Yan

Hi!

After considerable investments into the 951, I may be forced to sell it. The car is probably the most "bad ***" looking one that I've ever seen and it pulls like a **** on boost, but I just can't accept the fact of putting this much money into maintenance and running it at best one week per month because of the delivery delays for parts here in Canada.

I was looking at alternatives and the Corvette C5 has always been in my wish list. 350 hp stock, with very low 13s quarter mile times (without breaking my cv joints and clutch? woahhh!), and a very decent handling/braking. Soooo... For people who drove both cars in most situations (road courses, daily driving and so on), what do you think about this car?
- maintenance cost, are the parts easier to get and cheaper?
- reliability, how solid are the parts and are there weaks points? (drivetrain, engine...)
- performance wise, I guess that it will give a good run for the money of my actual chipped 951 @ 15 PSI?
- any other point

I know that most of us are biaised and that I shouldn't leave my 951, but ho well... Your answers will be appreciated.

jabbadeznuts

Not to point out the obvious or to be a *****, but the 951 is a Porsche. It feels like a Porsche, it drives like a Porsche, and it looks like a Porsche. There is no substitute. You see 'Vettes every day; a 951 you see once a month or less.

Upsides for the Vette though: cheaper parts, LOADS of torque, LOADS of HP.

Guess which I'd take.

Yan

The 951 and Corvette C5 are dedicated to two different and particular spirited driver:

951 -> road courses beast

Corvette C5 -> less solid overall feeling, cheaper materials, but a way more solid drivetrain and an NA engine that has way less stress. The car is more ideal for drag racing

I've never used my 951 on road courses until now because I'm not at this state right now... I prefer drag racing and we all know that the 951 is a money hole when it comes to standing starts.

Macfreak007

For drag racing, the vette is definately a much much better car. Why own a 951 when you love to do drag racing? you would go through transmissions very often...
My advice, If you want to continue drag racing go for the vette, if you want to do autox and road couses, go with the 951.

Chris_924s

2.25 a gallon. figure out which is cheaper in the long run
IIRC I used to get about 7-14 mpg out of my 1970 LT1 with some mods, Stock M22 trans.

I agree- depends on your use of the vehicle.

Devia

I had a '95 black/black Vette, and I loved it. It shared the garage with my first 944.

They each have their own good sides and bad sides. I had my Vette chipped, and they vacuum system kept braking down - couldn't handle the chip upgrade.

But what I can tell you, is that I went back to a 944, in the long run. If it's going to give me trouble, in the end, I like the car to kiss me with it's abilities when it runs right.

- Julie

atinybug

actually vettes are very formidable road course cars, i've seen z06s keep up with 360 modenas... but a c5 isnt a z06

my opinion of a c5 vs a 951... i'm sure the c5 can be as good on a road course as a lightly modded 951. they are excellent cars. $ wise, the c5 is probably a better deal, a bit more expensive initially, cheaper to mod, cheaper to maintain, easier for daily driving, and probably as good on the track

but then i'd still have the 951 just because it's rarer, i see vettes all over the place around here, i'd probably see maybe 1 car from the 944 series a day

L8 APEKS

Sorry, but a Vette will go WAY faster around a road course...or any course for that matter.

It's a great car, I've driven one a few times. Definite upgrade.

Goes faster, handles better, stops better...what's not to like?

NeedPorscheSpeed

It's a great car, and it does a lot of things well, but one thing it can't do is get you into the Porsche Club of America.

dave120

Yeah that "breakthrough technology" of mounting the transaxle in the rear for good weight distribution that Chevy came up with for the new C5 Somehow the idea seems familiar....

C5s are nice, and they'll get at or a little better than 30 mpg on the highway which is easily as good as you'll get with a 951 and the Vette will probably be more reliable too..those smallblock Chevys usually are. A modded 951 WILL run with them on the track though without too much trouble. I'd probably get a 951 since it's a lot cheaper initially and I don't mind working on cars constantly...I like to know every inch of them. That and little expenses over time fit a lot better into my budget than one big initial expense does

L8 APEKS

A modded 951 WILL run with them on the track though without too much trouble...

That goes both ways. Throw a blower on the C5 and try it again. hehe.

Sam Lin

Yan, I happen to have both in the garage, have taken both on the road course, have daily driven both - from my experiences:

C5 is cheaper to maintain, cheaper costs, parts far more readily available.

C5 is more reliable, short of the known column lock issue (what I'd say is like our DME relay issue), it'll always start and run great. Won't cry all over the place either like the 951 (by that, I mean dripping fluids).

Performance, it has a far higher ceiling than the 951, and if you ignore the cost of entry and put equal money into mods, it's a faster car while still being more friendly on the street, with no lag and monster torque - drive around town under 2500 rpm, all the time. Then wind it out to 6k when you want to leave stuff in the dust, or spin them into 3rd gear. Being able to tool around at such low rpm means mileage rocks - highway is in the 30s, city in the 20s.

Clutches are remarkably tough, even the stock units. Their drivetrain weakness is the halfshaft out of the tranny (sound familiar?) but a beefy replacement is $300. A beefy auto tranny is costly, at 4k or so. Good clutches are under $600. These are holding up on drag-strip only cars, pushing 200+ wet shots of nitrous - estimated 800rwhp.

Tires cost more for it, my C5's getting re-shoed this Wednesday to the tune of $1250 - certainly with good, not cheapo tires, but that's a point of reference.

Brakes still need upgrading for the track - many options are available, all cheaper than a Big Red setup for our cars.

Suspension has far more available than our cars.

The downside? Build quality sucks. However, compared to my trusty 15 year old 951, the C5 is definitely better.

Sam



The Beast is on the right - an added bonus? The C5 comes in better (faster) colors.

vette4lyfe

my name says it all... a C5 will eat a stock 951 in almost anything... the downside... at the end of the day.. its just a chevy...

will the porsche gods forgive me?

mcavour

I wouldn't count on it!!!

Predator

Tranny in the rear? Go look under a '63 Pontiac Tempest. Front motored/ rear tranny. Actually, Porsche got the idea from GM back in the early 60's! I think the design was only around for that model. The '64 Tempest returned to the convential layout, and offered the GTO as an option. Then in '66, the GTO became a stand alone model.