Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Tank-Ace on September 05, 2012, 11:17:05 PM
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I'm looking at getting a car. One of the ones I have my eye on in particular is a '95 Firebird with the V6 engine as my first car, but...... I don't want to get hit with insurance too bad.
Anyone happen to know if nationwide would consider this a sports car?
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Not sure but the V6 is a plus for you.
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Got a buddy with his engine sitting on his garage floor right now just waiting to be bored out.
It's an OK car. Ill ask him how much it costs him.
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It'll be considered a sports car, but since it's so old the rates shouldn't be too bad.
For example, I have an 06 Monte Carlo 2LT that I pay $68 per month for full coverage with State Farm. I was looking at an 02 Corvette Z06 recently, and my rate on that was $73 a month because of the age. I also looked at a new 2013 Camaro SS, and the rate on that went up to $95 per month. The Corvette would absolutely smoke the new Camaro when it comes to performance, yet it was much cheaper. I'm 33, with a clean driving record, but it shows that the age of a car makes a huge difference on insurance rates, even if it is considered a sports car. The insurance companies take many things into account when determining a rate.
The best thing to do is get with your agent and have them prepare a quote for every car that you're thinking about.
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Was gonna get a quote anyway, just this is a faster way to see if I should just drop the firebird. This may be a public forum, but theres a suprising ammount of knowledge on here.
Thanks guys.
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Insurance for my '93 Taurus is $130/mo. I think it's dumb, but being male under 25 sucks for insurance rates.
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Insurance for my '93 Taurus is $130/mo. I think it's dumb, but being male under 25 sucks for insurance rates.
Tell me about it.
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F bodies have high rates because younger drivers and idiots make up a large portion of the owners. My 01 z28 is about 90 a month but if I had a vette would be around 70
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when I was 18 was paying 160 a month for liability on an 89 chevy s10 2wd, now I pay 89 a month full coverage on a 2500 HD and blazer and I am 29. Its all a scam anyways, they got you coming and going
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Insurance for my '93 Taurus is $130/mo. I think it's dumb, but being male under 25 sucks for insurance rates.
that has pissed me off since i got my first car. the statistics that show males to be higher risk have always been skewed and the insurance companies know it.
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I'm looking at getting a car. One of the ones I have my eye on in particular is a '95 Firebird with the V6 engine as my first car, but...... I don't want to get hit with insurance too bad.
Anyone happen to know if nationwide would consider this a sports car?
more than likely you're making a bad choice for a first car. they suck bad weather.
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By the time it took you to ask here you could have called them and her your answer. Teenagers those days :angel:
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By the time it took you to ask here you could have called them and her your answer. Teenagers those days :angel:
Really like that all the insurance companies have online quotes available....
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Get a pickup. They're always cheap to insure and license.
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Get a pickup. They're always cheap to insure and license.
Only issue is that I'm going to college in california most likely, and gas is 4.50 a gallon most places down there. If my wallet could stand that.... well, if it could stand that, it could also take the insurance.
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Only issue is that I'm going to college in california most likely, and gas is 4.50 a gallon most places down there. If my wallet could stand that.... well, if it could stand that, it could also take the insurance.
a v6 firechicken isn't gonna be much better. if you're worried about gas, go with a camry or an accord.
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a v6 firechicken isn't gonna be much better. if you're worried about gas, go with a camry or an accord.
I know gas won't be great in the firebird..... but it just looks so sleek! I could care less about the horsepower, as long as it didn't feel super sluggish, I'd still take it with a V4.
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I know my advice wouldn't be welcome, but I drove a Ford Ranger through out high school and College, paid $2000 for it in 1999 You can buy whatever vehicle you want, but I wouldn't go over V6 and spend more then 5k, problem with sports cars is this - I had a chance to buy a 1985 Iroc-Z for $2000, problem was it was a V-8, and my insurance was $100 a month where my ranger never topped $40 a month.
More money you spend on a slick car, means less money other places. At least you are buying a used car and not an idiot and buying one and having payments.
Oh along with a house I bought, my father made me put aside all the money I WOULD of spent on insurance for the Iroc-Z plus $100 a month in gas into a savings account. He said tap into it when you are about ready to buy a vehicle. Currently looking at buying a 2013 Toyota Tacoma 4 door, I have close to 18k saved up after 12 years.
