Originally Posted by RetiredSFC 97

C3 folks said the same about the C4, then they bought a C4, C4 folks said the same about the C5, then bought a C5. Some people say that about the C6, and they/us will eventually buy a C6 and some already have.

Ah, the never ending saga of boys and their cars

Originally Posted by Grimlock

The C4 was an all new car. The C3 and C2 were almost identical under the bodywork. That is why I see a parallel between the C5/C6 and he C2/C3, both cars are just an evolution of the prior generation.

Originally Posted by Grimlock

Well in that case, the C2 should be much cheaper since the C2/C3 are so similar.

Originally Posted by 98DC231

Its really hard to project what's going to happen as there are many different variables at play when it comes to the fate of C5 values.

I'm sure there are many different schools of thought when it comes to how much further these cars are going to depreciate, so I'll take a stab here.

There are a few main factors when it comes to where values are gonna go.

1) Number of C5 "fans" who have always aspired to own a C5, perhaps not previous vette owners. DEMAND

2) Number of C4 "disposers" who will upgrade once C5 values dip to a level they are comfortable or able to pay (I believe we have already reached this point for the most part) DEMAND

3) Number of C5 disposers who will get out of the C5 and "upgrade" to the C6 once it depreciates to a comfortable or able to pay price point (I think we're already at stage 1 of this) SUPPLY

4) Number of C6 disposers who will upgrade into a C7 (Supply for C5 disposers)

Provided that the supply part of the equation does not exceed the supply coming in, I would say you can count on values staying pretty solid.

The unfortunate part is that we know cars generally depreciate over time, and if there are significant numbers of C6 owners trading / selling to get into a C6, this will depress C6 values, becoming more attractive to C5 owners looking to upgrade, who dump their cars leading to a "Sell off" so to speak of C5 supply, flooding the market and depleting values.

How likely is this to happen? The good news is that overall C5 production numbers and C6 production numbers are pretty close in terms of volume. Broken out by generation, it looks like this:



The garbage economy over the past 4 years helped keep production low, which is good for vette values in general, but of particular mention is that because of the relatively low amount of C6's in the market, there are fewer people who can possibly "upgrade" to a C7, leading to a relatively minimal amount of C6's that can come into the market and ultimately depress C5 values further. Of course, we're talking 200K+ units (these are worldwide figures) so they are extremely far from rare, but a C6 should fare better than a C5 did when they really started to fall.

If you look at the yearly production, you can see that on a yearly basis, surprisingly the C4 sold the fewest units, but because of the length of the production run, there are a ton of these cars in the market. Despite this, and their relative "civility" they were suitable daily drivers vs the C3 and values have held on relatively well. I'm still surprised to see these cars sell in the mid-teens for decent lower mile (sub 100K) examples.



At this point, I would think that if a decent C4 can command in the neighborhood of $10K, a C5 in the same condition is easily worth a $5k premium (non Z06). The issue now is, what is the ceiling of C5 values, which as C6's get down in the mid 20's, the same valuation holds true in my opinion. Is a C6 worth $7.5K more than a C5? Depends who you ask, but I think so. There will be a few exceptions, but I think as time goes on, a new buyer into the vette world won't see a LS2 C6 as only worth a slight premium over a C5Z, they are going to see it as an "old" vette vs. a "newer" vette because one looks new and the other looks "old". From a specs perspective, they are virtually the same, but we all know better....

As I see it, the best way to hege yourself against depreciation is to buy a limited production colour, unique colour combination and that's pretty much it. due to manufacturing limitations, automakers are offering less and less unique combinations, meaning its harder to own that "one of a kind" car with an odd combination of options.

Overall, these things are not investments, its a safe bet that you will be hard pressed to sell the car for even what you paid unless you got a smokin deal. I purchased my Z for what I felt was a great price and the stance that I will only sell it to get into a C6Z, but its going to be a loooong time until those cars are sub $30K for a decent example. I bought my Z when it was 10 years old, so it will probably be another 5-6 years until I can look to selling it for a C6. At that point, who knows what it will be worth. One thing's for sure that the enjoyment I would have derived from it at that point far exceeds the depreciation.

To finalize, here's where I see things going, of course there will be exceptions on the low and high end a few years out (next 2-3 years)

97-00 coupe/frc - $9k - $14K
97-00 vert - 10k-15k

01-04 coupe - $11K-17K
01 Z06 - 14K - 16K
02-04 Z06 - 15K - 18K
04 Z16 - 18K - 24k
01-04 vert - 14K - 23K

Feel free to disagree / discuss.

Originally Posted by halp

Take a look at what CARMAX is charging for C5s with their no haggle pricing. It is a lot higher than what you have here.

Originally Posted by QCVette

C5 prices have already dropped quite a bit. I think they may drop a little more, when the C7's come out, but I think most of the drop has already happened.

I think the ones that will drop are the C6's. The early C6's seem to be overpriced right now and I expect a correction drop when the C7's come out.

Originally Posted by jornahow

I'm expecting a C5 price increase when people see the new C7 and realize that the C5 is still the most beautiful 21st century Corvette.