ericdwong

....as most of you know I bought a C5 Corvette to replace the Maxima. I returned the Max to stock mostly and havent tried to sell it yet. Anyhow, when I first bought the Corvette of course I felt "woo hoo! finally an awesome car!" Which no doubt it is an awesome car. However after 2.5 months of ownership I had my v8 RWD mishap. Rear end slid out from behind me, broke the 2 passenger side rims and a few other things. The right rear tire's knuckle snapped.

Details here:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=494311
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=495448

So today I took the Max for a drive for the first time in months, and it was back to stock too. Stock exhaust, stock style clutch, stock motor mounts, suspension, everything. I'm having some trouble with a cylinder misfire, I pulled a 0606 (cyl 3 misfire) and swapped the coil to cyl 1 and the plug to cyl. 5. Now the CEL is not on, but the car still idles rough, but at least it drives. I think one of the reasons is that one of my spark plugs are carbon fouled. I probably will replace it, but why is it fouled? Time to check the fuel injectors and the coils. I dumped some FI cleaner in the tank in the meantime, if the injector is stuck hopefully this will clear it out.

My first impression was wow this thing is high as ***** and that it didnt handle. But then the car was very very quiet. Rode very nicely and non harsh like with the OEM SE suspension instead of the Sprints. I didnt have a chance to get on it, but my area still have a ton of snow in certain areas and we're going thru meltdown.

Anyway, now I can do a comprehensive evaluation of the 2 vehicles. Impression 1- the corvette is definately a fun car. Maybe a little too fun. The fun factor definately clouted over many of the other factors, such as refinment, quietness, gas mileage etc etc. It can handle like a monster, but for a stock car it is crude as *****! And this is supposed to be an upper class car! Maybe my taste is too sophisticated and I should be driving a Yuppie luxury car like a Lexus or BMW. Its got squeeks and rattles but I busted alot of them. The interior freakin sux. At first the car leaked but I fixed it. Its got ALOT of tire noise from its 275 40 18s in the rear. Umm... but its fast

Impression 2- The corvette really isnt a good daily driver, particularly around my area where it rains and snows (especially this year!!!). This car is absolutely horrible in the rain and in the snow. There was 1/4 inch of snow on the ground up my driveway and the car was going sideways and got stuck. In the rain I had to constantly worry about the way I drive that the 1 foot wide tires would hydroplane and cause a spinout. Number three, while it gets great MPG on the highway (30 mpg in 6th gear) around town it sux. I was getting 17-18 MPG around town, and down to 15 when I was flogging it. While I usually dont have a passenger going to school, I can only take 1 other person, which really hasnt bothered me yet, except when a whole group of girls want to go clubbin. If the Corvette turns out to be totaled I'm not sure what I'll do or get.

Of course these sortsa things you wont see no matter how much you hear from somebody else, or 15 minutes in a test drive.

So the moral of the story, yes sometimes it takes finding out the hard way, but I dont regret my decision to buy a Corvette. Cause had I never bought it I would have never known or experienced the positives and negatives of it. And also, I wasted alot of time and money and effort trying to hop up the Maxima. For what kinda of car it is, I should have just left it alone and enjoyed what it was truly designed for. Haulin people and groceries, to give a pleasant and smooth ride. (so now if anybody would like to help me diagnose the 0606 and the misfire.....)

Sprint

iTrader: (10)

must be nice to have a C5 and a maxima at your age

Lordrandall

iTrader: (4)

Oops, was that on snow tires?

DTR Maxima

i say sell the vette and get a 330xi with sport package. you have room to "bring girls clubbin" as you say, all wheel drive so it will be good in snow and rain, manual tranny, amazingly reliable and refined, well built car in every aspect, and although its not as fast as a vette, it is quicker than your max. sell the vette and max and get 330xi, just my .02

tomj

Sell both cars and take public transportation. Less headaches. Unless you can find a way to break a bus or train .

joaquink

Craig Mack

95emeraldgxe

definitely must be great, especially when your that young

ericdwong

I was supposed to be sellin the Maxima, thats why i sent it back to stock

[s3]

iTrader: (1)

and you can't afford a decent beater to get around in the rain/snow.