Whenever things settle down ill have my new truck =) As for my Ranger, it just popped 120k miles, 99 Sport - not a scratch on it (V4).
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more than likely you're making a bad choice for a first car. they suck bad weather.
Umm. Depends on how stupid the driver is. I drove my 98 trans-am in ALL types of weather and never had a single problem. In fact, the one time I got stupid in a snowstorm, the car actually saved my butt. I had the traction control option and when the car entered a spin at 55mph (midnight, snowing, tried to pass a slow truck and hit some ice), the traction control had the car straightened out before I could even THINK "oh crap". I never relied on it to save me but the one time I needed it, the TCS totally paid for itself in less than one second.
F-bodies '94 -'02 are only dangerous if the driver is BOTH untalented AND stupid. Drive them with respect and put decent tires on them, and they drive just fine even in light snow.
As for the OP, why not just get an insurance quote? They're free. If they insist on a VIN number for an exact quote, just use any VIN number from the same make/model/trim version that you are interested in. Also, I recommend going for a '98 or newer version. If you get a decent insurance quote, consider the V8 as well. Drive it cautiously and take a driving course to learn what to do if you get too happy on the throttle, and it'll be a great daily driver.
My '98 Trans-Am got 30mpg on the freeway and was still putting out 50hp more than advertised spec after 11 years and 140,000 miles. So don't be afraid of the f-body cars. Get the V6 if you need to save a bit of money but I still recommend trying for a '98 or newer model if possible.
And the traction control (TCS) was worth its weight in gold. Highly recommended, but it's only available '98 and newer.
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I know gas won't be great in the firebird..... but it just looks so sleek! I could care less about the horsepower, as long as it didn't feel super sluggish, I'd still take it with a V4.
you would be thoroughly shocked at the capabilities of the 4 banger accords and camrys. they'll run forever, get excellent fuel mileage, move those cars out decently for only being 4 bangers, and they don't honestly look half bad either.
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Umm. Depends on how stupid the driver is. I drove my 98 trans-am in ALL types of weather and never had a single problem. In fact, the one time I got stupid in a snowstorm, the car actually saved my butt. I had the traction control option and when the car entered a spin at 55mph (midnight, snowing, tried to pass a slow truck and hit some ice), the traction control had the car straightened out before I could even THINK "oh crap". I never relied on it to save me but the one time I needed it, the TCS totally paid for itself in less than one second.
F-bodies '94 -'02 are only dangerous if the driver is BOTH untalented AND stupid. Drive them with respect and put decent tires on them, and they drive just fine even in light snow.
As for the OP, why not just get an insurance quote? They're free. If they insist on a VIN number for an exact quote, just use any VIN number from the same make/model/trim version that you are interested in. Also, I recommend going for a '98 or newer version. If you get a decent insurance quote, consider the V8 as well. Drive it cautiously and take a driving course to learn what to do if you get too happy on the throttle, and it'll be a great daily driver.
My '98 Trans-Am got 30mpg on the freeway and was still putting out 50hp more than advertised spec after 11 years and 140,000 miles. So don't be afraid of the f-body cars. Get the V6 if you need to save a bit of money but I still recommend trying for a '98 or newer model if possible.
And the traction control (TCS) was worth its weight in gold. Highly recommended, but it's only available '98 and newer.
he's a kid. we all were at one time. remember what it was like? :devil some of us still are. in a firebird, it doesn't matter v6 or 8.....someone's gonna try to race him. sooner or later, he's gonna give in and run. if he has the kind of luck i have, he'll get nabbed on his first time, and that'll be it for him.
i like to pride myself on being able to drive anything in nearly anything. back in the 90's, the snowstorms we had here in nj, i could drive the ud rollback, and the superduty wheel lift easily. my chevy 2wd pickup kind of ok with tire chains.....my mustang with much effort....took a friends 85 firebird out......the thing made the mustang feel easy.it was the worst vehicle to this day that i've ever driven in bad weather.
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My friend (22) pays $130 for full coverage on his.
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took a friends 85 firebird out......the thing made the mustang feel easy.it was the worst vehicle to this day that i've ever driven in bad weather.
There was a world of difference between pre and post-1994 f-bodies, and the update in 1998 to the much lighter aluminum LS1 was another big change for the better. Also, I found that having good all-season tires made a huge difference. My firebird was nearly undriveable on even a light dusting of snow when wearing aggressive rain/summer tires, but it was nearly care-free driving in a couple of inches of snow when wearing decent all-season tires. I took it up to vail with decent all-season tires and didn't get stuck once even though the roads were ALL covered with packed snow with ice patches.
