Buying a used C7, What is desired, what is not?
 

Hi Corvette7.com! I'm coming from the Camaro side of things, where I've owned a '14 2SS/RS for a couple of years now. I had a fully loaded '16 Camaro on order, but due to the huge delivery delay and the killer prices of low mileage used Stingrays has made me cancel that and come over to the 2-seater world.

I've already decided that 3LT + Z51 with Magnetic Ride Control is on my "must have" list.

Dual mode exhaust is nice, but I could always get something aftermarket.

Beyond that, what kind of things should I look for as upgrades? All the websites I visit have a whole list of features that it has (some not even option, like headlights), but often, when it comes to used car listings, some things are overlooked by the selling dealer, and I'd like to keep my eye out for things that might make for a better deal when comparison shopping.

Already, I've seen a few vehicles with a glass roof but no mention of it in the listing. Does the glass roof also come with the carbon fiber roof?

Do brake caliper colors have any meaning, like they do on the Camaro? I'll be deep diving into the posted 2014 ordering guide to see what is what!

Welcome!
I think you'll find a 3LT has most the doo-hickeys you'll need with that package. The Z51 with or without Mag and NPP exhaust were additional boxes to check other wise your looking for the wheel color you like....chrome, silver or black and if you need painted calipers or a glass roof. I'm a ragtop man so the roof options are out of my realm of knowledge.
Cars.com will help you search the country.

"Glass" roof: There's an option for a transparent roof top and a different option for visible carbon fiber. They are two different roof tops.

Brake caliper color is just that: what color the brakes calibers are painted.

Personally, I would want to know how the car was treated. Was it beat on or was it loved (or both!)? I was told that the Spring Mountain Corvette drivers education (a must for all Corvette enthusiasts) buy the cars that they use to teach on the track and then sell them used later on. You'd never know that 99% of that car's life was spent on a track by a student.

I'd personally want to know how many miles it's been driven and the lifetime revs (which is recorded on all C7's). For both, the lower the better. But if it's still under warranty, then it may not matter.

As far as choosing your favorite options, I'd recommend going to the chevrolet site and building your own corvette. The options for a 16 corvette are largely going to be similar to that of a 14, with some exceptions (Z06, A8, PDR,etc).

I think you'll be happy with getting a used corvette as opposed to a new camaro. The prices of camaro's have risen so high that the price difference isn't that significant anymore between a high end camaro and a low end (or used) corvette.

Good luck!

Thanks for the replies!

Here's a quick question... how can I tell from a listing that doesn't specify if a vehicle has magnetic ride?

Is there something I could ask the sales guy to check for to confirm if it does or doesn't?

Hey Joe.....welcome to the other side....well sort of. lol

if you are looking at 2014's.....the LAST six digits is the production sequence....the bigger the number, the later in the production year it was built. There were quite a few "fixes" made during the production. so that later in the cycle, the less likely you are to find one with a hidden issue.
if it were me.....I would be concentrating on 2015's.

As Johnu mentioned, seeing as how you are looking at 3LT's they are pretty much "fully equipped".

as far as the NNP exhaust goes.....it all depends on YOU. and how loud it want/like it. I have it on mine.....in the 2015, in the infotainment system, you have a "Sound Management" selection. You can set it up in a number of ways. I have mine "PINNED" to track mode. Its nice and "rumbly" ...... but when you are cruising its quite sedate, but when you give it the gas....it totally wakes up. I LOVE IT....and my car is my daily driver.

if you go and look at a car that has it, when you test drive it, turn the radio off, put it in track mode, even of the owner has the sound management set to AUTO, you will get the full benefit of what it will sound like.

Without the build sheet/window sticker, open the hood and look for a wire coming up out of the top of the front shocks. The shocks are also a different color. The stocks are yellow on a base car....if my memory is correct!

Hey stranger... :)

Here's a tip. Many dealers don't list what level trim the car is, so that can be a pain in the ass. But if they list a free Carfax, it will have it listed up near the top.