Better yet, make the maxima the beater.

[s3]

iTrader: (1)

and you can't afford a decent beater to get around in the rain/snow.

Better yet, make the maxima the beater.

96_vqmax

iTrader: (16)

Sorry to hear about your mishap.

Confused

iTrader: (4)

sorry to hear the bad news... hope it works out for you..

thanks for the car to car analogy. you think the newer vettes are of better quality?

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

So, do you still think that the Maxima is a POS, or do you now think that perhaps those bad Maxima experiences may have had something to do with the somewhat un-predictable biological unit attached just behind the steering wheel?

DW

trey

Well yeah, the C5 is obviously not a daily driver, its a sports car which is not really meant for rain and snow. Thats why you also gotta have a escalade with some 23's on it!

Dave B

We heard about your "incident" a few days ago. Didn't I tell you that high torque RWD cars are drawn to curbs like magnets and they'll bite you in the *** when you least expect it? It doesn't surprise me that the Vette rattles and the gas MPG isn't great. As for a 1/4" of snow stopping the forward motion of the Vette, I had the same problems with the Z28. Having 300rwtq at 2000rpms is a bit of problem to control on slick stuff. I remember getting stuck on packed snow one time, got out of my car, and noticed my tires were still spinning....I left the car accidently in reverse and it was going NO WHERE

I do wish you luck though.


Dave

ericdwong

Seriously at some points it would almost be better that way. I DONT even want to think about how much time and money I have spent on motor vehicles or motorvehicle related stuff. I've been driving for 5 years. In this 5 years time, there has been insurance costs. Service, maitenence, parts, GAS and mods for: a 1990 Toyota Camry, 1 1997 Maxima, a 2001 Honda CBR 600f4i and now a 98 C5 Corvette. This doesnt include my mom's car which is a 98 Camry which I hit a deer with. Between mishaps such as tickets (not too bad) and accidents, cars create ALOT of headache and expense. I kept on telling myself I wanst gonna waste $ on a car and invest it on somethin else, but here I went again. Man I coulda bought a cheap house by now if I never bought all these vehicles or their associated $ amount. I would say right now 90% of my money was spent on or related to the depreciating item called a motorvehicle. But- in my town I dont live in a city, infact in the boondox. We dont have public transportation. And a cab is not practical at all. I have to get to school, and around here theres nothin to do but rice up your car...

ericdwong

Yea I think there are better choices. My Maxima has had the following problems and NOT ALL of them have been because of me (yet it is funny how everything I get my hands on breaks):

Transmission blew up 3 times (gears)
Transmission suffered diffy carrier bearing problem (common problem)
rear main seal leaked (corrected)
front crank seal leaked (corrected)
broke rear motor mount (my fault for drag racin)
crankshaft position sensor died (corrected)- $120 part-NOT my fault
cylinder 3 misfire-1 spark plug fouling (in process of correcting)
aftermarket Y pipe broke 3 times--had ALOT of downtime....
humming vaccuum check valve ($90 part i said forget it)

For Cons. Reports and JD Power's most reliable car it sure wasnt for me. But you gotta admit for a luxury "flagship" sedan, its got alot more squeeks and rattles then it should.

ericdwong

Geeze how you guys hear about it? I guess some people are trollin on the Corvette boards heh. So far I only know of one maxima.org and Corvetteforum.com (oh yeah, their server is NEVER busy! and we're allowed a TON of pics! ) Anyhow, I can now fully appreciate why some people have Corvettes as their fun cars and not their dailys. Maybe if you live in the south but up here its a no no. You dont need 345 HP and 350 ft lbs torque to get to school!

Tomorow I'm callin insurance to find out whether I'm gonna claim it or not. I still havent decided.

ardika

iTrader: (3)

...I would claim your insurance on the Vette for sure. Let's not talk about selling it after you repair it, but definitely claim the insurance (but if you have around 8k to throw, then you don't have to claim via insurance).

In the mean time, get the Maxima fixed by a knowledgeable independent shop in your area (or probably work it out with a couple of friends during a weekend?), but don't tackle the problem yourself. The reason being is because your mind is not at ease, thus "trying to fix things" at this state will *probably* make it worse.