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My friend (22) pays $130 for full coverage on his.
Damn that's cheap...... maybe just florida for me, I only pay $50 for basic "please don't hit me or hope I don't hit you" insurance per month.
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I'm looking at getting a car. One of the ones I have my eye on in particular is a '95 Firebird with the V6 engine as my first car, but...... I don't want to get hit with insurance too bad.
Anyone happen to know if nationwide would consider this a sports car?
V6? :rofl
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My 'new' 2006 crown Vic Police package with PLPD insurance is about 300 a year for it, and my
Truck is about 1200 full coverage.
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Damn that's cheap...... maybe just florida for me, I only pay $50 for basic "please don't hit me or hope I don't hit you" insurance per month.
I know what you mean, lol I pay 48 per month for "basic" insurance here in Cocoa Beach on my 93 T/A, and I'm 48 lol!!!
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i pay more than any of you guys mentioned.....but i'm insuring 3 vehicles, one of which has full coverage.....and i live in prnj
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Well I was looking to get an 08/09 Mitsubishi evo 10 in a few months. With 20 years of no claims its still a shade over £2400 annually for me.
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V6? :rofl
Still puts out a nice 200hp. Like I said, I'm not interested in it for the performance so much as for the styling.
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Still puts out a nice 200hp. Like I said, I'm not interested in it for the performance so much as for the styling.
200hp?? the newer/better camaros and mustangs top that easily....... :noid
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Still puts out a nice 200hp. Like I said, I'm not interested in it for the performance so much as for the styling.
I don't really understand this.
*This isn't directed at you, just everyone that does this*
I don't understand why people would by the cheapest model camaro, mustang, vet or any other type of car of that sort just to say they have a car that sounds cool. I see people with 3.5 liter chargers decking them out with every aftermarket part they can imagine...I don't get it! Buy the SRT or even R/T go big or go home. I also know people who buy the v6 mustang going around town saying they got a mustang and that makes them a badass.
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200hp?? the newer/better camaros and mustangs top that easily....... :noid
Yea, but kudos to him for trying to keep a realistic price cap on the whole thing. Yea he could find some nicer more expensive car to go into debt for, but then he'd be trapped in the American debt nightmare instead of rolling in a nice looking "classic" set of wheels.
My parents never had a car loan and I'm very fortunate I followed their example for the most part. I know 40 yr olds making 6 figures who still have a car loan and almost no retirement savings. Car-poor is a dumb way to live and once you start down that road it's hard to get out. But avoiding it in the first place can be done early and in only a few years. Get a beater hoopty to start, and then save CASH for each upgrade. Do that for a few iterations and next thing you know you're paying cash for a new vette or whatever turns yer crank. That's the way to do it, own a series of nice cars without worrying one second about payments and getting way ahead on financing your entire life.
On the other hand... yea, the newer V6s are putting out around 300hp.
The kid that bought my trans-am... That made me really happy. The kid was a year or two out of high school working his first or second job, and his Dad was going to help him buy his first "new" car. He happened to LOVE the 98-02 trans-am look, and after shopping around he found mine. Because he had a job and his Dad was helping, he probably could have made payments on a new mustang or ricer but he was both sensible about his expectations and also loved the older car styling. Good decision for him, that car is fast as heck, reliable, and he dynoed it about 40hp above expectations so it may have been one of a handful of early 98 firebirds and camaros that took vette motors out of the factory due to a shortage of f-body detuned LS1s. He got the car he loved because he insisted on paying cash instead of a loan, and didn't insist on getting the latest whatever.
Made me feel good about the sale even though I REALLY hated selling that car.
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Yea, but kudos to him for trying to keep a realistic price cap on the whole thing. Yea he could find some nicer more expensive car to go into debt for, but then he'd be trapped in the American debt nightmare instead of rolling in a nice looking "classic" set of wheels.
My parents never had a car loan and I'm very fortunate I followed their example for the most part. I know 40 yr olds making 6 figures who still have a car loan and almost no retirement savings. Car-poor is a dumb way to live and once you start down that road it's hard to get out. But avoiding it in the first place can be done early and in only a few years. Get a beater hoopty to start, and then save CASH for each upgrade. Do that for a few iterations and next thing you know you're paying cash for a new vette or whatever turns yer crank. That's the way to do it, own a series of nice cars without worrying one second about payments and getting way ahead on financing your entire life.