Also, looking at the quad exhaust tips, you can tell the NPP cars from the non, by looking at the gap between the two inner tips, there is a bigger gap (and the more you look, the easier it will be to spot) if it's not a NPP car.

I'm not 100% on whether all Z51 cars got NPP. I know MRC is usually something missing out of a lot of ads from "not in the know" dealers, so you have to have them snap a pic of either the window sticker, or stick that lists all the RPO codes (in the back by the battery), the ones for MRC are FE2 and FE4, IIRC.

3LT's have an option interior called "Brownstone" and it's SUPER nice, but not sure it's that popular. I love the color (my Infiniti interior is "Java").

This is particularly important, as there are a LOT of used C7's in CA and NV that are great deals until you dig into the fine print. Any of those cars that have been documented at racing schools can have compromised warranties if GM knows they've just been race cars their whole (short) lives and they come with no powertrain warranty. I found a slew of these at a non-GM dealer that seemed to have *great* prices until I read the fine print. I had to send the guy an email for him to tell me what the cryptic ad blurb about the warranty was.

Oh, I have NPP on my '14 Camaro. I actually pulled the fuse so that its full-volume all the time, but I like the idea of being able to select-a-volume from within the cabin. While nice, NPP isn't on my required list. Magnetic Ride most definitely is, though.

You wouldn't happen to have a picture of this, and could point it out for me? I've looked in photos and I can't even see the top of the shocks...

Hey friend! Thanks for referring me over to the Corvette7 forums... it's a bit cooler over here, if you know what I mean.

As for the trim level, I've got that nailed down. VIN must start with 1G1YL in order for it to be a 3LT + Z51 Stingray. The magnetic ride, though, that's not encoded in the VIN, so...

Hey this is great advice, I'll have to keep an eye out for that.

There are a few "Premier Edition" Stingrays for sale with the Brownstone inside and Leguna Blue outside, it's high on my list of desires.

I love the Laguna Blue and lust after the DSOM cars... with the black wheels, I think they both contrast so superbly. Wifey is very "meh" on both colors, sadly. (I want her to like the car, even though she's got her own 'toy'). My lust for DSOM may override this, however! :)

Even though I'm not in the market until next May/June, I've been searching dealers hard trying to figure out what I want, as MacMulkin is literally 5 minutes away, Kerbeck is a few hours away, and a Criswell a few hours beyond that. Lots of nicely optioned slightly used cars. It's great.

That said, I may order a '16/'17 as it looks like I can ju-u-u-u-ust swing the deal (maybe, as long as next June's bonus is decent)... as I want just a 2LT / MagRide / NPP. I'll never race / track, so I don't need Z51, as it's just going to be a weekend tourer / 3 season car. Would like the A8, but will have to see about $$$, if I'm going new.

At least you'll have yours before I get mine, so I can get another good review from a like mind ;)

I'm not sure you can get magride without Z51? Might want to check on that!

What's DSOM? Dark side of the moon?

Daytona Sunrise Orange Metallic

http://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.corv...241cb091be.jpg

And on 2016s you can get it separately, code FE2.

Pretty....

So the exhaust tips, i've started to see the difference. The non-NPP are smaller and not evenly spaced, the NPP are larger and have even gaps. Yeah?

http://www.corvette7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=304614

Now, only if I had a confirmable way to determine if it has magnetic ride...

Yeah it's a crap shoot. "Regular" dealers won't put it in the ad, but thankfully the big "Corvette" dealers do. I've found just sending an email to them and explaining you want to know if it has MR, then explaining where to find it (the options sticker near the battery under the 'trunk mat' in the back, or on the window sticker, and if they could snap a pic of it and send it to you, is the best way. I suppose they might have some way of looking it up in their GM system, but not 100% on that. As usual, we end up knowing a lot more about the cars than your run of the mill salesman.