Two weeks from now, you will get some slack....by that time your Max is fixed and the Corvette is off to a bodyshop (make sure you get the one that you trust the most, although they would charge you a slighly higher $$$ ----> the point is to get the car fixed without you have to look under the car to check things out).

Three to four weeks from now, you will get definite answers on how things are going (and your mind would be less stressed at this point), especially from your insurance company and the bodyshop. Hence, you could deal with them later.

Sorry for the long post, but the bottomline is.... in order to eat an elephant...you have to chew it piece by piece, not the whole thing all at once. So, why don't you take care the ones that you could take care right now and save the worrying for later. Fix the Corvette (claim it if need be) and fix the Maxima. I would suggest you not to screw around (read: trying to fix the Max) in the mean time. The hardest part is not to notice the CEL light (and its sluggish manner).

Lastly, these are the things that I would do if I were you. As a matter of fact, I just rammed my car to a Ford Taurus on I-294 coming back from NYC to Milwaukee. The rear bumper of the Taurus is completely smashed (US$ 800 in repair, did not claim it, took care of it myself). The Max, surprisingly, just got some minor scuffs and bent hood on the front edge only (the hood is still straight), plus broken clear corner mount (Superglue and putty fix it right).

Lesson learned: bought snow tires, put them on just today. I think I would suggest you to do the same.....

Total usage time for landing gear on a shuttlecraft is less than 3% compared its total usage time for the shuttle itself. Imagine if the landing gear explodes due to poor maintenance...... Makes you wonder why Michelins change the landing gear every time the shuttle is about to go on a mission.

Best regards and good luck!

Armand

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

WELL LOOK WHO'S BACK

dam, wrecked a corvette, that really sucks. I'm really surprised u even took it out. You of all people know how bad it handles in bad weather. Although its bad for daily transportation, you seem to be rich enough to afford both cars. If i were u i would have kept the vette when i wanted to chill, show off or just have fun and use the maxima as a beater. But i guess its too late for that....

if u could fix it and it wont kill u, i would and just hold on to it for fun stuff and use the maxima for now. Snow is only hear for a little but, hell, by the end of the week it will be gone seeing the temperatures coming up. In 2 weeks you'll be able to drive that vette at WOT....

its good to see u back.

joaquink

So get a different Maxima. Same year or different year as your
current one doesn't matter as much as just getting a different one.
Mine has been essentially trouble free except for the damned WSP
exhaust system and a few rattles that were introduced by my new
springs, shocks, struts, rims and tires.

Cheers,

JK

SWEETSOUND2001

iTrader: (30)

Eric, tell me something. Was the traction control on or off when the accident happened?

ericdwong

I plead the 5th

SWEETSOUND2001

iTrader: (30)

Why in the world would you have it off?

Aaron

iTrader: (4)

No kidding..........



Wish my parents bought whatever car I wanted.

joaquink

deezo

iTrader: (3)

My MCSE intructor hangs out on that board. He lives in Arizona.

Sorry to hear the bad news.

Chebosto

iTrader: (1)

Those pictures show that your C5 had summer tyres on.
well. what do you expect to happen when its snowing/slick out there?

that sucks, but seriously the wrong tires for that season.

i bet those tires weren't even warmed up yet!

ericdwong

I was not driving in the snow, the roads were perfectly clear that night. If you've seen my videos you can probably imagine what I was doing......thus traction control off....etc etc. Expensive lesson? Yes.

Sprint

iTrader: (10)

don't get me wrong.. he is a good kid with excellent grades and pretty smart otherwise..

but i still wish i had a C5 and a maxima at his age

Sprint

iTrader: (10)

how do you sleep on your bed with all those pillows gone?

ericdwong

Hah, after my last post I'm sure you're gonna change the "pretty smart otherwise" part.

And no I dont get to keep both cars. Only for the time being as the Corvette is getting fixed.

Sprint

iTrader: (10)

check my last post after that

max...to the ma

ur ****ing joking! i hate public transportation, stiff straight up seats, diesel smell, other people staring at u, noises from bus engine, and other people, bus swaying back and forth when turning, slow progression of the bus, stopping, and ultimately having to get off and walk the way to ur destination. Theres also having to put with no radio, no nothin