On the other hand... yea, the newer V6s are putting out around 300hp.
The kid that bought my trans-am... That made me really happy. The kid was a year or two out of high school working his first or second job, and his Dad was going to help him buy his first "new" car. He happened to LOVE the 98-02 trans-am look, and after shopping around he found mine. Because he had a job and his Dad was helping, he probably could have made payments on a new mustang or ricer but he was both sensible about his expectations and also loved the older car styling. Good decision for him, that car is fast as heck, reliable, and he dynoed it about 40hp above expectations so it may have been one of a handful of early 98 firebirds and camaros that took vette motors out of the factory due to a shortage of f-body detuned LS1s. He got the car he loved because he insisted on paying cash instead of a loan, and didn't insist on getting the latest whatever.
Made me feel good about the sale even though I REALLY hated selling that car.
in my instance, i could've paid cash for my stang......i chose the payments, due to stupidly low interest, and not as much of a savings for cash as i would have expected....so in this instance, payments lets me keep my cash in hand.
i understand what you're saying though about keeping expectations realistic though.
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Ugly if you ask me :)
To smooth no real lines to the car.
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i pay more than any of you guys mentioned.....but i'm insuring 3 vehicles, one of which has full coverage.....and i live in prnj
I have 8 vehicles insured... full coverage :P
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Ugly if you ask me :)
To smooth no real lines to the car.
I personally liked the chopped nose of the '98 and later firebird, but lots of people love the older lines too. If he can find one that is still in good shape it will probably remain reliable too.
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I have 8 vehicles insured... full coverage :P
i don't make the kinda money you make. i;m thinking i;m gonna have to take the dakota or jeep off of the policy in order to insure my rollback........
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I don't really understand this.
*This isn't directed at you, just everyone that does this*
I don't understand why people would by the cheapest model camaro, mustang, vet or any other type of car of that sort just to say they have a car that sounds cool. I see people with 3.5 liter chargers decking them out with every aftermarket part they can imagine...I don't get it! Buy the SRT or even R/T go big or go home. I also know people who buy the v6 mustang going around town saying they got a mustang and that makes them a badass.
Don't get me wrong, if I could get one with the Camaro's V8 for a decent price and afford the insurance, I'd buy it without hesitation. But as it is, I could get a nice looking car that captures the feel and styling of the sport car, and retains decent performance without having enough to let me be overly stupid with it. And frankly, I'd probably get in trouble for peeling out in the school parking lot the first week.
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I don't really understand this.
*This isn't directed at you, just everyone that does this*
I don't understand why people would by the cheapest model camaro, mustang, vet or any other type of car of that sort just to say they have a car that sounds cool. I see people with 3.5 liter chargers decking them out with every aftermarket part they can imagine...I don't get it! Buy the SRT or even R/T go big or go home. I also know people who buy the v6 mustang going around town saying they got a mustang and that makes them a badass.
Well maybe his parents aren't buying it for him.
Nothing wrong with a V6 Firebird when you're in a *RED ALERT* insurance group. When kids are having monthly insurance payments higher than my car payment I can empathize. My first car was a 4 cylinder Grand Am that still went 115 before the governor kicked in. It was cheap to insure, cheap to feed and had room for 5, golf clubs and 2 Rockford Fosgate 15" subwoofers in the back because that was what was important then. Nevermind I don't think a kid should have access to 300 real wheel drive horsepower without some experience first.
At any rate I have a '12 Mustang. It's a V6 for a very good reason and it's not because I couldn't afford a GT, Boss 302 or GT500. Actually Caps car and mine weren't that far off in price. Know why? I wanted a convertible and I wanted to race. The GTs are too fast to race as convertibles, the GT500s are way too fast to race as convertibles and the Boss 302 rightfully so doesn't come as a convertible which doesn't mean much because it would be too fast to race as a convertible. Without cutting up the brand new interior and putting in a roll bar, anyway. Girls aren't really that crazy about roll bars or caged street cars I've found. Now the fuel economy is nice as is the insurance. $55/mo for full coverage. Only $5 more than my truck. First year the car saw 22,500 miles at a year average 25.4 mpg which included 200 passes down the drag strip.
