there service computer and it will tell them if it has been done. cheers

 

Yes, if the steering wheel does not lock, you may have the aftermarket bypass installed. The dealership did the same recall to my C5 and two weeks later, the column lock actuator seized up; my car had to be flat-bedded to the dealership. Witin one week, I installed the bypass. Automatic C5s had their mechanisms removed and a block-off plate installed by the dealerships, but my dealership told me that they could not do the same with manual C5s.