My problem now is a stick car isn't consistent as a bracket race car, at least consistent enough to go rounds against guys putting together <.020 packages. That's what the Corvette is for once I get it off the jack stands and finish the LS6 swap. Even it has a T-Top and will run 11.50 in the heat of summer so no roll bar required. It ran yesterday and all the stuff that's supposed to stay in the car stayed in the car which is progress.
If you want a cheap street car buy a driver late run C3 (78-82) Corvette. They don't have any factory power, 190-200hp and the fuel economy sucks. They're at least easy to work on and parts are cheap. This one drove on and off the trailer for $4,000. You could brag about how you have a V8 on the interwebs though and run a 16 second 1/4 mile.
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I had a 2000 model Firebird. Suspension was done by Lotus. Was really fun to drive through the hills of TN. My only real gripe about the car was that the nose sat so close to the ground that when either pulling off the road into a parking lot or driveway (or vise versa) the nose would scrape the pavement on the left or right corners scraping the paint.
Not sure if the '95 model sits that low in the front or not.
Only drove the car for 9 months when a couple of 18 year olds slid through a curve on a wet road sideways and knocked the front end off it.
Instead of buying a sporty car again, I opted for a 2000 Toyota 4Runner. Still driving it and can honestly say it's been the best vehicle I've ever owned. Front of the owners manual says "This is not a sports car so don't drive it like one" LOL
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I don't really understand this.
*This isn't directed at you, just everyone that does this*
I don't understand why people would by the cheapest model camaro, mustang, vet or any other type of car of that sort just to say they have a car that sounds cool. I see people with 3.5 liter chargers decking them out with every aftermarket part they can imagine...I don't get it! Buy the SRT or even R/T go big or go home. I also know people who buy the v6 mustang going around town saying they got a mustang and that makes them a badass.
That's the difference between a middle class car guy, and a rich one :D
I'm 54. For most of my life I couldn't afford the corvette I wanted (always the bestest newest one they had :x ) I finally realized that I don't have to have the biggest baddest vette on the road, and if I buy an older one that I like I would STILL be in a vette.
Guess whos working on finally getting his vette? :devil
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That's the difference between a middle class car guy, and a rich one :D
I'm 54. For most of my life I couldn't afford the corvette I wanted (always the bestest newest one they had :x ) I finally realized that I don't have to have the biggest baddest vette on the road, and if I buy an older one that I like I would STILL be in a vette.
Guess whos working on finally getting his vette? :devil
WTG dude!! you darn well better post pics for us!! :aok
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Eagl what tires were on your car? I had a 97 and a 2002. The 97 was a Ws6 Firebird with 275/40s on 17 inch rims that were Z rated from the factory and I tried to drive it in winter once. And only once. We get 6 months of winter driving up here, and it was impossible to even get it to move on any ice or snow covered surface with those tires on it. As in it took me 20 minutes to move it from its regular spot on my parking pad into my garage once the snow flew that one time I considered trying it, and that was only about 70 yards. I remember my wife at the time and I sitting in it laughing to the point of tears as it would just barely move no matter what tricks you tried with the clutch/throttle etc. It was literally like driving on four hockey pucks. Just let the clutch out, and the back tires would just slowly spin, and give you the slightest movement forward, about turtle crawling speed at best. Turning the front tires had almost negligible effect on direction.
I know the Ws6 and SS models had the lower profile 275/40 performance z/speed rated tires on them, but the other V8 models didn't. Those tires on the other non ws6 models had to have been set up for all season driving, as the tires on mine were literally suicide for any snow/ice at all.
I never tried it with the 2002, which yes, had TCS unlike the 97 I believe, but I can't remember the tires on the 2002. Did you have all seasons of some kind on yours?
As for the OP, get the Firebird, they are a great first car. If gas isn't a huge issue, get a V8 one as well, but the v6 still are a nice looking car, although like others has said, don't have the 300 hp of the modern V6 in the Camaro. Heck, the regular Firebird V8 didn't have 300 hp in the 93-97 models as I recall, I think it was 275. The ws6/ss had more, especially the 98-02 models, but not a lot more.
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The OEM eagle RS-As were actually pretty good in '98. Those tires were "good" for about 30,000 miles and had legal tread until about 40,000 miles but were pretty darn hard and had lost a lot of wet and dry traction. I got some bridgestone potenza pole position (or something like that) that were ok for about 10,000 miles but then developed a very strange wear pattern and then every time I used the brakes it felt like my brakes were grinding or something bad was happening up front. I even bought and installed new front rotors and pads based on that, to no effect. Those tires were OK in light snow though, including that trip to Vail. Those tires also got very hard after only 20,000 miles and started to lose dry traction. After I replaced those tires, the front grinding sound/vibration went away completely.
My next tires were Goodyear Eagle F1-GS-D3 summer/rain tires, which were extremely aggressive continuous swoopy tread pattern tires, sort of like continuous army enlisted chevron rank. Those tires were awesome in the rain and dry and dangerous in any amount of snow/ice.
The next set of tires were (if I recall correctly) bridgestone RE 960AS tires, which were very very nice all-season tires. The only fault with them is that in the summer they would flat-spot a bit if the car was left more than overnight, so the car would shimmy a bit for the first few miles the next time it was driven as the flat spot worked itself out.
My G8 has OEM RS-A tires and this time they are awful. Bad dry, wet, and snow traction. Nothing at all to recommend them except they were on the car when I drove it off the lot. I'm looking for any excuse to replace them, except that they are currently balanced PERFECTLY which solved a problem inherent in some G8s, bad front-end shimmy and horrible steering wheel wobble. The wobble is currently very small so I'm hesitant to change anything at all. Even a few PSI pressure change in the front tires makes it come back. So I'm going to use these tires until they either cord out or the wobble comes back, and then I'll have to find some nice all-season or touring tires for the G8.
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Don't get me wrong, if I could get one with the Camaro's V8 for a decent price and afford the insurance, I'd buy it without hesitation. But as it is, I could get a nice looking car that captures the feel and styling of the sport car, and retains decent performance without having enough to let me be overly stupid with it. And frankly, I'd probably get in trouble for peeling out in the school parking lot the first week.
If you are going to buy a sports car, you should be able to control yourself not to be stupid regardless. Otherwise you should not own a sports car. It kills me seeing cars with thousands of dollars put into the outside and it couldn't outrun an oldsmobile. Put money under the hood and who cares if it looks like crap on the outside. Honestly I agree with Jo, I hate base models of sports cars. It's like putting a straight four under the hood of what should be a big bad 3500HD diesel.
If you can't control yourself with a V8, you shouldn't be driving.
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Just my 2cents, but here it goes… You’re going to collage, don’t use a car to make a statement about yourself. If you use a car or any other possession to define who you are, then without that possession, you are nothing.
At this point in your life, (and for me this still applies.) A car is a tool. It’s only purpose is to get your butt from point A to point B, and it needs to do this reliably and efficiently.
The people who will matter the most to you will always be more concerned with who YOU are, not what you drive.
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If you are going to buy a sports car, you should be able to control yourself not to be stupid regardless. Otherwise you should not own a sports car. It kills me seeing cars with thousands of dollars put into the outside and it couldn't outrun an oldsmobile. Put money under the hood and who cares if it looks like crap on the outside. Honestly I agree with Jo, I hate base models of sports cars. It's like putting a straight four under the hood of what should be a big bad 3500HD diesel.
If you can't control yourself with a V8, you shouldn't be driving.
Nothing fundamentally wrong with the V6. Its got enough hp that it wont feel sluggish, unless I'm carrying around rather excessive ammount of weight. Its got just as much or more power than most of the newer cars in my price range. It has comparable miles. It looks bad-ass.
And theres a difference between reckless driving, and abusing the V8 once in a while. Got in a 'driving contest' with one of my friends. I drove out of the school parking lot in reverse while rocking out to the subs we had in our old car. He accelerated for 10ft and did a doughnut. Clearly thats a loss for me. The point isn't that I can't control myself and drive safely, but that, being the teenager that I am, odds are that I would eventually make the incorrect calculation that seeing what the car could do on a strait strech would be fine.
If I don't have the capability to do stupid stuff like that in the crowded school parking lot, I won't have even the temptation to deal with. It will be more fun for me, because I won't be having to constantly fight temptation, and on top of that, the gas milage will be better.
Theres no inherent virtue in poverty, Spikes.
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Believe it or not, the gas milage difference is not that much, and in some cases it's worse in a V6 due to the fact that the 6 has to work harder than a 8 does to move the sam amount of weight. It's called power to weight ratio!!!
My 93 T/A really good gas milage even in town. It got that crappy LT1 5.7 ( GM should have been shot over that BS in 81) 6-speed so it doesn't have to work as hard.
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Believe it or not, the gas milage difference is not that much, and in some cases it's worse in a V6 due to the fact that the 6 has to work harder than a 8 does to move the sam amount of weight. It's called power to weight ratio!!!
My 93 T/A really good gas milage even in town. It got that crappy LT1 5.7 ( GM should have been shot over that BS in 81) 6-speed so it doesn't have to work as hard.
Yep. But even worse, narcissism is more important to a few.
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It looks bad-ass.
Looks are not everything...
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FBDragon, does your car have that 1st to 4th lockout they put in those model years? In my 97 Ws6 I had to go from 1st to 4th gear unless the computer decided the engine was revving high enough and the throttle was moving towards the floor at a certain rate, and the car was accelerating at a certain rate. It measured a whole bunch of data and then decided if you could go from 1st to 2nd gear, otherwise it locked you out and put you right into 4th. It actually DID save a fair bit of gas, and even that Lt1 in the 97 Ram Air had enough torque that 4th wasn't so bad. I only needed to shift once instead of 4 times to drive around in the 30 mph zones in Canada. I always thought it would be a PITA, but I came to not only get used to it, but kind of appreciate it.
You know, those old GM Firebird/Trans/Camaro types were such a good deal back then. Remember that 14 years ago 320 ish horse power was nothing to sneeze at, where as nearly every decent 4 door family car seems to have near that today. My 97 and 2002 performed very similarly in terms of the numbers on the track running 1/4 miles, I never did to a road circuit with either. Both were capable of nearly 160 mph right out of the box, and 0-60 times of well under 6 seconds, some magazines claimed to get them down to 5.1, and 1/4 times in the 13's weren't impossible either at good altitudes/temperatures. As I said, an extremely good deal in terms of bang for the buck. They sounded fantastic as well.
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FBDragon, does your car have that 1st to 4th lockout they put in those model years? In my 97 Ws6 I had to go from 1st to 4th gear unless the computer decided the engine was revving high enough and the throttle was moving towards the floor at a certain rate, and the car was accelerating at a certain rate. It measured a whole bunch of data and then decided if you could go from 1st to 2nd gear, otherwise it locked you out and put you right into 4th. It actually DID save a fair bit of gas, and even that Lt1 in the 97 Ram Air had enough torque that 4th wasn't so bad. I only needed to shift once instead of 4 times to drive around in the 30 mph zones in Canada. I always thought it would be a PITA, but I came to not only get used to it, but kind of appreciate it.
You know, those old GM Firebird/Trans/Camaro types were such a good deal back then. Remember that 14 years ago 320 ish horse power was nothing to sneeze at, where as nearly every decent 4 door family car seems to have near that today. My 97 and 2002 performed very similarly in terms of the numbers on the track running 1/4 miles, I never did to a road circuit with either. Both were capable of nearly 160 mph right out of the box, and 0-60 times of well under 6 seconds, some magazines claimed to get them down to 5.1, and 1/4 times in the 13's weren't impossible either at good altitudes/temperatures. As I said, an extremely good deal in terms of bang for the buck. They sounded fantastic as well.
IIRC, Chevrolet came up with CAGS, to avoid the Gas Guzzler Tax. CAGS forces you to shift your manual transmission Corvette from first to fourth under light acceleration. It never engages when you floor it. Many people sell the CAGS eliminator kits as a work around, or you reprogram the ECM.
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the new gt's have that skip shift crap. with mine, i either shift sooner, later, or i hesitate going into second. it seems to me that the solenoid only is activated for a second or so........
also, there's supposedly an FRPP tune, which will not void any part of the warranty that eliminates it.
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IIRC, Chevrolet came up with CAGS, to avoid the Gas Guzzler Tax. CAGS forces you to shift your manual transmission Corvette from first to fourth under light acceleration. It never engages when you floor it. Many people sell the CAGS eliminator kits as a work around, or you reprogram the ECM.
Even with a manual trans it won't let you shift how you want too?
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Even with a manual trans it won't let you shift how you want too?
For less than $20 it is no longer an issue.
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Looks are not everything...
No, but they do count.
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The CAGS system was easy to defeat. It was a simple two-wire plug into the side of the transmission, easily accessible with the car on a lift. If you just pulled the plug it would set an engine code, but there were two ways to get around that. First, you could buy a $20 (or $50 if you suck at shopping) plug to fit onto the end of the wiring harness. Or second, you could buy a $0.25 resistor from radio shack and some heat-shrink tubing (or just good outdoor-quality non-conductive tape), stuff the resistor into the harness plug, and wrap up with the heatshrink or tape to keep water from getting in and to keep the resistor from falling out.
I went the resistor method and it worked just fine for 12 years. Still working after 14 yrs as far as I know since the guy who bought my car never called me asking about it.
I think pretty much all manual transmission V8 performance cars from Chebby have had some version of the CAGS 2nd/3rd gear lockout scheme installed since the mid '90s. I think it is just as easy to disable in the corvette as it was for the f-bodies.
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It'll be considered a sports car, but since it's so old the rates shouldn't be too bad.
For example, I have an 06 Monte Carlo 2LT that I pay $68 per month for full coverage with State Farm. I was looking at an 02 Corvette Z06 recently, and my rate on that was $73 a month because of the age. I also looked at a new 2013 Camaro SS, and the rate on that went up to $95 per month. The Corvette would absolutely smoke the new Camaro when it comes to performance, yet it was much cheaper. I'm 33, with a clean driving record, but it shows that the age of a car makes a huge difference on insurance rates, even if it is considered a sports car. The insurance companies take many things into account when determining a rate.
The best thing to do is get with your agent and have them prepare a quote for every car that you're thinking about.
I have an 05 Supercharged Monte SS, and even with military rates, I'm paying 150 a month.
The age, and a ticket doesn't help any...
<S>
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The CAGS system was easy to defeat. It was a simple two-wire plug into the side of the transmission, easily accessible with the car on a lift. If you just pulled the plug it would set an engine code, but there were two ways to get around that. First, you could buy a $20 (or $50 if you suck at shopping) plug to fit onto the end of the wiring harness. Or second, you could buy a $0.25 resistor from radio shack and some heat-shrink tubing (or just good outdoor-quality non-conductive tape), stuff the resistor into the harness plug, and wrap up with the heatshrink or tape to keep water from getting in and to keep the resistor from falling out.
I went the resistor method and it worked just fine for 12 years. Still working after 14 yrs as far as I know since the guy who bought my car never called me asking about it.
I think pretty much all manual transmission V8 performance cars from Chebby have had some version of the CAGS 2nd/3rd gear lockout scheme installed since the mid '90s. I think it is just as easy to disable in the corvette as it was for the f-bodies.
i think they had to. between that, and using double overdrive(when they went to the 6 speed) i think was the only way they could get them to miss getting a guzzler tax.
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i think they had to. between that, and using double overdrive(when they went to the 6 speed) i think was the only way they could get them to miss getting a guzzler tax.
The funny thing was, the V8 firebirds and Corvettes are actually pretty efficient if you drive them normally. The sticker numbers leading to the CAGS are based on a throttle profile that has nothing to do with daily driving. With the CAGS disabled, both my Dad's Z06 and my Trans-Am would get around 30mpg on the freeway and no worse than 16-18 around town, not much worse than many "respectable" V6 sedans and certainly better than my G8 GT which did not face a gas guzzler tax.
The G8 GTX did get whacked with the gas guzzler tax but I think that was mostly because they used a lower rear-end gear ratio which just killed what was already mediocre fuel efficiency at cruise. Put in a tall overdrive gear and spend a little time optimizing airflow around the G8 and it would probably get at least 4-6 more mpg. At least, it *should*, based on the tires, motor, and drivetrain in use. Heck, a simple computer tune is worth 2-3 more mpg in the G8 GT, and the engine bay and underbody are completely wide open to generate turbulence. So a little care on the aero details should really help.
That, and putting the chassis on a diet. The Zeta platform is at least 400lbs overweight due to not using high strength steel or other lighter components. It kept the price down compared to similar competing sedans but 4100+ lbs is porky even for a large V8 powered 4-door sedan. If they do it "right", the chebby SS should be a much more mature car with improvements across the board including better fuel efficiency with the same V8 and drivetrain. But it needs an overdrive gear, some underbody and underhood aero cleanup, and the updated zeta II chassis to compare favorably to other competitor sedans.